Serve Honest Peaceful Construction

1945: After twelve years of Nazi dictatorship, Germany is largely destroyed, and hunger and hardship prevail. Without delay, film enthusiasts found Filmaktiv, the nucleus of the future DEFA. The first films—THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US, MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOWS, and THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS—reflect the filmmakers' efforts to find answers to the most pressing questions: How could this world war have happened? How could so many people have followed Nazi ideology?

The exhibition sheds light on the historically unique achievements of the first post-war years and invites visitors to engage with this period of upheaval and the films for the first time or again.