Hanns Anselm Perten

Ella Conradi, a dedicated journalist from Germany, is in Jerusalem to report about the trial against the Nazi criminal Eichmann. Disgusted by the monstrosities that are revealed, she eventually returns to Germany. There, she wants to cover common cases and trials again. Her first assignment is a murder trial against a man called Ralf Jordan who constantly maintains his innocence. Conradi, who believes Jordan and wants to help him, starts to investigate the case - and thus opens up a political can of worms. The backgrounds of the case reach back to the Nazi period and involve officials of the Third Reich, who in the meantime have returned to their powerful positions.

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In the late 1950s, the collectivization of agriculture is in full swing in the East German village of Willshagen on the German-German border. Those in charge have to face many obstacles, especially from a large-scale farmer who is unwilling to join the co-op. All of a sudden, mysterious men in a fancy car appear in the village and show an interest in the rundown manor house. Gossip spreads quickly, and some villagers think there will be a re-parceling of properties and a land swap with West Germany. They assume everything will go back to how it used to be and even expect the count to return to his manor. In preparation, the situation in the village escalates at a fevered pitch.

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The important German wood sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider (born around 1460) is considered to be artistically and socially established. He was a councillor in Würzburg and held several offices. In his works and in the way he conducted his office, he showed himself to be connected to the common people, who revered him. But he also had a patron in the art-loving Prince-Bishop Konrad von Thüngen. But when the peasants' uprising spread to Würzburg in 1525, Riemenschneider stood up for the rights of the peasants and opposed the use of soldiers, Thüngen became his bitter opponent. Although he initially flees from the superior forces, he returns after the uprising has been suppressed and imprisons Riemenschneider. Weeks later, he is released from prison. His hands were broken, but not his steadfastness.

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The film tells the life story of Louise Otto Peters, who in the middle of the XIX century in Germany for the first time raised a voice of protest against the unfair treatment of women and their labor. She created the first "women's newspaper" in Germany. The daughter of a famous lawyer, Louise could have easily arranged her life by marrying the wealthy Baron Rodern. But she chose a different purpose in life - to fight for equal rights for women. Through her articles and public speeches, she won the authority and respect of ordinary people.

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Mecklenburg, 19th century. For generations, the Brand family of farmers has worked a piece of land as tenants of the baron, who owns almost all of the village's land. The baron himself comes from a family of farmers who became rich through corruption and were ennobled. He is the absolute potentate, no one dares to contradict him, he takes what he wants and stops at nothing in his excesses. At the same time, he is the center of petty bourgeois, bigoted social life. Johann, the stable boy, wants to marry Mariken Brand and asks the baron for a piece of land so that he can build a life of his own. But the lord is harsh, not only refusing him the land, but also increasing the rent. Johann rebels, trying to rouse the farmers in the village from their lethargy—in vain. Only when Mariken dies does the mood change. A peasant uprising breaks out, and Johann kills the baron.

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