Deutschland ’61 – Countdown zum Mauerbau (2019, ZDFinfo)
Following the documentary series on the Thirty Years‘ War I was asked by LOOKS to help them on their series about the Berlin Wall. They produced one documentary on the construction of the wall in 1961 and one about it’s end in 1989 with me working mostly on the 1961 film.
Story: For almost 30 years it divided a country, separated families and destroyed biographies. People died because they wanted to overcome this wall.
Its supporters defended it as an „anti-fascist wall“, a bulwark against capitalism. Their opponents were caught by surprise overnight and could not prevent the Wall without risking a world conflagration.
In 1961 it was just as inconceivable that a political system would imprison its people as it seemed impossible 28 years later that this wall could fall peacefully. Both its secretly planned construction and its sudden fall were preceded by events that resembled an incredible countdown, a race. A countdown at the end of which stood a historic moment that changed the world.
Production Company: LOOKS Film
Photo Credit: National Archive, 6003275