Goethe-Institut Chicago

Dir. Konrad Wolf
East Germany, 1977, 103m
35mm
German with English subtitles
Tickets: $9 (online); $7 (at door)

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In a Russian POW camp, four Germans determined to end WWII change into Red Army uniforms. Are they patriots or traitors, heroes or opportunists? Although they go to the frontlines, their new Russian comrades are initially unsure whether to trust them. Three of them then accept a mission behind German lines, but they are unprepared to fire upon their countrymen and it ends up costing the life of a Russian soldier. In the meantime, the fourth man has fallen in love with Russian radio operator Svetlana. After being criticized by the other Russians, he too agrees to participate in the mission…

This film, which centers on the difficult moral questions raised in wartime, draws on director Konrad Wolf's experiences as a propaganda officer with the Red Army in Germany at the end of WWII. Wolf saw this film—which was inspired by the 1934 Russian war film Chapaev and featured actor Donatas Banionis (Solaris, Goya, Beethoven – Days of a Life)—as a consolidation and continuation of what he wanted to express in his 1967 film I Was Nineteen.

This film will be introduced by Danny Pinto, joint PhD candidate in the Departments of Germanic Studies and Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, and is presented in collaboration with Doc Films and the DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst.

Welcome to book*ish, our reading group for contemporary German graphic novels! Practice your German through discussing each book's main themes and the artist's stylistic choices. All are invited, whether you just started learning or are already fluent in the German language.

This hybrid-format discussion will be held both in-person and over Zoom; information on how to join virtually will be emailed to all participants one week before the event.

Our next book club session features the graphic novel 'Anna,' by Mia Oberländer.

This debut graphic novel by an up-and-coming star of the German comics scene is an audacious allegory of female resistance and radical acceptance.

In the sleepy German countryside live the Annas, cursed to be too tall for their small town. Laughably long-limbed and gangly, their bodies refuse to conform with societal norms of delicate femininity, and the trauma of being different ripples across generations. And yet, there may be a blessing to their burden; like the mighty mountains surrounding their town, they find that there is resilience and strength to be gained from their heightened perspective. Drawn with delightful exaggeration and formal inventiveness, Anna is a tongue-in-cheek, modern-day fairy tale about being “too big” for a narrow-minded world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mia Oberländer (b. 1995, Ulm) is an illustrator and cartoonist based in Hamburg. She has co-organized the Hamburg Comicfestival since 2019 and teaches a storytelling seminar at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Arts and Design. Her work has been published in Le Monde diplomatique, Kiblind Magazine, Libération, and Strapazin, among others. Her debut graphic novel, 'Anna,' was awarded the Berthold Leibinger Foundation's Comic Book Award and the German Youth Literature Award for "New Talents," and has been translated into six languages.

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Please note: an English translation is available for this book, so make sure you purchase the German-language version.

Or borrow a copy from us!
Several copies are available to borrow for free from the Goethe-Institut Chicago. We do not have capacity to send books by mail, but they can be picked up from our office. If you are interested, please contact us at: Lukas.Siebeneicker.extern@goethe.de.