Our mothers, our fathers

First Series: Another Time (Eine andere Zeit)

Five friends met in a Berlin cafe in June 1941: brothers Wilhelm and Friedhelm Vinter, Greta Muller, Victor Goldstein and Charlotte (Charlie). Three of them are sent to the Eastern Front . They promise each other to meet at Christmas in the same cafe, because the war promises to be fleeting. The Winter brothers serve together in an assault company; Charlotte is sent as a nurse to a field hospital. Greta makes contact with Sturmbannfuhrer Dorn, who promises to make her a pop star, as well as help her friend, Jew Viktor Goldstein, get out of Germany. But Dorn deceives Victor by sending him to Poland by train with other imprisoned Jews.

Second Series: Another War (Ein anderer Krieg)

1943 year. Greta, at the request of Dorn, goes to the front to speak to the German soldiers. The Winter brothers fall into a fierce battle. It seems to Friedhelm that his brother was dead. He himself is seriously injured and ends up in a hospital with Charlotte. There he informs her of the death of William. Victor escapes from a train with prisoners along with polka Alina. They fall to the Polish partisans. Greta is sent for interrogation for panic and incitement. There she confesses to Dorn that she is pregnant from him, after which he severely hits her in the stomach. Friedhelm receives leave from injury and visits his parents in Berlin. Charlotte, embarrassed by the news of the death of William, comes into contact with Dr. Jan. Wilhelm finds a German patrol. He is sentenced to death for escaping.

Third Series: Another Country (Ein anderes Land)

Wilhelm commuted to the death penalty for service in the penal battalion. Victor during the capture of a German train with weapons rescues captured Jews. The Polish partisans learn that he himself is a Jew and drive him away. Friedhelm takes part in a punitive action against the partisans, during which he kills his commander in order to save Victor from death. Charlotte remains in the hospital with the wounded soldiers, despite the evacuation. The hospital is captured by Soviet soldiers. Meanwhile, in Berlin, Greta is being sentenced to death and the sentence is being executed. Sturmbannfuhrer Dorn wants to shoot his wife and daughter, but at the last moment changes his mind. Wilhelm kills his commander and escapes from the penal battalion. Friedhelm, to save the Volkssturm soldiers who did not want to give up, goes out alone against the Soviet troops and dies. After the war, Victor meets Dorn, who works in the administration of Berlin, despite his past in the Gestapo . Victor, Wilhelm and Charlotte come to the dilapidated cafe, in which five friends met in 1941. They drink for the dead Greta and Friedhelm.

After the film was released, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation sent an official letter to the Ambassador of Germany in Russia, which noted "the rejection of this film by the vast majority of Russian viewers who watched it", pointed to "the unacceptability of attempts to put on a single board mass atrocities committed by the Nazi troops and having there are separate excesses on the part of the Soviet military personnel, strictly punished by the military leadership ” ^[3] .

The film received a lot of positive and negative reviews. In Germany, many publications called the picture "the cultural event of the year" ^[4] . On the other hand, some German historians criticized the film. The historian Ulrich Herbert ( German: Ulrich Herbert ) wrote: “The film shows the Nazis as different from the conditional of our mothers and fathers. He portrays Germans as victims. The film did not reflect either the love or the hope that Hitler inspired German youth, or the widespread belief that Germany deserved dominance in Europe ^[5] . In reality, these fathers and mothers were an ideologized, politicized generation who wished Nazi Germany victory because it was considered right. ”

In Poland, the image of the "bloodthirsty" Polish partisans shown in the film aroused the indignation of many public organizations that turned to Radoslav Sikorski with a request to stop the distribution of the film ^[4] . Polish Ambassador to Germany, Jerzy Margański ( Polish Jerzy Margański ) sent a letter to ZDF with a protest and very harsh criticism of how the Poles were portrayed in the film ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} .

The film was also condemned by Russian bloggers for propagating the idea of mass rape of German women by Soviet soldiers ^[10] .

• Official movie website (German)
• “Our Mothers, Our Fathers” on the Internet Movie Database