Anna Seghers

Transit

In an attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France, Georg assumes the identity of a dead author but soon finds himself stuck in Marseilles, where he falls in love with Maria, a young woman searching for her missing husband.

Transit

In 1941, those who had remained around too long to completely escape the Nazi blitzkrieg had one small, slim chance to escape persecution. They could travel to Marseilles and attempt to get the servile but still nominally independent government of Vichy France to grant them an exit visa. Then they could take passage to safer climes on one of the neutral vessels that stopped there. This drama, based on a novel by Anna Seghers, follows the fates of a small group of desperate people who are attempting to do just that.

Überfahrt

Based on a story by Anna Seghers.

Der Mann und sein Name

Based on a story by Anna Seghers.

Das Obdach

Against the historical background of the occupation of Paris by the German Wehrmacht, the story of a German émigré child who finds shelter with a French working-class family is told.

Escape Route to Marseille

Documentary in two parts that blends dramatized reconstructions, personal reminisces and newsreel footage to tell the story of the flight of German refugees through occupied France to Marseilles in 1940. In 1977 Ingemo Engström and Gerhard Theuring embark on a journey through France. They trace the escape route of the German emigration in France 1940/41, documenting the places, talking to witnesses, relating the temporal layers. The film Escape Route to Marseilles that was the result of this journey, carries the subtitle “Images from a working journal (1977) on the novel Transit (1941) by Anna Seghers”.

Józia - Die Tochter der Delegierten

1929: The little girl Józia has to go a few days without her mother, who is traveling abroad for political reasons. Another story is told to the neighbors after Józia visits her relatives in the country. But 10 days can be an eternity for a small child.

The Light on the Gallows

Europe in 1793. For years, England and France have been at war with each other. Now, France sends three men to the British colony of Jamaica to organize a slave revolt. The envoys are Debuisson, the grandson of a Jamaican rum manufacturer, who knows the island very well, his old friend Sasportas, and the sailor Galloudec. After having established contact with the fragmented rebel groups, they receive the surprising news of Napoleon′s takeover in France. Whereas Debuisson, who by now has gotten used to his role as a rich heir, wants to wait for new instructions from home, his companions are determined to press ahead with the revolt. When a slave kills a British guard, the situation escalates.

Die Toten bleiben jung

A depiction of class conflicts in Germany between 1918 and 1945. The Spartacist Erwin is shot by officers in 1918, and his pregant working-class bride Marie begins a new relationship with social democrat Geschke. Erwin's son Hans grows up to be a communist like his father, leading to bitter hatred between him and his Nazi step-brother, while Geschke becomes increasingly resigned to the political situation in Germany. The three aristocratic officers who shot Erwin many years ago meet again during the Kapp Putsch, but their support for the Third Reich eventually leads each to their deaths.

The Seventh Cross

In Nazi Germany in 1936 seven men escape from a concentration camp. The camp commander puts up seven crosses and, as the Gestapo returns each escapee he is put to death on a cross. The seventh cross is still empty as George Heisler attempts an escape to freedom in Holland.

The Revolt of the Fishermen

Russian Fishermen from a small village rise up against the entrepreneurs and the buyers, fighting for higher wages for their hard and difficult work.