under the nazis one of the most celebrated novels written in post-war germany the german bus it finally makes it to the big screen. and speaking of german the world famous october fast with at least one big twist this october fest with hundreds of thousands of visitors isn't in germany at all so where is it. 1st off though and summit look at life inside the former east germany a dictatorship that hundreds of people died trying to escape now though almost 30 years after the fall of the berlin wall initiators of a new project called open memory box say it's time to finally start looking at other aspects of east germany too. personal memories were coated in a country that no longer exists. these home movies capture

a sign of the format in germany that most outsiders never knew private recordings that are now public thanks to documentary filmmakers herskovitz and political scientist lawrence murphy. the elected 415 hours of home movie reels showing what real life looks like for real people under the socialist regime . the resulting website open memory box allows visitors to click key words in english german french or russian watching clips from the archives of 149 east german families. the footage is universal most of these films seem like they could have been filmed most anywhere in europe the people in them are just people living their lives despite the dictatorship. and with me here is alberto herskovitz one of the initiators of our project open memory box welcome to the show

thank you now we hear a lot of people from east germany say yes it was a dictatorship but it wasn't all bad is that part of what this project is trying to show. it's no i would say that we have and this project has not. another go any different than this is private life they did life in east germany something that many many people. didn't know and know very little about ok so it's neither good nor bad necessarily well. we never thought this project to do intend to balance any good or bad in what was a dictatorship in east germany we have course you know that there was a lot of a lot of problems and of injustice a lot of oppression but at the same time people were living in this country and not all of who are no more victims or. perpetrators protest is their only

ok so that you're bringing it back to the personal and you have footage from 149 different families in this project were you surprised that so many people were eager to make their very private images so public you know very much them because some in when we when we 2014 started the project we thought that we might receive like 2025 or us and that would have been great but no within 10 days some people donated $400.00 to the project what do you think they wanted to make their private their home movies public like this maybe they fed the time has come to to let people know that there was also more than just the the the core political problems that were necessarily. of the fault of the war during the 30 years or this had to be analyzed and and

discussed but maybe the time has come for people to feel. this is footage that shows how we lived and there's also the few of us that this or this would disappear now i just want to show one of these films particular. in particular it's called i regret it maybe we can take a look at this you interviewed some of the people who made these movies because they are actually silent films what if the person the mother in this video tell you about her story and why is it called i regretted what she had when she started to develop her husband they were a young young couple. and had to make a choice because they didn't find a place for their small boy take her place so she had to make a very tough choice that is to leave her with her mother and they lived separated for quite a while now a lot of people who grew up in west germany look at these videos and they're surprised to see that they look like they could have been filmed in the west what do you make about is that just west german prejudice against east germany well at

1st maybe but not because plenty other reason because maybe people didn't know better but of course when we look at the footage or the these 415 hours of images they all are about what private life is about it's people going for holy days and speaking of holidays i just just briefly want to show some footage because there's a lot of there's a lot of images of nudism and can you just briefly tell us what is that about where that is all about that people for a reason that maybe nobody really knows where it came from but in east germany going to the beach and having no clothes on was this sort of a folk sport i would say it was like what people did it's a bit and that was very difficult i was very different from in the west so that was a sort of freedom in a sense the people in the west maybe didn't have a better herskovitz from open memory box thank you so much for coming on the show

this is something that people can find online right if they did they just have to google yes and white and worldwide thanks so much for coming and you were much. moving to the big screen now a new film is debating here in germany that many readers already know well as a novel the german lesson by siegfried lentz is a pivotal work of post-war german literature told from the point of view of a boy coming to grips with his own experiences under the nazis. it's a story about friendship and humanity breaking down. much because one friend puts duty 1st and portrays the other. the innocent like to leave and. it's $944.00 somewhere on the german north sea coast. works have been declared degenerate by the nazis for voters but it wasn't. the. hope that it. was

a bit of like this before but she was. caught in the middle as a young boy who tries to please both of his father figures. after. the actions but i think that. the screenplay of this new film version of the german lesson the was written by mother and son and christiane sparkle. to me just for me the landscape is one of the protectionists in this story because i actually wanted it to feel like the end of the world or so like an apocalyptic moonscape so you could ask your so secluded here why do you have to keep on

fighting a war that has its battlefields somewhere else why when it's just you here no one lives there no one's watching you. as in the novel the story is told by the boy 6 years later it's his memories of judy and truths stunning images almost no music. when secret lands created the painter he was inspired by him in order not to portray himself as a victim of the regime but he was actually an anti semite who sympathized with the nazi party. lance knew that nada was involved with the nazis but chose not to include that in his novel that's artistic freedom the filmmakers agree with the choice. of words that shy girl was a conscious decision we didn't want to make a movie about a historical person shooters of course we will be asked questions now and this is an important debate we need to have the most power and we think it's great that the

movie can add to that discussion our position is clear i can buy it with the hit was that look at. the german lesson is visually stunning and it's a thought provoking tale of collaboration and resistance i timed a story with a new relevance today. now most of us probably wouldn't want someone dressing us up as a hot dog and entering us into a race fortunately the contestants here are dark since not people each year the winner dog race kicks off october fast in cincinnati ohio with hundreds of thousands of visitors it's the biggest are terrible 1st in the united states around one in 5 people in the u.s. claim german heritage. the big moment has arrived the 1st barrow parents being tamped.

a total of 120000 liters of beer will be sold john the 3 day festival many of the beers of produced locally by breweries with german ancestry but the public's clear favorites are authentic beers from germany many specially imports are just for the festival one small difference to be here does not come in massive german one liter steins but from somewhat smaller plastic beakers. words but big attraction. both german so it feels like you know it's nice sometimes to try to reflect on your original heritage good heritage that we've come from and i love the beer and a lot of the food i'm thinking is trying to think it's great a mixture of cincinnati culture and also bit of german culture it's always fun. it's not that much about. german culture came to cincinnati 200 years ago the

american midwest was a major center of german immigration. but at one time almost 60 percent of the city was of german mouth of. the numerous protestant churches in the area. this time. and some streets have now got back to german names they had before the 1st world war. sarah how much because never been into germany herself yet she is still proud to go and sister mary. wrote. it all about the culture about the german culture and so thick here in cincinnati zoo people dressed out in their drained all that coming out with beers and the bands going on the streets at all just a great entertainment atmosphere. 6

cincinatti some of right speech german roots john singing and posturing and lights into the night it's. the cruelest. cloakroom. and when you get out from when you get back from a late night dancing and you're hungry for more culture news you can check out our website that's d w dot com slash culture you can also find us on facebook and twitter now for me and all the team here in berlin thanks for watching see you next time.

they're striving for reconciliation and the rebuilding of their young nation the people of kosovo a war widow founds a successful company. an artist a realizes his dream and a journalist fights persistent prejudice. old wounds new perspectives kosovo 20 years after the war. and 30 minutes you. suck the world's favors. and it's no wonder

the spectacular gold. plenty of emotion. the best game day. kick off w o. i was here when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room. it was hard i was fair. i even got white hairs that. made. not enough face gets me and they go but it's meekly to entrap those that say you want to their story. of fighting and reliable information for margaret.

this is g.w. news live from berlin tonight an anniversary to remember no mistake so well china begins marking the 70th anniversary of communist rule and the government in beijing is going out of its way to make sure nothing remains on its parade also coming up tonight greece announce his plans to send thousands of migrants back to turkey a day after a deadly fire at an overcrowded camp on the island of less folks will get the

latest from athens plus turkey accused of sending refugees back to syria against their will.