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 recorded in a country that no longer exists. these home movies capture

a sign of the former germany that most outsiders never knew private recordings that are now public thanks to documentary filmmakers herskovitz political scientist lawrence mouthfuls the connected 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 in english german french or russian watching clips from the archives of $149.00 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 the. 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 of course know that there was a lot of a lot of problems of injustice a lot of oppression but at the same time people who are living in this country and older who are no more victims or. are perpetrating the 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 invent when we 2014 started the project we 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 that 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 form 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 those are 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 is the person the mother in this video tell you about her story and why is it called i regretted what she had when she studied to develop her husband they were a young young couple in love and had to make a choice because they didn't find a place for the 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 of that 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 this the footage or the these 415 hours of images they ordered all about what private life is about is 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 the people for a reason that maybe nobody really knows where it came from but in east germany and 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 would be and that was very different i was very different from in the west so that was a sort of freedom in a sense that 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 i just have to google yes and white and worldwide thanks so much for don't think you were much. moving to the big screen now a new film is the viewing here in germany that many readers already know well as a novel the german lesson by secret lengths 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 yeah. because one friend judy 1st and to trace the other. there was a great relief in. its $944.00 somewhere on the german north sea coast. works have been declared degenerate art by the nazis for voters reluctant. but. i think that it. was

a bit of just going to put the. cart in the middle as a young boy who tries to please both office part of. going. after i mean. if you look at. that. the screenplay of this new film version of the german lesson that was written by mother and son and. 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 battlefield 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 you know it or not a portrayed himself as a victim of the regime but he was actually an anti semite who sympathized with the nazi party. lentz 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 was that in china at all it 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 part and we think it's great that the

movie can add to that discussion this if our position is clear light on combine it with the highest level to. determine lesson is visually stunning and it's a thought provoking tale of collaboration and resistance at times a story with a new relevance today. now most of us probably wouldn't want someone dressing us up as a hot dog and turning 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 fest 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 tapped.

a total of 120000 liters of beer will be sold joined 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 because. love's a big attraction. for go. jermyn 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 bairn a lot the but. i think when it's time to think it's great a mixture of cincinnati culture and also bit of german culture it's always fun. it's not to 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 has never been to germany has. yet she is still prevalent and sister mary. wrote. it all about the culture about the german culture and so thick here in cincinnati people dressed out in their drained all thanked coming out with beers and the band going on this street it's all just a great entertainment atmosphere.

6 cincinnati some of the right stage german roots dancing and posturing and lights into the nights. crossed. 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.

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this is deja vu news live from berlin a massive show of no terry might in beijing as china marks 70 years of communist rule president xi jinping says no power on earth can halt the rise of the chinese nation. but will china's big day be overshadowed by the ongoing protests in hong kong and what are beijing's plans for home front also coming up.

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