Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter

Summary

Generation War

The controversially discussed multi-part series depicts five fictional German fates during the Second World War.  

Germany, 1941: Greta, Charlotte, Viktor and the brothers Wilhelm and Friedhelm are young, fun-loving and have big plans for their future. But soon the war upheaves their lives, and each of them is forced to take a stand on the Nazi regime. Greta, who has always dreamed of a career as a singer, advances to become a celebrated revue star - despite pangs of conscience. Charlotte, who at first naively stands behind the convictions of National Socialism, soon sees the true extent of the dictatorship as a nurse. The Winter brothers increasingly distance themselves from each other: Wilhelm, initially a model soldier, soon comes to have doubts about the regime in view of the horrors on the Eastern Front, while Friedhelm, an actual pacifist who serves together with him, becomes increasingly brutalized and resigned. Viktor in particular, as the only Jew in the group, finds himself increasingly in danger, but he manages to escape from a deportation train and joins a Polish partisan group without being recognized.   

Again and again, the paths of the friends cross intentionally and unintentionally. The film thus creates a character study of different approaches to self-placement and claims to show the fate of millions of Germans in an exemplary way.