German-Soviet Friendship – Fraternisation and Glorification

Today, numerous memorials in Saint Petersburg commemorate the almost 900-day Siege of Leningrad. The “road of life” plays a special role in collective memory.

“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country,” Lenin said. The biggest country on earth, presented in stupendous images intended to awe and amaze.

After the defeat of the Nazi regime, the Soviet occupiers – later friends – were anxious to establish good relationships: They returned “evacuated” art treasures amidst great media attention.

A visit to Volgograd exemplifies the GDR’s handling of the Nazi past: Germans are declared victims and resistance fighters against the Nazi regime.

Lenin’s long shadow reaches until 1970: The citizens of the Soviet Union pay their respects to Lenin, the founder of their state – at the mausoleum on Moscow’s Red Square.

The big political guidelines – the “two camps” doctrine, historical duty, military alliance treaty obligations – emerge from the cine film collection of a Soviet citizen in Riga.

In the Lithuanian SSR, a film artist looks back on centuries of Baltic history from a different perspective, opening up a space for pain and grief.

A Soviet armoured regiment in Saxony welcomes a distinguished visitor: The Minister President arrives on Christmas Eve 1991 and meets young soldiers whose future is uncertain.