"Ernst Thälmann in Schwerin - 50 years of the DEFA film AUS MEINER KINDHEIT"
"Ernst Thälmann in Schwerin - 50 years of the DEFA film AUS MEINER KINDHEIT"
DEFA film "From My Childhood" digitized - 50th anniversary screening at the Filmkunstfest M-V and exhibition on the filming in Schwerin
To mark the 50th anniversary of its premiere, the DEFA film "From My Childhood" has been restored and digitized. The digital version will celebrate its premiere at the 34th Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Film Art Festival, with director Bernhard Stephan and the actor who played the young Ernst Thälmann, Michael Kröger, in attendance.
In the run-up to the premiere, an exhibition on the filming will be shown in the Kulturforum Schleswig-Holstein-Haus from April 4, 2025: 30 photographs by SVZ photographer Ernst Höhne, who accompanied the film production in Schwerin in 1974 and captured impressive moments. Over 100 extras from Schwerin were involved in the filming. The exhibition is curated by Volker Janke, research assistant of the folklore collection at the Schwerin-Mueß open-air museum.
The film "From my childhood" tells of the everyday life of the young Ernst Thälmann around the turn of the century in Hamburg. He is portrayed as an attentive observer of social conditions in the imperial era, who took a stand against injustice at an early age. The plot is based on Thälmann's diary entries. Most of the film was shot in Schwerin, including at the Pfaffenteich and on the market square.
Ernst Thälmann, the KPD leader who was murdered in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944, was not only honored with numerous monuments and memorials in the GDR, but was also omnipresent in everyday life. Five cinema and television films alone were made between 1954 and 1986, and the children's and youth organization "Pioniere" was also given the name "Ernst Thälmann" in 1952.
The digitization of the film was made possible with funds from the film heritage funding programme under the direction of the DEFA Foundation.
Exhibition period: April 4 - May 11, 2025
Admission is free.
