Kramer
with Julia Jentsch & Maximilian Brückner
A film by Axel Schill
“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it”
George Santayana
Synopsis
Based on a true story
In a seemingly-idyllic pre-war world full of dreams and aspirations, Josepha and Robert fall in love. And, like other such couples, they want to raise a family and build a new life.
But war destroys those shared dreams. World War II, the chaotic post-war years and the separation of Germany propel them into radically different destinies.
On the one hand, Robert Kramer survives the death-cauldron of Stalingrad, and then undergoes a paradoxical change from convinced Nazi, to its polar opposite: antifascist and loyal Communist. After the war, he becomes a career bureaucrat, driven by ice-cold ambition, part of the political elite of the new GDR.
On the other hand, Josepha and their son plunge into a miserably frightening isolation that becomes even worse after the war: she gets arrested for the supposed “betrayal” of a Communist partisan. She is fed–without any trial, of course–into the inhuman, Kafka-esque machinery of the Soviet occupation force and the subsequent GDR. Meanwhile, in order not to endanger his own ambitions, Robert has Josepha declared legally dead, thrusting her into a grim, ten year journey through a series of special prison camps and womens’ prisons.
Finally, in 1957, she’s released and goes west into the open, energetic world of the Federal Republic of Germany. But, ironically, even as Josepha starts to build a new life in the west,
the Hungarian revolution heralds a slow decline for Robert’s fortunes in the east.
Josepha tries to come to terms with her destiny by writing a book, but wide interest in its publication. and a subsequent search for the long-lost son, threatens too many important figures in the GDR. The implacable machinery of the Stasi is set in motion.
Robert begins to understand the monstrous situation, and for the very first time, questions himself. Finally, the rediscovered son allows opportunity for a first encounter between the long-separated couple.
Trailer
Better than any history book, this story unveils the problems, the entanglements and the implications in which humans beings get through war and the consequences of war.
Teaser
Gallery
„Everyone has a weak spot and anyone can be seduced.“
Directors Note
Based on a true story, these two complex and powerful main characters drive this story, and they respond and develop in very different ways within a repressive society. Their personal conflict is set against a desperate and convulsive time, rarely examined in movies: the immediate post-1945 years in East Germany, of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the early GDR.
After the war ended, the German Communists who’d been exiled by the Nazis, along with Wehrmacht, SS and Gestapo officers, formed an unlikely alliance to become the later GDR elite. The GDR became a shadowy reflection of the Nazi Germany that preceded it, both with omnipresent tyranny, repression and militarism. Buchenwald, for example, continued to exist as a prison camp until 1949, one of many details that lend this story tragic irony.
In addition to character clashes such as ‚love and betrayal‘, ‚fear of forgiveness‘ and ’seduction through careerism and opportunism‘, we also deal with vital questions about a more just society. We ask: how could so many people be seduced by a new nightmare dictatorial system—a Communist one—after twelve long years of the Third Reich? Perhaps some begin with noble motives, but over time either lose their sense of proportion, or use ice-cold calculation to abandon their humanity and advance within a monstrous tyranny.
Both main characters become victims of the circumstances of the time–and both end up paying a price.
The ultimate drama, however, is their different ways of dealing with this victim role, and how the characters free themselves amid these „difficult times.“
Writer’s Note
Author: Axel Schill
„Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“ — George Santayana
Relevance
In contrast to perpetrators or bystanders, victims and critics of repressive societies—such as those shaped by fascism or communism—are often at a disadvantage. They act from a defensive position. Human beings tend to forget what is bad and remember what is good. The more younger generations come of age, the harder it becomes to keep alive the memory of those inhumane times.
Given the current national and international resurgence of the far right, I consider this subject particularly timely. The story looks back to the period between the end of the Nazi regime, the postwar years in the Soviet Occupation Zone, and the early years of the GDR, thereby telling a familiar success story in a different way. Until now, we have seen few films that address this period, and I have especially missed a film that confronts the „founding myth“ of the GDR.
The lives of the married couple Josepha and Robert Kramer serve as an extraordinarily fitting metaphor for the path leading to Germany’s division after World War II. The human fates and transformations involved in the shift from the Nazi to the communist dictatorship can be conveyed to a wide audience in a vivid and powerful way through this story. In a time when right-wing extremism and nationalism have once again gained troubling acceptance in public discourse, this film can make a valuable contribution toward a deeper understanding of our own past.
Structure (4 Episodes)
The current screenplay draft initially focuses on our two protagonists, who develop in parallel—geographically separated—through the unfolding historical events.
On the one hand, we follow Robert Kramer, who survives the frozen hell of Stalingrad, transitions from one unjust regime to the next, and once again manages to advance his career.
On the other, we see Josepha Kramer, who—without ever facing a proper trial—must endure years of arbitrary imprisonment in the special camps of the Soviet Occupation Zone and the early GDR. She survives this ordeal and eventually finds a new path during the West German „economic miracle.“
What is still missing, alongside the dramaturgical restructuring into four episodes, is the storyline of the missing son and the goal of reuniting the family after Germany’s reunification.
So far, the son disappears shortly after the end of the war and only reappears at the very end of the story, on a photograph, as a young man. In the meantime, he grows up as an orphan, traumatized by his time in a children’s home, until he is taken in by a warmhearted family. His path to healing is repeatedly guided by his affinity for music—something he seems to have inherited from his mother on a subconscious level. He becomes a musician, and in the end, it is music that reunites mother and son.
The perspective of the „lost son“ as a new and younger protagonist can establish an additional connection to a younger audience and, in my view, is ideally suited for the broader dramaturgical arcs of a series or multi-part production.
Axel Schill
Director & Author
0179 – 14 54 157
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