DEFA
- Carola Lamberti - Eine Berliner Romanze - Die Abenteuer des Till Ulenspiegel - Emilia Galotti - Meine Frau macht Musik - Das Feuerzeug - Auf der Sonnenseite - Das zweite Gleis - Der Kinnhaken - Der geteilte Himmel - Geliebte weiße Maus - Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt - Ernst Thälmann I/II - Das Kaninchen bin ich -

The link between filmmaking and politics is symbolised by a wide gap in the showcase in 1953: After the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953, many countries of the Eastern Bloc have to deal with unrests. The Korean War 1950 - 53 strains the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union: The Cold War is in full swing. Filming in the DEFA studios is affected by the harsher political climate as well. In the exhibition, projected documentary images illustrate some of the historical events.

In the mid 1950s, DEFA produces its biggest propaganda film, the two-part film Ernst Thälmann – Sohn seiner Klasse ("Ernst Thälmann – Son of the Working Class", 1954) and Ernst Thälmann – Führer seiner Klasse ("Ernst Thälmann – Leader of the Working Class", 1955). Renowned Kurt Maetzig directs both parts. The films paint an imposing portrait of life and work of Hamburg labour leader Ernst Thälmann, who was executed by the Nazis in the Third Reich. As the films have the status of government projects, all drafts are controlled and corrected by the state party SED. In 1949, a collective of three authors, Willi Bredel, Michael Tschesno-Hell and Kurt Maetzig, begins to work on the screenplay. The exhibition supplies information on the authors and shows their portraits.
Shooting expenditures are immense. Even the burning of the Berlin Reichstag in 1933 is reconstructed: The model used in the film is more than 10 feet high. Photos in the showcase show its making and how the model is set on fire. Besides, takes done by assistant director Günter Reisch, who will later become a DEFA director himself, are on display. Furthermore, there are postcards of film stars, luxury editions of film stills bound in red imitation leather as well as an unusually colourful film programme, a four-colour print: costly advertising material in rather poor times. For years, the films shape Thälmann’s public image in the GDR. The viewing of the films is mandatory for school classes as well as for workers. Leading actors Günter Simon and Karla Runkehl gain lasting popularity: Years later, they are still voted the most popular DEFA performers by GDR filmgoers. Karla Runkehl’s family collected newspaper clippings and fan mail in a photo album.
In 1956, the new Soviet head of state Nikita Khrushchev puts an end to the official personality cult surrounding former dictator Joseph Stalin. In the GDR, however, this change of ideology only gradually gains acceptance. The removal of reminders of the Stalin era does not begin before the early 1960s. In 1961, all scenes in the "Thälmann" films featuring Stalin are deleted. We show the out-takes on a monitor screen.

In the "Thälmann" films, stereo optical sound recording is applied for the first time. This process of sound recording will, however, not become popular until the US company Dolby starts to use it in the 1970s. Stereo optical sound recording requires a special type of both recording and playback equipment. Since the "Thälmann" films are supposed to be screened in a great number of cinemas that would then need equipment refitting, the DEFA studio management postpones the implementation of the new technology. The films are screened in the regular mono sound, the stereo print disappears in the archives.

Another of director Kurt Maetzig’s productions contrasts with the two "Thälmann" films: Das Kaninchen bin ich ("The Rabbit Is Me"). The film, based on a novel about GDR arbitrary justice, is shot in 1965 but not released before 1990: In 1965, the 11th Plenary Assembly of the SED decides on a more restrictive cultural and educational policy. Experimental and critical tendencies in literature, the fine arts and film are to be suppressed in favour of the official art programme of "socialist realism".
Director Kurt Maetzig, up to then highly praised, is criticised in public. The release of "Das Kaninchen bin ich" is banned. Simultaneously, almost all DEFA productions from 1965 are banned. The exhibition shows a film costume from "Das Kaninchen bin ich" and a copy of the novel the film is based on, "Maria Morzeck oder Das Kaninchen bin ich". An album displays film stills and candid stills of several DEFA productions of 1964/65. It lists, marked by red notes, films banned by the SED party conference.
One of these banned films is Der verlorene Engel ("The Lost Angel", 1966, DIR: Ralf Kirsten). It deals with the destruction of the Ernst Barlach sculpture "Der schwebende Engel" in Güstrow Cathedral by the National Socialists.