9 May 2002 - 30 June 2002

The transfer of the archive of film documentarian Annelie Thorndike (born in 1925) to Filmmuseum Potsdam prompted the exhibition. The archive also included the partial estate of Andrew Thorndike (1909 - 1979), which, among others, contained revealing letters about his political conversion after 1945. Born and raised in the upper-middle class, Thorndike renounced his class after his war experiences, Soviet imprisonment and reeducation and placed his services at the disposal of the communist state of the GDR that promised a consequent reckoning with fascism and a more just society.
The Thorndikes gained international recognition with their compilation films about the German past in which they posed questions about the reasons for the world wars of the 20th century and about the roots of twelve years of National Socialism with its terrible crimes. In their best-known films “Du und mancher Kamerad” (1956), “Urlaub auf Sylt” (1957) and “Das russische Wunder” (1963), unpublished footage from the former Film Archive of the German Reich and from international archives was shown to the public.
The exhibition presented material from the Thorndike archive that gave a first impression of the works of the documentarians as well as of the time during which their films were made.