First World War II

1917: The First World War has been raging for over two years with no end in sight. Soldiers are deployed on ever new offensives - human resources senselessly wasted. French troops are the first to revolt and there are also strikes and hunger protests on the home front, as in many of the warring nations. After two revolutions, Russia finally withdraws from the war in December 1917. Since the spring of 1918, over two million US soldiers have been supporting the entente powers, driving back the German troops and sealing the military defeat of the Reich. By the end of the war in November 1918, the death toll is over 16 million - and old Europe is politically shattered. In place of the old empires, new, politically unstable nation states are emerging.

Propaganda makes its first major appearance in the First World War. A completely new weapon, recruiting war volunteers and mobilizing the population at home with vivid pictures and slogans. In addition to posters, leaflets, patriotic books and songs, films and photographs are now used as propaganda material. They conjure up the heroism of their troops and condense old stereotypes into brutal images of the enemy. German atrocities in Belgium and northern France solidify the motif of the "ugly German", the "Hun" and "barbarian" who murderously falls upon Europe. German propaganda, on the other hand, relies on the staging of the Germans as a superior, cultural race, standing justly against its enemies.

The war is a fight for survival both for the soldiers and the folks at home. The state’s war assistance for families only covers basic necessities and many women have to earn extra money - as street workers or ticket collectors, but also in munitions factories, where they slave for up to 13 hours a day. Added to this is the constant anxiety over food. Due to the poor supply situation - partly as a result of the British sea blockade – all major food is soon rationed and only issued in small quantities. Those who can, forage in the country. Famine reaches a peak in the "turnip winter" of 1916/17. By war’s end, around 700,000 in the German Reich have died of hunger, or the results of malnutrition.

1917 is not only a turning point in the course of the First World War, but likewise heralds a fundamental change in global politics. Following the February revolutions and overthrow of the Tsar in October, the communist Bolsheviks assume power in Russia under Lenin. As the country withdraws from the war, the USA mobilizes. In April, President Woodrow Wilson declares war on the German Reich and millions of US soldiers are readied for service at the front. With victory in World War I, the United States begins its ascent to world power. As the major representative of a liberal-democratic order, it will henceforth confront Russia, now going its own way as the Soviet Union.

By the summer of 1918, the imminent defeat of the German Empire is inevitable to all. Yet, the Supreme Army Command refuses to take any responsibility. Even when the newly-formed government, headed by Prince Max von Baden, asks the Allies for a truce in October, the naval warfare command still plans to send the fleet into one last battle. But the seamen in Kiel mutiny, refusing to die for a lost cause. Within days, their uprising escalates into revolution throughout the Reich. The republic is finally proclaimed on November 9th, when the emperor is forced to abdicate. Two days later, Matthias Erzberger signs the armistice in the Forest of Compiegne. Despite the rejoicing, the imposed war guilt and its attendant reparations will weigh heavily on the inner peace of the young Republic.

"Dear, dear Peter, where are you now? How often I think of you," writes artist Käthe Kollwitz to her 18-year-old son Peter, fighting on the Western Front in Belgium. As one of many volunteers, he went to war in 1914 – to fall only a few days later. Käthe Kollwitz expresses her pain and grief in her works. One of her most famous works is the group of sculptures entitled „Mourning Parents" - a memorial against war and, at the same time, a monument for all those who mourn. Her poster "Nie wieder Krieg!" (Never again war), created in 1924, likewise renowned, has become an icon of the peace movement.

"Death donned the helmet. War reached for the torch. The apocalyptic horsemen took their horses from the stable. And fate stepped into the ant-hill of Europe with a heavy boot." Erich Kastner is drafted for military service in 1917 and returns with a lifelong heart condition. He is one of many authors to write about the era of the First World War and the immense suffering of soldiers and civilians alike. Edlef Köppen, Wilfred Owen, Stefan Zweig, Adrienne Thomas and Irmgard Keun are also among them. Our film recites excerpts from selected novels and poems.

Student Elfriede Kuhr is 12 when WWl breaks out. She lives with her brother at her grandmother's house in Schneidemühl, Prussia. The diary she keeps for four years shows how the war-obsessed child turns into a committed pacifist. At first, Elfriede describes childish war games and the "self-sacrifice" of her toy soldiers, but – ”thin as a rake" – she is soon complaining of hunger, weakness and hard work in a nursery. She sees the increasing protests against the war and is relieved when peace finally comes in 1918.