Figure 1.--A popular television series made during the 1980s was "Heimat 1". It was more sophisticated than the formulistic Heimat films of the 1950s. |
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HBC has little information on German TV programming. Unlike American television programs which are broadcast all over the world, German programs do not appear in America. Presumably they do appear in other European countries, although I have not noted them in Britain. As a result, we know next to nothing about German television prigrams. We know a good bit about German movies, but almost nothing about television programs. For some reason our European readers including German readers have provided us few details on television programming. we are not sure why this is. But we generally have difficulties finding information zbout foreign television. We suspect that many people are less willing to what foreign television than foreign movies. There may less programming than American or even British television, but surely there is some programming of interest.
"The Bertinis: The Chronicle of a Hamburg Family" (1988) is a marvellous German TV series in five installments. The actung is superb acting and has costuming that is meticulously accurate and authentic. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Ralph Giordano, a writer of Italian-Swedish extraction, and is highly autobiographical. It was directed by Egon Monk, who employed two distinguished costume authorities, Ingeborg Deshmorkowitz and Sigrid Grunhagen, to ensure that the clothing of the era was accurately recreated. The story covers the Bernini family's trials and tribulations from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. It is set mostly in Hamburg. The main plot concerns Alf Bertini, an aspiring concert pianist who has a Swedish mother and an Italian father. He marries a girl of Jewish-German birth, who is also musical and a piano teacher,
and she raises three boys in Hamburg. Problem for the family begin when the NAZIs seize power (1933).
We notice a German TV progrm recreating life in an old 1900 house. They used an actual family (not actors)--the Weber family. The family lived in a real 1900 house for 2 months. For some reason the program is set in 1906. I am not sure whu they chose such a specific year. Before they arrived, the house was rennovated to take out all items like appliances and other technologies which appeared after 1906. A German reader tells us, "I found 'Gutshaus 1900' fascinating. I loved to watch the different programs of the series. Because "Gutshaus 1900" was a success, they now are beginning to producea new show set in the 1920s." The family had six children: Drillinge Hennig-Ludwig, Thore-Frederik und Enno-Philipp (twins--14 tears old), Rickmer-Sören (13) und die Zwillinge Lennart-Eike (10) und Ansgar-Erik (10). I haven't seen the program and can't fully comment on the accuracy of the costuming. The sailor suits two of the boys wear, however, do not seem quite right. The program format is similar to that used in America, Britain, and Canada. The programs focus on how modern families cope with living in earlier periods.
A reader reports, "I found two shots yesterday from a German documentary, "Die Harte Schule" (2006), that recreates the experiences of modern German children (teenagers of 16 mostly) trying to live like schoolboys in boarding schools did during the 1950s (strict rules, customs, and clothing). It is not entirely convincing historically because this school is co-educational, and most German boarding schools up to the 1950s were single-gender schools, I am told. But these photos are rather
interesting, and show the boys' knee socks and short trousers off to good advantage. We already have a couple of shots from this film, I believe, but these might be interesting to add. One of the photos shows the short sleeves and sleeveless sweaters that the boys wore outside of class. The other one shows a boy relaxing in his dorm room on a cot and wearing the clip-on suspenders with his shorts that were part of the uniform. What do you think?" Well We think you are probanly correct about single-gender schools. Also boys by 15 or 16 were more commonly wearing knickers or long pants in the 40s and long pants in the 50s.. These boarding schools were not very common. It is kind of like recreating a British school. More interesting I think would have have been to depict a period gynasium.
A French reader has mentioned a television series called simply "Heimat" directed by Edgar Reitz. It is laid out as a trilogy. "Heimat 1" was first written in the mid-1980s. "Heimat 2" was released in the 80s end. Finally "Heimat 3" was completed in the 90s. "Heimat 1" seems the most representative in terms of scenery and life style. The story is set in a rural region named Hunsruck, between the Mosel and Rhein rivers (southwestern Germany). The time line extended from the 1920s up to the 1980s. Our French reader has selected some images from Heimat 1, part 9, (title: " Hermännchen ", from the name of the 3rd family child, who is 14-15 years old in (1955-1956). Heimat (Heimat 1) was one of the few German programs ever broadcast in America. It appeared on PBS.
A German reader tells us about " Schwarzwaldhof 1902 ". It is about a German family travels from Berlin which travels to the South of the Black Forest (village of Münstertal) on a special kind of holiday. They were trained and clothed like a farmers family of 1902 and had to look for their farm, which was rather difficult. It offers an interesting insight into the everyday live as a German farmer at the turn of the 20th century. They didn’t succeed, I’m afraid, but they did learn a lot about time and our modern technical devices (e.g mobile telephones, electric light and water closet). The boy in the family wears long trouser with suspenders, a shirt and large hat.
Today in Germany hundreds of people travel to the farm and the number of people staying over night at Münstertal, has increased also. Yhe thought after being on the farm, that live was hard as a farmer and lost their thinking of romance (merry old time). The family was trained only very brief, thus said my mom, who had the pleasure with her sisters and brothers to help
relatives of us with making hay and crops in the 50ies, they couldn’t be aware of certain customs that were common
to her and me. E:G. They at first did not know how to bring the pig outside. They tried it by binding ropes to it. It
screamed terribly. Thus they collected advise from their neighbours. They should put a bucket before the swine’s
face, while another person would tear it by its tail. It will then run backwards and thus can be led easily. Finally, a vet
gave them the advise to give them goodies (Like to dogs) because pigs are sensitive animals. They succeeded.
The farmer (although being an athlete) got difficulties and had to be aided by a doctor ( the health was the standard
of today). Or buying cucumbers, which were rather expensive (it should have been a harnessed team for an ox). Their
potato field was inflicted by a virus, thus destroying several crops. But their biggest mistake was not to take the
crops in in summer, but celebrating the birthday of a sister. The hay and crops were unusable because it got wet.
The managed to birth a calf and do some buttering and cheese making. In Winter, they had to eat cabbage
(Sauerkraut) and other vegetables. As they wanted flesh to eat, they had to kill two hens on their own. The boy
couldn’t eat them, as he had seen the murdering. In the end they had to sell most of the animals (A cow and the pig). Despite his usual dislike of school, the boy liked it very much being at school then. It was a school in which children
of all ages (up to 8th grade) were taught “Zwergschule” mainly writing, reading , and calculating but singing as well.
(Not rithmetics, reading and reciting). He told the reporter, what he had learnt after the trip: "Before going there I just thought taking a shower every day would be a waste of water, now I know it." They learnt that people back then
had a different definition of cleaniness. Although they washed their clothes several times, it did not become the way it
usually should. (Modern laundry detergents had not yet been invented.) Similar informative reenactment series have been made in America about a family living like pioneers and in the U.K. about modern families going back in time and living in different periods.
"Tatort Der Tausch" is apparently a long running German police series. Reiner Matschurat plays the boy Simon who in one episode is kidnapped by militants.
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