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Movies & Series

East Germany's Forbidden Films

In the course of the upheaval in 1989/90, they all came back to the screen: the "basement" or "shelf films" that the GDR authorities had banned

More than 20 films from the GDR's state film studio were banned from the screen by the political leadership. In the period after the Wall was built in 1961, many cultural workers hoped for a more open political climate, but were disappointed at the XI Plenum of the Central Committee of the state party SED in 1965: the party came down hard on critical artistic voices at the so-called Kahlschlag Plenum, and shortly afterwards almost an entire year's worth of films fell victim to censorship. The directors and scenarists affected were by no means dissidents, but rather wanted to improve the socialism they believed in through sincere portrayals of reality. Our collection shows a selection of affected films. Most of them were only screened again after 1989/90, many of them at the first all-German "Berlinale".

More than 20 films from the GDR's state film studio were banned from the screen by the political leadership. In the period after the Wall was built in 1961, many cultural workers hoped for a more open political climate, but were disappointed at the XI Plenum of the Central Committee of the state party SED in 1965: the party came down hard on critical artistic voices at the so-called Kahlschlag Plenum, and shortly afterwards almost an entire year's worth of films fell victim to censorship. The directors and scenarists affected were by no means dissidents, but rather wanted to improve the socialism they believed in through sincere portrayals of reality. Our collection shows a selection of affected films. Most of them were only screened again after 1989/90, many of them at the first all-German "Berlinale".

More than 20 films from the GDR's state film studio were banned from the screen by the political leadership. In the period after the Wall was built in 1961, many cultural workers hoped for a more open political climate, but were disappointed at the XI Plenum of the Central Committee of the state party SED in 1965: the party came down hard on critical artistic voices at the so-called Kahlschlag Plenum, and shortly afterwards almost an entire year's worth of films fell victim to censorship. The directors and scenarists affected were by no means dissidents, but rather wanted to improve the socialism they believed in through sincere portrayals of reality. Our collection shows a selection of affected films. Most of them were only screened again after 1989/90, many of them at the first all-German "Berlinale".

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