I Was Nineteen

I Was Nineteen

115 mins | Drama, History | Feb. 1, 1968

Gregor is a young soldier entering Germany with the victorious Soviet troops at the end of WWII. But he is also the child of left-wing Germans who fled from Hitler and spent the war in the Soviet Union. As a result, his return to Germany is ambivalent; he finds he is a stranger in his own land. As they enter Germany, Gregor begins to realize that he is different from all his comrades in arms, for this defeated land is his home country, the Germans he meets are his compatriots. He is a victor, but also one of the vanquished. He attempts to understand the Germans he meets along his way, but he is a 19-year-old: inquisitive, occasionally uncomprehending and repeatedly dismayed by the atrocities and lies he encounters.

I Was Nineteen

115 mins | Drama, History | Feb. 1, 1968

I Was Nineteen
Gregor is a young soldier entering Germany with the victorious Soviet troops at the end of WWII. But he is also the child of left-wing Germans who fled from Hitler and spent the war in the Soviet Union. As a result, his return to Germany is ambivalent; he finds he is a stranger in his own land. As they enter Germany, Gregor begins to realize that he is different from all his comrades in arms, for this defeated land is his home country, the Germans he meets are his compatriots. He is a victor, but also one of the vanquished. He attempts to understand the Germans he meets along his way, but he is a 19-year-old: inquisitive, occasionally uncomprehending and repeatedly dismayed by the atrocities and lies he encounters.
IMDb rating 7.5
Producers DEFA, Künstlerische Arbeitsgruppe ''Babelsberg''
Original title Ich war neunzehn
Directors Konrad Wolf
Writers Gerhard Wolf, Konrad Wolf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase

Cast

Jaecki Schwarz

as Gregor Hecker

Vasiliy Livanov

as Wadim

Rolf Hoppe

as Etappenmajor Behring

Galina Polskikh

as Sowjetisches Mädchen

Jürgen Hentsch

as Oberleutnant Schenk, Adjutant

Kurt Böwe

as SS-Sturmbannführer

Hermann Beyer

as 2. befreiter Häftling

Mikhail Gluzskiy

as Sowjetisches General

Jenny Gröllmann

as deutsches Mädchen

Wolfgang Greese

as Landschaftsarchitekt

Johannes Wieke

as Oberst Lewerenz

Fritz Mohr

as Feldwebel