Ernst Thälmann (film)
| Ernst Thälmann | |
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A poster of Son of his Class near the Central Station of Leipzig, 1954.
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| Directed by | Kurt Maetzig |
| Produced by | Adolf Fischer |
| Written by | Willi Bredel, Michael Tschesno-Hell |
| Starring | Günther Simon |
| Music by | Wilhelm Neef |
| Cinematography | Karl Plintzner |
| Edited by | Lena Neumann |
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Production
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| Distributed by | PROGRESS-Film Verleih |
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Release date
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Sohn seiner Klasse:
Führer seiner Klasse:
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Running time
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Sohn seiner Klasse: 127 minutes Führer seiner Klasse: 140 minutes |
| Country | East Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | 10,000,000 East German Mark |
Ernst Thälmann is an East German film in two parts about the life of Ernst Thälmann, leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic, directed by Kurt Maetzig and starring Günther Simon in the title role. The first picture, Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse (Son of his Class), was released in 1954. It was followed by the 1955 sequel Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (Leader of his Class).
After fellow soldier Johannes Harms reports that a revolution has broken out at home, Thälmann - who leads a revolutionary cell on the Western Front - and his friend Fiete Jansen rebel against their officers, Zinker and Quadde, and desert. Harms dies in a shelling. In Berlin, the American capitalist Mr. McFuller demands to crush the Spartacists. Zinker, now a member of the Freikorps, murders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Thälmann hears of it and promises their sacrifice will not be in vain. Jansen falls in love with Harms' daughter, Änne.
When Hamburg faces an attack by Zinker's forces, as part of the Kapp Putsch, the workers organize a general strike; after laborers are shot by the rebels, Thälmann ignores the bourgeoisie Social Democrats who reject violence, ambushes the Freikorps and captures their officers. The Social Democrat Police Senator Höhn frees them after they lightheartedly promise not to use violence.
Thälmann makes a speech in the USPD congress, calling to unite with the KPD, when the Soviet steamship Karl Liebknecht, loaded with wheat for the city's unemployed, reaches the port. Höhn sends Quadde, now a police captain, to prevent the distribution of the cargo, but after a stand-off the police retreat. Thälmann visits Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin in Moscow with other German communists.
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