Sun Seekers

Sun Seekers (German: Sonnensucher) is an East German film, directed by Konrad Wolf during 1958. It was banned and subsequently released only in 1972.

1950. After being arrested in a police raid, the two young prostitutes Lotte and Emmi are sent to the mines in Wismut. There, Germans and Soviets work together to extract Uranium for the use of the USSR. Two men fall in love with Lotte: the director Beier, a former SS man who tries to compensate for his past with hard work, and the Soviet engineer Sergei, whose wife was murdered by the Germans in the war. In the meantime, Jupp König, a veteran communist whom Emmi once harbored from the Gestapo, leads the miners as they attempt to replace their harsh and incompetent party boss, Weihrauch. Eventually, König is given Weihrauch's office. Lotte marries Beier, although she later realizes that she loves Sergei. When her husband is badly injured in an accident, he confides to the Soviet engineer that soldiers from his battalion murdered the latter's wife; Sergei replies that he knew it all along. Lotte and her baby son leave the mines and return to Berlin.

Konrad Wolf conceived the film during the early stage of the Khrushchev Thaw, when the political climate seemed to be liberalizing. The script was inspired by the real conditions of Wismut: thousands of prostitutes were arrested and forced to work in the mines during the late 1940s, while many other miners were former servicemen of the Wehrmacht, the SS or ex-members of the Nazi Party.

The film was intended to be ready for release already in 1958, but the DEFA Commission and functionaries in the Ministry of Culture disapproved of the negative portrayal of party boss Weihrauch and the less than pristine conduct of the workers. The film's supporters pointed out its committed Socialist-Realist narrative, its positive depiction of Soviet-German cooperation and its artistic merits; actor Erwin Geschonneck used his influence to promote it. On 24 June 1959, after many deliberations, Sun Seekers was shown to the entire Politburo, including Walter Ulbricht. Although they requested to make several alterations, the members praised the film. It was authorized to be released on 5 October.