Synopsis
In 1961 Winfried Junge made a short portrait of children in their first year of school WENN ICH ERST ZUR SCHULE GEH' in the East German village of Golzow (Oderbruch), only a few days before the Berlin Wall was built. In the meantime this chronicle has grown in more than four decades into 20 films between 13 and 284 minutes in length. The latest work AND IF THEY HAVEN'T PASSED AWAY portrays five of THE CHILDREN OF GOLZOW, who are now all over the age of 50: Ilona, electrical engineer and later youth functionary in Frankfurt (Oder); Winfried, engineer for electronic equipment making, who for a while was also commander of the industrial militia group in his factory; Jürgen, the house painter and wallpaper hanger who is now a transport and supply worker in Manschnow; Christian, agricultural machine fitter who is meanwhile superintendent at the "Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau in Berlin"; and finally Petra, who like Winfried finished high school, wanted to become a doctor, but move to Mecklenburg as a civil engineer.
In the meantime the original ten-year Oderbruch school is only used as an elementary school. A small museum with a permanent exhibition on the THE CHILDREN OF GOLZOW has been installed in the classrooms that are no longer used. This long-term chronicle, conducted over a period of 45 years, is the longest in film history.
The original titles are:
DIE KINDER VON GOLZOW – Deutsche Zeitgeschichte im Dokumentarfilm
1961 Wenn ich erst zur Schule geh’
1962 Nach einem Jahr
1966 Elf Jahre alt
1969 Wenn man vierzehn ist
1971 Die Prüfung
1975 Ich sprach mit einem Mädchen
1979 Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe
1980 Lebensläufe - Die Geschichte der Kinder von Golzow in einzelnen Porträts
1984 Diese Golzower – Umstandsbestimmung eines Ortes
1992 Drehbuch: Die Zeiten
1994 Das Leben des Jürgen von Golzow
1995 Die Geschichte des Onkel Willy aus Golzow
1996 Was geht euch mein Leben an. Elke - Kind von Golzow
1997 Da habt ihr mein Leben. Marieluise - Kind von Golzow
1998 Brigitte und Marcel - Golzower Lebenswege
1999 Ein Mensch wie Dieter - Golzower
2001 Jochen - ein Golzower aus Philadelphia
2002 Eigentlich wollte ich Förster werden - Bernd aus Golzow
2006 Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind… Die Kinder von Golzow (2 Parts)
