Book presentation "The Bolshevik. Michael Tschesno-Hell and his DEFA films": For the latest publication in the DEFA Foundation's series, Ralph Hammerthaler has undertaken a biographical investigation into the work of the influential writer, publisher and GDR cultural functionary, Michael Tschesno-Hell. We are screening two important DEFA productions based on his screenplays. DER HAUPTMANN VON KÖLN (The Captain from Cologne, Slatan Dudow, GDR 1956) is an anti-militarist satire about a con artist in West Germany who as the Doppelgänger of a Wehrmacht officer wanted for war crimes is able to go from being an unemployed waiter to running a firm called "Montan" and becoming an MP. SOLANGE LEBEN IN MIR IST (As Long As There's Life in Me, Günter Reisch, GDR 1965) depicts episodes from the life of Karl Liebknecht between 1914 and 1916 when he fought against the SPD's war policy as a pacifist outsider and consequently suffered countless reprisals. (jr) (1.2.)
