page_title: Ernst Thälmann (film)
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Ernst Thälmann (film) / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Heusdorf, Besuch von Künstlern Zentralbild Bez. Red. Erfurt 20.10.1955 Wehse-3236 Me-Ge 2 Motive Künstlerkollektiv des Thälmann-Films auf der MTS Apolda-Heusdorf. Zu einem großen Erlebnis für die Landbevölkerung des Kreises Apolda, Bezirk Erfurt, wurde die Aufführung des Films Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse am 18.10.55 im Kulturhaus der MTS Apolda-Heusdorf. An der Vorstellung nahmen Künstler, die im Thälmann-Film mitwirkten, teil. UBz: Auf dem Hof der MTS. (w.v.r.) Nationalpreisträger Günter Simon im Gespräch mit dem Politleiter der MTS, Koll. Sachs (1.v.l.) un dem Direktor der MTS, Nationalpreisträger Wolfgang Hahn (2.v.l.)
context_page_description: 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 part, Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse, was released in 1954. It was followed by the 1955 sequel. Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse.
context_section_description: Bredel and Tschesno-Hell completed the first draft of the script in early 1951. The plot began with the four-year-old Ernst shoving socialist pamphlets in his trousers to hide them from the police officers who raided his father's tavern, where an illegal meeting of the SPD took place. It also featured his childhood and youth with his parents, his falling in love with the young Rosa Koch and his years as a simple worker who turned to communism.
  DEFA concluded that Bredel's and Tschesno-Hell's script would require splitting the film into three parts. This was deemed to long by the committee. After a year of deliberations, most of the original screenplay was rejected. In January 1951, it was decided to have a two-part picture, the first dealing with the time from the end of World War I to 1930, and the second taking off in 1932 and continuing until the founding of the German Democratic Republic. The two parts were named Ernst Thälmann - Sohn des Volkes and Ernst Thälmann - Führer des Volkes (son and leader of the people, respectively). The titles were later changed to Sohn and Führer seiner Klasse.
  The political establishment had closely monitored the work. According to historian René Börrner, "no other film, in the years before or after, received such attention from the SED". On 21 August 1951, Walter Ulbricht sent the committee a letter in which he requested that a meeting between Thälmann and Joseph Stalin would be portrayed.
  There were other political concerns, as well. Under the influence of events in the Soviet Union, the Ministry of Culture accused the DEFA filmmakers of taking up a Formalistic approach, and demanded they reject it and adopt a Socialist realist line. During 1952, Bredel's and Tschesno-Hell's script was again subject to revisions and had to be rewritten. In July, State Secretary of Press and Agitation Hermann Axen told the Thälmann committee that the main problem to be solved was "The authors' primitive depiction of Thälmann", which failed to present his "grand revolutionary instinct". Later, committee member Hermann Lauter demanded the inclusion of historical events that had no direct connection with Thälmann's life, such as the October Revolution.
caption: Günther Simon and other actors visit Heusdorf, in the region of Apolda, to promote the film.
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