Fluchtpunkt Film [Refuge on Screen]

The dissertation by Alina Laura Tiews, Fluchtpunkt Film. Integrationen von Flüchtlingen und Vertriebenen durch den deutschen Nachkriegsfilm 1945–1990 [Refuge on Screen. How Fictional Movies Integrated German Refugees and Expellees, 1945-1990], has been published by the Be.Bra Verlag as volume 6 in the series “Diktatur und Demokratie im 20. Jahrhundert [Dictatorship and Democracy in the 20^th Century].” Publisher Information (in German), Preview

Films about flight and expulsion of Germans at the end of the Second World War and as a consequence thereof are not a new phenomenon of the turn of the millennium. On the contrary, audio-visual narratives shaped the way society dealt with the topic already since the time of the war. This study analysed the previously unknown film history on flight and expulsion for the time of a divided Germany after 1945. Not only the films themselves are analysed but also unpublished archive material on the history of their production and reception.

The study shows how popular feature films and television films shaped the discourses in the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany, and how they contributed to the integration of German refugees and expellees in post-war societies. Despite all the differences, the films also show surprising similarities in dealing with the topic in both German states.