After being filmed for the first time while starting school together in Golzow (Oderbruch) in 1961– just a few days after the construction of the Berlin Wall – the lives of the “children of Golzow” took divergent paths after eight, ten or twelve years. Their stories – and insights into different realities – illustrate both a part of GDR history and the history of DEFA documentaries. Both have meanwhile ceased to exist.
Since 1990, this chronicle has documented life in the era of post-German reunification. In 2007, Winfried and Barbara Junge ended the series with the film THEY'RE STILL LIVING HAPPILY EVER AFTER. A long-term chronicle such as “The Children of Golzow” is an innovation that motivates viewers to look carefully and listen, see themselves in fellow human beings and draw parallels to typical contemporaries.

The children of Golzow, a little village near the Polish border, are six and seven years old and just finished preschool. They are excited about their first days in school in September 1961, only one month after the Berlin Wall went up.

Shown at festivals in Lisbon and Bologna

Production Period

1961/1962

Production Year

1962

color

b/w

Aspect Ratio

1:1,33

Duration

Short Film (to 30 Min.)

Type

Documentary

Genre

Biography / Portrait

Topic

School, GDR

Scope of Rights

Nichtexklusive nichtkommerzielle öffentliche Aufführung (nonexclusive, noncommercial public screening),Keine TV-Rechte (no TV rights)

Notes to the Licence

DEFA

Licence Period

31.12.2025

Permanently Restricted Areas

Germany (DE), Austria (AT), Switzerland (CH)

• »Wenn ich erst zur Schule geh'...«
• Winfried Junge