Sealed Lips is the English title of a German historical drama which premiered in 2018. Most of this drama takes place in East Germany during the 1950s, but the story begins in the Soviet Union, in a labour camp in a remote corner of Siberia. The name of the place is Vorkuta.
In 1952, three German women, who had been arrested in the 1930s, during the great purge, are told to report to the camp director’s office. When they get to the office, they are told that they will be released and sent to Germany. Immediately.
The three women are Antonia, Susanne and Irma. One of them (Antonia) has a daughter (Lydia) who was born in the camp in 1941. In 1952, she is 11 years old. When the three women are going to Germany, Lydia will join her mother. Antonia and her daughter Lydia are the main characters in the drama.
In 1952, there are two German states: East Germany and West Germany. Both states are young. Both were established only three years before, in 1949. The three women and Lydia are not sent to West Germany. They are sent to east Germany which is closely connected with the USSR.
In this drama, we follow Antonia and Lydia as they are trying to start their lives in a country which is new to both of them.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Original German title: Und der Zukunft zugewandt
** Writer and director: Bernd Böhlich
** Languages spoken: mostly German; on occasion Russian
** Run time: 108 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Alexandra Maria Lara as Antonia Berger – a former political prisoner in the USSR
** Carlotta von Falkenhayn as Lydia Berger – Antonia’s daughter
** Swetlana Schönfeld as Waltraut Kessler – Antonia’s mother
** Robert Stadlober as Dr Konrad Zeidler – a doctor in East Germany
** Stefan Kurt as Leo Silberstein – a member of the East German communist party (SED) – a bureaucrat
** Jürgen Tarrach as Alois Hoecker – Antonia’s neighbour in East Germany
** Barbara Schnitzler as Susanne Schumann – a former political prisoner in the USSR
** Karoline Eichhorn as Irma Seibert – a former political prisoner in the USSR
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore, I will not say much about what happens in this drama. I will only tell you how the story begins.
In addition, I will offer some background information, so you can understand how and why this drama came to be.
It is not based on a true story, but it is inspired by true events. While the story is fictional, many key elements are based on real events. The two main characters (Antonia and Lydia) are inspired by two real persons: Betty Schönfeld and her daughter Swetlana Schönfeld. Here is some information about them:
Betty, who was born in 1910, is a German communist who moves to the USSR in 1932. In 1937, during the great purge, she is arrested and sent to a labour camp in Siberia. The name of the place is Kolyma.
In 1948, she marries a Russian man. In 1951, they have a daughter who is called Swetlana. In 1952, Betty’s husband is killed by some bandits. Now Betty is a single mother and Swetlana has no father.
In 1957, Betty and her daughter are released and sent to East Germany. At the time, Swetlana is only six years old. When she grows up, she becomes an actress.
If you look at the chart above, you will see that Swetlana is actually a member of the cast. She plays Antonia’s mother. In other words: she plays her own grandmother who she never met, because she was already dead when Betty and Swetlana arrived in East Germany in 1957.
As stated above, the main characters (Antonia and Lydia) are inspired by Betty and Swetlana. As you will see now, the story of Antonia and Lydia is almost identical to the story of Betty and Swetlana:
Antonia, who was born in 1913, is a German communist who moves to the USSR in 1938. In 1940 she is arrested. She is accused of being a spy. She is found guilty and sent to a labour camp in Siberia. The name of the place is Vorkuta.
In the camp she marries a German prisoner whose last name is Berger. In 1941, they have a daughter who is called Lydia. In 1952, when the drama begins, Lydia is 11 years old.
Lydia’s parents are placed in separate camps. Lydia and her mother are in a camp for women, while Lydia’s father is in a camp for men. One evening, her father manages to leave his own camp and enter the women’s camp. He wants to join them to celebrate Lydia’s 11th birthday. But when he returns to his own camp, something goes wrong: he is spotted by a guard who thinks he is trying to escape. The guard shoots him and kills him. Now Antonia is a widow, and Lydia has no father.
When the three German women and Lydia arrive in east Germany, there is a warn welcome for them. A local bureaucrat (Leo Silberstein) explains that each woman will get a place to live, will get a job, and will get some money to start a new life.
This sounds good; almost too good to be true. And it is. Because there is a catch: in return for being so nice to them, the state has one significant condition:
When the three women and Lydia are asked where they come from, they are allowed to say that they lived in the USSR, but they are not allowed to reveal any details about their lives and experiences in the USSR.
The GULAG network of labour camps and prison camps is a taboo topic in East Germany. It cannot be mentioned. It cannot be mentioned that German citizens were placed some of these camps.
In a weird way, the USSR is now admitting that these women were innocent; that these women never committed any crime; that it was wrong to arrest them and force them to spend many years in a labour camp; that these women were punished for crimes they did not commit. But the USSR cannot say this out loud. And nobody in East Germany is allowed to talk about this or write about this.
Why not?
According to East German communist propaganda, the USSR is the perfect state, the perfect role model. If it is revealed that innocent German citizens were placed in labour camps or prison camps for many years, this will place the USSR in a bad light. This information cannot be revealed to anyone. Neither the three women nor Lydia can mention this to anyone. Not even to family or close friends.
The bureaucrat (Leo Silberstein) hands them a piece of paper. It is a contract. They must all sign this contract in which they promise never to say anything about their lives and experiences in the USSR. This contract, which demands total silence about the past, is the origin of the English title of the drama:
Sealed Lips.
The women are surprised, but they realize that there is no alternative. They have to sign. If they refuse, they have no home, no job, and no money. They will be lost. They accept and sign the contract.
This is how the drama begins and this is where my introduction comes to an end. If you want to know what happens to Antonia and Lydia and the people around them, you must watch the drama all the way to the end.
How did the director come to make this drama? It is a long and complicated story. I will try to be brief. The plan was in his head for a long time, but he had to wait for more than 20 years before it could become a reality. Here is what happened:
STEP ONE
In 1988, Bernd and Swetlana worked together on a television movie. He was the director and she was a member of the cast. They were shooting in the north of East Germany. The team had to stay in a hotel. The team was checking in and, by chance, Bernd learned that Swetlana had been born in Siberia in the USSR. This was a big surprise. He was very interested. Why was she born in the USSR? And why in Siberia?
Swetlana wanted to explain, but she had to tell him that she did not really know any details, because her mother did not want to talk about it. Bernd wanted to make a movie based on this unusual story, but he had no facts on which to base a movie.
STEP TWO
In 1999, when Betty died, Swetlana found some key documents about the life in the USSR and the early years in East Germany which her mother had kept secret from her all her life.
Bernd and Swetlana met again and talked again. This time, Swetlana was able to tell Bernd the whole story about her mother’s life in the USSR and the early years in East Germany.
From this moment, Bernd began in earnest to plan and prepare a movie about a German woman who had lived in the USSR and her daughter who had been born in a labour camp in Siberia. But even though he now had some hard facts on which to base a story, he still had to wait for many years until he was able to turn his dream into a reality.
The English title of the drama is Sealed Lips. This title has already been explained. What about the original German title? What does this mean? What is the reason for this title? Here is the answer:
The German title is a line from East Germany’s national anthem which was written and composed by Johannes R. Becher. The first verse begins with these words:
Auferstanden aus Ruinen
Und der Zukunft zugewandt
In English:
Rising from the ruins
And looking towards the future
The message of this song is that we are starting from a difficult position. But we must forget about the past. We must look towards the future and build the new society together.
This message also applies to the three women and Lydia. They are told to forget about the past. Do not talk about it! Do not even think about it! Look towards the future and try to build a new life!
This drama reveals that the East German state was based on a serious lie. Innocent women had been arrested and sent to labour camps in the USSR; the state which was idolized on a daily basis in East Germany.
These women had been punished for crimes they had not committed. And now when they had finally been freed, they were not allowed to tell the truth about what happened to them. The past had to be buried, because the name of the USSR could not be tarnished; it had to be pure.
What do reviewers say about this historical drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 65 percent, which corresponds to 3.3 stars on Amazon. On the German version of Amazon, there are at the moment more than one hundred ratings and reviews. The average rating is 4.2 stars.
If you ask me, both ratings are too low. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.
PS. The following reviews are available online:
** Blessy Chettiar, “Sealed Lips review: War drama tells story of a woman’s struggles in the present for her past and future,” Cinestan, 28 November 2018.
This review offers 2 of 4 stars, a rating of 50 percent.
** Bernd Reinhardt and Verena Nees, “Sealed Lips: Dramatizing the Stalinist origins of the former East Germany,” World Socialist Web Site, 21 October 2019.
This review is positive. The reviewers say: “Sealed Lips recalls the darkest chapter of the GDR – its Stalinist prehistory – and is well worth watching.”
*****
The German director Bernd Böhlich
(born in East Germany in 1957)
*****
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