I Was Nineteen

I Was Nineteen
Directed by	Konrad Wolf
Produced by	Herbert Ehler
Written by	Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Konrad Wolf
Starring	Jaecki Schwarz Wassili Liwanow Alexei Eiboschenko Dieter Mann
Cinematography	Werner Bergmann
Edited by	Evelyn Carow
Release dates	1968
Running time	115 minutes
Country	German Democratic Republic
Language	German
Budget	2,077,000 East German Mark[1]

I Was Nineteen (German: Ich war neunzehn) is a DEFA production that tells the story of a young German, Gregor Hecker (Jaecki Schwarz), who fled the Nazis with his parents to Moscow and now, in early 1945, returns to Germany as a lieutenant in the Red Army. The film depicts the personal experiences of the director Konrad Wolf and of his friend Vladimir Gall in fictionalized form and deals with themes of the meaning of "homeland".

During its original run, it sold 3,317,966 tickets.^[2]

Cast

• Jaecki Schwarz as Gregor Hecker
• Wassili Liwanow as Wadim Gejman
• Alexei Eiboschenko as Sascha Ziganjuk
• Galina Polskikh as Soviet girl
• Jenny Gröllmann as German girl
• Michail Glusski as Soviet general
• Anatoli Solowjow as Starschina
• Kalmursa Rachmanov as Dsingis
• Rolf Hoppe as Etappenmajor Behring
• Wolfgang Greese as Landscaper
• Johannes Wieke as colonel Lewerenz
• Jürgen Hentsch as First lieutenant Schenk, Adjutant
• Kurt Böwe as SS leader
• Klaus Manchen as blind soldier
• Walter Bechstein as 1st freed prisoner
• Hermann Beyer as 2nd freed prisoner
• Werner Wenzel as 3rd freed prisoner
• Dieter Mann as Willi Lommer

References

1. Bernhard Chiari. Krieg und Militär im Film des 20. Jahrhunderts. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag (2003). ISBN 9783486567168. p. 482.
2. List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.

External links

• imdb entry