Kramer

Synopsis

Based on a true story

In a seemingly-idyllic pre-war world full of dreams and aspirations, Josepha and Robert fall in love. And, like other such couples, they want to raise a family and build a new life.

But war destroys those shared dreams. World War II, the chaotic post-war years and the separation of Germany propel them into radically different destinies.

On the one hand, Robert Kramer survives the death-cauldron of Stalingrad, and then undergoes a paradoxical change from convinced Nazi, to its polar opposite: antifascist and loyal Communist. After the war, he becomes a career bureaucrat, driven by ice-cold ambition, part of the political elite of the new GDR.

On the other hand, Josepha and their son plunge into a miserably frightening isolation that becomes even worse after the war: she gets arrested for the supposed “betrayal” of a Communist partisan. She is fed–without any trial, of course–into the inhuman, Kafka-esque machinery of the Soviet occupation force and the subsequent GDR. Meanwhile,  in order not to endanger his own ambitions, Robert has Josepha declared legally dead, thrusting her into a grim, ten year journey through a series of special prison camps and womens’ prisons.

Finally, in 1957, she’s released and goes west into the open, energetic world of the Federal Republic of Germany. But, ironically, even as Josepha starts to build a new life in the west,
the Hungarian revolution heralds a slow decline for Robert’s fortunes in the east.

Josepha tries to come to terms with her destiny by writing a book, but wide interest in its publication. and a subsequent search for the long-lost son, threatens too many important figures in the GDR. The implacable machinery of the Stasi is set in motion.

Robert begins to understand the monstrous situation, and for the very first time, questions himself. Finally, the rediscovered son allows opportunity for a first encounter between the long-separated couple.