The film focuses on life in a World War II German penal battalion camp somewhere in Russia. The convicts include a heroic doctor unjustly convicted of avoiding military service, an officer who retreated against orders, and common criminals. It shows their life in the camp, clearing mines, living in trenches on the front line.

A music comedy directed by Dietrich Haugk based on the play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

The famous singer Roberto Ricci wants to save himself from his overly intrusive female fans with a fake marriage. Mr. Praxl from the marriage institute Eros finds him his own granddaughter Gertie, who works as a waitress and wants to finance her own singing and dancing career with the fee for the role of his wife. To comply with Mr. Ricci's wishes, the attractive Gertie disguises herself as a wallflower with her hair pinned up and high-necked dresses. The act has the desired effect on Roberto's female followers. Over time, however, Gertie and Roberto actually fall in love with each other, which sparks the jealousy of Roberto's stage partner Loretta. With the help of Füllkrug, she tries to thwart the budding romance.

Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the classical German musical heritage. This enchanting film, the very first opera production of DEFA, stands out because of its lavish decor and costumes, its outstanding actors and their masterful voices of that time.

While an anatomy seminar prepares to examine the cadaver of Franz Wozzeck in the name of scientific progress, medical student Büchner excoriates humanity for having allowed Wozzeck’s fate. The tragic story unfolds in flashbacks, as Büchner narrates.

Set during the rise of the Nazi regime, Elisabeth Maurer and Hans Wieland enjoy successful careers as actors in Berlin. Confident in her career, Elisabeth, who is Jewish, ignores the advice of a colleague to leave Germany in the face of increasing anti-Semitism. Believing that he can protect her if she becomes his wife, Hans convinces Elisabeth to marry him. In the following years, as Hans's career thrives, Elisabeth awaits the end of the Nazi terror which bars her from public life. When the situation worsens in 1938 with the Kristallnacht pogrom, Elisabeth decides to leave the country, but Hans, who still believes he can protect her, convinces her to stay with him.

East Berlin, shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Kurt Schröder and his family dig a tunnel to escape to West Berlin as they struggle to overcome the obstacles blocking their underground path to freedom.

After a line of mischief Philip Gale, an American sailor, is lured into hiring on the "Yorikke", a tramp cargo, by Lawski, a stoker from Poland. Still, the two become friends within the motley crew of losers from all nations. Gale and his new companion soon are more than disillusioned: the "Yorikke" is far from seaworthy and more of a coffin than a ship, work is close to slavery, and treatment by the officers and their subalterns is harsh and cynical. One day they make an alarming discovery in a tin of plum butter they have procured from the ship's cargo... Written by Anonymous