They were, at best mocked or ridiculed, at worst incarcerated, tortured, or even beheaded. But they would not be deterred. For decades ten thousands of women in Germany, Great Britain, in France, the U.S. and many other countries fought for their right to vote. Some used the institutions, others turned into media savvy politicians, and still others turned to terrorism, went on hunger strike, or died as martyrs. 100 years later we tell a multi-perspective and emotional story of the international fight, against all odds, for women’s suffrage as an important step towards equal rights.

Heligoland, April 18, 1947: Preparations for one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history are almost complete. The British want to raze the island to the ground with more than 6,000 tons of explosives - nothing should remind of the sea fortress with its air raid shelters and anti-aircraft systems, with the submarine bunker and naval port. The Heligolanders have been evacuated and are waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the “Big Bang” in Hamburg and Cuxhaven, on Sylt, in Schleswig and Wilhelmshaven. Will they ever be able to set foot on the red rock again - or will the island's history come to an end in an explosion that historians will later measure as the size of atomic bombs?

August 1942: Amidst the unimaginable suffering inflicted during the blockade of Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht, an orchestra director was given an almost impossible task: to stage the premiere of Dimitri Shostakovitch's "Leningrad Symphony". The performance became a symbol of the brief triumph of culture over the barbarism of war.