Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser...

The corner of Schönhauser Allee in East Berlin is where a group of young people meet. Dieter, a construction worker, is in love with Angela, who joins the group whenever her mother is occupied with her new lover. The boy they call Kohle stays away from home to avoid his father’s drinking, while Karl-Heinz is drifting towards petty crime. Because they take an interest in western music and culture they are written off locally as good for nothings. The story hardens when an incident forces Dieter and Kohle to flee to West Germany. The screenplay of Gerhard Klein’s eighty one minute DEFA film was written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase, their third work together. It opened on 30 August 1957 and reached more than a million and a half viewers in East Germany, but was banned in West Germany for its unfavourable depiction of a refugee reception camp.