“Generation War”: German Miniseries Set on Eastern Front

The German public broadcasting miniseries Generation War recounts the story of five friends who meet again in 1941 before World War II sends them in different directions on the Eastern Front.  The three 90-minute films stand out for the realistic treatment of period settings.  Viewers know that Hollywood had no hand in re-creating the many details of lives caught up in wartime locations.

     The friends in Generation War–two ethnic German brothers, a Jewish tailor, a nurse, and a cabaret singer–are immersed in the machinery of a country at war, really no different from young men and women in every country who are called to serve.  Their innocence is slowly eroded by the grim hardships of the battlefield.

     Old war-movie formulas are extended in new directions.  The German friends aren’t shown as anti-semitic, though Polish partisans often are.  While US soldiers left to fight across the seas, the US population back home enjoyed a freedom from devastation of towns and cities.  The friends left for the Eastern Front too, but were highly aware of the utter destruction of their country’s social fabric.

      This is a German miniseries with English subtitles, but perfect for students who are trying to learn that language.  American viewers won’t see the Russians as the allies we are used to.  Rather, if there is any sense of  “mission” in the films, the Germans see themselves as attacking the heart of the Soviet Communist state, attempting to turn back an aggressive Bolshevism that was bent on world domination, perhaps like ISIS today.