When first viewing Zustand und Gelände, we might be under the impression it belongs to a well-known tradition of historical documentaries. Long shots, extremely slow all-round views, steady panning: the image patiently describes a series of urban sites and landscapes of the former German Democratic Republic (Saxony and Thuringia). Through highly elaborate arrangements of archives from different sources (police reports, survivors’ testimonies, administrative correspondence, and more), an o -screen voice establishes what these places set the stage for in March 1933: the Nazi concentration system and an elimination regime of all political opposition. Especially noteworthy, in this film, is the extremely attentive channelling towards still unknown times and geographies of the horror Hitler inflicted on the first victims: people with sympathies for communism, activists, trade unionists, socio-democratic journalists, and so on.

Original title:

Zustand und Gelände

Release:

July 13, 2019

Original language:

German

Production country:

Germany

Ute Adamczewski

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