A photograph of a class of the Lessing Gymnasium in Berlin's Wedding district: one of the portrayed held contact to some of the classmates over many years. In interviews, the now 50 to 60 years-olds report on their life from 1937 - the year they graduated - until today. They recall their schooldays, their advantures during the Olympic Games in 1936, the beginning of the war an about how they continues thier lives after 1945. They talk about their jobs and families. The former classmates describe the "marriage qualification examination" of the SS, the welcome at the "Condor Legion", their attitude towards nationalsocialism ("we never been politically interested") and about their view on the world today.
One of the class is missing on the photo: Bernhard Kaiser had to leave school because he was Jewish. He migrated to the U.S., his parents were killed in Auschwitz, but the son describes the events without hatred. Werner Willi Garn, another pupil, popular in his class and respected as a leader, joined the Condor Legion in Spain. Eberhard Wirbitzky, a little older than the rest and an early supporter of nazi-ideology, is still crasy about a racially pure Germany; for him Brecht and Tucholsky are still representatives of decadence and decay. None of the former schoolboys critically reflects their former enthusiasm. One found his his way into inner emigration via catholic youth organisations, others still consider the time of the Third Reich as the best time of their lives. Some of the boys were killed in the war, others tried after 1945 to build up a new existence in the young Federal Republic and belonged to the "silent majority" which was completely absorbed by organizing the economic recovery. One them works as a dentist - in East Berlin.