How Frau Krause invented the DDR

“The Wild East” – a tv series in the making: the idea’s in place and the content fully developed. All we need now are the people, authentic voices telling us what it was really like to live in East Germany. Frau Krause’s job is to find them. But what happens when people who never even lived there know best? What version of the DDR do they create?
Isabella Krause is looking for ten East Germans to talk about their lives. No problem – after all, she grew up there herself. But she has spent longer in a united Germany than she ever did in the DDR, so she returns to places she knew as a child and finds people she thinks are representative: the woman who drove a tractor, the steelworker, the cook, the actor from the state theatre.
But the filmmaker comes from Munich and has his own ideas. Thirty years after the fall of the Wall, these amount to dictators, shortages and Stasi. But what about the lives of the others? Those who enjoyed their work, tolerated the country and sat down at the weekend to watch legendary variety show Ein Kessel Buntes? Did family life really differ from east to west?
Kathrin Aehnlich draws on her own roots to tell their story with wit and empathy. Her story shows how important it is to listen to each other.