Karlchen, Durchhalten!

“Karlchen, Durchhalten!” is a DEFA children's film about courage, integrity and a childhood in the shadow of National Socialism. It was directed by Siegfried Hartmann and stars Katja Paryla, Olaf Schmechel, Rosemarie Bärhold, Gerhard Bienert, Günter Wolf and Ezard Haussmann. Berlin in the 1930s: ten-year-old Karlchen, son of a murdered communist, comes into the sights of the Gestapo, which wants him to spy on what his family thinks and does. Told from a child's perspective, the film portrays persecution, conflicts of conscience and resistance, and received the children's jury's honorary diploma at the Golden Sparrow children's film festival in 1981.