Sun Seekers (1972)

Interesting facts

Sun Seekers is an East German film, directed by Konrad Wolf during 1958. It was banned and subsequently released only in 1972.

Production

Konrad Wolf conceived the film during the early stage of the Khrushchev Thaw, when the political climate seemed to be liberalizing. The script was inspired by the real conditions of Wismut: thousands of prostitutes were arrested and forced to work in the mines during the late 1940s, while many other miners were former servicemen of the Wehrmacht, the SS or ex-members of the Nazi Party.

The film was intended to be ready for release already in 1958, but the DEFA Commission and functionaries in the Ministry of Culture disapproved of the negative portrayal of party boss Weihrauch and the less than pristine conduct of the workers.

Very shortly before it was to be released, the Soviet embassy in Berlin intervened and demanded to ban the film. While the exact details of the request are unknown, the Soviets were worried that presenting a Uranium mine and its contribution to the nuclear arms race - in the film, the main motivation of the miners was to insure peace by breaking the American monopoly on atomic weapons - would undermine their position in the diplomatic struggle ag…

The ban was seen as an achievement for the film's opponents in the Ministry of Culture, who viewed it as overly liberal. Mira and Antonin Liehm wrote that many interpreted it as caused by an intervention of those officials, rather than only of the Soviets. According to Dagmar Schittly, East German directors were strongly influenced by the picture's withdrawal, and avoided presenting any "real conflict" in their films.

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