This film and its story of a young German soldier who is wrongly suspected of murder and temporarily imprisoned with war criminals in Poland at the end of the Second World War did not always meet with approval. Accepted for the 1983 Berlinale, the GDR withdrew the film shortly before the festival after Poland took exception to the work. The East German authorities gave no official reason for their action. Now, on the occasion of the awarding of an Honorary Berlin Bear to Wolfgang Kohlhaase, the film will at last enjoy its deserved festival presentation. JB