Preis der Freiheit

24 hours on the border between East and West Germany. In an outlying West Berlin district, police officers chat about their personal lives, take care of petty offence and at most, warn the odd rubbernecker away from the border to the “Soviet zone”. Meanwhile their East German counterparts are under enormous pressure. The day begins with disciplinary action after one of the border guards was found sleeping on duty. The supervisors demand utmost vigilance and a solid ideological bent, and suspicion and mistrust are the rule within the ranks of these soldiers of the National People’s Army (NVA). Unnoticed by the soldiers, four East Berlin students are preparing to flee to the west. But in the morning mists, only their accomplice, an NVA private, succeeds … Filmed from multiple perspectives, using documentary-like techniques, Brecht acolyte Egon Monk filmed a slice of contemporary history from the point of view of the people whom it subjugated. Following his 1965 film Ein Tage (One Day), taglined “report from a concentration camp”, Monk’s Preis der Freiheit garnered awards in 1966 from the Federal Ministry for All-German Affairs and the German academy of performing arts.