links / references
youtu.be/zxH2OTURrj0www.jffh.de/2013/feinde_bruede...
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
|
www.jffh.de/2013/feinde_bruede...
Enemies l Friends - German prisioners of war in Japan
Synopsis
The story of an extraordinary prisoner of war campwhere German soldiers passed on culture and crafts to their Japanese captors,which have since become part of Japan's own distinctive ways of life.Hans-Joachim Schmidt from Kutzhof, Germany, finds in the attic of his new house photos and letters of German prisoners-of-war (PoW)in Japan during World War I. He starts a historical and biographical researchproject. At the age of 24, Kazue Shinoda learns that she has a German grandfather, who was one of those PoWs in Japan. Her search leads to anunusual family reunion nearly 100 years after the Japanese set up the PoWcamps. Renate Bergner, daughter of a former prisoner of war,keeps the scripts and photos of her father for the future generations.
The Japanese took almost 5,000 German prisoners whenthey conquered Tsingtao, then a German colony in China. In the PoW camps in Japan, such as Bando, Germanculture seeps into the local communities through crafts, exhibitions, lecturesand numerous theatre and concert performances. The first Japanese performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 took place here.
Bando was a starting point in Japan for a lot of German heritage that is now embedded in Japanese culture, for example the baking of German bread. Mr. Oka still bakes German bread four generations later.
Bando became a strong symbol for Japanese German friendship and all this was enabled by the PoW Commandant Matsue treating his German prisoners with respect.
Cast & Crew
- Director
- Screenwriter
