''Don't Forget My Little Traudel'' () is an

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

comedy film, directed by

Kurt Maetzig Kurt Maetzig (25 January 1911 – 8 August 2012) was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany. He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR. After his retirement he lived in Wildkuh ...

. It was released in 1957.

Plot

Traudel is a war orphan, whose mother died in the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

after refusing to renounce her love for a Czechoslovak prisoner. The only memento of her mother is a letter ending with the words "don't forget me, my little Traudel". When she turns seventeen, she flees the orphanage and ventures to Berlin, where she meets policeman Hannes, who falls in love with her and even forges documents for her. He is caught, but is only slightly reprimanded, and marries her.

Cast

Production

In the late 1950s, the East German cultural authorities allowed a certain liberalization in the national cinema industry, and a series of entertainment-oriented films was produced by

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

as a result, mainly comedies. Director Kurt Maetzig told an interviewer that he decided to create a light-hearted comedy after being exhausted by the work on "the all-too-serious" '' Castles and Cottages''. He encountered difficulties when he tried to have the script approved for filming by the DEFA Commission, which criticized it for lack of morality and overly-sexual content; only the influence of the director and of writer Kurt Barthel enabled it to be authorized. Maetzig was influenced by ''

The Seven Year Itch ''The Seven Year Itch'' is a 1955 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, who co-wrote the screenplay with George Axelrod. Based on Axelrod's 1952 The Seven Year Itch (play), play of the same name, the film stars Marilyn Monroe ...

'' when making ''Don't Forget My Little Traudel'', and included a scene in which

Eva-Maria Hagen Eva-Maria Hagen (; ; 19 October 1934 – 16 August 2022) was a German actress and singer. She was known as the "Brigitte Bardot of the GDR" but was banned from performance for political reasons. Life Hagen was born Eva-Maria Buchholz in Költ ...

's skirt fluttered in the wind in a manner reminiscent of

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

's famous appearance. The movie was the actress's debut on screen.

Reception

Although ''Traudel'' was a commercial success, Maetzig complained that most critics did not respond well to the film:

Mikhail Romm Mikhail Ilyich Romm (; – 1 November 1971) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1950. Life and career Early life He was born in Irkutsk into a family of mixed Russian Jewish ...

told that the director "betrayed Socialist Realism" after watching it. The East German authorities continued to see it in negative light after its release. Antonin and Miera Liehm called the film "a tale of cheap sentimentality". Joshua Feinstein wrote that "the director was certainly not above... depicting women in demeaning conventions... as a voluptuous ditz". Sabine Hake noted that the film, while presenting the adventures of a teenage girl, still used the conventions of class struggle and other communist motifs when depicting society.

References

External links

* *
Don't Forget My Little Traudel
' on cinema.de. {{Kurt Maetzig 1957 films East German films 1950s German-language films Films set in Berlin Films directed by Kurt Maetzig German comedy films 1957 comedy films German black-and-white films