Salient: Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Vol. 24, No. 11. 1961
Born in 1921 — (Czech-German, 1957)
Born in 1921
(Czech-German, 1957)
The hero of this film is Jan, a young Czech. He is sent with his comrades who have been taken as forced labourers to Germany to clear away debris after air raids on a German town. While rescuing a small child from the rubble, he is injured and taken to hospital where he meets the German nurse, Kathe. They fall in love; in the middle of the horrors of war, the all-pervading hatred and the ever present threat of death, the two people find each other and discover a mutual understanding that transcends the difference in nationality.
Kathe's contact with a foreigner provokes the enmity of the Head sister and the girl is transferred to Dresden. There Jan and Kathe meet again and enjoy a brief glimpse of happiness—Kathe is arrested by the Gestapo for collaborating with a foreigner, the film ending on a note of tragedy.