Berlin, 1941. Five friends eager to become heroes in an adventure that will change the face of Europe - and that will forever change them as well. Level-headed, highly decorated officer Wilhelm is off to the eastern front with his younger brother Friedhelm, a sensitive dreamer more interested in literature than warfare. Deeply in love with Wilhelm is Charlotte, a young nurse who looks forward to serving in the Wehrmacht, also on the eastern front. While Greta is a talented singer who longs to become another Marlene Dietrich, her Jewish boyfriend Viktor still cannot convince his parents to leave Germany... Valor and courage come to the fore, but also betrayal - of values, beliefs, humanity. Friedhelm turns into a soulless killing machine... Wilhelm deserts his troops and is court-martialed... Charlotte's Nazi ideology crumbles when she betrays a Jewish nurse helping the German army... Greta obtains papers for Viktor's escape by selling herself to an SS colonel. They and millions of ... Written by Anonymous
We follow the experiences of five young adult friends from Berlin during the second world war (WW2). To a certain extent this series can be seen as the German counterpart of Band of Brothers: parts of the series are about the combat of the German Wehrmacht (two of the five friends are Wehrmacht soldiers while one of them is a battlefield nurse). We are given a raw picture of how the German Wehrmacht operated, including the slaughter and sometimes humiliation of its enemies. The story is about German civilians as well: one of the friends tries to avoid the deportation of her Jewish boyfriend by seducing a German officer.
Overall, the story does not provide an excuse for the way that the Germans acted in WW2 ("Wir haben es nicht gewusst"). On the contrary: it points out that not only the Nazi's but also the Wehrmacht (the 'ordinary' army) was involved in the killing of Jews and other civilians. The story is about evilness as well as about the struggle of German soldiers with their conscience while following orders. Doing so the series seem to provide a genuine picture of what really happened.
The story is set at a very good pace and the different plots unwind nicely. But what really distinguishes this series from most other WW2 series is the quality of the footage and the excellent acting. You feel the fear of a German soldier who steps on a mine; you understand that the efforts of a soldier to prevent executions are deemed to fail.
Nothing short of excellent!