Die Brücke (1949)

After the end of the Second World War, a group of resettlers arrives in a small town in central Germany that has escaped destruction. The newcomers, who are housed in a resettlement camp connected to the town itself by a bridge, face suspicion and rejection from the local community. Despite his efforts, even Michaelis, the resettlers’ spokesman, can do little to change the adults’ minds. The young people rise above the resentment: Michaelis’s daughter, Hanne, falls in love with Martin, the mayor’s nephew. Martin is also being courted by Therese, the town’s innkeeper. When Martin chooses Hanne, Therese has the bridge partly sawn through in revenge—and Michaelis is then killed in an accident on the bridge. Later, Therese negligently causes a fire that soon engulfs half the town. The resettlers, whose camp has been cut off from the town by the destroyed bridge, swim across the river and actively help save the town. The scheming Therese, meanwhile, dies in the fire at her own house. The joint construction of a new bridge finally brings the newcomers and the long-established residents together.