Die Freibadclique (2017)

Germany in the summer of 1944, under the Nazi dictatorship and in the fifth year of the Second World War: Uncle, Knuffke, Bubu, Tongue-Kisser, and Pantsmaker, as they are nicknamed, are members of the “Freibad Clique.” Defying the propaganda of war and its prescribed heroism, the five 15-year-old boys in Schwäbisch Hall are more interested in American music—swing and big-band sounds—and the girls in their swimsuits than in the war. The film begins as their teacher, looking grave, dismisses the class, including the five friends, for the summer holidays, expressing the hope that every one of them will be back after the break. One of the five’s meeting places is the platform of the 10-meter diving board at the Schenkensee swimming pool. Knuffke and Uncle, who are leaders in the group, like to dive side by side in formation, performing a 101A dive, which they call “doing the Lightning.” Along with having fun, they hope to attract the attention of Lore, an attractive blonde. This time, up on the tower, Pantsmaker tells the others that the announced X-ray examination, which had seemed largely voluntary, is actually a covert recruitment drive: everyone deemed fit there will be forced to “volunteer” for the Waffen-SS. They decide not to go, but shortly after the Stauffenberg assassination attempt, the field police pick them up and drive them to a gymnasium for a “physical examination.” In the truck, they discuss their chances of surviving and how they might still avoid signing up. Knuffke promises Pantsmaker, “None of us or all of us,” and the other three join in the pledge. At the staged “examination,” all the boys present are told that ordinary fitness criteria and voluntary enlistment in other military units are irrelevant: only Jewish ancestry can prevent someone from being assigned to the Waffen-SS. Pantsmaker is the first in the group forced to sign. True to his promise, Knuffke immediately volunteers and signs as well. When Uncle is about to volunteer too, the entire procedure is interrupted by a low-flying air attack, and the five hope that all the paperwork has been destroyed. The three who have not yet signed consider actually volunteering of their own accord, but Knuffke warns them not to bring needless trouble upon themselves and promises to look after Pantsmaker. Weeks later, all five are sent to the Western Front as Hitler Youth, along with many others. Uncle dreams that Lore will see them off at the station and, like their teacher earlier, tell him, “Make sure you come back.” On the journey, Tongue-Kisser gives the others hope of having experiences with women: all the men in villages near the front have been conscripted, he says, and the women have been without men for a long time. During a visit to a cinema there, Uncle is indeed drawn into sexual contact by Britta, a war widow sitting beside him. She lures him from the cinema to her home, where, while they have sex, she thinks about her husband, who was killed in action. Meanwhile, Tongue-Kisser becomes the first of the five to die, killed in another low-flying air attack. Uncle discovers that the Wehrmacht field policeman appointed as their special leader is having a sexual affair with the Gauleiter’s wife. Together with Knuffke, he uses this information to blackmail the man into issuing marching orders that send all four of them away from the front. During leave at home, Uncle learns from Knuffke that they managed to recover Knuffke’s and Pantsmaker’s Waffen-SS enlistment papers from the rubble of the gymnasium, and that Lore was killed when her house was bombed. Uncle and Bubu are assigned to Volkssturm training and sent into action shortly after Christmas. But amid the confusion of an unexpected clash with the US Army, they desert while on their way there. Jumbo, who had overheard their plans, follows them and threatens to report them unless they take him along. Once they feel safe from pursuit by Nazi units that execute deserters, the three decide to sink their weapons in a river. Acting on a sudden impulse, Bubu secretly throws only his gas mask into the river and keeps his army pistol. After the Americans arrive, all three return home. Back on the diving board at “their” swimming pool, Uncle and Bubu believe they are the only surviving members of their group. The pool has reopened under the occupation, and Knuffke turns up there again. He has changed considerably, speaks good English, and says he works as a driver for the occupying forces. He tells them that Pantsmaker attached a magnetic mine to a US tank in the Vosges and died in the attack. He later tells Uncle that he lost an eye after starting a fight during an interrogation by the CIC. In place of Lore in her bright red swimsuit, the boys are now captivated by the striking Gunda, with whom Knuffke is involved. Jumbo advises the other two to try their luck with Ulla, a dancer who lives in his house; he thinks they might have a chance of having sex with her. Uncle and Bubu visit her. Ulla sees through them immediately, but plays along for fun, spends some time with them, and then sends them away. Knuffke warns Uncle that it is dangerous for him to know too much, but Uncle keeps asking about Knuffke’s role with the Americans and follows him around, trying to find out what is going on. When Uncle tells Knuffke what he has already observed, Knuffke tells him everything, warning him to keep it to himself and not let on, or he will be in danger. Knuffke is working with the corrupt Captain McKee, buying large quantities of American relief supplies from him for the German black market. The supplies are meant for surviving victims of the Nazi regime. Knuffke believes he is safe because McKee knows that Knuffke has uncovered his dealings with former Gestapo men, who give McKee looted gold in exchange for protection from exposure. Knuffke is counting on McKee not knowing whom else he has told, and therefore not daring to do anything to him. And although McKee considers Gunda his lover, she and Knuffke are in love and plan to escape together as soon as he has saved enough money. Gunda contacts Uncle because Knuffke has mentioned that he is his only real friend. She is certain that Knuffke underestimates McKee and the danger he himself is in, and that such an escape could never succeed. To protect Knuffke, she wants to make him leave her, and asks Uncle to help. But Uncle does not know which of them has a better understanding of the situation and the danger, and cannot bring himself to separate his friend from the woman he loves. Later, he sees Knuffke get into a car belonging to the occupying forces, and shortly afterward hears two shots. He runs after the car and finds Knuffke lying on the railway tracks, fatally wounded, but can do nothing for him. He then watches McKee hand a pistol to a soldier, instructing him to get rid of it in the strictest secrecy. Uncle is sure McKee shot his friend, and plans to shoot McKee with the pistol Bubu has since given him—the one he should have thrown away long ago. By doing so, he would also set Gunda free. From a hiding place, with his pistol already aimed at McKee, Uncle—who managed not to shoot a single person even during his military service—cannot bring himself to do it. Instead, he finally throws the weapon into the river. The film ends as it began: A little over a year later, the same teacher enters the same classroom for a lesson, but finds only about half of the original students there. The film is interrupted several times by black-and-white scenes that foreshadow events in the story: Knuffke’s murder and Uncle’s failed revenge.