Goldjungs (2021)

On June 26, 1974, the public learns that the Herstatt Bank in Cologne has gone bankrupt. All the savers, business owners, and entrepreneurs who depended on the bank have lost their assets and savings as a result. A year earlier, Herstatt Bank had been Germany’s most successful private bank. It belongs to businessman Hans Gerling, and its director is Iwan Herstatt, who has little grasp of what is going on because he is constantly falling asleep. He entrusts the business almost blindly to senior employee Ferdinand Baron von Broustin and his “Gold Boys,” a group of young, risk-taking currency traders led by Mick Sommer. Marie Breuer, who comes from a modest background, gets her first job as a secretary to Baron von Broustin. She is fascinated by the new opportunities, but also by Mick, who captivates her with his unconventional manner. Since bank employees can also take out large loans with little capital and use them to speculate in currency trading, Marie secretly takes her mother’s savings and invests them along with her own money. She parties wildly with the Gold Boys and begins a relationship with Mick. Only chief auditor Uwe Lennartz repeatedly spots irregularities and warns of the dangers, but Herstatt is not much interested. His thoughts are more occupied with his Carnival gatherings and planning a celebration for his sixtieth birthday. The Baron and Mick are therefore free to doctor the figures; they even have the bank’s computer fitted with a hidden button so that certain transactions are not recorded. Then, during the Christmas season, the bubble bursts, and the speculating employees lose all the money they invested. Birgit Pütz, Herstatt’s chief secretary, who had speculated with millions, jumps from the roof of the bank building before Marie’s eyes. Marie is then appointed Herstatt’s new chief secretary. When Marie’s mother realizes that her savings account is empty, Marie is in a tight spot. She fears a future burdened by debt, and Mick, consumed by stock-market mania, is no longer any help to her, so she breaks up with him. Lennartz grows increasingly suspicious about what is going on, so he secretly calls in a financial auditor from the Federal Banking Supervisory Office, who turns up at Herstatt’s a short time later. Thanks to further manipulation by the Baron and Mick, he is unable to find any major irregularities. Herstatt is satisfied and orders a celebration. In the end, Lennartz finds the “magic” button used to falsify the figures, but the bank’s collapse can no longer be prevented. In June 1974, Herstatt Bank has to close. Iwan Herstatt loses all his personal assets, is charged, and receives a suspended sentence. At his wife Irene’s urging, Hans Gerling sells 51% of his conglomerate to the major banks, allowing investors to be compensated largely from the proceeds. Marie is lucky: her speculation in a gold deal was settled just in time. She can pay her mother back her savings and sets off with a group of hippies on a journey of self-discovery and spirituality.