Unser täglich Brot (1949)

Berlin, 1946: The Weber family has drawn closer together in these times of hardship. Father Karl, who worked as a cashier at the Renner & Co. machine factory for 20 years until it was destroyed, lives in a large apartment with his second wife, Martha, and their twins. The grown children—Harry, a cynic; Ernst, a socialist, and his pregnant wife, Käthe; and Inge, a secretary—still live with their parents, too. The cheerful Niki, the quiet rubble-clearance worker Ilse, and Karl’s niece Mary occupy the remaining rooms. Everyone does their part to help make ends meet, finding a loaf of bread or other necessities. Only Ernst has nothing to contribute. Although he works with numerous volunteers to rebuild the destroyed Renner factory, he is not paid. Father Karl sees Ernst as a dreamer who will never amount to anything. Harry, by contrast, looks down contemptuously on socialists and earns his money through black-market trading and other illegal dealings, yet has his father’s respect. Feeling unfairly treated in the shared household, Harry is the first to move out. After disagreements with Karl, Ernst leaves as well and moves with his wife into a small house. Inge loses her secretarial job after protesting that her pay is too low. She cannot hold on to a second job selling whipped cream, either. Through Ernst’s recommendation, she is hired as a secretary at Renner & Co.; she has already seen and come to admire the head of the business, Peter Struwe, during her daily commute. Because she seems to take Ernst’s side, Inge falls out of favor with her father and moves out. Ilse, the rubble-clearance worker whom Karl looks down on because of her work, leaves the family too. Karl’s niece Mary earns her living through prostitution, and Martha throws her out of the apartment. The house has grown quiet. The Weber family is therefore assigned a new lodger, Mr. Bergstetter, who is about Karl’s age. The factory is rebuilt through the workers’ combined efforts, with them going without pay for a time. The first machines start up, producing cooking pots and food bowls. The workers receive meals that do not require ration coupons. Just as plans are being made for machinery to manufacture tractors, the factory’s two engineers flee to the West. Peter Struwe considers giving up, but Ernst encourages him to carry on. Ernst, Harry, and Inge come together once more for Karl’s birthday. Harry gives his father cigarettes, chocolate, and alcohol, while Ernst and Inge bring a loaf of bread. Karl, however, refuses to eat “socialist bread.” It is the new lodger, Bergstetter, who puts their quarrels into perspective. He had spent three years searching for his daughter and has just learned that she is dead; no one in his family survived the turmoil of the war. When Inge learns that he is a trained engineer, she successfully recruits him for Renner & Co. Meanwhile, Harry is in a desperate situation. His employer has been exposed, and other people involved in the illegal dealings have already been arrested. He has no money left and must leave his apartment. He conceals his predicament from Martha, who asks him to get a loaf of bread. Unable to buy one, he attacks an old man who has just bought a loaf—his own father. Harry takes the bread to Martha. A little later, his injured father is brought into the apartment, with Harry’s cigarette holder found on him. He does not identify Harry to the police, but disowns him. Harry commits suicide shortly afterward. Since Bergstetter, a man about his own age, has started working at Renner & Co., Karl begins to question his attitude, especially as he had also turned down a job offer from Peter Struwe, who wanted to hire him as a cashier. He goes to Renner & Co., where Ernst has by then risen to become factory manager. Although they can offer him only a job as a bookkeeper, Karl gratefully accepts, as his family needs the money. Thanks to Bergstetter’s diligent work, tractor production eventually begins. A little later, the first tractors drive out of the factory grounds to the workers’ cheers. In the future, they will bring bread to the people.