AllMovie

During World War II Hitler had his Ministry of Propaganda store the films of the intensive Allied bombing of Berlin, thus banning the films but saving them at the same time. Director Irmgard von zur Muehlen has collected examples of this historic footage and scenes of Berlin before the bombing started in 1943 and put them together in this documentary on a city that was unrecognizable by 1945. The views of buildings that have long since gone and the scenes of devastation are accompanied by readings from the diaries of women who recorded their experiences and the war's effects on themselves and the city. Specific, well-known streets such as Unter den Linden, an avenue of many grand buildings and embassies, and Berlin-Mitte are shown both before and after the war. Statistics are also given on the tonnage and amount of bombs that were dropped, and the number of people that had been killed, wounded, or were missing or homeless -- all told, the documentary makes a strong anti-war statement.