Time of Desperation

Sondershausen, a small town in East Germany in 1959: Together with their sons Roland and Jürgen, Ferdi and Helga Mann lead a happy life. Then one day, an in itself trifling event brings an abrupt change to the familys peaceful existence: Ferdi, who works as a criminal investigation officer, happens to fall asleep during shift, an incident costing him his rank. And while after deciding to leave the police service, Ferdi finds a new position. The recent developments have bluntly confronted the couple, by now expecting twins, with the sobering reality of the regimes insidious surveillance practices. Never convinced by the political system in the first place, the present situation is all it takes to rekindle Ferdis and Helgas urge to leave the country, a country so quick to destroy its own peoplesvery future and existence. When soon after, Helga and her by now four children are granted a ten days visa to visit Helgas parents in West Germany, they feel the time has come to bring their longheld plan to fruition. So Ferdi, only two days after his family´s departure, undetected and without any visa, follows them to the West. What they do not know, however, is that the authorities have long cast a wary eye on them and are now sending out their henchmen looking for Ferdi. It is the beginning of a race against time.

Jürgen Mann, 1951 in Sondershausen / Thüringen geboren, lebt seit 1961 in Westdeutschland. Er studierte Elektrotechnik und war danach im Management mehrerer internationaler Firmen tätig, die auch einen jahrelangen Aufenthalt in den USA notwendig machten. Er lebt heute in Oberfranken.