Heimat

1955 -- West Germany joins NATO, while East Germany joins the Warsaw Pact. Maria absolutely dotes on her son Hermann. She has great plans for him, wanting him to become very educated. He is actually the first member of the family even to receive a grammar school education. He is somewhat of a poet and wants to become a music composer. The young Hermann is at the girl-crazy stage of his life. He flirts a lot with the two women who live in the family home: Lotti and Klarchen. He persistently and annoyingly pesters the two young women. He is so persistent that the eleven-year older Klarchen starts to return his attention. And when Klarchen starts kissing him, Lotti joins in with a hand job that leads to an orgasm for Hermann. Klarchen and Hermann are soon in love with each other. Klarchen becomes pregnant by Hermann. She goes to a clinic where she has an abortion. She then leaves the village to protect both herself and Hermann from the possible consequences of a village scandal. Hermann, however, visits Klarchen in Koblenz. They try to keep the affair secret, but one day a letter is delivered to Maria from Klarchen to Maria's son Hermann. Maria is very curious and opens the letter and discovers the affair. Maria tells her son Anton. Anton goes ballistic and the two of them gang up on Hermann when he returns home. This only manages to make Hermann more alienated from his mother and his brother Anton. (His Uncle Ernst was his ally and even agreed to act as middleman between Klarchen and Hermann. This creates a further rift in the relationship between Anton and Ernst.) Anton writes a nasty letter to Klarchen threatening her with prosecution for having sex with a minor. The letter also explains that her employer has been informed of her conduct and she will soon be fired from her job as the children's caretaker.

1944 (June 6) -- the allied forces land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. 1944 (July 20) -- would-be assassins plant a bomb which goes off near Hitler, but Hitler escapes death. 1944 (August 25) -- liberation of Paris. 1944 (October 21) -- Aachen is the first German city to fall to the Allies. Otto is in the area. He joined the German armed forces and now works with the bomb disposal unit to defuse Allied bombs that have fallen onto German soil without exploding. He and his friend Pieritz are now working in the Schabbach area. On the job at the local air cadet training facility, Ernst recognizes Otto and speaks with him. He tells Otto of his son Hermann by Maria. After defusing a couple of bombs, Otto and Pieritz drive over to Maria's house. Maria is stunned, but very pleased, to see him again and Otto meets his son. Otto stays overnight in Maria's bed and they reunited even if for only a day. The next day Otto has to defuse a bomb near a railway station. The 250 pound bomb explodes killing Otto and creating a huge crater. Eduard is there to take a picture of some of the villagers standing by the crater. In Russia Anton is there when his film unit records German troops shooting Russian civilians. Two American soldiers arrive to secure the home of Lucie and Eduard.