Die erste Polka

The intertwined lives of people of both Polish and German extraction who live on the preWorld War II border between the two countries are explored in this drama Valeska is the PolishGerman matriarch of a family living on the German side of the border Her son is involved with the Hitler youth but nonetheless keeps secret the presence on family land of a Jew who is hiding from the authorities When the son inadvertently kills a soldier to prevent his sister from being raped he runs away after borrowing money from the Jewish man When soldiers come to the familys door looking for the missing soldier who had been billeted there the Jewish man commits suicide In another episode one of the familys daughters marries a German soldier in a ceremony presided over by a Polish priest