This film shows the most important stages on the way to the development of democracy in Germany. It begins with the foundation (1792) and quick end (1793) of the Republic of Mainz in the course of the French Revolution, gives an account of the Hambacher Fest in the pre-March era and the failed revolution of 1848/49, contemplates the democratic development in the German empire and the late realisation of the first German democratic national state in the Republic of Weimar. Other important steps are the erosion of the Weimar constitution after 1933, Germany’s transformation into the national socialist dictatorship and World War II as well as the formation of different democratic models in West Germany and East Germany after 1945. Finally, it is described where the rules of democracy can be explained and practiced today and what current dangers there are to the democratic system of government. The aim is to make pupils aware of the fact that democracy must not be taken for granted – it is a historical legacy that we always have to safeguard.
