Manfred, a lathe operator, and Manuela, a seamstress, marry and try to find happiness together. They have two children in quick succession and realize that their simultaneous material advancement is beyond their strength. Marianne stops working and Manfred's position in the company deteriorates....
Karl Maiwald, a Dortmund auto mechanic, struggles amid neighbor disputes and family tension. Discovering his company’s clandestine bugging, he exposes management, expecting union backing. Yet the union’s hidden ownership of the firm stuns him, as he realizes the very workers leading protests...
Private detective Josef Matula is with his usual companion, the dog Dr. med. Renz, on the way to Italy, when his rickety minibus engine fails. During his subsequent unplanned stay in a small mountain village he discovers the body of a mountaineer while hiking. He begins to investigate the death and...
Frau Kutzer und andere Bewohner der Naunystraße features the war-widow Frau Kutzer, the philosopher-guest worker Niyazi, as well as other characters passing through the street. The street itself bears silent witness to the deferred good life of the laborer. If Germany is “a little America,” as...
