These property files are often a hodgepodge of everyday banalities such as reports of broken heating and clogged toilets or earth-shaking questions about who is responsible for maintaining the trees and shrubs on the property line. They often also contain interesting documents from the everyday lives of the former residents. From time to time, however, there are also documents that one would not initially expect to find. One such example is a file from the dorm at Karl-Marx-Str. 20 in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In September 1956, the academy’s property management department received a request from the DEFA film studios for permission to shoot on this property. The studio was looking for an outdoor location for a film with the working title "Wo wir nicht sind ..." (Where We Are Not ...), directed by Gerhard Klein and based on a screenplay by Wolfgang Kohlhaase. They found what they were looking for here in Babelsberg. An agreement was quickly made and filming was completed by December 1956.
However, the matter was not yet over for the academy. In a letter dated December 19, 1956, to his superior, the responsible janitor felt obliged to report damage to the building, which had apparently been caused in particular by extras. According to his account, doors had been broken and windows damaged. Seminar rooms had been “left in a state that beggars all description”. Even the attic was “soiled in a manner that cannot be described”. Rooms of students were also “opened by force and the students’ study materials soiled.” The janitor meticulously calculated a total of almost 70 hours of work for cleaning and repair work. In addition, 14 ashtrays (!) and two chairs had to be replaced, and a locksmith had to be hired. The DEFA was billed for expenses of DM 142.51, and a meeting with a responsible employee was requested. Unfortunately, our records do not show how the matter was resolved, but this was the last film shot in the Academy of Legal Studies and Political Science area for a long time.
By the way, the film was released in 1957 under the title “Berlin – Ecke Schönhauser” and is now considered one of the most important German feature films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Hier geht es zum Universitätsarchiv Potsdam: https://www.ub.uni-potsdam.de/de/ueber-uns/universitaetsarchiv
This text was published in the university magazine Portal - Zwei 2025 „Demokratie“. (in German)
Here You can find all articles in English at a glance: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/explore-the-up/up-to-date/university-magazine/portal-two-2025-democracy