Kameradschaft

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Kameradschaft is a 1931 film directed by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst. In the story, German miners rescue French miners from a collapsing mineshaft. The film is in German and French.

The story takes place in the Ruhr mining area along the border between France and Germany. Pabst took an actual historical event, a mining accident in 1904 in Courrières, France, in which German miners came to the assistance of French miners, and resituates it in the period following the Versailles Treaty of 1919 in order to heighten the initial tension between the two countries.

The employment situation adds to this tension, as German workers seek employment with the French but are turned away. After World War I, the mine had been closed off at the border even to 800 meters underground. When a fire breaks out on the French side, the French try to contain the fire by building brick walls.

The Germans continue to work on their side of the mine. Nonetheless the fire gets out of control, causing an explosion that traps many French miners. In response, German miners decide to come to the aid of their French comrades despite the reservations of their superiors. As they ride out of town, the leader of the German rescue effort explains to his wife that the French are men with women and children, too, and he would hope that they would come to his aid in similar circumstances. The miners forget their nationalities and past troubles and try to build a new camaraderie on the foundation of human solidarity.

The Germans successfully rescue the French miners, not without some interesting difficulties. The close of the film shows a new idealistic unity between the French and German miners, despite the political obstacles still remaining.