Waiting for Waldemar DVD

The year is 1943. Hitler has declared war on the Soviet Union, and Stalin has begun rounding up men of German descent living in Ukraine and Russia, to be killed or sent to Siberia to work in labour camps.

Waldemar Zemichel and his friend Johann manage to escape, and when the German front advances, he emerges from hiding, taking his wife Helene, mother-in-law, and his four young children (including newborn Erika) as they join millions of other evacuees on a dangerous trek west. Many face death by cold, starvation, and surprise air strikes on civilian targets.

During a lull in the war, the Zemickels settle in the city of Bendsburg, where Waldemar works in a bakery to earn bread for his family. Without warning, the Russians strike and Helene is forced to flee on foot with her children without her husband. The war ends, and no trace of Waldemar is ever found.

Told from the perspective of Erika and Wiegand Zemickel, the youngest of four children, Waiting for Waldemar is a story of enduring love and hope amidst the backgdrop of one of the largest refugee crises of the last century.

Runtime: 46 minutes

Languages: English, German, Russian