There is probably more history behind the parish of Zion in Berlin, the place we selected for our short film, as one might think.
Since we are German, we have a certain history: the Nazi era.
Dietrich Bonhoeff
er, who was one of the few that have opposed the Nazi regime, worked as a temporary assistant in the parish from 1931. He helped with a conformation class of 50 boys.
In 1931 the majority of Germans were without work and especially the region around the parish of Zion was a centre of social problems.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote at the time: « At first, the boys behaved just appallingly – to the extent that I experienced real discipline problems for the first time. But one thing helped here too: that I simply recounted biblical
material to the boys … »
At this difficult time Bonhoeffer tried to help the boys whenever he could. He even bought material for their conformation suits and cut them out himself so that « his boys » could have an appropriate conformation ceremony.
In 1943 a fire bomb had a destructive effect on the roof of the parish of Zion. The church was reconstructed on 9th August 1953. However, Looking around the church you can still see that the parish is a place that has experienced a lot due to the fact that the walls are still not in their best condition.
However, we thought that the history of the parish of Zion and its external condition first of all underlines our history and secondly will make our short film hopefully ascetic.
It is all about the contrast and showing a place that links back to our German history but mostly using this place for another story, highlights the place itself and more over our story line.