"A film disco at the town wall in Wittstock." "Beat music, as in other towns in the area:" "In Pritzwalk, Kyritz, and Meyenburg." "Wittstock." "A small town with 10,000 residents." "Surrounded by the countryside northwest of Berlin in the district of Potsdam." "Here the trades developed long ago particularly the textile guild." "The town remained remote, on the edge of history." "The market square, the city wall, restaurants, one cinema." "At first glance, nothing special, nothing exciting." "An average city." "WITTSTOCK GIRLS" "A documentary film by the DEFA Studio for Short Films" "Wittstock is changing, we were told." "Girls from neighboring villages are coming here to work." "There are already more than 1,000." "Good day." "A new factory will be built by 1980." "Then 3,000 women and girls will work here at the knit tops manufacturing company, "Ernst Lück."" "It will be built on this site, where in 1945 the old textile factory began production on 14 looms." "In 1974 we see how the new belts are being adopted at the plant." "Go ahead and push." "We are interested in the youth shift, 80 girls." "Seamstresses of ready-made clothing." "They are around 20." "The average age at the factory is 23 years old." "At the entrance gate we read the motto:" "Trusting young people means giving them responsibility." "A good motto." "But what does it mean for the girls?" "What opportunities do they have at a company which has no routine yet, where everything is new?" "Perfect." "This piece here?" "The girls call her Snubby." "At 18 years old she is in charge of quality control." "Are you pleased with the quality?" "It could be better." "Nothing is how we envision it yet." "What do all of you like about the factory?" "What I like is the opportunity to become better qualified." "That you can work your way up to engineer." "Also that they are building apartments so that the trainees can live here." "Other than that much needs to be improved." "Most importantly, the interior space." "It is very confining." "They should have put in windows." "You have no idea what is going on outdoors." "How is it, when so many girls work together?" "First and foremost   regarding the issue of unity, it doesn't work with us." "It is all fashioned by cliques." "If we all worked together or stuck together then everything would improve and work could be more fun." "Where do you live?" "Kyritz." "Wittstock, or Scharfenberg." "How do you like your shift?" "We like it." "The production quotas are sometimes too low." "Do you enjoy the work?" "You could say that." "I got used to it." "How do you like this shift?" "The shift is fine because of all the young people." "It makes it endurable." "And the biggest challenge?" "The lack of unity among those working the shift." "It's all a little fractured." "Yes, there are many problems, especially with some seamstresses." "You have to be watchful when they are not working." "And when you say something, they tell you to shut up." "Then you can't talk about it." "They have their views." "We could stick together more and not be divided into cliques." "We have talked about it often but it doesn't change." "On the right is Sabine Zimmo�ek." "At 20 she is a master craftswoman and youth shift leader." "She is responsible for the girls with whom she trained." "The rural area of Wittstock has become an area for women textile workers." "Sabine is also from a tiny village:" "Nettelbeck." "The biggest problem is they are not honest to themselves." "Most talk themselves into something that isn't true." "What I dislike the most is that they make promises they don't keep." "When they promised to make me shift leader," "I was a little bit afraid." "Then I agreed." "Well, I didn't exactly say yes." "They said, we will help you and support you." "I still have not received any support." "No one ever came and asked:" "Sabine, how are you?" "Are you managing all right?" "When Sabine was promoted it was like any other leader here." "You are asked, will you do it or not?" "If you say no, you have to do it anyway." "Renate Strothmann was shift leader before Sabine." "Now she is department manager of production." "Renate came from a successful factory in Zwickau." "She was invited to set up the new textile plant here." "Her experience is not always useful here." "We asked her about Wittstock." "Well, It is a little odd." "Here in the north, people are a little prejudiced against Saxons." "Communication with the girls on the shift was good and came quickly." "I don't yet regret taking this step." "The work flow in the factory down south was more organized." "I said to myself:" "This is uncharted territory." "You can't expect more." "The youth shift was awful at first." "When I took it over it was at the bottom of the operation." "I drew from my leadership experience at the other plant, and spoke with each of them personally." "I thought communicating with the young people should help put the collective on the right track." "After four weeks it was clear the girls had potential." "What bothers you about the factory?" "The factory?" "They are not honest enough." "They are secretive." "Too many think they have a say." "That's what bothers me the most." "23 directors." "That's at least my view." "Well, that's just the way I see it:" "Everyone wants to be boss." "Sabine the shift leader is sick." "Nothing serious, the girls tell us." "An older colleague comes to the youth shift:" "Frau Lange." "She is filling in for Sabine." "Some girls are speculating that Frau Lange should become their new shift leader." "Why did Frau Lange switch shifts?" "Well, I am interested in working with young people." "It has always been my hobby." "I get along very well with them." "And I want to help them get ahead." "Shouldn't the youth shift have a young shift leader?" "Yes, it would be advantageous if a young leader had the necessary experience to lead a young brigade." "Our young people lack this kind of experience." "After Sabine's return a meeting was called." "You cannot just push Sabine aside." "No one has supported her." "Why shouldn't Sabine still lead us?" "It is good that a young person does it." "If Frau Lange stayed to support her then it would certainly work out." "When Sabine became shift leader they promised her heaven and earth but she got nothing." "Everyone should have supported her by not taking so many smoke breaks or walking around." "That is support." "Under Frau Strothmann it was the same, as with Monika." "From the start we took breaks as they happened." "When you don't feel like working you hop around the plant too." "I don't deny that." "But I don't bum around too much." "But they meet their quotas, don't they?" "You had a big mouth and now you want me to be the messenger." "Whether we smoke or not, they have no work to do anyway and Sabine gets no support." "That is what we have been talking about." "I would like to know in what way you think I should improve." "What have I done well and where I have to improve?" "Sabine has to organize better and check up on things." "Sabine asked if we had work and helped us, of course." "But she doesn't have as much experience as Frau Lange, of course." "She has to work together with Frau Lange and then time will tell." "I need two or three people to put the tables back." "Edith Roth is the FDJ leader of the youth shift." "What happened after the meeting?" "We were told that our views were wrong." "And what do you think?" "I think we were right." "Why should we lie at the meetings?" "We don't want someone to simply be pushed aside." "Now they have someone better and Sabine is gone." "We don't like it." "So we spoke our minds." "Sabine, what happened after the meeting?" "Monday they brought us together and we talked it through." "What was the result?" "That I am the shift leader." "Frau Lange does quality control." "Were you surprised?" "Yes, honestly I was." "Why?" "I didn't think others would understand my problems." "They saw they were also to blame because we trained together." "I thought they would not acknowledge that." "Are you happy?" "Happy?" "Sure, everyone appreciates recognition." "There are cliques, the girls told us." "They come from different villages." "Those from the same village stick together at the factory." "The girls rented a bus together so they could go out together." "Also a result from the meeting?" "How do you spend your free time?" "What did you do last weekend?" "We went dancing." "Where?" "In Kyritz." "And Goldbeck." "We always go to a village to dance." "Wittstock." "Actually, it's not exactly fun." "Sometimes we go to the movies." "Or we go to the theater or a restaurant." "Or to a discotheque." "It varies." "Whatever occurs to us." "Wittstock on the Dosse River." "A small town." "Girls come from the neighboring towns to work here." "Wittstock is changing, we were told." "Questions for 20-year-old girls:" "What do you think of the people in the town?" "Stubborn." "Why?" "Because they are not accustomed to anything different." "With some exceptions, of course." "What do Wittstockers say about you and your work?" "They only say bad things." "That our work is junk." "But they run to buy it like crazy." "What would you like to buy for yourselves?" " I'd buy a moped." " A motorcycle."