We Wanted to Change the Republic

He was a figure of contemporary history, one of the great politicians of the Federal Republic of Germany: Gerhart Baum. Produced on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2012, this film portrait looks at German post-war history through the eyes of a liberal politician whose convictions shaped his life. From rebellious liberal to Federal Minister of the Interior in the social-liberal coalition, and an advocate of civil rights and liberties – Baum was always ready to fight: "We wanted to change the Republic".

The film tells the life story of an unwavering democrat, with all its successes and setbacks: Gerhart Baum was born in Dresden in 1932 and survived the bombing of 13 February 1945. His mother fled with him and his two younger siblings to Upper Bavaria; his father did not return from the war. In the early 1950s, the family moved to Cologne, which would remain the center of Baum's life. While still a student, he became chairman of the Young Democrats. In the early 1960s, he met Günter Verheugen, Burkhard Hirsch and Hans-Dietrich Genscher – his most important companions, together with Hildegard Hamm-Brücher and, later, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. Through their recollections, contemporary history comes alive.

Gerhart Baum's commitment to the social-liberal coalition and his stance during its dramatic rupture in 1982, which abruptly ended his political career, reveal the political convictions for which he passionately fought throughout his life. Together with Burkhard Hirsch and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, he took cases to the Federal Constitutional Court to defend citizens's rights.

In 2010, Baum presented the Dresden Peace Prize to Mikhail Gorbachev, in recognition of Gorbachev's role in the struggle for nuclear disarmement. Like Gorbachev, Baum sough to encourage and inspire civil society. Just as the citizens of the GDR had helped bring about change through peaceful demonstrations in the 1980s, Baum believed in civic courage as a force for freedom – in what he called "the only successful freedom revolution ever to take place on German soil."