Viehjud Levi

In 1935 Levi comes down, as he does every year, to do business in a remote Black Forest valley. He is in love with Farmer Horger’s beautiful daughter Lisbeth, and he looks forward to the trip. But the valley has changed. The government in Berlin has sent a young engineer and his men to undertake a major railway project, and the newcomers bring more than just the railroad. Their National-Socialist spirit proves to be contagious. Lisbeth’s father is one of many who will no longer buy cattle from a Jew. ("Viehjud" is an old, derogatory German word for a Jew in the cattle trade). Other signs of a new era, the Nazi flag, for example, begin to arrive and, slowly, Levi’s journey to a familiar place becomes a nightmare. None of the villagers will stand up for him except for Lisbeth. She is appalled at the change in her town and beginning to lose faith in her rebellious, but weak-spirited boyfriend Paul. She is falling in love with Levi, but time is against them. German actress Eva Mattes, of Fassbinder fame, gives a splendid performance as Mrs. Horger.