“People say a lot of bad things about us (...). If we might be permitted to say something, I would like to emphasise who the real criminals are. People in the ‘Third Reich’ treated us very badly and played games with us; they enjoyed torturing, killing, and murdering people.” Linda's mother survived two and a half years in a concentration camp when she was seven years old. She runs a kiosk in Würzburg, and explains that persecution made it impossible for her to attend school. Her teenage daughter and 16-year-old Sinto Gallier are the main protagonists in Katrin Seybold's first independent production, a contribution to the ZDF youth magazine DIREKT. While working on the film, Seybold met Sintiza Melanie Spitta.

The film accompanies Linda and Gallier in their everyday lives and provides them with room for self-representation: at school, at the family table, at the disco, or in conversations with friends. The racism of mainstream society, the pressure to assimilate, and the counterarguments of the two young people and their community members are omnipresent. The parents and grandparents are survivors. As Linda summarizes, experiences of persecution and oppression have shaped the strong sense of belonging among the Sinti.

The next joint production by Seybold and Spitta gave the floor to nine-year-old Brigitta, the main character and narrator of the film. Brigitta lives with her family in a shanty town on the outskirts of Straubing in southern Germany. The girl talks about poor living conditions, discrimination in the “special school” (a place of disadvantage and non-recognition), solidarity, and autonomy. An older Sinto shows photos from a family album to the children in the settlement: Mr Weiss will tell his story of persecution in DAS FALSCHE WORT (THE LIE). (Gaby Babić)