Vernymi ostanemsja

Communists from six countries, fighting on the side of the International Brigades against the fascists during the Spanish Civil War, take an oath to remain true to themselves. The film traces their individual journeys. Many elements are combined; private and historical, everyday and extraordinary. Aspects come into play that had hitherto remained absent from cinematic works of the socialist states: a Soviet fighter in Spain finds himself exposed to reprisals in his home country, there are scenes from a Siberian prison camp. Polish communists come face to face with elements from the Armia Krajowa. And then, in 1956 in Hungary the people rose in revolt. In the German episode two brothers face off on different sides of the barricades: one for the Spanish Republic, the other in the Condor Legion. While the film was shown in several of the participant countries there was to be no premiere in the GDR, with the distributor certifying it as a "distorted representation of history from the makers' subjective point of view".