Generation War (German: Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter, translated as “Our Mothers, our Fathers”) is a 2013 German World War II TV miniseries in three parts. It was commissioned by the public broadcasting organization ZDF, produced by the UFA subsidiary TeamWorx, and first aired in Germany and Austria in March 2013. The series tells the story of five German friends, aged around 20, on different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II: as Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front, a war nurse, an aspiring singer, and a Jewish tailor. The narrative spans four years, starting in 1941 Berlin, when the friends meet up for a last time before embarking on their journeys, enthusiastically vowing to meet up again the following Christmas. The story’s conclusion is set shortly after the end of the war in 1945.

When the series was first aired in Germany, each episode garnered around 7 million views. Generation War has generated much controversy. The Economist stated that hardly any German TV drama ever caused so much public debate.[1] Critics have acknowledged the series to be well crafted, intense and unsparing in its depiction of combat on the eastern front.

[2] However, aspects such as the portrayal of the Polish resistance movement as anti-semites, the scant depiction of Nazi Germany’s objective to purge the Reich of Jews,[3] and the blurring of differences between non-German victims and German perpetrators have been deplored by others.