OUR COUNTRY 1971

The films trace the many moving stories of people in North Rhine-Westphalia. For example, "Unser Land" accompanies Hansi Schmidt, once a player for VFL Gummersbach. In 1971, the team became the first team ever to win the European Cup Winners' Cup for the third time. The fact that Hansi Schmidt had previously caused the resignation of the coach in a scandalous manner was quickly forgotten. Soccer legend Klaus Fischer, on the other hand, experienced a low point: the striker of the century was dragged deep into the Bundesliga scandal right at the start of his career at his club Schalke 04.

1971 is also the year of another scandal led by Alice Schwarzer. Celebrities and non-celebrity women confessed on the cover of Stern magazine: We had an abortion! Among them were such big names as Romy Schneider and Senta Berger. Cologne activist Gisela Schneider tells how she fought for women's rights at the time and collected signatures for the campaign against Section 218 in Cologne's pedestrian zone.

However, 1971 is also the year in which many things that were simply new were perceived as scandalous: the new road traffic regulations, for example. Or the "Sendung mit der Maus", which was first broadcast as "Lach- und Sachgeschichten" in spring 1971. Other things proved to be lastingly dangerous and therefore truly scandalous. For example, a whole series of toxic waste discoveries disturbed NRW.

The film is narrated by radio presenter Steffi Neu, who was born on the Lower Rhine in 1971. WDR was able to win ten prominent personalities from NRW as godparents and speakers for the films. They tell the stories and events of the year they were born, making the series "Unser Land - die 70er" a very personal and entertaining journey back in time to a turbulent decade.