Ku'damm 56

Ku’damm 56 is a German television trilogy about the 50s youth generation in the period between the end of World War II and the German Wirtschaftswunder. It tells the story of a conservative mother and her three daughters of marriageable age. The setting is the family-owned dance school. The trilogy deals with prudish morality, the first sexual experiences of the young women, and the desire for values, underscored by the association with Nazi Germany of the mother and many of her contemporaries. It first aired on ZDF on March 20, 21, and 23, 2016. In 2018, it was followed by a sequel mini-series, Ku'damm 59. Another sequel mini-series, Ku'damm 63 aired in March 2021. Plot Berlin, 1956. The older adults are all haunted by the ghosts of their actions in the war, and a newer generation who experienced none of it are coming of age, passing judgement on the decisions of their predecessors while trying to find their own place in Germany a decade post-war. The plot revolves around the Schöllack family, headed by the caustically critical Caterina Schöllack (Claudia Michelsen), owner and matron of Galant, the dance and etiquette school on Ku'damm, who has three daughters and exactingly high expectations for their futures. Due to her hypocritical past, she has raised them with puritanical standards to be ideal trophy housewives, and steamrolls over their desires to push them at eligible and rich men, regardless of suitability. Her school and ideals are quickly becoming dated as she grasps any opportunity to maintain the status quo and climb upward. Her husband disappeared during the war and never came home, leaving her to maintain appearances and standards. She profited from the Nazi seizure of Jewish properties, but without it, she would not have been able to provide for her family.