Station: [17] Light-Hearted Episodes? "Ut mine Festungstid"

As a young man, Fritz Reuter had spent seven years in Prussian prisons.

M: Those seven years took their toll on his health, but didn't affect his sense of humour. Two and a half decades later, as a mature man and respected writer, he revisited those dark years of injustice. With a satirical eye for the comical and the grotesque, he recounts the everyday life of the fortress detainees: from their desperate efforts to find anything edible, to artistic ambitions designed to dispel the boredom and resentment, all the way to the friendships that develop among the prisoners.

F: Reuter displays no moroseness, nor does he demand retribution. Instead, he portrays his time in fortress detention in a profoundly humane manner. Nevertheless:

M: "... some moments refuse to be rendered in cheerful colours; they remain clad in hideous grey."

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