The 11th Plenary of the Central Committee of the SED in December 1965 is considered one of the significant cultural-political turning points in the history of the GDR. During the conference, numerous books, theater, and musical pieces that critically addressed the development of GDR society were banned. The DEFA was also heavily affected: twelve feature films, including "I Am the Rabbit," "The Trail of Stones," and "Don't Even Think About It, I'm Crying," were banned or halted in production and relegated to the archives. The plenary left deep scars: some directors were no longer allowed to make feature films, and socially critical themes were hardly addressed in the following years. Many of these films could only be screened in 1989/90. The authors of the volume describe the artistic awakening of DEFA through the individual banned films and simultaneously analyze its failure.