A group of twelfth-grade pupils in East Germany decide to show their solidarity with the victims of the 1956 Hungarian uprising by staging two minutes of silence during lessons.

An entire classroom of twelfth graders in the Communist-controlled German Democratic Republic is traumatized when they discover what is really happening during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. This forbidden information brings them into conflict with the school and government authorities, and only by sticking together can they save one or all members of the class from persecution. Family ties are also called into question.—Charles Paxton Martin