Hans-Joachim Kasprzik was born in
Beuthen. After the war, he attended a training programrun by the newly created
DEFA in the
Soviet occupation zone. He then began his career there in the 1950s, first working as an assistant for several important directors, such as
Kurt Maetzig,
Konrad Wolf,
Hans Müller and
Kurt Jung-Alsen. In 1966, Kasprzik directed the comedy
Hände hoch oder ich schieße ("Hands up, or I shoot") with
Rolf Herricht, a film that was banned by the
Communists and not released. The film was restored by the DEFA Foundation (German: DEFA Stiftung) and the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv in 2009 and was the last in a series of banned films restored and released by the Foundation. from Fallada's book,
Every Man Dies Alone, and was broadcast in three parts in September 1970. He also directed
Die Brüder Lautensack in 1973,
Abschied vom Frieden in 1979 and
Bahnwärter Thiel in 1982. He was best known as director of the miniseries
Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria in 1983 and 1984, in which his daughter appeared. == Personal ==