The father thus rose in prestige with the prison authorities; he received both more food and easier work and was able to survive the camp.

[2] In collaboration with director Gerhard Klein he created the so-called 'Berlin Films', a popular genre about young East Berliners, inspired by Italian neorealism.

[9] In 1968, Kohlhaase collaborated with director Konrad Wolf on I Was Nineteen (Ich war neunzehn ) which tells the story of a young German who fled the Nazis with his parents to Moscow and returns to Germany in 1945 as a lieutenant in the Red Army.

It was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival, where Renate Krößner won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

[13] Directors and film connoisseurs equated his "diverse wit" and his "precise observation of individual milieus" with the skills of Erich Kästner and Billy Wilder.

[14] Kohlhaase's screenplays deal with stories from everyday life and show his interest in a differentiated, realistic portrayal of the protagonists and their respective circumstances.

"[16] On the occasion of the award of the Honorary Golden Bear for his life's work at the Berlinale 2010, the jury praised Kohlhaase's "sense of authenticity in his characters as well as in his stories, his laconic, very economical language, and his fine irony.