Heimatfilme were the dominant film genre in West Germany from 1950-1956; between 1951-1958, West Germany produced 240 Heimatfilme, which constituted 20% of the nation’s total film production. 1956 was a record year; 36.3% of all films produced that year were Heimatfilme. Grün ist die Heide [The Heath is Green], possibly the best-known of these films, tackled one of the most popular themes in the Heimatfilm genre: the enormous number of people who had been forced from their homelands as a result of the war. The protagonist of the story, a Pomeranian landowner, fled westward after the war, and is welcomed by the residents of the Lüneburg Heath, where the natural beauty of the forest allows him to forget what he has lost. In the climactic moment of the film, he asks that the residents of the Heath welcome others who have fled. He thus becomes representative of all expellees, speaking not only for himself but for everyone who fled in the aftermath of the war, and the residents of the Heath become representative of the German public who are being asked to integrate expellees. The Heath is Green, and many other Heimatfilme, spoke directly to themes that everyday Germans were dealing with after the war.