Mino was the eighth ZDF-Weihnachtsserie, and aired in 1986. The series was broadcast in Germany on ZDF, and consisted of 6 episodes. Broadcasting in Germany began on December 25, 1986. The series was also broadcast in Italy, and consisted of 4 episodes. Broadcasting in Italy began on December 28, 1986. The series was an Italian-German co-production. It was inspired by the Italian novel The little Alpino by Salvator Gotta.
Freya Becker is a typist with the homicide division of the Berlin police. Freya’s daughter, Marie, disappeared 11 years ago without a trace, and Freya is determined to uncover the truth, whatever the cost.
The boy Simplizissimus grows up with simple farmers in the Spessart region. But the idyll is abruptly destroyed by the Thirty Years' War. Simplizissimus is sent to the besieged fortress of Hanau. When the lansquenets there play crude jokes on him, he flees with his friend Herzbruder to the Croats. But even here he does not fare much better.
The Second World War entered its final phase in the summer of 1944. With the advance of the Allied armies on all fronts, the Third Reich is determined to embitter resistance. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in July, even more people will die than in all war years before. But what kept the gear of the Nazi dictatorship going for almost ten months and why did the Germans keep fighting until the bitter end? In the end, millions of people lost their lives and half of Europe is in ruins.