The film reaches a grim climax by featuring a short clip from the DEFA-documentary "Todeslager Sachsenhausen" ("Deathcamp Sachsenhausen") (1946), detailing the technical proceedings in a death-chamber.
"Ich war neunzehn" is for the most part based on the diary director Konrad Wolf kept throughout his time with the Red Army in 1945 and is thus a very personal, authentic, autobiographical account of the last days of World War 2. However, some scenes, e.g. the one in which a blind German soldier mistakes Gregor for an fellow German, had no basis in Wolf's journal and were included for their cinematographic value.
Originally, Konrad Wolf had planned to elaborate more on the Soviet's abuse of German women. In the final script, only a small hint at this problem was included: a woman seeking safety in Greogor's commanding headquarters reasons "rather with one of them than with all of them." Considering the strong censorship common to the GDR in those days, this was nevertheless a bold and effective decision by Wolf.
Konrad Wolf picked the rather inexperienced drama student Jaecki Schwarz for the leading role, convinced that confronting him with unusual situations on the set would result in a very authentic portrayal of the situation.
The working title of this movie was "Heimkehr 45" (Homecoming 45).