[en] Physical processes in thin ZnS:Mn films and their relation to the formation of dynamical patterns in the electroluminescence of AC driven films are investigated. The technique of photo-depolarization-spectroscopy is used to investigate defect states in these films and it is shown that specific features in the spectra correlate with the observed self-organized patterns. Furthermore, the time dependence of the dissipative current is measured at the same samples and compared with current waveforms obtained from numerical simulations of a drift-diffusion model. The results are used to discuss the origin of the self-organized processes in ZnS:Mn-films