A NETFLIX SERIES
THIS IS A TRUE STORY.
NONE OF THIS REALLY HAPPENED.
EAST BERLIN
Always ready.
Hi there, Comrade Lenin.
Look here.
A little farewell gift.
Well, I'm amazed.
A Campari and orange.
Hey. How you doing?
I can buy us both a schnapps if you like?
I'm Sven. Okay.
One little piggy, two little piggies.
All the little piggies went home.
Evening, comrades. All right?
Yeah, sure.
What?
Oh, nothing.
It's cough medicine.
For a cough.
What cough?
You're disgusting, you know that?
You say I don't have a cough, so why get worked up?
You may have other diseases.
Diseases? Like what?
How would I know? TB?
-You have a cough with TB too? -You don't have a cough.
Why else would I take cough medicine, Andi?
Because of your jitters.
Stop crawling up my ass, okay?
Where is she?
Better not have screwed up.
The Wall will come down before she screws up.
Window down, please.
Parking is absolutely forbidden here, my friends.
-And you haven't got a clue, moron! -Excuse me?
This is a State Security operation.
So get lost now or I'll rip your head off and shit down your throat!
Uwe, that's enough! I'm sorry, comrade.
Have a nice evening, comrades.
Cunt motherfucker asshole.
What? What is it?
-I'll show the cunt. -Leave… leave it. Shut the door.
Okay, there you go.
You wear me out, Uwe.
There she is.
Comrade Wolf,
target eliminated.
The Firm is much obliged.
Fresh from the West.
Well, how cool is that?
BEAUTIFUL WORLD
-My colleagues from Homicide. Yeah. -Colleagues?
Yeah, we know each other. I'm Sven from Fraud.
You reported the murder?
Yes, that's right.
I just happened to be there.
I saw the suspect.
She was sitting right next to me.
So, female, about five foot five inches, mid-to-late-20s, very attractive,
in quite good physical shape,
with a knife here on her leg.
Had a kind of determined walk and look,
like a tiger.
Exactly. And yeah, I drew a kind of composite sketch.
This is what she looked like, more or less.
-This is her? -Yeah.
Okay, I don't want to insult you and your artistic talent, Petzold,
but this is of little use.
Nonsense. Let's fax it to all precincts right away.
I'll call Ms. Stäblein at the precinct.
She'll redo a better version, but thanks for trying.
Petzold, dude, you're as drunk as a skunk.
What?
Stop.
But--
MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY EAST BERLIN
Bye.
Come in.
Colonel?
Informant "Granddaughter" has returned from a successful operation.
Well, I'm really pleased to hear that.
The girl is a good agent, huh?
-Yes, sir. -Very good, right?
Yes. She is.
And very attractive, right?
Don't worry, sir.
The purpose of my private relationship
with Kleo Straub is to guide her effectively.
If there's anything amorous about it, I'll cut your balls off and fire you both.
-Is that clear? -Yes, sir.
Okay, Wolf, you can go home now.
NO DUMPING!
Pitti's looking for a tie, oh boy.
You want to look real smart tomorrow too, huh?
Hey, I'm telling you, don't make fun of me.
Oh, good evening.
Good evening.
Wash your hands.
Wash my hands? Have you washed your hands?
Come on. Show me.
Take it away.
What, are you pregnant?
Yes.
You're joking.
What if I'm not?
If you're not, no idea, then.
I'd become a dad, I guess.
Kleo, stop messing around. Seriously now, okay?
Aren't you happy?
Of course I'm happy!
How long have you known?
For 56 days, eight hours, and 52 seconds.
That long? And you didn't say anything?
Girl or boy?
She'll be a first-class agent, I hope.
Those are really big footsteps
for her to follow with you as a mom.
What will we do about the Firm?
Someone else will have to eliminate the enemies of the state now.
Today was my last mission for a while. I'll go to elite training, figure skating.
I like that idea.
My breasts will get really big.
Take your top off.
Shit.
Seriously, am I supposed to think you've had a stroke or just dropped dead?
A stroke. I pretended to have a stroke.
My God, Sven. What goes on in your head?
Two days ago you went out for a beer, and you come home just now,
without calling, without letting me know in any way.
Hey, I've been worried.
In my version, I'd have already made breakfast
with coffee and rolls and eggs and all that shit.
Didn't we say we'd call?
We did. I'm sorry, really.
But something completely crazy happened. You won't believe it.
A murder at Big Eden. And who witnessed it? Me.
It's a chance.
It's my chance.
Hi, Dad.
Oh God.
What? What is it?
-Dad, you stink. -You stink.
This is awesome.
Do you know what's awesome? Sleep is awesome.
Sven, come to bed now.
POLICE
-Morning Petzold. -Morning.
Got to be time for that.
Svenny, all day yesterday, I didn't call her once, like you said.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
Great, Freddy.
Instead I called five times last night. Got totally wasted at Diener's.
Left a load of nonsense on her answering machine,
"You're so great."
The sixth time, she answered.
She didn't think it was so great. Thanks.
Hey, seriously, I don't think she's that wonderful, your Natalie.
She's a bit fancy-schmancy, right?
Easy for you to say, you've got Jenny. Not everyone's so lucky.
What do you mean "lucky"? I'm just a really awesome guy.
You're a really awesome guy? What am I then, a yokel?
Come on, we'll go shopping,
we'll get you a haircut, a nice set of wheels.
Are you just fucking with me, or what?
Hey.
Soon you'll be telling your lady stories to someone else.
How's that?
I was at the Eden last night.
The Eden? Where the murder happened, right?
Exactly. And I saw the suspect. Here.
Stäblein drew it from my description.
What's this? Looks like a ten-year-old kid.
The fuck you talking about? You've any idea what it means?
What does it mean?
I'm gonna solve this case.
You're gonna solve this case? What's wrong with you?
-I'm telling you-- -One sec.
Sven. Svenny?
Hello, Mr. Böttger.
Any news in the Eden case? The woman?
I wanted to find out what was happening.
Yes, your work of art. Michalzik told me about it.
I'm afraid not, despite a major search.
She must have vanished into thin air.
Well, if your colleagues need any assistance,
any time, always happy to help. Okay?
Before you go offering assistance to others,
first you ought to do your own job properly, Petzold!
Come in.
This was intercepted by our resident
with the West Berlin law enforcement authorities.
I thought…
Thanks, Heinrich.
Damn it.
Comrade? Yes, it's me, Lt. Ludger.
We've got a problem.
The suitcase is safe, right?
For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow
Which nobody can deny
Cheers.
To Comrade Straub, the best agent commander in our ranks.
Three cheers for our comrade Colonel-General. Hip-hip--
Hooray.
Kleo, my child.
Comrade Mielke.
Yes. A great honor.
He came especially to congratulate me.
A portable radio. Thank you very much.
Grandpa, I know you already have one, but this one is stereo and it's got bass,
and you enjoy listening to music so much, so I thought you'd like it.
Turn the thing on, then. I've no idea how it works.
Watch.
It's perfect. Thank you.
Good, I'm glad.
Otto? The Minister wants to say goodbye.
Thanks, Klaus. I'm coming.
Okay, Grandpa, I'm heading off too for my night shift.
See you next week.
Uh-huh.
Enjoy the rest of your birthday. Bye.
BERLIN-MARZAHN FOOTBRIDGE TO MÄRKISCHE - ALLEE
Watch where you're going, miss.
Yes. I'm sorry.
Yes, and then I went to the disco by myself, you know?
Yeah.
And thought I'd just take a look, and then I met Marco.
-Marco? -Yes, Marco from Fangschleuse.
And then we danced for a bit and it was really cool.
And then he told me he works at the Wilthen brandy distillery.
And I say to him,
"Just watch you don't become an alcoholic if you've got the stuff on tap all day."
You know?
And then he says quite seriously,
"I've been drinking the stuff for years. I'd know if I was an alcoholic."
A miracle, huh? Can you believe that?
-Ms. Straub? -Yes?
We ask that you come with us.
And you are?
What's this about?
You've been reported.
It must be a misunderstanding. My name is Kleo Straub.
Come with us, please.
Come on.
What should I tell them, Kleo? I can't say you've been arrested.
It'll be cleared up in no time, Jutta.
Ms. Straub, you're accused of revealing secrets.
You handed over the blueprints of the Sternradio cassette recorder
SKR 800 Mir to a representative of the class enemy.
That's ridiculous.
You work for Sternradio Entertainment Electronics.
That's right. In production.
How do you explain this?
I accidentally bumped into this man.
This man is an enemy agent from West Germany.
He was detained at the border shortly after this.
Call Reconnaissance, Division 18. They'll clear this all up.
You were brought up by your grandfather.
That's right.
And my grandfather works for Reconnaissance, Division One. Ask him.
There is no mention of anyone by the name of Kleo Straub
in all of the Ministry of State Security's records.
Are you lying for personal gain?
No!
I'm an unofficial State Security employee! Reconnaissance, Division 18.
I took part in 12 successful operations.
There are records of them. Call my commanding officer.
Don't worry, we will.
The verdict is as follows.
In accordance with paragraphs 96 and 97
of the Penal Code of the German Democratic Republic,
due to the particular severity
of this case of high treason and espionage,
the accused, Kleo Jennifer Straub, born on September 2nd, 1964,
is sentenced to life imprisonment.
I demand that my witnesses be heard.
They've all been questioned already, Ms. Straub.
And they told you who I work for.
All the witnesses testified against you.
Your colleagues at Sternradio,
Comrade Uwe Mittig, Colonel Wieczorek, and your grandfather.
That's impossible!
I want to see the records.
I demand access to the files!
I'm having a baby.
You should have thought about that before, Ms. Straub.
Take the prisoner away.
This is a joke.
My dearest Kleo, I've made many decisions in my life.
Letting you go to prison was the hardest.
You did nothing wrong.
Should you ever read these words,
let it lie,
otherwise you'll never find any peace for yourself.
Your loving grandpa.
Comrade, informant "Granddaughter" has been deactivated.
Do you understand?
Yes, sir.
-What a cool movie. -The way--
Hello, what can I get you?
-Shit, what shall we have? -Two curries?
-Okay. -Yeah.
Over here, colleague Petzold.
-Yeah? -Come on.
-The Eden case. -Yes?
-You remember? -Of course.
The case has been dropped.
What? How come?
Well, the guy died of an overdose, so it wasn't murder.
But the woman had a knife here on her leg.
Who takes a knife with them to a fucking disco?
That would be a clue if he was stabbed,
but was he stabbed? No.
Okay, but there is a victim. Who is the victim?
Hasn't been identified.
And the woman?
Have they questioned the woman?
Yeah, no. Homicide says she doesn't exist.
You try the curried sausage today?
What do you mean she doesn't exist? Are they kidding?
She exists. I saw her. I was there.
But you were really wasted, you said so yourself.
What's that got to do with it? The woman was still there.
Petzold, listen, you're Fraud, not Homicide.
But, Mr. Böttger, this is a--
Hang on.
What are the con artists up to?
What was that about?
The Eden case.
He says the guy died of an overdose. Case dropped.
The guy didn't die of a fucking overdose.
The woman killed him, guaranteed. One thousand percent.
Yeah, okay, but do you want some fries with--
No!
We don't do that.
Everything's fine. I just wanted to help.
Is that enough, or did you want more, sweetie?
We've come here to tell you that today,
your departure…
I don't believe it. Turn it up.
Yeah, louder!
The GDR's new travel regulations with the opening of the border
led to crowds of East Berliners
flooding into the western part of the city yesterday evening
and throughout the night.
The winds of change,
which have been sweeping across Europe for some time,
could not pass Germany by.
Berlin will live, and the Wall will fall.
In order to alleviate the situation in the GDR's prisons,
today the Communist Party leadership announced a complete amnesty
and decided to release all political prisoners.
GATE 2
MAY 1990
Thank you.
Are you afraid of going to the West?
-Could I go there, then? -Sure.
And return again?
That depends.
The border will close again?
Let me put it this way, anything is possible.
-Hi. -Who are you?
I'm Thilo. Who are you?
I used to live here.
I came to get something.
Yeah, all right.
Is anyone else here?
No.
Hey, is this music cool or is this music cool?
You're a Westerner.
Yeah, but it's all by the book.
There's this law.
What law?
Well, if you move into an empty apartment and pay rent for three months,
then you're the new tenant.
Look, I've paid, so it's mine.
Hey, you can crash here too if you want.
I'm not one of those Westerners who steal an Easterner's apartment.
Cool outfit, by the way.
Do you know the Eimer? It's a sort of disco.
You know the Ufo?
The Fischlabor?
Not even the Tacheles?
-You're living on another planet. -What do you want?
You've got quite a bit of catching up to do.
Come along to the Tacheles tonight. They're reopening.
I was never here. Got that?
Do you understand?
A friend of mine, Klaus, drilled a hole in his forehead there
with a pedal drill,
like a third eye.
Enlightenment, you know?
You're all coming here now?
Oh boy.
What do you want?
My files.
I want to know what really happened and who was behind it.
Quite a lot is happening in this country, and not all for the better.
It's the Wild West here now, or rather, the Wild East.
We've got a thriving black market here.
Consumer electronics, car parts, carpets, jeans.
Jeans. Just imagine it, huh?
Nobody takes our East German colleagues seriously anymore.
Don't even take themselves seriously.
For us, that means getting down to work, setting up new special task forces.
And cigarettes.
The Vietnamese…
The Vietnamese are now coming over en masse from the East
and starting to sell cigarettes on the streets illegally
in a really big way.
It's going to be a huge market.
The Vietnamese?
Yes.
Once again, you're on to something really big, Petzold.
That'll do for today. Thanks very much. Get to work.
Don't worry about it. I know, Svenny.
Petzold, please take these files to the archives, okay?
-What files are they? -Released political prisoners.
What will we do with them?
Petzold, we'll wallpaper our summer huts with them.
Funny.
Okay, archives.
No.
REG. NO. XVIII INFORMANT "GRANDDAUGHTER" 2477/82 - MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY
Shit, where is it?
I knew it. I knew it all along.
Kleo Straub, agent, Sternradio, Pralina.
VERDICT
AN AGENT MUST BE CLEANER AND MORE HONEST THAN ANYONE.
ARREST WARRANT
VERDICT
TESTIMONY - OTTO STRAUB
Comrade Colonel-General Straub, Reconnaissance, Division One,
has come forward to give testimony.
Comrade, you have your granddaughter Kleo's statement in front of you?
Yes. It's a total mystery to me what Kleo is saying here.
At no point was she working for the Ministry of State Security.
No, neither officially nor unofficially.
I was unaware of any contacts in West Germany.
But I can't rule it out either.
It's quite possible, yes, but I didn't know anything about it.
Is she capable of collaborating with the West?
I'm not aware of any spying activities for the West,
but yes, within the realms of possibility, yes, absolutely.
You know--
Yes?
Kleo is…
She has mental health issues.
In that respect, she's like her mother, Brigitte.
She was also mentally…
She hung around with negative enemy elements.
It wasn't a good influence on the girl.
Kleo.
Was your granddaughter getting treatment for this?
I'm so glad to see you again.
What are you listening to?
Yeah, what am I listening to?
I've got moss cake.
You like it so much.
Or a schnapps first?
I'll get us both a schnapps.
Want one too?
Why, Grandpa?
What for?
Kleo.
There was no other option for me.
You have to understand that.
I was following orders. You know how it worked.
You were an unofficial agent, and you knew what that meant.
I couldn't admit that you were working for the Firm.
That would have been treason.
I had no choice.
No choice?
Do you know what they did to me?
Do you?
I lost my baby.
I can't ever have children now.
I'm the one who's got no choice.
Yeah.
I'd like you to read this.
What?
Lenin?
Yes.
Are you serious?
Fine.
You think I'm guilty…
and if the man who betrayed you
wasn't your beloved grandpa,
you'd kill him now.
Yes. Okay. Do it.
Grandpa?
Come on, do it!
Yes, but that requires courage.
Do you think I'll let you go now?
No.
I'm not doing you this last favor.
Grandpa, I always wanted to be good enough for you.
Always.
You were everything to me.
That's enough.
Kleo!
So glad you came.
REPUBLIC OF CHILE
-Hi. -How's it going?
This belongs to the comrades from Berlin.
Kleo's out and causing trouble.
Make sure she doesn't get her hands on it.
Subtitle translation by: Anton Hill