Prager Botschaft (2007)

Prager Botschaft is a historical drama which premiered on German television (RTL) in 2007. This drama focuses on the dramatic events which took place in and around the West German Embassy in Prague in September 1989. Here is some basic information about this drama:

** English title: The Embassy in Prague 
** Directed by Lutz Konermann

** Screenplay written by Rodica Döhnert

** Soundtrack: German – no English subtitles!

** Released on DVD in 2007

** Run time: 96 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Anneke Kim Sarnau as Bettina Herfurth – a teacher
** Christoph Bach as Stefan Herfurth – an architect

** Samuel Günther as Felix Herfurth – son of Bettina & Stefan

** Hinnerk Schönemann as Thomas Schäfer

** Valerie Koch as Karin Schäfer

** Heinrich Schmieder as Frank Ziesche

** Hans-Werner Meyer as Georg Stein - member of staff, West German embassy in Prague

** Dietrich Mattausch as Hermann Huber, West German ambassador in Prague

** Doris Plenert as Gertraude Herfurth – Stefan’s mother

** Michael Kind as Günther Herfurth – Stefan’s father

** Udo Thies as a West German television reporter in Prague

As stated above, this movie is a historical drama, i.e. a fictional story that is placed in a historical context, in this case the dramatic events which took place in and around the West German embassy in Prague in September 1989.

When World War Two ended, Germany was divided into four zones, one for each of the great powers: the US, the UK, France, and the USSR. In 1949 the three western zones became West Germany (BRD), while the eastern zone became East Germany (DDR). The same thing happened in the old capital Berlin, which was located in the middle of the eastern (Soviet) zone (East Germany). The three western zones became West Berlin, while the Soviet zone became East Berlin.

The inner German border was sealed shortly after 1949, but in Berlin it was still possible to cross the border from east to west and back again for several years. Many East Berliners did this every day: in the morning they crossed the border and went to work or to school in West Berlin. At the end of the day they crossed the border again to go home.

By the end of the 1950s, things began to change: many of the East Berliners who crossed the border did not return. They stayed in the west. Most of those who left had important skills. The DDR was being drained of its manpower.

In this situation, the government of the DDR had two options. 

(1) They could change the system, so most people would want to stay of their own free will. 

(2) They could seal the border and stop the outflow completely. 

The government of the DDR could and would not choose option number one, so they went for option number two.

In August 1961, they began the construction of the Berlin Wall which put a ring around West Berlin. The outflow was stopped, but many East Germans were not happy about the situation. For many years, few people dared to say so, because the secret police – the Stasi – were watching everyone all the time.

By 1989, dissatisfaction was growing and people were no longer afraid to show this and to say so. Some East Germans travelled to Hungary and Czechoslovakia, hoping to get to the west from one of these countries where reforms were taking place (inspired by “glasnost” in the USSR).

In September 1989 some East Germans entered the West German embassy in Prague, hoping that the embassy staff would somehow get them to the west. When news about this situation spread all over the DDR, more people wanted to try this option.

In this movie we follow some of them. The characters that we see are fictional, but the historical context is true.

Conditions inside the embassy compound were difficult and they were getting worse as more people arrived. The embassy staff did not open the doors for them, but people simply scaled the fence and once they were inside the compound, the embassy staff could not turn them away. They were, after all, brothers and sisters, members of the same nation.

It was difficult to get food and water. It was hard to find a place to sleep. Sanitary conditions were bad: there were five toilets for more than a thousand people! Embassy staff tried to cope as best they could. To make things worse, you never knew who to trust. Stasi agents or Stasi informers were also present. Even though the end of the DDR was near, the East German government apparatus was still very effective. How to tell a Stasi informer from an honest person? Not easy!

The movie characters Bettina and Stefan are among those who want to escape to the west. Stefan made the plan and manages to persuade his wife to go along with the idea. They are joined by their friends Thomas and Karin. But Bettina and Stefan have a big problem: their son Felix is still in East Berlin. They want him to be with them when they cross into the west. Stefan has a plan for this as well, but as it happens, his plan does not work, so now he must invent a plan B.

In this movie we get to see all the problems people like Bettina and Stefan were facing. Not only the practical, but also the moral and political problems connected with an escape.

If you fail, you will go to prison. If you succeed, you will get away, but the government will take its revenge on members of your family and on some of your friends. They will suffer because you escaped. Knowing this fact, are you still prepared to go ahead with your plan?

I think most characters and events in this movie are realistic. At one point, the West German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher visits the embassy in Prague. This episode is real. It happened. It was covered by numerous reporters. Clips of the visit are available online. Comparing the clips with what we see in the movie, I find that the words spoken by the foreign minister at the embassy are historically correct.

What do reviewers say about this movie? On IMDb it has a rating of 64 per cent, which corresponds to 3.2 stars on Amazon. On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment eight reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.5 stars.

If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is more appropriate, but still not enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. As stated above, the soundtrack is German. There are no subtitles on the disc, neither German nor English. There are a few conversations in the Czech language. They are not covered by subtitles, but this is not a problem. We can guess what is being said.

PS # 2. A Taste of Freedom, Deutschland Blog, 4 September 2014, from the diary of Christian Bürger, who was one of the German refugees in the West German embassy in Prague in 1989 (available online).

PS # 3. The struggle for freedom in East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall is the subject of several historical movies. Here are a few examples:

** Wir sind das Volk (2008)

** Jenseits der Mauer (2009)

** Es ist nicht vorbei (2011)

** Bornholmer Strasse (2014)

*****

 

 The Embassy of West Germany in Prague

(today the embassy of Germany)

*****