Preis der Freiheit (2019)

The Wall is the English title of a historical drama (a miniseries in three parts) which premiered on German television (ZDF) in November 2019. The story begins in 1987 and ends in 1990; i.e. it covers the final months before and the first months after November 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. The story focuses on three sisters and the people around them. Two sisters live in the east, while the third sister lives in the west.

Here is some basic information about this drama:

** Original German title: Preis der Freiheit

** Director: Michael Krummenacher

** Writers: Michael Klette, Gabriela Sperl and Charlotte Wetzel

** Language: German

** Part one = 98 minutes (1987-1988)

** Part two = 92 minutes (1988-1989)

** Part three = 100 minutes (1989-1990)

** Total run time = 290 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Barbara Auer as Margot Spindler (sister)

** Nadja Uhl as Lotte Bohla (sister)

** Nicolette Krebitz as Ina Winter / Silvia Bohla (sister)

** Joachim Krol as Paul Spindler (Margot’s husband)

** Janina Fautz as Christa Bohla (Silvia’s daughter)

** Aaron Hilmer as Roland Bohla (Silvia’s son)

** Godehard Giese as Norbert Kremling (a high-ranking official in the DDR)

** Oliver Masucci as Ilja Schneider (a high-ranking official in the DDR)

** Jonathan Berlin as Markus Welsch (a young official in the DDR) (from time to time he is also the narrator)

** Thomas Thieme as Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski (1932-2015) (a high-ranking official in the DDR)

This is a fictional story which is placed in a real historical context. With one exception, all characters are fictional.

The exception is Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski who was the director of the Co-ordinating Committee, known in German as KoKo, a top-level institution in East Germany which organised special trade deals between east and west.

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefor I am not going to say much about what happens in this drama. I will merely offer some basic facts, so you understand how the story begins and who the main characters are:

Two sisters (Margot and Lotte) live in the east. Margot works for the government, while Lotte is the owner of a small book shop. The third sister lives in the west where she calls herself Ina Winter. But her real name is Silvia Bohla. Ina Winter works for the government in the west.

Margot knows Silvia is alive and lives in the west. But Lotte does not know this. She thinks Silvia is dead. In fact, Silvia escaped to the west, but she had to leave her two children behind. The children (Roland and Christa) are raised by Margot and Paul. The children do not know that their mother is alive and lives in the west.

There are many historical dramas about life in the DDR (East Germany) and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. What is so special about this one? What makes it interesting and remarkable? The answer is that is focuses on two aspects of East German society which are not well-known:

ASPECT NUMBER ONE

We meet the environmental library, a small group of citizens who are concerned about the environment. This group meets in the basement of a church. Members of this group have discovered a secret: East Germany accepts trash from West Berlin and West Germany. The trash (often toxic waste) is dumped in desolate areas in East Germany.

Why does the East German government allow this to happen? Because the west is paying the east to accept the trash. Because the price of dumping is lower in the east than in the west. The East German Government is destroying its own environment in order to make money!

Members of the environmental library take pictures and write reports. They want the media in the west to cover this story. They want to reveal the truth about what is going on. The dirty deal between east and west. But this is a difficult and dangerous project. The East German secret police (the Stasi) is very efficient.

ASPECT NUMBER TWO

We meet the Co-ordinating Committee, known in German as KoKo. Margot works for this committee. Her boos is Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski (the only real historical character in the drama).

Markus Welsch is a young man who is hired by KoKo. They show him around in the main building and then they give him a pass. It is a special pass. With this pass he can enter West Berlin at any time! He cannot believe it. For most citizens of East Germany, visiting West Berlin is an impossible dream.

These two aspects of East German society are closely connected with each other. Why? Because KoKo is the institution which has established the deal in which East Germany accepts the trash from West Berlin and West Germany.

KoKo does a lot of business with the outside world. Most of this business is top-secret, because it goes against the official ideology of the DDR. In addition to accepting the trash from the west, KoKo has many other activities:

** Selling political prisoner to the west

** Selling arms to any government that wants to buy

** Selling precious works of art to museums and private collectors in the west

KoKo is ready to do anything to make money, hard currency from the west. Why? Because the East German state is constantly suffering from serious economic problems. The state is in danger of going bankrupt. Without the money from KoKo, the DDR would have come to an end long before the wall came down in 1989.

CONCLUSION

What do reviewers say about this drama? 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 more than 10 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.2 stars.

If you ask me, the former rating is far too low, while the latter rating is much more appropriate. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. Preis der Freiheit: Die Dokumentation is a companion to the historical drama. This documentary film offers background information about events covered in the drama, in particular the activities of the Co-ordinating Committee, the environmental library, and the environmental problems which are discussed in the drama. Run time: 43 minutes. It is available on the ZDF website until 2024.

*****