Historical Criminal Cases in the GDR and FRG

Crimes are viewed, interpreted and punished differently at different times and in different social systems. Society, the media and the justice system are not free from the spirit of the times and changing moral values.

“ZDFzeit” sheds light on sensational cases from East German and West German criminal history and provides insights into political and social developments in the GDR and the FRG.

It starts on May 12, 2020, at 20.15:19 p.m., with "Mysterious Criminal Cases of the GDR - Covered Up, Repressed, Concealed". One week later, on May 2020, 20.15, at XNUMX:XNUMX p.m., "The Major Criminal Cases of the Federal Republic - Murders, Morality, Abuse of Power" will be in focus.

 Both “ZDFzeit” documentaries are available in the ZDF media library for one year from the day of broadcast.

In reality, the crime statistics of the two German states hardly differed from each other, but the GDR did not want to admit that. The "ZDFzeit" documentary shows four GDR criminal cases from the 70s and 80s that have one thing in common: the criminal police only investigated in the background at most - it was mainly about secrecy and cover-ups.

The film uses re-enactments, archive images, original documents and the help of contemporary witnesses, relatives and experts to show the means by which the regime tried to protect its reputation.

The “ZDFzeit” documentary takes up the following “mysterious criminal cases of the GDR”: A Soviet soldier shot two young people – the officially propagated and displayed friendship with the Soviet army was not to be jeopardized at any cost.

Two Cuban contract workers drowned in the Saale - the circumstances remain unclear to this day, as the investigations were discontinued at the time so as not to endanger the friendship with the socialist brother country. A Stasi employee shot two young men - the Ministry for State Security did everything in its power to declare the case as self-defense.

The child of a refugee from the Republic was given up for adoption – to this day there is no evidence of systematic child abduction in the GDR.

The “ZDFzeit” documentary “The major criminal cases of the Federal Republic of Germany” then sheds light on crimes that made criminal history and reflect the spirit of the times and the moral history of West Germany.

The murder of the prostitute Rosemarie Nitribitt in the prudish 50s, the case of Jürgen Bartsch, serial offender in the 60s, the murder of the undercover agent Ulrich Schmücker in the 70s and Marianne Bachmeier's revenge on her daughter's murderer in 1981.

© Photo: ZDF, Daniel Laudowicz