SEE IT FIRST
RTÉ2 continues its commitment to strong European drama with another high profile foreign language series, Deutschland 83. From the creators of Generation War, comes a major eight part series set in Cold War Germany in 1983.
PREVIEW COPY AVAILABLE ON REQUEST – sarah.neville@rte.ie
Season synopsis
It’s 1983. The Cold War is hot. Russian SS20 Missiles in East Germany are already pointed West. American Pershing II Missiles will soon be placed in West Germany, pointing East. The threat of nuclear conflict looms.
Meanwhile: the Peace movement, encouraged by the Protestant church, gains momentum on both sides of the border. And the West German government prepares to loan their archenemies in the East one billion Deutschmarks.
The West Germans have the upper hand economically, but they rely on the East for access to Berlin and all other points East.
East Germany is broke. Russia is paranoid. New Communist Party chief Andropov comes out of the KGB and leans on the HVA. Headquarters in East Berlin make HVA assets in the West track every movement of the West German government and military. They want eyes and ears everywhere. They are convinced that the West Germans are preparing to attack.
The goals of East German spies on the ground are three-fold: 1. Learn West German and NATO military plans. 2. Foster the burgeoning student peace movement. 3. Increase the general public’s fear of nuclear war so that they will turn against their own government. The East Germans know they can’t win the arms race. But they can defend themselves. And they just might win the war of public opinion…
Our hero, Martin Rauch, is 23. Born and raised in East Germany, he is sent undercover, as Moritz Stamm, to West Germany, to work for a top General in the Bundeswehr. Officially, his job is to gather intelligence on the placement of the Pershing II Missiles. A secondary gig develops, infiltrating youth culture through close relationships with the General’s two children.
The tone of the series is fast-paced. There is high-tension but moments of warmth and humor.
It is a coming of age story within a suspenseful thriller, set against the real events, culture wars and political realities of Germany in the 1980s.
Season One culminates with the true story of a nuclear stand-off in late 1983 around a NATO war game Able Archer, the result of a misunderstood NATO report on the viability of a mid-range attack on East Germany—the direct result of botched intelligence on the East German side.
Episode 1
Quantum Jump
Martin Rauch leaves his home in East Germany to spy for the HVA undercover in the West German army as Moritz Stamm. The East German HVA is concerned by Reagan’s “Evil Empire” rhetoric and American military plans in West Germany. When an opportunity for one of their assets presents itself, high up in the Bundeswehr, they quickly need someone very young. So Lenora Rauch sends her nephew, Martin Rauch to West Germany against his will. In Bonn, en route, he receives intensive training from HVA field operative Tobias Tischbier, and arrives at the army base in the Eifel under a new identity: Officer Moritz Stamm. His job is to collect intelligence on NATO plans to station Pershing II nuclear missiles in West Germany, as aid to a General Edel. Also, in the process, to befriend Edel’s rebellious children, the angry Alex and the beautiful Yvonne.