Morning Air (6/6)

Following the storming of the environmental library Falk has every participant in the illegal printing action arrested.  During the interrogation Falk places Vera's signed declaration as an informer in front of Robert. The pastor is shocked. Has Vera really just used and betrayed him? Hans is meanwhile convinced Martin's daughter is still alive. He bugs Dr. Schmolke's flat. A recorded telephone conversation reveals that someone at the Ministry of State Security was involved in Anna's disappearance.Meanwhile Vera is all but in pieces at having deceived Robert and the other members of the environmental library. She realises she cannot go on living like this and now makes a final break from Falk.In the meantime the arrests of the environmental activists have caused unforeseen consequences. Protest actions are taking place across the country and the West German media is reporting them on all channels. Hans speaks out openly for the prisoners to be released and thus steps into open confrontation with his son, who sticks to his hard line. Meanwhile, to his greatest shock, Hans has discovered Falk is responsible for the kidnapping of Martin's daughter.Parallel to all this the situation at the Ministry of State Security is escalating for Falk: Honecker has given the order to release the arrested members of the church environmental group and Gaucke leaves Falk, as the one responsible for the failed action, to take the consequences. Robert meets Vera in the church, where she confesses everything to him. He embraces her.Martin now knows his daughter Anna is living with a family in Weissensee. He watches her at play from a distance.

Taking its name from the locality in the then divided city that houses the notorious Stasi secret police-run Hohenschönhausen prison, the series tells of young police officer Martin, from a loyal Party family, who falls in love with the beautiful young and rebellious Julia, from a family of dissidents: a Romeo & Juliet saga of two lovers struggling against prejudices and the social and political odds.

Grimme Award 2016
German Screen Actors Award 2014
German TV Award 2011 for Best Series
Nominated for Prix Europa 2011  
The first 6 episodes to be screened at Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New York in April 2011.

PRESS REVIEWS

  • Family saga Weissensee recounts what life in East Germany was like, in a DALLAS style. (Der Spiegel, Sept. 13, 2010)
  • Weissensee (...) is simply a well-made drama, which profits from a tight story arc, a superb cast and terrific set design. (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Sept. 14, 2010)
  • Behind the surface story of two families in 1980s Socialist East Germany - replete with romance, intrigue and betrayal - a piece of real life emerges: authentic, dramatic. (Welt Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  • A courageous effort - which pays off handsomely. Beneath the soap opera plot, a complex web of desires and wishes emerges, of self-deception and patronizing. (Spiegel Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  • A highly original TV series. (Leipziger Volkszeitung, Sept. 6, 2010)
  • Germany's biggest newspaper BILD headlined "The most spectacular TV series of the year." (Sept. 11, 2010)