One of Us (3/6)

Marlene is released from hospital. Still a little unsteady on her feet, she resumes her tasks in the Kupfer house. Everyone is visibly relieved. But the calm does not last long. Falk hurries off to his new office as head of Department 20 to give his first orders: the Stasi files are to be destroyed immediately. Falk orders that the former MfS informal collaborators (IMs) be immediately activated in order to wipe out the opposition groups from within. Including Dunja Hausmann. Hans tries everything to get Dunja's file, to destroy it and so protect her. If her activities as an IM were to come out, her career in the civil rights movement would be over. Meanwhile, Martin confronts his brother with the information he has gained from the photo in Katja's home. Falk fobs him off with a story that Robert Wolff had worked with the Stasi as an IM. But Falk is alarmed. He immediately assigns Rothals to follow Martin, to find out where he is getting his information and it doesn't take long before Katja is in the Stasi's sights. Falk decides to take the matter into his own hands and breaks into Katja's apartment. Meanwhile, with Katja's help, Martin has found where Anna is currently living. An unexpected visitor turns up in the Kupfer house too: Lisa, Martin's daughter from his first marriage, has returned from Dresden.

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)