Trailer
A Perfect Crime – Martyr, Capitalist, Occupier, Victim
the killing of politician Detlev Rohwedder in 1991, an unsolved mystery at the heart of Germany’s tumultuous reunification.
Year
2020
Length
4 x 40 min
Director
Jan Peter & Georg Tschurtschenthaler
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Synopsis
Monday, April 1, 1991, 11:30 pm: Detlev Karsten Rohwedder was shot through the window on the 1st floor of his villa in Düsseldorf with a sniper shot. Rohwedder was the head of the “Deutsche Treuhandanstalt”, at that time the largest company in the world. The Treuhand was responsible for the restructuring and privatization of the entire economy of the former GDR. The fatal sniper shot from 62 meters tears the country out of the dream of a non-violent and peaceful reunification. Although a letter of confession from the terrorist organisation of the Red Army Faction was found at the scene, the perpetrators have not yet been identified.
The 40-minute episodes “Märtyrer” “Capitalist”, “Occupier” and “Victim” present four different perspectives on the figure of Rohwedder and thus possible motives for his murder.: Was it the last spectacular murder of the Red Army Faction – their so-called 3rd generation – was the East-German secret service Stasi behind the murder or were other forces, for example, Western forces at work?
The series is situated in the years 1990/91, the time immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and paints the picture of a divided Germany: the radical economic cure is leading to massive unemployment in the East, the euphoria of reunification has evaporated, in many cities, the Monday demonstrations flare up again and tens of thousands of people take to the streets, calls for the Kohl government to resign are louder.
The first German Netflix original documentary series offers a multi-perspective view of one of the most prominent unsolved murder cases of the German post-war period. A turbulent case and a piece of history that – as we approach the 30th anniversary of German unity – helped shape the foundation of a nation and still touches the torn soul of this nation and its people.
Created by
Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Christian Beetz
Directed by
Jan Peter, Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Co-directed by
Torsten Striegnitz
Additional Writing
Martin Behnke, Jan Peter
Director of Photography
Jürgen Rehberg
Editing
André Nier, David Gesslbauer, Philipp Gromov
Archive & Research
Janne Gärtner
Music
Nils Kacirek, Milan Meyer-Kaya
Postproduction
Xavier Agudo
Producer
Florian Fettweis
Line Producer
Kathrin Isberner
Executive Producer
Christian Beetz
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That "lifetime achievement recognition" can't buy you much either - it takes a Netflix series in the 30th anniversary year to remind you of that.
Die Zeit Feuilleton
Martin Eimermacher -
In this series, the years between 1989 and 1991 become a dizzying kaleidoscope of German-German sensitivities. Dramaturgically dense, freed from bearded television docu-dramaturgy, "Rohwedder" becomes a political drama that leads to a personal one.
Der Spiegel
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A gripping investigation of a torn nation.
Hörzu
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But above all, the series is a sensation, qualitatively. The first German Netflix documentary sets new standards. It is true crime, historiography, and ultimately also a critique of capitalism. In any case, it gives us a better understanding of why this country is the way it is.
piqd
Tino Hanekamp -
Beetz and Tschurtschenthaler never commit themselves in their multi-perspective narrative, if only for stylistic reasons: It is also the absence of an off-screen narrative voice or any other form of didacticism that gives the series its dramatic momentum.
FAZ Sonntagszeitung
Harald Staun -
The merit of this docu-series, therefore, lies primarily in making visible the conditions of the economic system that began to digest the down-rocked GDR planned economy in the clash of unification in 1990.
ZEIT online
Matthias Dell -
If “A Perfect Crime” is what we can expect from further German based Netflix series producers then there is plenty more to look forward to.
Inside History Magazine
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The four-part "Rohwedder" is Netflix's first German documentary. In the style of a true-crime series, it tells of the fractures and upheavals of German unity - gripping, opinionated, and haunting.
Spiegel Online
Oliver Kaever -
(...) a gripping history lesson that illuminates the Germany of the Wende era and, with great archival footage, takes a whole new look at the most important chapter in recent German history and gives a good sense of how the time felt back then.
Blickpunkt.Film
Thomas Schulze