Introduction

Deutschland is a German-American television series, starring Jonas Nay as Martin Rauch, an agent of East Germany.

Season 01, Deutschland 83, aired in 2015, with a second season, Deutschland 86, airing in 2018, and a third season, Deutschland 89, airing in 2020.

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Outline

Abandoned by Moscow and desperate for cash, the East German leadership pushes their secret operatives to experiment with global capitalism and save their sinking socialist ship. Long banished to Africa for his sins in 1983, Martin Rauch is now sent back into the field.

Cast

• Main:
  • Jonas Nay as Martin Rauch, a former border patrol guard from East Germany who went undercover in 1983 in West Germany, an operation which prevented a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the Soviets against NATO but forced him to go into hiding.
  • Maria Schrader as Lenora Rauch, Martin’s aunt and former handler for the Stasi, now operating in Cape Town.
  • Florence Kasumba as Rose Seithathi, an African National Congress (ANC) operative working with Lenora.
  • Sylvester Groth as Walter Schweppenstette, Lenora’s former boss at the East German Permanent Mission (StäV), and Martin’s anonymous father, who has been demoted after the 1983 incident.
  • Sonja Gerhardt as Annett Schneider, Martin’s former fiancée who is now a junior intelligence agent in the inner circle of the East German StäV.
  • Lavinia Wilson as Brigitte Winkelmann, dentist wife of the West German Trade Commissioner and a West German Intelligence Service (BND) officer.
  • Ludwig Trepte as Alex Edel, a gay West German who served as Oberleutnant in the military with Martin in Deutschland 83 before being dismissed.
    • Now works in an AIDS hospice with Tim.
  • Alexander Beyer as Tobias Tischbier, Martin’s former handler from the Stasi’s foreign arm, the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (HVA), who is now a member of Parliament for the Alternative Party.
  • Fritzi Haberlandt as Tina Fischer, an East German doctor whose novelist brother, Thomas Posimski, defected to West Germany.
  • Chris Veres as Tim, a closeted gay American G.I. who works with Alex at an AIDS hospice.

• Recurring:
  • Vladimir Burlakov as Thomas Posimski, Annett’s former lover and Tina’s brother.
  • Anke Engelke as Barbara Dietrich, a new financial consultant to the StäV.
  • Uwe Preuss as Markus Fuchs, Walter’s associate who was promoted to Walter’s position at the StäV.
  • Carina Wiese as Ingrid Rauch, Martin’s mother.
  • Michaela Caspar as Mrs. Netz, the former secretary to Alex’s father in the Bundeswehr, now working as an agent for the BND.
  • Jonathan Pienaar as Gary Banks, a South African mercenary, hired by Leonora and Martin.

Production

In August 2017, filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, with the majority of the returning cast from Deutschland 83 and five new cast members being confirmed, and concluded there in October before returning to Berlin. On 18 December 2017, both star Jonas Nay and co-creator Anna Winger confirmed on Twitter that it was the final day of filming on the series with filming wrapping four days later. New cast member Chris Veres was promoted to series regular in November 2017. On 26 July 2018, Nay revealed the German premiere date on Instagram. Two days later, the US premiere date was revealed on the show’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Release

Deutschland 86 first aired in Germany on Amazon Prime on 19 October 2018. The series premiered in Australia on Stan on 22 October 2018, and in the United States on 25 October 2018 on SundanceTV. It aired in the UK on More4 starting on 08 March 2019 and the boxset was released on Walter Presents on All 4 directly after its transmission.

Trivia

• It was the first German-language series to air on a US network.
• Most of the episode titles refer to western policies and military operations in African countries during the Cold War, which were mostly fought as proxy wars.

Deutschland Series

• Episode 01: Tar Baby.
• Episode 02: Ommegang.
• Episode 03: Dragon Rouge.
• Episode 04: Le Cafard.
• Episode 05: Green Book.
• Episode 06: Tjello.
• Episode 07: El Dorado Canyon.
• Episode 08: Vula.
• Episode 09: Chickenfeed.
• Episode 10: Total Onslaught.

You can find a full index and overview of Deutschland here.

In addition, a documentary entitled “Comrades and Cash” was produced to accompany the series. Narrated by Nay, it describes various business activities undertaken by the East German state to earn hard currency, including: the sale of arms by the East German state to the apartheid government of South Africa, their notional enemies; smuggling arms to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war; forced labour in prisons; appropriating antiques and safe-deposit-box contents from its citizens and selling them abroad; selling blood abroad without testing it for HIV.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Florian Cossen … (5 episodes, 2018).
  • Arne Feldhusen … (5 episodes, 2018).
• Producer(s):
  • Tim Greve … line producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Agnes Hertwig … junior producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Naomi Marne … junior producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Daniel van den Berg … executive producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Sebastian Werninger … producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Anna Winger … producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Jörg Winger … producer (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Ulrike Leibfried … producer (4 episodes, 2018).
• Writer(s):
  • Steve Bailie … (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Anna Winger … (creator) (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Jörg Winger … (creator) (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Will Bentley … (2 episodes, 2018).
  • Joy C. Mitchell … (2 episodes, 2018).
  • Ulf Tschauder … (2 episodes, 2018).
• Music:
  • Reinhold Heil … (10 episodes, 2018).
• Cinematography:
  • Matthias Fleischer … (3 episodes, 2018).
  • Kristian Leschner … (1 episode, 2018).
• Editor(s):
  • Boris Gromatzki … (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Jens Klüber … (10 episodes, 2018).
  • Robert Stuprich … (10 episodes, 2018).
• Production:
  • UFA Fiction.
  • German Motion Picture Fund.
  • Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
  • MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
  • Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa.
  • Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg (MFG).
• Distributor(s):
  • Amazon Prime Video (2018) (Germany) (video) (VOD).
  • Amazon Prime Video (2018) (Singapore) (video) (VOD).
  • Canal+ (2018) (France) (TV).
  • Channel 4 Television Corporation (2018) (UK) (TV).
  • Crave Entertainment (2018) (Canada) (video).
  • Danmarks Radio (DR) (2018) (Denmark) (TV).
  • HOT Vision (2018) (Israel) (TV).
  • Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT) (2018) (Croatia) (TV).
  • Hulu (2018) (USA) (video) (VOD).
  • Movistar+ (2018) (Spain) (TV).
  • Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) (2018) (Norway) (TV).
  • OTE Cinema (2018) (Greece) (TV).
  • RTL Klub Televízió (2018) (Hungary) (TV).
  • Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) (2018) (Ireland) (TV).
  • Ríkisútvarpið-Sjónvarp (RÚV) (2018) (Iceland) (TV).
  • Sky Italia (2018) (Italy) (TV).
  • Sundance Channel (2018) (Canada) (TV).
  • SundanceTV (2018) (USA) (TV).
  • Super Écran (2018) (Canada) (TV) (French speaking region).
  • Sveriges Television (SVT) (2018) (Sweden) (TV).
  • Telenet (2018) (Belgium) (TV).
  • Universum Film (UFA) (2019) (Germany) (Blu-ray).
  • Universum Film (UFA) (2019) (Germany) (DVD).
  • Yleisradio (YLE) (2019) (Finland) (TV).
• Release Date: 19 October 2018 (Germany) and 25 October 2018 to 17 November 2018 (US).
• Running Time: 45-47 minutes.
• Rating: 15.
• Country: US and Germany.
• Language: German and English (subtitles).

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