The Weissensee Saga: Season 3 Recap Part 1

We re-join the story of The Weissensee Saga two years after the tragic events of the second season. It is November 9th, 1989 – the day the Wall falls. Martin Kupfer is still having terrible nightmares. It’s been two years now since the death of his beloved Julia, but the pain has not eased.

Ever since he learned that their daughter Anna did not die at birth, as they had been told, but was instead taken by the doctor and swapped for a dead baby, he has been obsessed with finding her. When he tracks the Simkows (the adopted family Anna has been living with) down to an address in East Berlin, he shows up there and learns that the family recently fled to the West via Hungary. Martin is devastated. His brother Falk, meanwhile, is on a downward spiral of hatred and loneliness. His wife, Vera, left him 18 months ago to live with the dissident pastor Robert Wolff. Falk has made Wolff his personal target and orders his colleague Major Rothals to run surveillance on him. Hans Kupfer warns his son to see reason. Given the current political situation, another Stasi escapade could trigger a catastrophic escalation. Privately, Hans has long since distanced himself from the party line. His wife Marlene, on the other hand, is taking the collapse of the state very hard. Her health is not good; she has heart problems and is secretly taking pills. Dunja Hausmann, Hans’ former lover, is back to her old self. Thanks to her popularity as a singer, and her openly critical stance, she has become a poster child for the Democratic Forum, the civil rights group founded by Vera Kupfer and Robert Wolff’s sister, Nicole. Vera, however, is preoccupied because Robert has disappeared. In the meantime, West German journalist Katja Wiese travels to East Berlin under false pretenses. Her real reason – to do a photo-essay on the lives of regular East German citizens. Purely by chance and unknown to them, she takes a picture of Falk and Rothals forcing Robert Wolff into a car. Later, on her way back, she literally runs into Martin, knocking him off his bike. In the process, she drops her notebook, which Martin later finds. That evening, low-level functionary Günter Schabowski holds a press conference announcing the relaxation of travel restrictions for East Germans – and mistakenly says that the new policies are effective immediately, throwing the government into chaos and prompting an immediate mass exodus for the West! Falk and Hans, watching the scenes on TV from Stasi headquarters, are horrified. Hans advocates a peaceful response, but his moderate attitude stands in stark contrast to the hardline views espoused by Falk. Nevertheless, the borders remain open. That evening, Martin and Falk’s son Roman cross into the West for the first time. Martin finds Katja’s address in her notebook and shows up her apartment, waking her up. Astonished at the rapid turn of events, Katja and Martin head out to join the revelries. Meanwhile, back at the Kupfer family home in Weissensee, Marlene staggers outside and collapses…

Martin Kupfer experiences the night of the November 9th, 1989 as if in a trance. Carried along by the sheer rapture on both sides of the Wall, he celebrates with the crowds and wakes up the next morning in Katja’s bed in West Berlin.

Hans and Falk watch the events of the night on TV in the office together with Stasi chief Günther Gaucke. While Hans is relieved that everything has gone peacefully, Falk struggles to keep his composure. It’s clear to both that the tide has finally turned. Gaucke, another advocate of violence, is relieved of duty, and Falk promoted to Stasi chief in his place. The heated confrontation is interrupted by the news that Marlene has been found unconscious in their yard. Hans keeps an emotional vigil by her bed in the hospital, having realized just how much Marlene means to him. Meanwhile, Vera and Nicole suspect the Stasi of detaining Robert. Desperate for information, Vera asks her ex-husband Falk for help. But he tells Vera that she’s just being paranoid, and gets rid of her. The pressure on him is immense, however – if it comes out that Rothals had killed the dissident pastor on Falk’s orders, the consequences will be serious. Without delay, he stages the disappearance of Robert Wolff as the suicide of a man in the throes of severe depression, hiding pills in his apartment and forging a suicide note. Vera is shocked, but Nicole doesn’t buy that her brother killed himself. Dunja, afraid that her past collaboration will come to light, asks Hans to find and destroy her Stasi files. Martin sees the fall of the Wall as an opportunity to finally find his daughter, Anna. Katja offers to help, and she and Martin become closer. In Katja’s apartment, Martin sees the photo she took in East Berlin on November 9th. Martin recognizes one of the men as the missing Robert Wolff – being forced into a Stasi car by his brother…