Deutschland 83

[MikeKardec]

Another very good series though I don't know where it is airing ... I found it on iTunes. A young, East German officer is sent west to impersonate a West German he vaguely resembles who is about to become the attache to a West German associated with the implementation of the Pershing II missile program. It's both a serious and legitimately amusing "fish out of water" spy story that seems to capture the look and feel of Germany in the 1980s pretty perfectly. I was there for awhile in '89 and it seems pretty good ... it would be cool to hear from some Germans on this.

There are some nice scenes with peace or disarmament activists that are quite a relief, American film makers tend to write that stuff in stereotypes.

The only bad thing I've noticed so far is that the subtitles appear and disappear VERY quickly, you have to read fast and then you miss how well shot it is. A welcome addition to the genre of FX's excellent The Americans.

 

[AmateisGal]

Another very good series though I don't know where it is airing ... I found it on iTunes. A young, East German officer is sent west to impersonate a West German he vaguely resembles who is about to become the attache to a West German associated with the implementation of the Pershing II missile program. It's both a serious and legitimately amusing "fish out of water" spy story that seems to capture the look and feel of Germany in the 1980s pretty perfectly. I was there for awhile in '89 and it seems pretty good ... it would be cool to hear from some Germans on this.

There are some nice scenes with peace or disarmament activists that are quite a relief, American film makers tend to write that stuff in stereotypes.

The only bad thing I've noticed so far is that the subtitles appear and disappear VERY quickly, you have to read fast and then you miss how well shot it is. A welcome addition to the genre of FX's excellent The Americans.

Haven't heard of this one. My husband was stationed in Germany in 1990 and has told me of the stark differences between the East and the West.

Have you watched the German miniseries, Generation War (Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter)? It was quite good. I wrote a review of it here: http://bestofww2.blogspot.com/2015/08/generation-war-unsere-mutter-unsere.html

 

[Fading Fast]

Haven't heard of this one. My husband was stationed in Germany in 1990 and has told me of the stark differences between the East and the West.

Have you watched the German miniseries, Generation War (Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter)? It was quite good. I wrote a review of it here: http://bestofww2.blogspot.com/2015/08/generation-war-unsere-mutter-unsere.html

As a kid growing up in the '80s, and even knowing the history, it seemed strange that Berlin - a city - was divided and movies like "Gotcha," made the divide between East and West (one looked like a modern, functioning, affluent city, the other like a scene out of "Darkness at Noon") very, very real. I'm sure your husband has some very interesting observations and had some very interesting experiences.

It was movies like "Gotcha," that got me to go back and read books like Leon Uris' "Armageddon" and "The Candy Bombers" to better understand the history of how Germany and Berlin got divided (and how a city, inside the Russian sphere was itself divided). For my money, the Berlin Airlift was one of this county's and England's finest moments.

And "Generation War," is outstanding, as is your review.

 

[AmateisGal]

As a kid growing up in the '80s, and even knowing the history, it seemed strange that Berlin - a city - was divided and movies like "Gotcha," made the divide between East and West (one looked like a modern, functioning, affluent city, the other like a scene out of "Darkness at Noon") very, very real. I'm sure your husband has some very interesting observations and had some very interesting experiences.

It was movies like "Gotcha," that got me to go back and read books like Leon Uris' "Armageddon" and "The Candy Bombers" to better understand the history of how Germany and Berlin got divided (and how a city, inside the Russian sphere was itself divided). For my money, the Berlin Airlift was one of this county's and England's finest moments.

And "Generation War," is outstanding, as is your review.

I think what he remembered most was how gray and ugly everything was in the Eastern half of the city, a stark contrast to the vibrancy of the Western half. I'll have to ask him what else he remembers.

And thank you for the kinds words about my review. When I have the time, I really do enjoy writing reviews of books and film. It's a guilty pleasure that I don't take advantage of nearly as often as I should.

 

[MikeKardec]

I have been planning on seeing Gen War for some time ... I'll need to get on it!

I was in Berlin about this time last year and it was really a wonderful city. Very relaxed, and that was not a term you'd have used to describe the Germans I met on my first trip to Germany in '89. It was odd, though I couldn't find any acknowledgement of it in Germany on this trip, in the spring of '89 the East German border was "open" (to a certain extent) and East Germans were driving into West Germany near Hamburg, dumping their Trabants (a notoriously crappy East German car) alongside the autobahn and walking into town to by used West German cars. It was driving the fastidious West Germans crazy ... thus one reason for my "not relaxed" comment above.

Anyway, you tend to hear about the border with Hungary being open at that time but somehow people were coming through in the north too. There were also West Germans raising money to try to buy up the ruins of the old Imperial Japanese embassy in Potsdam, though I have no idea who they thought was going to sign off on that or whether it would have been honored post reunification. They thought that Potsdam would return to it's classy suburb status very soon and they wanted to be in on the ground floor. The point here being that reunification seemed to be being planned/dreamed of well before it happened. It seemed a bit like the days before the Oklahoma land rush.

I was traveling with my mother and we had planned to go to Berlin but, having read about what happened in '53, and fearing that the porous border might make the Soviets crack down, we canceled that part of our trip. I've always been sorry we missed it! We were in Germany and Austria for several weeks. I was doing research for a project on salvaging a WWII submarine and she was visiting friends. Since we both work very closely with a huge German entertainment company we also took the chance to meet some of the people in what I jokingly call Uber Corp. Anyway, seeing some of the German corporate-industrial-defense world and some of the coffee house disarmament universe too, I find that Deutschland 83 hits many an accurate note.

 

[AmateisGal]

I would love to visit Germany some day, not only for the historical aspects of WW2, but because it's a beautiful country (and my ancestors came from there, though they left in 1763 in response to Catherine the Great's call to settle in Russia). My husband lived in Bad Nauheim, Germany, for 8 years - four while he was in the US Army, and then after he was discharged, he went back since his first wife was from there. I keep asking him to take me there, but he has no desire to go back.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I would love to visit Germany some day, not only for the historical aspects of WW2, but because it's a beautiful country (and my ancestors came from there, though they left in 1763 in response to Catherine the Great's call to settle in Russia). My husband lived in Bad Nauheim, Germany, for 8 years - four while he was in the US Army, and then after he was discharged, he went back since his first wife was from there. I keep asking him to take me there, but he has no desire to go back.

Then, I would recommend you, to visit Weimar, if you like. I mean, the most german cities seem really "disposable" to me, but Weimar is just Weimar. There is once only. And I am not living there, since 25 years. But I still just like it, especially Belvedere and its park.

 

[kaiser]

I moved to Germany in 1992 so had a good look at the still very visable differences between east and west. I have seen the TV program Deutschland 83 and it is pretty much on the mark from what I have as a reference ( early 1990's ) Germany. My wife, who is native German, agrees too, and says it brought back a bit of any "uneasy feeling" that she says she still has regarding that period of time.

 

[Edward]

I visited Berlin in 99, 00, and 02; I really must get back. IT's one of my favourite places I've ever been, and the only city in Europe outside London that I could realistically see myself living in permanently. Across those three visits, I saw very significant changes. Somewhere I have photos of Potsdammer Platz when it was wasteground, then a building site, then as it is now. The first time, I stayed in the North East of the City (off Albertinen Strasse, about fifteen minutes on Tram 4 from Alexander Platz), and there was definitely a different 'feel' there from the West side. Centrally, my favaourite bit is definitely aroun the Unter den Linden area, Museum Island, that part of town. By 2002, the contrast between the two sides of the Brandenburg Tor was much lesser than I remember it being in 1999, but I'm sure there are still hints here and there. I wish I'd seen it prior to 1989. When I was there the first time, actually, I remember they were setting up the stage for the tenth anniversary party...

 

[Trenchfriend]

Berlin, what the rest of Germany is calling "Hipsterhausen" (hipster-town).

 

[Haversack]

I've been wanting to see Deutschland 83 since I heard about it a couple of months ago. Thanks for the reminder. I was stationed in the BRD from '81 to '85. I never made it to Berlin but spent some time up on the interior border near Hof and saw how it cut through towns and the countryside. I also remember getting into some interesting and sometimes intense conversations on world politics with university students in Erlangen. (Especially after Petra Kelly was elected to the Bundestag) I'm curious to see how well they captured the era.

 

[MikeKardec]

I'd love to hear more of what people who were there at the time (living not visiting like I was) think of it. Obviously, it's entertainment but it did seem to catch the look and feel i remember.

 

[Harp]

I've been wanting to see Deutschland 83 since I heard about it a couple of months ago. Thanks for the reminder. I was stationed in the BRD from '81 to '85. I never made it to Berlin but spent some time up on the interior border near Hof and saw how it cut through towns and the countryside. I also remember getting into some interesting and sometimes intense conversations on world politics with university students in Erlangen. (Especially after Petra Kelly was elected to the Bundestag) I'm curious to see how well they captured the era.

I want to see this. Petra Kelly as I recall, graduated high school in Milwaukee. I took a demolitions course at Vilseck and later stayed in Munich. Lovely country.

 

[Edward]

For Loungers in the UK, this show is to be screened on Channel 4, from Sunday 3 January, and will be available online via All4 thereafter.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/press-packs/deutschland-83-press-pack

 

[rocketeer]

Watching this here in the UK.
I always like to see some foreign language programs mainly because English and American TV and movies are so predictable.