Goodies and Baddies: The Presentation of German Police and Criminals in East and West Television Drama

German Law Journal

Volumn 6, Issue 6, 2005, Pages 981-1000

  Rauxloh, Regina E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SURREY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85002944816     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20718322     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S2071832200014061     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. Steve Greenfield & Guy Osborn, Film, Law and the Delivery of Justice: The case of Judge Dredd and the disappearing courtroom, 6 JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POPULAR CULTURE, 35 (1999).
2. Some of these 153 episodes are lost today but I could not find out which ones and how many in total.
3. Erwin Lautsch & Frank von der Heide, Entwicklung der Straftaten und der Aufklärungsquote in der DDR von 1985-1989, NEUE JUSTIZ, 12 (1991).
4. Interviews with former GDR lawyers 5 Broadcast 1959-1968
5. Inga Markovits, Last Days, 80 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW, 73, 98 (1992).
6. There was a separate police investigating, a separate prosecutor charging, a separate court trying with separate defence lawyers, and a separate prison executing; Markovits, supra, at 97.
7. §§ 142, 215, 216 StGB-DDR 9 Exception episode “Holzwege” (“Wrong Tracks”) episode no. 51
8. PETER HOFF, POLIZEIRUF 110 - FILME, FÄLLE, FAKTEN, 76 (2001)..
9. It was stressed that many stories were based on real cases. Guder, supra, note 15 at 6
10. Andrea Guder & Karin Wehn, Polizeiruf 110: the Transition from Socialism to Capitalism, 8 HALMA. HALLISCHE MEDIENARBEITEN, 12, (1998) available at: http://www.medienkomm.uni-halle.de/forschung/publikationen/halma8.pdf
11. Peter Hoff, GDR-TV meets USA, Die vereinigten Staaten von Amerika im unterhaltenden DDR-Fernsehspiel und - Film der fünfziger bis siebziger Jahre, in JEANS, ROCK & VIETNAM. AMERIKANISCHE KULTUR IN DER DDR. (THERESE HÖRNIG/ALEXANDER STEPHAN EDS., 2002)
12. Television of the GDR 15 For example, they did not want the police shown having a cake and coffee break on duty, which would be quite normal in real life but would undermine the official picture of the hard-working neverresting police.
13. The police superiors liked the programme (and one actor remembers drinking vodka with the police chief, who also offered him protection in small offences, like speeding).
14. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 13.
15. Andrea Guder, Das Kriminlgenre im Fernsehn der DDR: Aktueller Forschungsstand und auswahlbiographie, 3 HALMA. HALLISCHE MEDIENARBEITEN, 6 (1996) available at: http://www.medienkomm.uni-halle.de/forschung/publikationen/halma3.pdf
16. Guder, (note 18), 18.
17. Hoff, (note 10), 93.
18. German Television and Radio 22 Ostdeutscher Rundfunk (East German Broadcasting); Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Middle German Broadcasting)
19. Allgemeiner Rundfunk Deutschland (General Broadcasting Germany)
20. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 13.
21. Besides the children series Sandmännchen 26 Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 12.
22. Guder, (note 18), 6.
23. Sometimes there are even contradictions, i.e. a detective has a family in one episode and is single in the next one.
24. Another reason why the characters remained often superficial is that frequently when the authors wrote an episode they did not know yet which policeman would take the main part.; Guder, (note 18), 17.
25. Lieutenant. Whereas in the FRG the detectives have administrative ranks (inspector) the GDR used military ranks, because the police was an armed state force, too.
26. “Fuchs” means fox 32 “Prejudice?" episode no. 42
27. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 15.
28. Only in one episode, no. 107 (‘Kein Tag wie jeder andere’ ‘Not a day like any other’), a policeman has a crush on a female colleague and the police work is endangered. This is one of the very rare cases where a detective is strongly criticised by his superior, but this incident is presented as an absolute exception.
29. Hoff, (note 10), 52.
30. Even when they use gloves, they take them off at one point in time and touch something.
31. “The broken Mirror” episode no. 101
32. So it might be realistic that in this episode three colleagues were all wearing the same kind of jacket.
33. Of course scientific excellence also contributes to the entertainment of the audience, who has always been fascinated by this since Sherlock Holmes until CSI.
34. “Quick Money” episode no. 87
35. “The Crossword Case” episode no. 123
36. That shows that there is information collected about where people work and the police had access to their files.
37. Joseph R. Dominick, Crime and Law Enforcement on Prime-Time television, 37 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, 241, 246 (1973).
38. One of my interviewees said that he would not bring a charge as long as he had no confession by the accused.
39. § 109 Criminal Procedure Code of the GDR 46 § 87 Criminal Procedure Code of the GDR 47 Greenfield and Osborn, (note 1), 38.
40. Greenfield and Osborn, (note 1), 40.
41. The case “Der Mann im Baum” ends in a manhunt for a rapist; when the police finally get him the police woman who had been attacked earlier (as part of the trap to catch him) indeed slaps him. But this was a spontaneous reaction by the actress who had identified too much with the role. However, the scene was not cut.
42. Guder, (note 18), 15.
43. Guder, (note 18), 16.
44. Ingrid Brück & Reinhold Viehoff Crime genre and television. From Stahlnetz to Tatort: a realistic tradition .8 HALMA HALLISCHE MEDIENARBEITEN, 3, 6 (1998), available at: http://www.medienkomm.unihalle. de/forschung/publikationen/halma8.pdf
45. 53 Hoff, (note 10), 43.
46. However, often criminals in Polizeiruf 110 have not finished their school education; Hoff, (note 10), 74.
47. Dominick, (note 43), 250.
48. Brück & Viehoff, (note 47), 7.
49. Dominick, (note 43), 250.
50. “The broken Mirror” episode no. 101
51. For example “Der Mann in Baum”, where the problems and prejudices, which a rape victim has to face, are shown.
52. “Minutes too late” episode no. 9 for example the extremely oppressive education by the child abuser’s mother.
53. For example, jealousy or greed has to be sufficient for the viewer to explain, why somebody commits a murder.
54. The high number of episodes in which at some point in time somebody is blackmailed implied the message that one should always be ‘clean’
55. For example, episodes no. 1 “Der Fall Lisa Murnau”, no. 38 “Schwarze Ladung”, or no. 43 “Bitte Zahlen”.
56. “The Devil made the Liquor” episode no. 69
57. In the late 1980s, however, state control became much harsher and the unusually short length of some episodes strongly indicates that censorship cut out critical scenes.
58. Dominick, (note 43), 242.
59. Hoff, (note 10), 94.
60. “The Case Lisa Murnau” episode no. 1
61. Episodes no. 21 “Per Anhalter” (“Per Hitchhiker”), no. 64 “Der Einzelgänger” (“The Loner”), no. 29 “Nachttaxi” (“Night Taxi”), no. 94 “Inklusive Risiko” (“Risk Inclusive”)
62. “Miscalculation” episode no. 25
63. Hoff, (note 10), 70.
64. “Guilty” episode no. 55
65. Hoff, (note 10), 85.
66. Some channels produce for Tatort and Polizeiruf.
67. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.
68. Karin Wehn, Deutsche Krimitraditionen im Überblick: Der deutsche Fernsehkrimi im dualen Rundfunksystem, 9 HALMA. HALLISCHE MEDIENARBEITEN, 1, 7 (1998) avaialable at: http://www.medienkomm.unihalle. de/forschung/publikationen/halma9.pdf
69. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 21.
70. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.
71. For example new technique, new products; Wehn, (note 78), 7.
72. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 22.
73. In “Unter Brüdern” (Between Brothers”) Grawe and Fuchs are seen absolutely drunk.
74. “Roter Kaviar” (“Red Caviar”) episode no. 177
75. Wehn, (note 78), 35.
76. “Mit dem Anruf kommt der Tod” (“The Death comes with the Call”) episode no. 151
77. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.
78. Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 9.
79. A noteworthy exception is the post GDR Polizeiruf 110.
80. Dominick, (note 43), 250.