The ARD presents the fight of the first head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, John, against ex-General Gehlen as a panorama of the young Federal Republic. Director Claudia Garde about her six-parter, which can already be seen in the media library.
In the series they show the highly political conflict between Otto John and Reinhard Gehlen, the enemy heads of the German secret services in the 1950s – but at the same time a panorama of the young Federal Republic with all its conflicts and burdens. Was that a dark time in your eyes?
From today’s perspective, yes. But for the people who lived then, it was probably a bright time. War and hardship were overcome, one was allowed to forget and repressed. The films of the time were painfully naïve and mundane; all shaped by the desire to look the other way. And it was a society of traumatized people, like after every war. This is a big theme of the series.