Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße

Summary

Adaptation of the novel of the same name by Maxim Leo. Michael Hartung, the owner of a hopelessly indebted video rental store in Berlin, receives an unexpected visitor one day: a journalist working on a report about the largest mass escape from East Germany on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During his research, the journalist discovers Hartung's name in old Stasi files. Allegedly, Hartung, as an employee of the East German railway at the time, orchestrated the escape of 127 people via the Friedrichstraße station. Initially, Hartung denies everything, but faced with a generous fee, he eventually gives in and confirms the story. Soon, he is celebrated as a hero in all the media. Of course, it’s only a matter of time before the web of lies and half-truths threatens to collapse. And then, Hartung falls in love with Paula, who, as a child, was on the S-Bahn train heading to West Berlin that he is said to have rerouted.