''Bonn'' (German: ''Bonn – Alte Freunde, neue Feinde''; lit. "Bonn – Old friends, new enemies") is a six-part German

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle; high stakes and suspense are the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. Th ...

TV series released in January 2023, directed by

Claudia Garde Claudia Garde is a German film director and screenwriter. She has worked for the German TV-series '' Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall'', '' Doktor Martin'', ''Flemming'' or the series ''Tatort''. Early life and education Claudia Garde was born in ...

, who is also lead writer. Set in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

in the aftermath of World War II in the 1950s, the series stars

Mercedes Müller Nicole Mercedes Mariola Müller is a German actress and former champion kickboxer. She is known for her role as Isa Schmidt in the 2016 film ''Goodbye Berlin'' and her role in the TV series '' Tannbach''. Early life and education Nicole Merce ...

in the lead role as the young woman Toni. The cast includes

Max Riemelt Max Riemelt (born 7 January 1984) is a German actor. He is known internationally for playing Wolfgang Bogdanow in the Netflix series ''Sense8''. In Germany, he is known for his many appearances on television and in films, including '' Before the ...

Sebastian Blomberg Sebastian Blomberg is a German actor. He is known for his role as Rudi Dutschke in the 2008 film ''The Baader Meinhof Complex''. Early life and education Sebastian Blomberg was born in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany. Career Blomberg has app ...

Martin Wuttke Martin Wuttke is a German actor and director. He has performed on many stages in the German-speaking theatre world, as well as in numerous films and TV series. He achieved international recognition for his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the 2009 f ...

, Juergen Maurer, and Johanna Gastdorf.

Synopsis

The story is based on true events.

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

was the capital of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

after the war, and it was in this city that two German

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

s, the

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...

(headed by

Otto John Otto John (19 March 1909 – 26 March 1997) was a German lawyer and intelligence official. During World War Two, he was a conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Following the war, he became the first head of West Germa ...

) and the

Gehlen Organization The Gehlen Organization or Gehlen Org (often referred to as The Org) was an intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the United States zone of post-war occupied Germany, and consisted of former members of the ...

(headed by

Reinhard Gehlen Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German military and intelligence officer, later dubbed "Hitler's Super Spy," who served the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and West Germany, and also worked for the United States during the e ...

) held meetings. The latter included former

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s, who tried to wield political influence as well as mobilising a secret army as defence against Russia. It is held that German chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

knew about the aims of the Gehlen Organization but helped to keep it secret, thus facilitating the integration of its members into post-war Germany. Set in 1954, Toni, a young woman who has spent a year as an

au pair An au pair (; : au pairs) is a person working for, and living as part of, a homestay, host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some homemaking, housework, and receive a monetary ...

in England, returns to her family in Germany and starts working as a translating secretary at the Gehlen Organization, before being approached by the other secret service and asked to work as a secret agent for them.

Cast

as Toni Schmidt * Jürgen Maurer as Toni's father, Gerd Schmidt * as Ingrid Schmidt * Katharina Marie Schubert as Else Schmidt *

as Wolfgang Berns *

* as Lucie John *

* Sascha Nathan * Johanna Gastdorf as Ursula * Carl Achleitner * Dirk Ossig * Christian Harting * Maike Elena Schmidt * as Hartmut Redlich * as

Alois Brunner Alois Brunner (8 April 1912 – December 2001 or 2010) was an Austrian officer who held the rank of (captain) during World War II. Brunner played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in ...

Production

The story is based on an idea by Gerrit Hermans, with the screenplay written by

, along with Martin Rehbock and Peter Furrer. Garde also directs the six-part series. The dialogue is mainly in German. The music was composed by Florian Tessloff, and Andreas Köhler was

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. The series is produced by Philip Voges and Fabian Winkelmann of Odeon Fiction, a Leonine Studios company, in co-production with German broadcaster WDR, who commissioned the series, and Wilma Film for ARD. Leonine is responsible for international sales of ''Bonn''. Filming took place on locations in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, wrapping in July 2021.

Release

The series premiered on German public network

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

. It was shown in double episodes on 17, 18, and 24 January 2023 at

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

. All episodes were made available via the ARD Mediathek (ARD media library) from 11 January. In addition, a documentary entitled ''Alte Freunde, neue Feinde – Die Doku'' ("Old Friends, New Enemies – The Documentary"), along with two other documentary shorts on the period, were available in ARD Mediathek. The series became available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on 25 July 2023, and was streamed on SBS On Demand by public broadcaster

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

in Australia from 20 September 2023.

Reception

The series was well-reviewed in Germany.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2023 German television series debuts German drama television series German-language television shows Das Erste original programming World War II in popular culture Television series set in 1954