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).Google Scholar

² Some of these 153 episodes are lost today but I could not find out which ones and how many in total.Google Scholar

³ Erwin Lautsch & Frank von der Heide, Entwicklung der Straftaten und der Aufklärungsquote in der DDR von 1985-1989, Neue Justiz, 12 (1991).Google Scholar

⁴ Interviews with former GDR lawyersGoogle Scholar

⁵ Broadcast 1959-1968Google Scholar

⁶ Inga Markovits, Last Days, 80 California Law Review, 73, 98 (1992).Google Scholar

⁷ 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.Google Scholar

⁸ §§ 142, 215, 216 StGB-DDRGoogle Scholar

⁹ Exception episode “Holzwege” (“Wrong Tracks”) episode no. 51Google Scholar

¹⁰ Hoff, Peter, Polizeiruf 110 – Filme, Fälle, Fakten, 76 (2001)‥Google Scholar

¹¹ It was stressed that many stories were based on real cases. Guder, supra, note 15 at 6Google Scholar

¹² Guder, Andrea & Wehn, Karin, 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 Google Scholar

¹³ Hoff, Peter, 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. (Hörnig, Therese/Stephan, Alexander Eds., 2002)Google Scholar

¹⁴ Television of the GDRGoogle Scholar

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 never-resting police.Google Scholar

¹⁶ 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).Google Scholar

¹⁷ Guder, & Wehn, , (note 12), 13.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Guder, Andrea, 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 Google Scholar

¹⁹ Guder, (note 18), 18.Google Scholar

²⁰ Hoff, (note 10), 93 .Google Scholar

²¹ German Television and RadioGoogle Scholar

²² Ostdeutscher Rundfunk (East German Broadcasting); Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Middle German Broadcasting)Google Scholar

²³ Allgemeiner Rundfunk Deutschland (General Broadcasting Germany)Google Scholar

²⁴ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 13.Google Scholar

²⁵ Besides the children series Sandmännchen Google Scholar

²⁶ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 12.Google Scholar

²⁷ Guder, (note 18), 6.Google Scholar

²⁸ Sometimes there are even contradictions, i.e. a detective has a family in one episode and is single in the next one.Google Scholar

²⁹ 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.Google Scholar

³⁰ 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.Google Scholar

³¹ “Fuchs” means foxGoogle Scholar

³² “Prejudice?” episode no. 42Google Scholar

³³ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 15.Google Scholar

³⁴ 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.Google Scholar

³⁵ Hoff, (note 10), 52.Google Scholar

³⁶ Even when they use gloves, they take them off at one point in time and touch something.Google Scholar

³⁷ “The broken Mirror” episode no. 101Google Scholar

³⁸ So it might be realistic that in this episode three colleagues were all wearing the same kind of jacket.Google Scholar

³⁹ Of course scientific excellence also contributes to the entertainment of the audience, who has always been fascinated by this since Sherlock Holmes until CSI.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ “Quick Money” episode no. 87Google Scholar

⁴¹ “The Crossword Case” episode no. 123Google Scholar

⁴² That shows that there is information collected about where people work and the police had access to their files.Google Scholar

⁴³ Dominick, Joseph R., Crime and Law Enforcement on Prime-Time television, 37 Public Opinion Quarterly, 241, 246 (1973).Google Scholar

⁴⁴ One of my interviewees said that he would not bring a charge as long as he had no confession by the accused.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ § 109 Criminal Procedure Code of the GDRGoogle Scholar

⁴⁶ § 87 Criminal Procedure Code of the GDRGoogle Scholar

⁴⁷ Greenfield and Osborn, (note 1), 38.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Greenfield and Osborn, (note 1), 40.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ 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.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Guder, (note 18), 15.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Guder, (note 18), 16.Google Scholar

⁵² Brück, Ingrid & Viehoff, Reinhold 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 Google Scholar

⁵³ Hoff, (note 10), 43.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ However, often criminals in Polizeiruf 110 have not finished their school education; Hoff, (note 10), 74.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Dominick, (note 43), 250.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Brück & Viehoff, (note 47), 7.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Dominick, (note 43), 250.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ “The Broken mirror” episode no. 101Google Scholar

⁵⁹ For example “Der Mann in Baum”, where the problems and prejudices, which a rape victim has to face, are shown.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ “Minutes too late” episode no. 9 for example the extremely oppressive education by the child abuser's mother.Google Scholar

⁶¹ For example, jealousy or greed has to be sufficient for the viewer to explain, why somebody commits a murder.Google Scholar

⁶² The high number of episodes in which at some point in time somebody is blackmailed implied the message that one should always be ‘clean'Google Scholar

⁶³ For example, episodes no. 1 “Der Fall Lisa Murnau”, no. 38 “Schwarze Ladung”, or no. 43 “Bitte Zahlen”.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ “The Devil made the Liquor” episode no. 69Google Scholar

⁶⁵ 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.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Dominick, (note 43), 242.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Hoff, (note 10), 94.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ “The Case Lisa Murnau” episode no. 1Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Episodes no. 21 “Per Anhalter” (“Per Hitchhiker”), no. 64 “Der Einzelgänger” (“The Loner”), no. 29 “Nachttaxi” (“Night Taxi”), no. 94 “Inklusive Risiko” (“Risk Inclusive”)Google Scholar

⁷⁰ “Miscalculation” episode no. 25Google Scholar

⁷¹ Hoff, (note 10), 70.Google Scholar

⁷² “Guilty” episode no. 55Google Scholar

⁷³ Hoff, (note 10), 85.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Some channels produce for Tatort and Polizeiruf.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ 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 Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 21.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ For example new technique, new products; Wehn, (note 78), 7.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 22.Google Scholar

⁸¹ In “Unter Brüdern” (Between Brothers”) Grawe and Fuchs are seen absolutely drunk.Google Scholar

⁸² “Roter Kaviar” (“Red Caviar”) episode no. 177Google Scholar

⁸³ Wehn, (note 78), 35.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ “Mit dem Anruf kommt der Tod” (“The Death comes with the Call”) episode no. 151Google Scholar

⁸⁵ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 20.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Guder & Wehn, (note 12), 9.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ A noteworthy exception is the post GDR Polizeiruf 110.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Dominick, (note 43), 250.Google Scholar