STORY LINE (in english):
'Horst Bremer stands in a back yard in the West Berlin-Kreuzberg area and observes a resident of the apartment building' a 'waitress there, named Erika Marquart. He even follows her to the supermarket and back home, jotting down the names of her
neighbors and calling her from the phone booth without answering. Together with his accomplice Martin Poll, he also visits the restaurant where she works, but the two sit separately and communicate in secret.
The next day, Martin secretly takes photos of Erika Marquart. Horst visits the restaurant again in the evening and this time seeks a conversation with her. While Martin Poll is developing the photos of Erika, he receives a visit from police senior
commissioner Schmidt and his assistant commissioner Hassert, who asks him about the Hagemann murder case, in which Martin was probably involved. He pretends to be' dumb 'and doesn't know too much, in order to get rid of the officers quickly.
Shortly afterwards, Horst and Erika Marquart are obviously getting closer to each other very' quickly. Horst is able to tell Martin Poll that Erika owes her boss to the amount of DM 5,000. Horst Bremer also gives Martin Poll the body measurements of
Erika Marquart.
Meanwhile, Erika is in love with Horst, who seems to feel equally so sbout a love affair with her. Erika finds a photo of a woman at Horst's home and asks him about it. But, he claims it is someone named Gisela Osswald, his brother's fiancée, and
claims that the story behind it is “not so funny”. She would live in East Germany and would not get an exit permit.
So, his brother is going to suffer a lot, so he would find a way to get her over.
Horst explains the rest of his plan to Erika somewhat like this: since his brother had only been in' West Germany' for two years and was not allowed to go to East Germany, he would go to the East Germany with a woman who looked like this Gisela Osswald.
A second car with a friend drives behind. Then at a rest stop, Gisela would then take the place of the West German woman and Horst would drive her and the identity papers of the West German woman across the border into West Germany (Bavaria). The
West German woman was then supposed to drive across the border in the' other guy's 'trunk. They think it is safer to take two cars, if one of them gets caught, Horst and Gisela Osswald are already in the west, and the woman in the trunk could then
tell them that she came from the woman's rest room at the rest area and that her driver simply drove away with her papers in their car. They'd say that' though too sneaky 'the other car would then have taken her in the trunk to help her out of the
predicament on the East German side of the route. Since, a check by the East German border guards in such a case would have shown that the woman in the trunk really comes from West Berlin or the Federal Republic, she would have no punishment to fear.
As Horst says all of this, she is still in love.
Horst indicates that he already has another girl in mind, but 'she was already asking for 7,000 Deutsch Marks instead of the agreed 5,000 DM, and she would have done something like this a few times and Horst Bremer feared that she and thus the plan might
be eventually be exposed. With this scheme, Erika gets a part of the 5,000 Deutsch Marks from' Horst, as was planned by both 'Horst and Martin.
In the following days Erika starts practicing to drive in the trunk with Horst Bremer in order to get used to the circumstances on the day of the escape. Erika even dyes her hair blonde because Gisela Osswald has blonde hair. In addition, she
updates her photo in her ID card accordingly so that Ms. Osswald looks similar to the photo. Erika says goodbye to her boss, she has taken two days of vacation under the pretext of going to West Germany for a funeral. At the Dreilinden border
crossing, Horst Bremer and Erika meet Martin Poll, who is going through the transit route in another car and who is supposed to take Erika into the trunk at the rest area.
So, they pass the border crossing in to East Germany without any problems and make their way over the transit route to Hof. The trip goes so far without incident and they are' still 'well on schedule. But, then they are stopped by the East German
People's Police, a West German car has broken down and the People's Police instruct Horst to provide breakdown assistance. He has no choice but to obey this request, which disrupts the escape schedule significantly. While he has to provide roadside
assistance, he sees Martin's car twice, who drove on with a delay to now 'pass him.
Meanwhile, Ms. Gisela Osswald waits for her escape helpers at the agreed resting place. Horst has finally finished the breakdown assistance and Horst and Erika rushed to continue the journey. Horst is able to finally drive to the rest area just a few
meters behind the breakdown point to pick up Gisela.
However, due to the delay and the presence of the People's Police, Martin Poll had to continue driving immediately in front of the rest area. Horst, therefore decides to hide Erika in his own trunk, but just at that moment an East German made Trabant
car arrives at the rest area, so Erika has to get back into the passenger seat. Horst wants to hide Erika in the trunk at a rest area further down the road. This mishap gives Erika and Gisela Osswald the opportunity to talk. Horst tries to stop
the conversation, but he cannot prevent Erika from finding out that Gisela is not the fiancée of Horst Bremer's alleged brother, but that she neither knows Bremer nor one of Bremer's brothers in any reall sense. Erika realizes that it is more of a
commercially related escape and she feels used.
Bremer is able to stop at another rest area to hide Erika in the trunk. Since, she no longer wants to participate in the escape plan, he offers her more money. But, because she is too injured, she wants to get out and runs away from Horst Bremer.
Bremer tries to catch her. Erika trips and falls, hits her head and is dead on the spot. Horst Bremer hides the corpse in a makeshift concrete tube on a construction site right next to the rest area and continues the journey alone with Gisela.
Gisela is shocked by the incident,' all of 'which she observed from the car, but has no choice but to continue the escape despite the current circumstances with Horst Bremer. Bremer takes Erika's change purse from her handbag before continuing, as it
contains the identity card that Gisela Osswald needs to flee.
A West Berlin family who arrived at the rest area immediately after Bremer continued his journey found Erika's body, but did not contact the East German People's Police apparently out of fear of reprisals, suspicion, delays, etc..
Horst, unmoved, instructs Gisela to memorize the data from Erika's identity card precisely so that the rest of the process at the border can take place without interference. Gisela is shocked by Bremer's cold-bloodedness and wants to break off the
attempt to escape. But, Horst Bremer blocks and says the plan must now be carried out. To make sure that Gisela comes with him, he takes Gisela's handbag. They could then cross the border into West Germany without any problems. Martin Poll and
Horst meet again at the rest stop right across the border. Horst Bremer reports to Martin about what happened.
Gisela is now with Martin, he wants to accommodate her in a Munich hotel until the matter is resolved and he says that she should assume the identity of Erika Marquart.
Martin is the man she saw and probably thinks killed the other lady while they were in East Germany. Gisela Osswald refuses, but Martin Poll explains that she has no other choice.
Horst Bremer looks for the mastermind behind the West German commercial escape aid, who also says that there would be no problems as long as they had an "Erika Marquart". In the meantime, the West Berlin police received a telex from the East German
authorities that a corpse was found on the transit route, which apparently came from the Federal Republic or West Berlin according to the clothes and which may have fallen victim to a violent crime.
Meanwhile, Gisela decides to play the gangster game and pretends to be Erika Marquart.
Senior commissioner Schmidt and his police assistant commissioner Hassert talk about Schmidt remembering having seen Erika Marquart's face before but there is no missing persons report that fits this now dead person, so its unknown to the officials. In
the photo laboratory of the police headquarters, Schmidt suddenly remembers it possibly among the photos he saw at Martin Poll's place, he and Hassert then rush to his apartment, which is also his studio, but they don't see anyone there at the time,
since Martin is in Munich with Gisela Osswald. A neighboring business owner told Schmidt that Martin Poll went on vacation in a rental car and that he wanted to be back a long time ago, but is obviously still on the way or has been somehow held up.
His own car is apparently broke, but a check by Hassert reveals that Martin Poll's car actually is in working condition. Commissioner Hassert checks the rental car companies and finds out that Poll has taken a rental car' and 'has not yet returned it
even though the agreed loan period has passed by several days. The car was finally returned in Munich.
Schmidt and Hassert are able to determine connections between Martin and Horst Bremer, who also took a rental car on the same day, but returned it as planned two days later.
The officials find and question Horst Bremer, who says he drove to Munich with the rental car, but the officials have determined that 600 kilometers are missing on the clock. Bremer becomes entangled in contradictions when he claims to have gone on
vacation to Munich with his girlfriend, Erika Marquart. He had a fight with his girlfriend, whereupon she drove on with Martin Poll, while he turned around just across the border and drove back to Berlin. Mr. Bremer is visibly nervous about this
information. Schmidt contacts his colleague Veigl, who is supposed to arrest and question Martin. Commissioner Veigl and police assistant Lenz drive to the hotel where Martin and the alleged Erika Marquart stayed and there they learn that the two have
already left. Schmidt and Hassert speculate that a person Erika Marquart, if she was the corpse, must have died on the transit route and another East German woman must have' taken 'her place. This way, they can correctly pick up' more pieces of the
puzzle of the case and better discern professional help if its there to help in any escape.
They verify the identity of Erika Marquart, as the unknown body is to be transferred to West Berlin the next day. Meanwhile, Horst Bremer is being reprimanded by the mastermind behind the escape assistance.
Meanwhile, Schmidt and Hassert visit Erika Marquart's boss at work. He also reports on the debts that Erika had with him. He reports that the amount was transferred to him from Munich and that the debts have thus been paid. He wondered why she
didn't come back but had transferred the money. He reports that Horst Bremer picked her up before her vacation. She said something about she was so in love with him that she even had her hair dyed for his sake. He also got a message on a typewriter
that she has found her great love and happiness and will not be back. The officers show the boss the photo of the corpse, which he immediately recognizes as Erika Marquart.
Shortly afterwards, Hassert informs senior commissioner Schmidt in a meeting about the issue of escape aid that Horst had disappeared without a trace. Hassert finds out that Horst flew to Munich.
He suspects that the East German woman who currently lives as Erika Marquart is about to be murdered because she is' something like 'an unwelcome witness. He instructs his colleague Veigl to shadow Horst, but don't arrest him until told.
Veigl and his police shadow Bremer from the airport, Schmidt arrives from Berlin and he reports to Veigl that Gisela's life is in great danger.
The next day, Martin Poll drives Gisela Oswald from Munich to a village where he wants to hide her. Martin agreed with Horst that he should kill Gisela there. Martin tells Ms. Gisela Osswald that she should report to the authorities in the
village, which is right on the border, as a GDR East German refugee and at the same time, his is driving to where Bremer is. Then, Martin Poll drops Gisela Oswald off where Horst Bremer is supposed to be and leaves.
Veigl, Lenz and Schmidt follow Horst Bremer. Horst drives to the location where he and Bremer said and parks his car and walks into the bushes. He is taking out his gun to kill Gisela when he sees her. At the last moment, commissioner Schmidt
intervenes, driving up with Veigl's police car and Schmidt arrests Horst Bremer. At the scene, police senior commissioner Veigl determines that the weapon is' a model of Eastern Block origin and not from any West German allies, so Martin and his
friends wanted to fake a shooting by the East German border officials, but Schmidt, Veigl and Lenz got in the way.
Only now does Gisela realize that her life was in great danger' and she was never going to take part in any payoff.
SOURCE: (updated):
-- Wikipedia Germany, Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Tatort_(Fernsehreihe)#Liste_der_Tatort-Folgen
(see: 'Main article : List of crime scene episodes')
-- Book by Jens-Peter Behrend and Günter Gräwert
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