Netflix has released its first German documentary on the assassination of Detlev Rohwedder and it is definitely worthwhile viewing. American subscribers can find it under the English title A Perfect Crime. And the murder of Detlev Rohwedder was indeed a perfect crime, for it remains unsolved 30 years later. Most Americans and many Germans probably don't recall Rohwedder and the sensational assassination, but in the early days of die Wende - the collapse of the DDR German Democratic Republic and its reunification with West Germany - Rohwedder played a pivotal role in restructuring the East German economy as the head of the Treuhandanstalt, the agency established to privatize industry of the former communist state. Rohwedder had been CEO of the the steel and mining group Hoesch, and had successfully brought it out of bankruptcy by ruthless cost-cutting measures resulting in thousands of employees losing their jobs. But bringing an entire country with thousands of enterprises out of bankruptcy was mission impossible - even for a skilled manager like Rohwedder.
The Netflix series includes interviews conducted with Rohwedder, as well as footage of him "on the job" in East Berlin meeting with politicians, labor unions, and journalists. There are also interviews with key players at the time who are still alive today - the former finance minister Theo Waigel, the former DDR eonomic minister Christina Luft, even Thilo Sarazzin who came up with the currency reform plan. Lurking in the background is Helmut Kohl, who -for better or for worse - fast-tracked the political and economic unification with a single-mindedness.
The series follows a True Crime format in four episodes. The first sets the scene of the crime, and each of the remaining three examine different theories concerning the perpetrators: was it the left-wing terrorist group RAF (Red Army Faction)? Was it carried out by former highly-trained agents of the Stasi - seeking revenge for their disenfranchisement from the west? Or was this part of a Deep State conspiracy using Rohrwedder as a sacrificial lamb to quell the unrest among the population of the DDR? Each of the episodes is well-done, presenting interviews with security experts and dramatic reenactments of the murder.
What is clear is that there was a total failure of the security precautions with respect to Rohwedder and his family. As the face of the "capitalist takeover" of the DDR he was a huge target, yet he and his family had virtually no security resources other than a city police car that drove by his home every hour or so. The risk must have been clear after the spectacular assassination of Deutsche Bank chief Alfred Herrhausen the previous year. And Herrhausen had an extensive security detail. The Netflix series has audio of Hergard Rohwedder, Detlev's wife who was also shot but survived during the assassination, complaining bitterly about the failure of the state to provide security. Hergard Rohwedder died last year.
The series does a good job of showing the anxiety and fear of the population in the east concerning the work of the Treuhand. Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs as they watched waves of investors from the west acquire the enterprises they built at fire-sale prices. For them it was a hostile takeover, and the resentment lives on today with many.
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