Much of the outdoor shots in Babylon Berlin were filmed at Studio Babelsberg. This brings to mind the often quoted but horribly misunderstood words of Pablo Picasso, who once quipped, “Art is a lie that makes us realize truth-at least the truth that is given us to understand.” Other examples exist, but I’ll let you find them. Another is the hijacked train so central to the story, a German DRB Class 52 steam locomotive, which would not be built until 1942. There is some bending of the truth in Babylon Berlin, the digital Alexanderplatz is a good example. The Alexanderhaus would be constructed in 1930 and Jonass & CO erected in 1934. It evoked the hustle and bustle of the modern metropolis that was Berlin in 1929 but one has to make exception for the fact that two of the buildings depicted in the scene had not yet been built. The realistic digital recreation of Berlin’s Alexanderplatz is one such example. The characters, events, fashion, political movements, street names, even the buildings in Babylon Berlin are rooted in historical reality. The digital recreation of Berlin's Alexanderplatz from Babylon Berlin.
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The controversy went nowhere when the TV series eventually showed Mayor Adenauer to be completely innocent. Despite knowing the actual story, the tabloid published a sensationalist piece around the question, “Is it really necessary to make the father of the Federal Republic a sadomasochist?” It should go without saying that the real Adenauer was never blackmailed for being a sadomasochist. A devout Catholic, he was not only the Mayor of Cologne during the Weimar years, but at the close of WWII was a co-founder and leader of the center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU, the same party of Germany’s current Chancellor Angela Merkel).Īdenauer was also the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963.īefore Babylon Berlin was shown on German TV, series producer Stefan Arndt explained the plot to Bild-Zeitung.
Konrad Adenauer was in fact an actual historic figure. Mayor Konrad Adenauer in 1929 with a map of Cologne. Rath is also a man struggling with his Catholic faith, both for the loss of his brother Anno on the battlefield, and for his ongoing affair with his brother’s wife Helga Rath. Perfectly legal at the time, heroin based medicinals were widely used as a painkiller throughout the country. A combat veteran of WWI, he quietly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and secretly self-medicates when high stress situations cause him to tremble uncontrollably.įor that purpose he is most likely using the cough syrup containing heroin then produced by Bayer, Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical company. A man in his early thirties, Gereon is a well-mannered member of the Cologne police force. The main character of Babylon Berlin is Inspector Gereon Rath (played by Volker Bruch). However, my article will contain major “spoilers.” My essay is not a timeline for the show, and though long and detailed, I will not be covering everything presented in the series. The narrative of this detective noir period piece is engaging enough that you don’t need to know the actual history behind the drama’s backdrop-but it certainly helps. The TV series has multiple characters and plot lines, and a few anachronisms I’ll write off to artistic license. This essay gives my view of the show thus far, its strong points and foibles, with a spotlight on the art and politics of the period. I have always had a passion for the art produced in Germany during the Weimar years (1919-1933), so I was thrilled to discover Babylon Berlin would depict that tumultuous period.
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