Crime scene: iconoclasm

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Episode of the series Tatort
Original title Iconoclasm
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 WDR
length 88 minutes
classification Episode 388 ( List )
First broadcast June 21, 1998 on Das Erste
Rod
Director Niki Stein
script Jan Hinter ,
Robert Schwentke
production Jan Hinter
music Loy Wesselburg
camera Arthur W. Ahrweiler
cut Corina Dietz
occupation

Bildersturm is a television film from the crime series Tatort . The film, produced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and directed by Niki Stein , was broadcast on June 21, 1998 on ARD's first program. It is the 4th case of the Cologne team of investigators Ballauf and Schenk and the 388th crime scene episode.

action

The commissioners Ballauf and Schenk get caught in a demonstration on the way to an operation. Opponents prepared to use violence besiege a photo exhibition that documents the crimes of the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War . The exhibition director Anna Klee has received death threats and is threatened by strangers from the right-wing scene who are organizing against the “Iconoclasm” exhibition. The commissioners are supposed to take on the death threats, but they are already being called to a new murder case. A body was discovered in a forest near Cologne. The murder happened at close range, shot in the neck. Schenk recognizes the old man as Brenner, who used to work as a banker and was involved in a bribery scandal years ago. There is a wad of charred banknotes on the floor under the dead man, which is quite puzzling to the investigators.

In the meantime, Anna Klee is attacked by a stranger in the gallery . The policeman who was posted for her safety was injured and has to be taken to a clinic. Ballauf then takes over the surveillance himself, as Anna is not unlikely to him. When another attack on Anna Klee takes place, both are slightly injured. The main suspect is a Robert Hattey who is to be arrested with a large police force, but is not found in his apartment.

Shortly afterwards, a similarly executed dead old man is found on the banks of the Rhine in Cologne. Ernst Waldmann was killed with a shot in the neck, just like Brenner, and there are remains of burnt money here too. In Waldmann's apartment, Schenk discovers a reference to the “Iconoclasm” exhibition and a blackmail letter. He should pay 50,000 DM if he doesn't want everyone to know that he is in a photo of the exhibition. Ballauf and Schenk then take a closer look at the pictures showing how Wehrmacht soldiers shoot civilians. A closer examination should clarify who, besides Brenner and Waldmann, is the third soldier in the picture. He could be the next victim or the perpetrator. Obviously, this is even Schenk's uncle Richard, who runs a small tobacco shop in Cologne. Schenk is initially shocked. He looks for him and tries to persuade him to put himself in protective custody. Richard Schenk is of the opinion that he will be mixed up because he would have been in the field kitchen and not in the arms service. He has also received a ransom note and agrees that he can go to the agreed meeting point under police protection. This is in the museum, right next to the treacherous picture number 73. While Richard Schenk is waiting for the blackmailer, a bomb threat comes in at the museum. Since the call comes from the foyer of the museum, Ballauf manages to catch the man. It is the neo-Nazi Robert Hattey, whom they have been looking for since the attack on Anna Klee.

Ernst Waldmann's widow appears surprisingly at the presidium and brings the officers a diary and old photos of her husband from the Second World War. But before they can look through the documents, Schenk is called to see his uncle, who has attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital. Since he had realized that he had become a burden and a security risk for his nephew and his family, he wanted to poison himself with pills.

Using the photo from the exhibition and others from Waldmann's estate, Ballauf and Schenk succeeded in finding the village near which the photo must have been taken. It is located in Belgium and they ask the pastor, who tells them that shortly before the end of the war the whole Koning family was arbitrarily wiped out by German soldiers. Ballauf knows a Professor Koning in Cologne who is known as an advocate of the exhibition and who is vehemently committed to coming to terms with war crimes of the past. He has now managed to get Robert Schenk under his control in the hospital and confronts him. Schenk then admits to have acted on orders, but Koning refutes him. He was six years old at the time and would have seen everything. Ballauf and Schenk, who were informed of the kidnapping, track down Koning and arrest him before he can commit a third murder. Schenk is still talking to his uncle, who ruefully admits that he was actually there and Brenner had ordered them to shoot.

background

Iconoclasm was produced by Colonia Media on behalf of the WDR . The shooting took place in Cologne, Beho (Belgium) and Sankt Vith (Belgium).

The journalist and television presenter Sven Kuntze has a guest appearance in this crime scene as the presenter of the program “Current Hour”.

reception

Audience ratings

When it was first broadcast on June 21, 1998, the episode Bildersturm in Germany was seen by 5.27 million viewers, which corresponded to a market share of 19.80 percent.

Reviews

Thomas Gehringer from tittelbach.tv appreciates: “Niki Stein's 'Tatort' skilfully combines the past and the current, also by playing with supposed visual truths. An exciting, successful film about guilt, repression and the authenticity of images. Much noticed Cologne 'crime scene' from the first hour. "

The critics of the television magazine TV Spielfilm judge: "Politically correct, exciting crime plot."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Location and audience rating at fundus.de, accessed on October 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ Thomas Gehringer: Film review at tittelbach.tv, accessed on October 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ Short review at tvspielfilm.de, accessed on October 20, 2014.
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