What did you do in the war, Gunther?
The history of the fallout between the Communists and the Democrats in Germany brought a policeman into close proximity of political violence. Hitler’s rise to power was tainted by violence on the streets but Mielke, the man whose life Inspector Bernie Gunther saved, would soon enough retaliate. The death of two policemen turned him into a marked man and Gunther into the hunter – a pursuit that was paused when war was first waged.
The ebb and flow of conflict faced SS Captain Gunther with different concerns. Orders to execute thirty Russian NKVD officers who had just shot two thousand prisoners was one thing. Killing hundreds of local women and children was too much – even if it was ordered from above. Then, when Konigsberg fell to the Russians, it was his turn to suffer. He encountered the living hell of the labour camps, until the death of a turncoat offered a way out and a meeting with Mielke.