Im inneren Kreis (2017)

Disguised as “Iris Schneider,” police officer Iris P. spent years moving in the circles around the Rote Flora in Hamburg, working with an editorial team at Hamburg radio station Freies Sender Kombinat and entering into romantic relationships with people from the left-wing scene. The undercover investigator Iris P. was deployed, at times simultaneously, by several agencies between 2001 and 2006: the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office (LKA), and the Schleswig-Holstein State Criminal Police Office (LKA). Stuttgart LKA officer Simon B. enrolled at the University of Heidelberg as “Simon Brenner” and investigated politically active university groups between 2009 and 2010. Only five years later, following complaints by those affected, the Administrative Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the undercover investigator’s deployment had been unlawful. This documentary, consisting primarily of interviews, retraces exemplary cases of undercover investigations in Hamburg and Heidelberg, describes police methods, and focuses on the consequences of state surveillance for those affected. It does so by addressing a set of guiding questions. From the state’s perspective, the film features then Federal Prosecutor General Kay Nehm (1994–2006), who authorized the deployment of undercover investigator Iris P. under Section 129a. Other perspectives are provided by Jan Reinecke (Association of German Criminal Investigators), Christiane Schneider (Hamburg Parliament), Gerhart Baum (lawyer and former Federal Minister of the Interior), Martin Heiming (lawyer / RAV), and Iris Schipkowski (psychologist).