Strausberger Platz in April 2006, the month after the film opened, looking west between Henselmann’s two towers. Gryffindor · Public domain
Bericht · Berlin, 1984 · HGW XX/7
The Lives of Others
Das Leben der Anderen · 2006
Ulrich Mühe at a photo session in Cologne in December 2005, a year after the shoot and three months before the film opened. Edmond Frederik (rework by jha) · CC BY-SA 3.0Ulrich MüheGerd Wiesler · 2005
A captain listens to a writer through an attic floor and types up what he hears. The real files are still in Lichtenberg, and many were torn up by hand in 1989. This page was too.
Torn twice, into four. Strausberger Platz, April 2006, shows through.
Martina Gedeck at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007, two weeks before the Oscar. Thore Siebrands · CC BY 2.0Martina GedeckChrista-Maria · 2007Sebastian Koch in Berlin in February 2008, two years after the film; no free photograph of him from 2006 was found. Siebbi · CC BY 3.0Sebastian KochGeorg Dreyman · 2008
Ruschestraße · the Stasi Records Archive
The sack.
In 1989 and 1990 Stasi officers tore files by hand and stuffed them into sacks: about 16,000 of them, each holding 2,500 to 3,500 torn sheets. Pages torn once or twice can be put back together by hand, and people have been doing it since the 1990s. Here are four pages, each torn twice. Fit the scraps back and each page opens a real place.
From the file
Stasi officers tore files by hand in 1989 and 1990 and stuffed them into sacks: about 16,000 sacks, each holding 2,500 to 3,500 torn sheets. Pages torn once or twice can be put back together by hand. Since the 1990s about 1.7 million sheets from some 600 sacks have been reassembled and returned to the archive.
Sixteen scraps from four pages. Tap one to fit it back. 0 of 4 pages mended
01Normannenstraße
0 of 4 pieces. Still in the sack.
02Ruschestraße
0 of 4 pieces. Still in the sack.
03Genslerstraße
0 of 4 pieces. Still in the sack.
04Keibelstraße
0 of 4 pieces. Still in the sack.
Inside the Stasi headquarters, January 1990. ADN photograph, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0116-015. Uhlemann, Thomas · CC BY-SA 3.0 DERuschestraße outside the Stasi headquarters, January 1990. ADN photograph, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0116-031. Rainer Mittelstädt · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
January 1990
The headquarters had about 50 buildings and thousands of offices, where up to 7,000 full-time Stasi staff worked. In January 1990 citizens forced their way onto the sealed site and helped stop the destruction of the files.
The archive holds 111 kilometres of files, now kept by the Bundesarchiv.
From the file
Ulrich Mühe and Johanna Schall on the platform at the Alexanderplatz demonstration, 4 November 1989. ADN photograph, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1104-034. Hubert Link · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
4 November 1989
Wiesler’s actor, on the platform.
Five years after the film’s story begins, Ulrich Mühe spoke at the Alexanderplatz demonstration in front of half a million people. He told them the party’s hold on power was illegitimate. Days later the Wall fell.
He had joined the Deutsches Theater in East Berlin in 1983 at Heiner Müller’s invitation, and played Hamlet there. He once said the theatre was the one place in the GDR where people were not lied to.
From the file
Mühe spoke at the Alexanderplatz demonstration on 4 November 1989 before half a million people, declaring the party’s hold on power illegitimate, shortly before the Wall fell. He joined the Deutsches Theater in 1983 at Heiner Müller’s invitation and played Hamlet; he said the theatre was the only place in the GDR where people were not lied to.
Erich Mielke’s office, kept as it was, in the Stasi Museum, 2012. Anagoria · CC BY 3.0
Haus 1 was built in 1960–61 as the seat of Erich Mielke, Minister for State Security from 1957 to 1989. His office rooms are kept in their original state.
Stasimuseum
Mielke’s floor, in English
Lichtenberg · Daily except Sunday, 3pm
The museum’s public tour in English at 3pm, Monday to Saturday, through the minister’s floor of Haus 1 and the exhibition. German tours at 1pm.
Dreyman hides a typewriter under a floorboard in his flat. Under this one are the three streets where the two men’s homes were filmed. They are private homes, so they are named by the street only and kept off the map.
Wiesler’s flat was filmed in a prefabricated block on Grevesmühlener Straße in Neu-Hohenschönhausen.
A private home in a residential street. Named here, kept off the map.
From the file
The board is down.
Kreuzberg · Mitte · Prenzlauer Berg · Pankow
The stage and the city.
Both theatres are by the same architect, Oskar Kaufmann: the Hebbel-Theater of 1908, which stood in West Berlin, and the Volksbühne of 1914 in the East.
From the file
Oskar Kaufmann designed the Hebbel-Theater (1907–08) and the Volksbühne (1913–14).
01The Hebbel-Theater on Stresemannstraße in April 2006, the spring the film opened. Schlesinger · CC BY-SA 3.0
The play · Stresemannstraße 29, Kreuzberg
HAU1, the Hebbel-Theater
Dreyman’s play was filmed here, in a theatre that stood in West Berlin.
Oskar Kaufmann built it in 1907–08, the first of his Berlin theatres; it opened on 29 January 1908 and has about 800 seats. Since 2003 it has been part of HAU.
A working theatre, part of HAU Hebbel am Ufer; U1 and U7 Möckernbrücke or Hallesches Tor.
The party · Linienstraße 227, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Mitte
Volksbühne and the Grüner Salon
The theatre’s outside and the Grüner Salon, for the party after the play, were filmed here.
Oskar Kaufmann built it in 1913–14, paid for by members’ donations.
A working theatre; the Grüner Salon is in the same building. U2 Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.
From the file
03The Altes Stadthaus from the west, 2016. Ansgar Koreng · CC BY 3.0 DE
The minister’s car · Parochialstraße and Jüdenstraße, Mitte
Altes Stadthaus
Grubitz and Minister Hempf talk in a car with the Neues and Altes Stadthaus behind them, shot from Parochialstraße.
Ludwig Hoffmann built the Stadthaus in 1902–11. From 1956 it housed, among others, Otto Grotewohl, the GDR’s first prime minister, and Lothar de Maizière, its last.
A government building; see it from Parochialstraße and Jüdenstraße. Klosterstraße U2 is round the corner.
From the file
04The Friedhof I der Georgen-Parochialgemeinde on Greifswalder Straße, February 2020. Neuköllner · CC BY-SA 4.0
The funeral · Greifswalder Straße 229, Prenzlauer Berg
Georgen-Parochial Cemetery I
Jerska’s funeral was filmed here. In the film he takes his own life soon after giving Dreyman the sheet music for the Sonata for a Good Man.
Opened in 1814, it is the oldest surviving cemetery of the St. Georgen parish and a listed garden monument.
A working cemetery; walk in quietly from Greifswalder Straße.
From the file
05The Soviet memorial in the Schönholzer Heide, 2015. Avda · CC BY-SA 3.0
The walk · Schönholzer Heide, Pankow
Soviet memorial, Schönholzer Heide
Dreyman, Wallner and Hauser walk here, out of earshot of the flat.
The memorial was built between May 1947 and November 1949 and covers 27,500 square metres.
Inside the Volkspark Schönholzer Heide, a public park in Pankow; S-Bahn Schönholz.
From the file
Karl-Marx-Allee · after the Wall
The red fingerprint.
After the Wall, Dreyman reads his own file. The typewriter that wrote his article had only a red ribbon, and it stained the fingers of whoever used it. On the last report there is a red fingerprint.
From the file
Dreyman reads his files and finds a red fingerprint in the final report; the typewriter had only a red ribbon, which stained the fingers. Wiesler later finds Dreyman’s new novel dedicated to HGW XX/7, in gratitude, and buys it for himself.
The last report, typed in red. The signature line is blank.
The Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung on Karl-Marx-Allee in April 2006, still selling books, the year of the film. Gryffindor · Public domainThe Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung sign on Karl-Marx-Allee in 2009, a year after the shop began closing down. Andreas Praefcke · CC BY 3.0
Karl-Marx-Allee 78, Friedrichshain
Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung
The last scene was filmed in the Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung at Karl-Marx-Allee 78.
It opened in 1953 as the largest bookshop in the East German capital, with 1,600 square metres. The sell-off began in 2008.
The art press and design agency that later shared the space kept the original lettering, the sign seen in the film’s closing scene.
The bookshop has closed, but the long sign is still over the windows. Look from the pavement on the south side of the Allee.
From the file
Strausberger Platz in April 2006, the month after the film opened, looking west between Henselmann’s two towers. Gryffindor · Public domain
Strausberger Platz, Friedrichshain
Strausberger Platz
The square gives the film an establishing shot of East Berlin.
A team under Hermann Henselmann built it in 1952–55. Its building site was one of the starting points of the strikes of 16 June 1953 that led to the uprising of 17 June.
The fountain in the middle, by the metalworker Fritz Kühn and the architect Heinz Graffunder, went up in 1966; its central jet reaches 18 metres.
A public square at the western end of the Friedrichshain stretch of Karl-Marx-Allee; U5 Strausberger Platz.
From the file
The towers of Frankfurter Tor in April 2006. Gryffindor · Public domain
Frankfurter Tor, Friedrichshain
Frankfurter Tor
Here Dreyman sees Wiesler again, working now as a postman. He does not speak to him.
Hermann Henselmann’s two towers stand on the west side of the square like a city gate; their domes copy the ones on the Gendarmenmarkt. The whole square is a listed monument.
A public crossroads at the eastern end of Karl-Marx-Allee, over U5 Frankfurter Tor.
From the file
Michelberger Hotel
Michelberger Hotel
Friedrichshain
Not a filming location. An independent hotel at Warschauer Straße 39–40, on the street that runs south from Frankfurter Tor, with rooms from the Cosy to the Big One. A short walk from U5 Frankfurter Tor.
Ulrich Mühe at a photo session in Cologne in December 2005, a year after the shoot and three months before the film opened. Edmond Frederik (rework by jha) · CC BY-SA 3.0Ulrich MüheGerd Wiesler · 2005
Sebastian Koch in Berlin in February 2008, two years after the film; no free photograph of him from 2006 was found. Siebbi · CC BY 3.0Sebastian KochGeorg Dreyman · 2008
Martina Gedeck at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007, two weeks before the Oscar. Thore Siebrands · CC BY 2.0Martina GedeckChrista-Maria Sieland · 2007
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in 2015; no free photograph of him from the time of the film was found. Deutsches Filmmuseum · CC BY 3.0Florian Henckel von DonnersmarckWriter and director · 2015
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck wrote and directed it. He said it began with a picture in his head of a man in a depressing room with earphones on, and with Lenin’s remark that if he kept listening to Beethoven’s Appassionata he would never finish the revolution. Thomas Thieme plays Minister Hempf; Gabriel Yared and Stéphane Moucha wrote the score.
Ulrich Mühe won the German Film Award and the European Film Award for best actor as Wiesler. He died of stomach cancer on 22 July 2007, five months after the film won the Oscar.
37shooting days, 26 October to 17 December 2004
€1.8mthe budget; cast and crew worked for a fraction of their fees
7German Film Awards in 2006, from eleven nominations
25 Feb 2007the Oscar for best foreign-language film
From the file
The image of a man in a room with earphones, and Lenin’s remark on the Appassionata.
Cast; 37 shooting days from 26 October to 17 December 2004; a budget of about €1.8 million with cast and crew on a fraction of their fees; seven German Film Awards from eleven nominations.
12 places you can visit, all in Berlin. The three flats, on Hufelandstraße, Wedekindstraße and Grevesmühlener Straße, are private homes: named here, not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open Monday to Friday 10am–6pm, weekends and holidays 11am–6pm. Public tours in German at 1pm and in English at 3pm, Monday to Saturday. U5 to Magdalenenstraße, exit Ruschestraße.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The exhibition Einblick ins Geheime is in Haus 7, on the same campus as the museum; guided tours of the archive are free and booked by email.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open daily 10am–6pm; the exhibitions are free. Tours of the prison are led by former political prisoners and historians and booked through the memorial.
1Haus 1, Mielke’s ministry building and now the Stasi Museum, in April 2026. Gunnar Klack · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1, Lichtenberg
Stasi Museum, Haus 1
At the former Ministry for State Security on Normannenstraße the crew filmed Grubitz’s office, next to Erich Mielke’s old study, a lecture hall and the former canteen.
Open Monday to Friday 10am–6pm, weekends and holidays 11am–6pm. Public tours in German at 1pm and in English at 3pm, Monday to Saturday. U5 to Magdalenenstraße, exit Ruschestraße.
From the file
2The former Stasi headquarters at Frankfurter Allee and Ruschestraße, now the Campus for Democracy, 2018. Gunnar Klack · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruschestraße 103, Haus 7, Lichtenberg
Stasi Records Archive, Haus 7
The headquarters had about 50 buildings and thousands of offices, where up to 7,000 full-time Stasi staff worked. In January 1990 citizens forced their way onto the sealed site and helped stop the destruction of the files.
The exhibition Einblick ins Geheime is in Haus 7, on the same campus as the museum; guided tours of the archive are free and booked by email.
From the file
3The yard of the former Stasi remand prison at Hohenschönhausen, now the memorial, 2017. PantheraLeo1359531 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Genslerstraße 66, Alt-Hohenschönhausen
Hohenschönhausen Memorial
The film opens in the Stasi prison at Hohenschönhausen, but the memorial’s director refused permission to film there, so it could not be shot on the site.
Open daily 10am–6pm; the exhibitions are free. Tours of the prison are led by former political prisoners and historians and booked through the memorial.
From the file
Stay
Near the Allee.
A hotel a short walk from Frankfurter Tor.
Michelberger Hotel
Michelberger Hotel
Friedrichshain
Not a filming location. An independent hotel at Warschauer Straße 39–40, on the street that runs south from Frankfurter Tor, with rooms from the Cosy to the Big One. A short walk from U5 Frankfurter Tor.
The prison with a former prisoner, Mielke’s floor in English, and marketplace walks.
Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
Hohenschönhausen with a former prisoner
Alt-Hohenschönhausen · Exhibitions free
The prison the film opens in. Tours are led by former political prisoners and historians; book a public tour or a group visit through the memorial. Open daily 10am–6pm, Genslerstraße 66.
Live marketplace results for walking tours of Karl-Marx-Allee and Friedrichshain. None is built round this film; check each route for Strausberger Platz and Frankfurter Tor.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Final report
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Stasi Museum, Haus 1
Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1, Lichtenberg
The ministry
Grubitz’s office, a lecture hall and the canteen were filmed at the old ministry on Normannenstraße.
Stasi Records Archive, Haus 7
Ruschestraße 103, Haus 7, Lichtenberg
The file
After the Wall, Dreyman reads his own Stasi file and finds a red fingerprint on the last report.
Hohenschönhausen Memorial
Genslerstraße 66, Alt-Hohenschönhausen
Set here, never filmed here
The opening is set in the Hohenschönhausen prison; the memorial refused permission to film it there.
Wiesler’s flat
Grevesmühlener Straße, Neu-Hohenschönhausen
Wiesler at home
Wiesler’s own flat, in a prefabricated block across the city from Dreyman’s.
Strausberger Platz
Strausberger Platz, Friedrichshain
East Berlin
An establishing shot of the city.
Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung
Karl-Marx-Allee 78, Friedrichshain
For HGW XX/7
Two years later Wiesler opens Dreyman’s new novel in a bookshop and finds it dedicated to HGW XX/7. He buys it for himself.
Frankfurter Tor
Frankfurter Tor, Friedrichshain
The postman
Dreyman sees Wiesler delivering post and lets him go by.
Dreyman’s street
Wedekindstraße, Friedrichshain
The street outside
The outside of Dreyman’s building.
Dreyman’s flat and the attic
Hufelandstraße, Prenzlauer Berg
The attic
Wiesler listens to the flat from the attic above it.
Lernort Keibelstraße
Keibelstraße, Mitte (office: Bernhard-Weiß-Straße 6)
Prisoner 227
The film opens in 1984 with Wiesler interrogating a prisoner; the cells and corridors are the former prison on Keibelstraße.
Volksbühne and the Grüner Salon
Linienstraße 227, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Mitte
The party
After the play the company dance at a party in the Grüner Salon.
Altes Stadthaus
Parochialstraße and Jüdenstraße, Mitte
In the minister’s car
Grubitz and Hempf talk in a car in front of the Stadthaus.
Georgen-Parochial Cemetery I
Greifswalder Straße 229, Prenzlauer Berg
Jerska’s funeral
Dreyman buries his friend Jerska.
HAU1, the Hebbel-Theater
Stresemannstraße 29, Kreuzberg
The play
Dreyman’s play on stage, with Wiesler watching from the audience.
Soviet memorial, Schönholzer Heide
Schönholzer Heide, Pankow
Out of earshot
Dreyman, Wallner and Hauser talk on a walk by the Soviet memorial.
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