For Eyes Only - Ein Film und seine Geschichte

Short Summary (English)

This documentary tells the tale of the GDR spy Horst Hesse. Hesse worked as a spy for the GDR Ministry for State Security and in 1956 he received an assignment to steal documents from an American Secret Service branch in Würzburg. This sensational story provides a backdrop for the 1963 DEFA feature film FOR EYES ONLY. The film itself, however, is enriched by a touch of fiction: the GDR spy manages to get his hands on the American plans of attack from the Würzburg Secret Service office. In reality though, all that was in the safe was an index of the Würzburg service agents, certainly no plan of attack.

Both the citizens of the GDR and the ‘hero’ Horst Hesse himself believed that he had obtained secret attack papers. Hesse was made to tell the story over and over again. It became a lifelong lie, until his death in 2005.

Gunther Scholz’s documentary is based on an interview conducted with Horst Hesse in 2002.

Film Crew

Director

• Gunther Scholz

Camera

• Axel Brandt
• David Schmidt

Film Editing

• Christian Zschammer

Music

• Robert Papst
• Hugo Siegmeth

Executive Producer

• Mathias Remmert