Gereon Rath

Gereon Rath (5 March 1899-) was a German policeman from Cologne who served in the Berlin Police during the Weimar era. A veteran of World War I, Rath dealt with post-traumatic stress and an addiction to painkillers for several years as a result of his wartime traumas. His time in Berlin coincided with escalating political violence from both the far-left and far-right, and he came up against both Russian communists and German nationalists during his career in the embattled capital.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Gereon Rath was born in Cologne, German Empire to a Catholic family. His father Engelbert Rath served as the right-hand man of Lord Mayor Konrad Adenauer, and belonged to the upper ranks of the Cologne Police. Gereon was drafted into the Imperial German Army in 1917 during World War I, serving in the 22nd Infantry Regiment. Rath joined the army late, and thus experienced the worst of the fighting to defend the Siegfried Line. On 4 November 1918, at the front line between Malmaison and Laffaux, Gereon watched his brother Anno be wounded, but he cowardly fled rather than attempted to rescue him; he later convinced himself that he had tried to rescue his brother, only to be captured by the French Army. Gereon's experiences during the war left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. After Rath's mother died of the Spanish flu at the end of the war, Dr. Adenauer took care of Rath's family, causing Rath to feel indebted towards him.

Mission for Adenauer[]

After the war, Rath became a successful career officer of the Cologne Homicide Division, but his involvement in a fatal accidental shooting incident led to his transfer to Berlin as the city became a battleground for the German far-left and far-right. Rath worked out of the Alexanderplatz police headquarters in Mitte, where he was partnered with Bruno Wolter; he also became dependent on anti-anxiety medication supplied to him by the apothecary Joseph Döhmann, who received payment in illegal pornographic photos. On 29 April 1929, he and Wolter took part in a raid on a Neukölln photography studio used by Johann König as a pornographic film set, and Rath was shot at by Franz Krajewski, who was preparing to shoot a film using young boys as actors. Wolter was able to arrest Krajewski after he failed to shoot Rath, and Wolter forced him to become an informant. Rath had a personal stake in interrogating König, whom he believed to be in possession of a film that incriminated his friend Adenauer; Adenauer asked Rath to recover the film before the upcoming elections.

However, König committed suicide after stealing Rath's gun during an interrogation before Rath could force him to hand over the incriminating film of Adenauer. Shortly after, political department chief August Benda interviewed Rath about König's death and the injuries on his body, and Rath told him that König had wrested his gun from him, and that he had received his injuries while resisting arrest. Benda also asked to know the purpose of Rath's mission, and Rath explained that König had blackmailed his family friend Adenauer on behalf of a contractor in Berlin, whom he was pursuing. Benda told him to keep up the pursuit; meanwhile, Wolter put up Rath at Elisabeth Behnke's boarding house at 25 Bayreuther Street after the hotel where Rath was staying became fully booked.

As detective Stephan Jänicke drove Rath to his apartment, Rath had Jänicke drop him off at U Hermannplatz, where he met with Krajewski and demanded to know for whom König was blackmailing Adenauer. Krajewski feigned ignorance, guessing the Kaiser, only for Rath to shove him; Krajewski said that König was secretive about who was sending him money. However, Rath showed Krajewski a still photo from the film and asked Krajewski who the two women in the photo wer, and Krajewski identified one of them as "Mutti from Wedding". Rath found Mutti Cammin and learned that the other woman in the photo was Martha Konopatzki, who had gone back to Pomerania; she said that she was not sure where the photo was taken, the identity of the man in the photo, or who had hired her, but she recalled a painting of a red nag in the room in which the photo was taken. That night, Rath dined with Wolter and his wife Emmi, and, on returning to his apartment, he found Behnke tied up and gagged in a broom closet. When he rescued her, she said that the man who had tied her up was in Rath's room. Rath confronted the man, the Trotskyist agent Boris Volkov, who fought his way out of the apartment and jumped from the balcony onto the street below. There, he was kidnapped by Chekist agents, and Rath failed to free the man from the Chekists' car. Rath learned from Behnke that Alexei Kardakov had stayed in Rath's room before his stay, and that Russian communists had often met in Kardakov's room. They also shared their experiences of the war, with Behnke saying that she once dreamed that Kardakov had killed her husband Helmut, and Rath sharing how his brother had died in the war, and his mother believed that the wrong son had returned home.

On 1 May 1929, Rath and Wolter were assigned to observe the unauthorized communist demonstrations in Kreuzberg, and they witnessed the Blutmai massacre, in which the police fired indiscriminatley against KPD protesters and civilians. Rath was told by a civilian to seek Doctor Jördis Völcker's aid in helping two wounded women, but both women bled out before they could be helped. When Rath and Wolter took the two bodies to the morgue, Rath saw the body of Volkov, and he recalled him from his apartment. The coroner Wilhelm Böhm deduced that he had been run over by a car, judging by the wounds on his hands, but he hurriedly decided to close the case, as he claimed that Russian Leninists, Trotskyists, Stalinists, anarchists, and even Tsarists were murdered all the time in Berlin. The police clerk Charlotte Ritter, who had previously met Rath at the police station, said that it appeared that Volkov was murdered, as the wounds on his hands were even. Rath and Ritter later met up at a newsstand, where they agreed to keep in touch, as they found Volkov's death unusual.

That night, Rath spoke with his neighbor, the writer Samuel Katelbach, over dinner, hoping to learn more about Kardakov. Katelbach said that Kardakov was a Trotskyist who sought to overthrow Joseph Stalin, and Rath learned that Katelbach spoke Russian due to his interest in Russian literature, taking a liking to his eccentric flatmate. He also found an envelope from Svetlana Sorokina at 7 Meraner Street, and he called Ritter and asked her to write down that address for use in their investigation.

The next day, Rath met with police photographer Reinhold Gräf, who identified the blackmail photo as being made with Yugoslav film, used only by the Geyer film lab in Neukölln. There, he learned that a courier had already retrieved the negatives of the film, and, when he tried to confront Krajewski at the train station, Krajewski ran into a train in an attempt to flee. Rath forced his way onto the train, but Krajewski told a group of Red Front fighters that Rath was a murderous cop, and the communists threw Rath out of the train. Shortly after, Rath met with Ritter, who told him that she had found a bullet in Sorokina's flat and evidence that she had shot Kardakov. The two met over lunch, where they found out from a flyer that both Sorokina and Kardakov had played with the famous bandmaster Ilya Trechkov, who played with Uncle Jim at Hollander. Ritter decided that she would take Rath to the club with her on an early morning, telling Rath that he wouldn't find the location from anyone else, as it was a secretive (drag) club, and nobody would tell a policeman about it. Rath bumped into Gräf - who was in drag - at the club, before meeting with Trechkov, who said that he saw Kardakov's Red Fortress cell as a bunch of freaks who mistakenly believed that they could overthrow Joseph Stalin. He also spoke poorly of Sorokina, and, when asked by Rath of Kardakov's location, Trechkov said that Kardakov was at Wormstrasse in Koepenick, where there was a basement print room that served as the headquarters of the Red Fortress.

The next morning, Katelbach approached Rath in his room as Behnke - with whom Rath had slept - hid under Rath's sheets. Katelbach asked Rath to help him investigate the police officer Fritz Dörr, whom the police had claimed was injured by the KPD during the Blutmai massacre. At the same time, Benda and police chief Karl Zörgiebel had Rath work on a falsified police report regarding Blutmai, in which Rath would testify that the police had come under communist fire and that the police were acting in self-defense. That evening, Rath confronted Krajewsky and asked whom he had given the film to, and, when Krajewsky refused to respond, Wolter had Krajewsky locked up in a cell to withdraw from his drugs, effectively torturing him until he could respond. When Wolter revealed that he knew of Rath's own prescription drug addiction, Rath punched him in the face, infuriated that Wolter had been spying on him. The next day, after Rath visited Doehmann for more painkillers, crime boss Edgar Kasabian's enforcer Joseph Wilczek, dressed as a priest, told Doehmann that, from then on, he would give Rath barbiturates rather than painkillers.

Later that day, Ritter called Rath and had him come to the Anhalter freight yard, where - posing as a journalist - she found out that a Soviet train had exploded the night before, releasing toxic pesticides and killing a few policemen. Ritter said that the Soviet train's explosion might have links to the dead Russian, so Rath came to the crime scene and found Benda confronting the Soviet ambassador Denis Trokhin at the scene of the incident. Rath explained to Benda that the driver of the train was likely murdered, as his body was found in the Spree river in the Landwehrkanal. Rath agreed to talk to Benda in his car, while he would meet Ritter later. During the car ride, Benda told Rath that the sheds contained 13 cases of treason due to the illegal import of warfare agents from the USSR. Benda said that the smuggled goods had increased in danger from small arms to anti-aircraft guns, tanks, heavy guns, and, by then, poison gas. Benda said that it was likely that the Black Reichswehr was importing the weapons, and Rath said that he had heard of those irregular combat units. Benda told Rath to stay on the case of the dead railroad worker, as he needed any clue that could help him narrow down the suspects. Benda said that he would investigate Alfred Nyssen, a puppet of the paramilitary, whose goal was nothing less than the destruction of German democracy.

That same evening, Wolter invited Rath to a meeting of the Black Reichswehr, where they displayed their illegal weapons, staged a dioramic reenactment of General Wilhelm Seegers' victory over the British at Heidekrug during the Great War, and chanted their belief that the German Army was undefeated and that the Social Democrats had betrayed the war effort.

The next day, Benda had Nyssen arrested, while Krajewski finally became willing to talk to the police. He revealed that the films were stored at the Moka Efti nightclub in "the Armenian" Edgar Kasabian's room. Krajewski distracted Kasabian and his henchmen by telling them of a police arms cache, while Rath entered Kasabian's room and attempted to find the storage place of the incriminating film of Adenauer. Rath cracked a safe and found the films, but he was forced to threaten to shoot Kasabian when the Armenian returned to his room. Rath had Kasabian pile the films within a spread tablecloth and help him bring them out of the club, but Kasabian and his henchmen attempted to shoot Rath, leading to Rath and Wolter - who had entered the club - engaging in a shootout with Kasabian's henchmen. Rath and Wolter left with the films, and Rath advised Krajewski to disappear for a while.

Wolter and Rath celebrating the destruction of the tapes

Rath and Wolter then watched the films to see who was incriminated, and Wolter recognized a city councilman, while Rath recognized his own father. Rath then called his father and said that he had destroyed all of the tapes, negatives and positives, but, when his father asked when Gereon was coming back to Cologne, Gereon said that he was not going home. He and Wolter proceeded to burn the films and give off celebratory wolf-howls, having completed their mission. He and Wolter then had drinks at a club, where Wolter revealed that Charlotte had told him about Rath's medicine. That same night, however, Gereon was pursued by Wilczek until Gereon shot the priest and eventually lost consciousness on his own doorstep. Ritter awoke him, only for Rath to angrily tell her to "go to hell" for spying on him.

The Red Fortress investigation[]

Days later, the police discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 13 men and two women, and Rath identified the bodies as members of the Red Fortress cell. Homicide department chief Ernst Gennat assigned Rath to put together a squad and investigate the murders, which Benda said were politically sensitive. Rath chose Stephan Jänicke as his assistant and reluctantly involved Ritter in the case, confronting her at a bathhouse about the location of the train documents; Ritter persuaded Rath to forgive her in exchange for her help and her explaining of the circumstances of her betrayal. At the same time, Rath learned that the police had discovered Wilczek's body at a construction site.

Later that day, Gereon found that his sister-in-law Helga and his nephew Moritz came to visit the police station, surprising him. Helga told Gereon that his brother Anno had officially been declared killed in action, and that she and Moritz could be in Berlin with Gereon if he wanted. Rath called Bruno for help with giving the two accommodations, and Bruno decided to let them stay with himself and his wife Emmi. Gereon rekindled his old romance with Helga, meeting with Moritz's disapproval, as Moritz refused to believe that his father was dead.

The next day, Rath found Ritter sleeping at her desk, and she told him of how she had overheard police chief Karl Zörgiebel and Soviet ambassador Denis Trokhin's discussion at the Moka Efti club, which included information on the Soviets smuggling weapons to the Black Reichswehr and Trokhin's attempt to blackmail Zorgiebel into letting the train return to the USSR without incident. Rath and Benda took part in the arrests of Cheka agents Mikhail Fallin and Grigori Selensky after Janicke found proof linking them to the Red Fortress massacre, and the two then met with the Soviet ambassador Trokhin and offered to overlook the massacre if Trokhin would give up the names of the top fifteen leaders of the Black Reichswehr. Later, Rath met with Kasabian, who gave him money to buy a radio for the next day. Rath was also approached by Dr. Volker as he moved out of Behnke's boarding house, and Volker failed to convince him to testify against the Chief of Police and for the innocence of the two slain women, even as Katelbach published evidence that the wounded police officer had been shot by his three-year-old son and not by communists.

That night, Rath met with Trokhin, who delivered him files on several Black Reichswehr leaders, such as Major Anton von Beck, who made dozens of visa applications, and General Wilhelm Seegers. Trokhin had Rath release his Cheka agents in exchange for revealing that, since 1925, the Black Reichswehr had very regularly been visiting the village of Lipetsk, the secret base of the German Air Force. The next day, Rath met with Karl Zörgiebel, Benda, and the public prosecutor, where they discussed bringing charges against half the general staff for constitutional breach, treason, conspiracy against the republic, and several other charges for bringing in 13 train cars of phosgene. While Zorgiebel was reluctant to use such scant evidence to press the case, Rath said that the documents were proof of a German base in the Soviet Union, where German pilots were trained to become fighter pilots by German experts in German fighter planes. Benda suggested that the Russians benefited, as they learned how to build airplane engines from German engineers. The prosecutor demanded witnesses, files, and photographs to accompany the documents, so Rath volunteered to go to Russia and obtain the evidence. Benda agreed to fly Rath into Russia to obtain proof, and he recruited Graf to join him.

Graf and Rath preparing for the reconnaissance mission

Graf and Rath met their pilot Siegfried Stoltz and his navigator Robert Sauer the next day, and, in spite of their inexperience with flying, they were brought aboard the plane for the mission. In spite of heavy rain and flak fire, Rath and Graf were able to photograph the secret airbase before they returned home. On returning home, however, Rath found the department in mourning, as Janicke had been found dead by Rath's nephew Moritz (who had came across the body while running away from a couple on whom he had poured cockroaches during their intercourse in a quiet industrial area). The police discovered that the same weapon was used in the shootings of Joseph Wilczek and Stephan Janicke, and Bohm pointed out that both victims were killed on their way to see Rath. Gennat ordered the police to retrace every step Janicke had taken before his death, with Gennat and Wolter each defending Rath from Bohm's allegations. Rath later came across a weeping Ritter, and he comforted her and told her that Janicke had been exposed as an internal informant, meaning that he was likely killed by Wolter. Rath and Ritter decided that it was vital that they recover his notebook, and Rath visited the site of the murder to search for evidence.

Solving Janicke's murder[]

Rath went on to sneak into Wolter's apartment and have Helga and Moritz secretly move out, believing that they could be in danger as he continued to investigate Wolter. Wolter was awake to hear the three sneak out of his home. The next day, Rath snuck into Wolter's apartment and stole Janicke's notebook from his desk, and he told Emmi that he had come back to return his apartment key. Gereon was confronted by Bruno as he left, and Rath confronted Wolter over Janicke's murder. Wolter refused to answer Rath's questions, and instead asked why Rath shot Wilczek. Rath said that Wolter shouldn't have used Krajewski's weapon for the murder, but Wolter said that the police would believe that Rath killed both Wilczek and Janicke in a drug frenzy. The two parted, knowing that each of them had evidence of each other's role in shootings. On returning to the station, Rath gave Ritter Janicke's journal, and he asked Charlotte to translate the journal, as it was written in shorthand, which Rath couldn't read. Rath warned Ritter that they couldn't trust anyone by then, before leaving.

Rath witnessed the arrests and interrogations of fifteen Black Reichswehr leaders before Operation Prangertag could be carried out, but he also witnessed police chief Karl Zörgiebel cancel interrogations for the next several days because he felt his hands were tied; Oberst Gottfried Wendt blackmailed him into sabotaging the crackdown. At the same time, Rath heard that Ritter had gone missing, and he sent Thorsten Henning and Rudiger Czerwinski to search for her.

Rath then visited Wolter's home, where they had a fistfight; Wolter had just returned home from the Moabit detention center, where he helped plan Operation Prangertag. Wolter nearly choked Gereon to death, but a shocked Emmi arrived, sparing Rath from death. Wolter then drove Rath to the Moka Efti club to search for Ritter, who had been kidnapped by Kasabian's henchman Max Fuchs for interrogation about the missing gold. Rath approached Svetlana Sorokina as she left a musical performance at the show and learned of her role in smuggling her family's lost gold into Germany. The next morning, Rath visited Behnke to look for Katelbach, as he had noticed that Katelbach published an article on the secret German army being assembled by the Black Reichswehr. A paranoid Katelbach awoke and pointed a pistol at Rath before realizing who he was, and he revealed that a group of thugs had ransacked his office, including a list of the private addresses of the staff, in retribution for his article. Rath asked for Katelbach's informant, deducing that it had to be someone from the inner circle or military high command. Rath said that he was about to be forced to release 15 officers of the Black Reichswehr from custody in spite of the overwhelming evidence that they were procuring weapons of mass destruction, and Katelbach demanded that Rath make his investigation public, as only the public could protect him. The Black Reichswehr committed 1,000 murders in five years, and all of their murderers were acquitted. Rath demanded Katelbach's source for use as backup, and Katelbach agreed to take him to meet his informant, an engineer. However, they witnessed the informant be shot dead in a drive-by, thwarting their plan.

The next day, Rath and Benda attended the interrogation of Seegers, only for an officer to arrive with warrants for the release of all of the Black Reichswehr leaders. Before Seegers left, Rath confronted him with importation papers for phosgene gas with Seegers' signature; Behnke had given him the papers before he had left her apartment. They planned to publicize the papers at a press conference the next day, causing the police leadership, including Zorgiebel, to celebrate with champagne.

Operation Prangertag[]

However, Rath grew suspicious of the Black Reichswehr's intentions for the day of Corpus Christi (30 May 1929), when French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann would be meeting at an opera house. Rath entered the opera house in the uniform of a street policeman, and he managed to confront Major Florian Scheer, who was aiming a sniper rifle at the foreign ministers, preparing to open fire when a shootout scene began during the play. He aimed a gun at Scheer and asked who he worked for, but Wolter took advantage of the shootout on stage to shoot Scheer. He also attempted to shoot Briand before the onstage gunfire ended, but Briand - who was bored with the play - got up and left just seconds before Wolter fired a bullet at his chair, which went unnoticed due to his silencer. Rath was arrested by other police while attempting to chase after a fleeing Wolter, but, on being interrogated by Benda, he told him that a dead assassin was in the balcony on stage right, causing Benda to order the police to release Rath. However, the body was removed by the time the police arrived. Rath told Benda that three or four men must have been involved, and that, while he was sure that Scheer would have sung, he was executed before him. He also revealed Wolter's role in the conspiracy, and Benda said that Rath was likely right, as he had been investigating him for a while. However, Benda said that there was no evidence against Wolter yet, and Rath agreed to find more. Benda also congratulated Rath for thwarting a coup; the next morning, Seegers would be presented to the public.

However, President Paul von Hindenburg arrived at the police station just before the press conference and retrieved Seegers, while telling Benda to postpone the conference out of "common sense". Hindenburg also had the Soviet train sent back to Russia immediately, ending the investigation and covering up the coup attempt. When Rath returned to his hotel, he met Ritter, who had just been released by Kasabian, and he told her that the train was to be sent back. Ritter showed Rath the transcribed notes from Janicke's journal, showing that Wolter had met with State Secretary Gottfried Wendt and Alfred Nyssen, accompanied by Countess Svetlana Sorokina. They planned to rob the train while it was being sent back to Russia, and they would ambush it at Milestone 127; they sought to steal the Sorokins' gold from the train. Rath was aware of the gold from Sorokina, shocking Ritter, who wasn't aware that anyone else knew about it. Ritter said that the wagon numbers had been switched, and Wolter and Nyssen would be likely to stop the train and attempt to steal the gas, while Sorokina would attempt to recover her gold.

Rath met with Benda and told him about the plot, but Benda refused to mess with anybody about the train again, even though Wolter killed Janicke. Rath was unable to offer any proof for the murder, even though he and Benda both knew that Wolter was responsible. Benda told Rath to let the train go, even though Rath told him about the Sorokin family's gold on the train. Benda said that the police would deal with Wolter and his gang in due time, and that it was not the police's business if the gold was stolen. Benda told Rath that Wendt would release the train that same day at exactly 3 PM, so Rath and Ritter set out to find Milestone 127, in the direction of Wunsdorf and a nearby lake. Rath gathered his fellow policemen, including Graf, and set out to intercept the train. However, Wolter, driving an army truck, rammed them off the road and into the lake, where he believed them dead after seeing their car sink to the bottom and nobody swim up. The two narrowly escaped after Wolter drove off, with Rath resuscitating Ritter after breaking open the sunken car's door with a shovel.

Train robbery[]

Henning and Czerwinski picked up Rath and Ritter after coming across them on the road, and the three men set out to ambush the train as Ritter recovered in the car. The policemen walked along the tracks, and they activated a stop sign near Milestone 120, hoping to stop the train. Rath snuck aboard moving train when it arrived, and, sure enough, the Black Reichswehr halted the train at Milestone 127. There, Kasabian's Berlin Mafia, using silenced guns, massacred Major Beck and the Black Reichswehr soldiers as Wolter searched the wagon containing the gold. Rath confronted Wolter in the wagon, having him throw over his gun, and he demanded that Wolter climb the ladder. Wolter told Rath that he was no hero, but a traitor with no values, morals, or courage, causing Rath to shoot Wolter in the shoulder. Wolter dropped the gold, which broke, revealing it to be gilded coal. Wolter laughed at the deception, and Rath forced him to exit the carriage, where the Mafia aimed their guns at him and demanded to see his hands. The Mafia fired a shot into Wolter's chest, causing him to fall from the train. Rath then exited the train, and Kasabian ordered his men to spare Rath. However, gas began to leak from the train due to a bullethole puncture, killing several of the mobsters, and Kasabian fled in his car. Rath wore a gas mask, as did Henning and Czerwinski, and a wounded Wolter managed to retrieve a pistol from a dead body. The driver of the train decided to keep it moving, so Rath had Henning and Czerwinski disarm the dead bodies as he searched for Wolter on the train. Wolter ordered the driver to go faster, and he confronted Rath on top of the train. Rath and Wolter attempted to shoot at each other, and Wolter disconnected the front two cars from the rest of the train. Rath shot at Wolter as he escaped, hitting the side of the wagon. Wolter lit a celebratory cigarette as he escaped, but the fire on his cigarette ignited the gas leaking from his wagon, causing an explosion that killed him. Rath watched the explosion from a distance, his former friend now dealt with.

On Rath's return to Berlin, he met with the new chief of political police, Gottfried Wendt, who congratulated Rath on his investigative success. Wendt told Rath that the events around Wolter and his illegal activities made him think that it was more difficult to rely on the political opinions of even one's closest colleagues, and Rath tacitly agreed. Wendt decided to establish a new department, "Internal Revision", to deal with corruption and conspicuous displays of party loyalty; he decided that Rath should officially head that department while still remaining with homicide. Rath went on to testify at the Blutmai trial in Wolter's stead, and, while Volker watched, Rath testified that the Communists shot at the police. Volker and many in the audience called Rath a liar and murderer, but Rath claimed that Wolter had spoken true, and that the police acted in self-defense.

At the police headquarters, Ritter told Rath that they had to go to Sorokina's flat to prevent her from escaping. Rath also told Ritter that she had been hired as a deputy homicide detective, giving her the badge that she was to wear. The two then headed to find Sorokina, but, on observing the Sorokin family portrait in Sorokina's flat and seeing not a single girl among the family's eight children, they deduced that Sorokina was an impostor. Rath also recalled Sorokina's story that the chauffeur who had betrayed the Sorokins had a daughter, and he realized that everyone in the painting was dead, while Svetlana was the chauffeur's daughter; she would have thus known about the gold, but did not know that the gold was fake, and that the rear wagon itself was cast in gold.

That evening, during a rainstorm, Rath was beaten by several KPD members led by Volker, who sentenced him to death for perjury. Before one of the communists could execute Rath, the assassin was shot by Kasabian, and Rath was taken to Doctor Schmidt, who hypnotized him and reminded him of the day he lost his brother. It was then that Gereon recognized Schmidt as his brother Anno, and the two embraced as Rath wailed.

The Phantom[]

By September 1929, Rath had moved into a new apartment with Helga and Moritz, but he felt that he and Helga were growing more distant, and he lost his will to marry her. At the same time, Rath was assigned to investigate both the mysterious death of actress Betty Winter on 20 September and the murder of Benda by Greta Overbeck, who had been deceived by the Nazi Party. Benda's widow asked Rath to find the two Nazis behind the crime, and Rath promised to bring them to justice; he discovered that Councilor Wendt had sealed all of the files from Overbeck's case (Wendt was privately a supporter of the Black Reichswehr and the Nazi Party). At the same time, he discovered from the actress Tilly Brooks (who recognized him from one night when they kissed at the Pepita Bar) that Winter's death, caused by a falling stagelight, was caused by a cloaked figure sabotaging the light during a musical performance. Rath then met with Wendt to discuss his blockage of the information about the Overbeck case, and Wendt insisted that the Communists were Benda's main enemies; he also suggested that Rath redirect his focus. He also told Rath that the KPD lawyer Hans Litten was filing a case against Zorgiebel over Blutmai, and that he sensed a political imbalance with the Police Commissioner; he warned Rath against backing the wrong horse before parting amicably.

Rath also discovered the name of the lighting technician at the Babelsberg Film Studio, Felix Krempin, after the Elmowerk technician Peter Glaser was interviewed, Krempin having given his name to director Jo Bellmann as "Peter Glaser". Rath's refusal to conclude that Winter's death was an accident dismayed Bellmann, who would not benefit from the insurance, meaning his company's ruin. Ritter obtained an address for Krempin's house, giving Rath a lead to investigate. Rath chased down Krempin when he attempted to escape, and he interrogated him about Winter's death. Krempin said that he would never kill Winter, and that he was supposed to merely sabotage the shoot and cause trouble. Rath asked Krempin who he worked for, only for a car to drive close to Rath's front door and block his exit, and for a cloaked figure to shoot Krempin with a silenced pistol before escaping. The next day, Helga and Moritz moved out of Rath's apartment after he refused to talk to Helga about what had happened the night before, and, later that day, Rath received a ballistics report from police analyst Leopold Ulrich.

Rath reported his progress to Gennat, who asked what the two murders had in common. Rath said that Krempin's murder pointed to organized structures in the background of the murders, and Gennat suggested that Rath consider jealousy or another "deadly sin" as a motive. Rath went on to interview Winter's widower Tristan Rot, an eccentric, goth actor, and he asked him about Krempin. Rath said that they had a shared interest in the occult, and Rath confronted him with a picture of the cloak worn by the murderer, surprising Rot, as the cloak was the same as his costume. Rath and Ritter, who also came to the studio to investigate, talked to the costume designer, who said that there were only two copies of the cloak: one for Rot and one for his stand-in. The costumer's assistant Gisela noticed that the other costume was not on the rack, and the costumer was shocked to see that it had disappeared. Gisela then began to cry, and she said that Felix did not want to hurt anyone, and was a generous man. Gisela said that Felix let himself be hired by an unknown man who wanted him to damage the film, only for Felix to feel that it was too dangerous and back out. Hours before the spotlight came down, Felix ran out and refused to carry out his task. Shortly after, Rath and Ritter saw that Tilly Brooks was cast to impersonate Winter for the final film. The criminal Walter Weintraub arrived at the studio and asked Rath to talk with him, and he arranged for Rath to meet with Kasabian. Kasabian told Rath that many of his businesses were not doing well, especially his investment in Demons of Passion, and Rath asked Kasabian who might want to harm him. Kasabian asked the same question of Rath, and he proposed that they work together in the name of their shared mentor, Dr. Schmidt. That same day, Rath attended Greta Overbeck's trial, where he watched as she changed her statement to claim that the Communists were behind Benda's murder and not Nazis, as she previously testified.

The next day, when Rath went to work, Graf informed him that Tilly Brooks had also been murdered. At a meeting, Ritter revealed that she had seen through a window the murderer's escape from the crime scene, and she said that Tristan Rot also left the studio a few minutes after the crime. Gennat told Rath that he would be partnered with Wilhelm Böhm during the investigation, and Ritter shared that she had seen Weintraub and Kasabian at the studio. Ulrich reported that the crime scene was accessible through the canteen delivery point, and Gennat reassigned Ritter to work with Bohm rather than Rath. Ritter also said that she had met the actress Vera Lohmann as she left the studio, and Lohmann said that she had locked Brooks into her dressing room to prevent her from making it to the filming session and ensure that she was cast instead. Gennat sent Bohm to investigate that murder, and Rath failed to persuade Gennat to send one detective to investigate.

Rath later investigated Krempin's apartment, where he found a necklace belonging to members of the Fraterna Saturnii cult, to which Winter also belonged. Rath brought the evidence back to the station, where he showed Krempin's invitation to a Fraterna Saturnii event, and said that he would likely not get in without female accompaniment. Rath secured Gennat's permission to bring Ritter with him to investigate; that night, he met with Gräf over drinks and talked about his backstory. The next day, Rath met with Bohm to search for Tristan Rot, and they had a tense conversation in the car over their mutual disliking. Rath, Bohm, and Ritter met up in front of Rot's Dahlem estate, where they gave the password "Osiris" and entered the mansion in time for a blindfolded occultist ceremony. Bohm took off his blindfold as the ceremony went wild, and he arrested Rot. Rath also recognized Anno, but Anno said that "Anno" died on a Flemish battlefield, and that he was now "Dr. Schmidt"; he then gave Rath a hypnotic command to forget that he saw him.

The next day, Rath met with Katelbach at a cafe, where Katelbach was uneasy about Rath testifying in favor of his instutition in court, but reluctantly agreed to help Rath with his case. Rath showed Katelbach that he found his name on a list he retrieved from the political police's papers through Graf. Katelbach was surprised to see his name on the list, and he told Rath that it was a "list of the good ones", including the lawyer Hans Litten. Rath warned Katelbach and his paper to be cautious, but Katelbach told Rath that he had a manuscript proving that Lufthansa helped the Reichswehr illegally rearm from an airfield in Staaken. While Katelbach initially believed that Rath might have met him only to tell Wendt about his article, Rath said that doing so wouldn't help him, and Katelbach thanked Rath for warning him about his name being on the list.

Rath met with Ritter in the elevator that same day and asked her to find the addresses and telephone numbers of the names on the list. Rath then listened in on Rot's interrogation by Bohm, and Rot's lawyer said that Rot was trying to communicate with his dead wife through his seance ceremony. He also overheard that Rot had a key to the yard because it was outside Betty's dressing room, and he hoped to meet Betty there. Bohm was unable to get anything out of Rot, and, when Bohm left the room, Rath told him to release Rot once he was done questioning him.

Rath later attended Overbeck's trial, where she was sentenced to death. Ritter asked Rath who could pardon someone on death row, and Rath said that only the President could do so. Rath said that Zorgiebel or Wendt could talk to Hindenburg, but Rath also suggested that Greta contact the lawyer Hans Litten, who ran Red Aid. Ritter also revealed that Rath's sister-in-law was staying at the Haus Rheingold in Nurnbergerstrasse and not in Cologne as Rath had supposed. Rath himself investigated and found her name on the register, and he visited her apartment and found a bouquet from Alfred Nyssen and met with Moritz, who was happy to see him. Moritz was unable to identify the "A" who had sent the bouquet.

Rath then went to work calling all of the names on the list translated by Ritter, and he presented his findings to Zorgiebel. Katelbach and Heymann were journalists, Hellmann and Karst were engineers, and Litten and Krohn were KPD lawyers, and many of them were either killed or under surveillance. Zorgiebel recognized Horst Kessler as a man who was making a name for himself at the SA as a "tough guy", but he didn't recognize the "O.W." next to his name, or Richard Pechtmann's acronym "F.H.", which were possibly aliases. Zorgiebel said that Benda had often spoken of a blacklist put together by reactionary opponents who had hundreds of names, and Zorgiebel said that the list may be from it. Zorgiebel had Rath find out how the paper found its way into the archives of the political police and, most importantly, find out how an SA man like Kessler got onto it. Rath and Graf searched for the meanings of the acronyms in Overbeck's trial notes, where he realized that "Fritz Hockert" and "Otto Wollenberg" were Richard Pechtmann and Horst Kessler's aliases, and thus the aliases of Benda's murderers.

Rath attempted to meet with Horst Kessler at Gaststatte zur Frieda on Grunbergerstrasse, and he was directed to his room. Rath broke into his apartment, and, when confronted by Kessler's lover Erna Jänicke, he pretended to be a Nazi named "Schneider" and demanded to know where Kessler was. Jänicke said that Kessler was at his Hitler Youth camp with his boy scouts, and Jänicke said that the camp was in the woods. Rath learned that Kessler would be back on Tuesday, and Rath told her to let Kessler know that Schneider from NSDAP party headquarters had visited. That night, Rath met with his son, who had taken up an interest in joining the Hitler Youth due to its ability to offer basic training skills. Moritz also asked if he could live with Gereon, and Gereon agreed.

The next day, Gereon found Pechtmann at the Hitler Youth camp, where Pechtmann was preparing to go horseback riding. Rath asked Pechtmann if the name Greta Overbeck meant anything to him, but Pechtmann denied it. Rath said that Overbeck was the maid of Councillor Benda, and he asked Pechtmann if he had heard th e name Benda before. Rath said that Pechtmann had met Overbeck at the lake on 5 May, introduced himself to her as "Fritz Hockert", and seduced her. Pechtmann denied this, so Rath decided to take him to a line-up to face Greta face-to-face. Rath told Pechtmann to come with him, or else he would arrest him. Rath had Pechtmann taken to Detention Room 1, and he asked Zorgiebel to give orders for Pechtmann to be lined up with Overbeck. In spite of staring down Pechtmann and breathing heavily, Overbeck denied knowing Pechtmann, forcing Rath to let him go.

However, Rath learned from Ulrich's assistant Kaspar Weishaupt that they had found a lead in the Brooks case; they found hair in the medallion of Brooks and found a match, Weintraub. Rath had Czerwinski and Henning spy on Weintraub at the film studio before arriving with Ritter, intending on talking with him. While there, they found that the Phantom had killed Vera's guard Jonny Bündner and stabbed Vera, before injuring and tying up Rath. Ritter was thrown from the balcony by the Phantom while trying to help Vera, and the Phantom proceeded to carry Vera to the roof. Ritter and Rath made their way outdoors, where they saw the Phantom leap from the rooftop with Vera, killing her and injuring himself. The proceeded to unmask the Phantom, finding Weintraub. Weintraub's identity was kept secret as he was sent to the Charite hospital under heavy guard, where the police would wait until he was conscious before investigating him. Rath, who was wounded when he tackled the Phantom, also recovered in the hospital.

Both Ritter and Helga visited Rath as he recovered in his hospital room, and, when Helga came by, Gereon demanded to know who "A" was, and who was paying for the palace Helga was staying at. Helga refused to answer him, and she instead told Rath that she had come to tell him that she was pregnant. When Rath asked whose baby it was, Helga said that it was Gereon's, and that she had always been loyal to him. Gereon retorted that Anno had thought the same, causing Helga to angrily storm out. That night, Kasabian visited Rath in his hospital room during a power cut, demanding to know if Weintraub was responsible for the murders. While Rath said that it was likely, he was unable to come up with a reason why Weintraub would go up against his oldest friend. Kasabian asked if Rath had not followed or overlooked any other leads, and Rath concluded that Kasabian didn't want the theory to be true. After Kasabian left and the power returned, Rath ran down to Weintraub's room and found that the man had been taken.

At a press conference held the next day, Gennat said that the murders (and Weintraub's rescue) were caused by an organized gang, and that the police would leave no stone unturned as they sought to reapprehend the suspect. Kasabian was arrested after the police suspected him of helping Weintraub escape, and Rath and Gennat interrogated Kasabian after the conference. Kasabian said that he couldn't provide any information on Weintraub's location, as it was beyond his knowledge. When asked, Kasabian said that he had gone to the hospital to ask Rath about the status of the investigation, but Rath said that Kasabian did so as his men overpowered the police guards and enabled Weintraub's escape. Kasabian said that the police had no proof, and he instead opined that someone was trying to destroy him by ruining his film production. Rath asked Kasabian why he was covering for Weintraub after all the latter had done to him, and Kasabian revealed to Gennat that he had asked Rath for help, and now turnde to Gennat for help. Kasabian asked Gennat if he had exhausted all investigative methods, and, after Kasabian was returned to his cell, Rath decided that he could find Weintraub through criminal telepathy, a field that Gennat had introduced to Rath. While Gennat said that the only experts were in Vienna and he knew of nobody in Berlin who could help, Rath decided to contact Schmidt.

Before he could do so, Rath was visited by Wendt, who asked him about Katelbach and said that he had ignored a summons and disappeared from his home. Rath said that he never believed that Katelbach could leave, and Wendt said that it was suspicious that Katelbach suddenly left; he then told Rath that he intended to search Katelbach's old place. Rath accompanied the police to the apartment, where Behnke said that Katelbach had moved to Budapest. Rath and the police thoroughly searched the flat, and Rath pretended to rebuke Behnke for allowing Katelbach to have a secret door in the back of his wardrobe. When the police were unable to find Katelbach, Rath left with Wendt and the other detective and said that Behnke was harmless, and that Katelbach must have had her wrapped around his finger. Rath told Wendt that Katelbach's opinion of him had soured after his testimony at the Zorgiebal trial, and Wendt ordered the police to put Katelbach on the official wanted list for treason involving military secrets.

When Rath returned home, he found that Moritz had been injured in the eye from "sports"; he was also greeted by Katelbach, who had hidden at his apartment, and who was allowed to stay as long as he wanted. Katelbach told Rath that Moritz had attended German Worker Youth events, and Gereon insisted that Moritz return to school. After Moritz went to bed, Katelbach commended the boy for being healty, but said that his politics were wobbly. Rath then told Katelbach that Behnke would only get a criminal complaint and nothing more, relieving Katelbach. Later that night, Rath came across Helga talking with Alfred Nyssen at her hotel while visiting her to talk about Moritz. Rath said that Moritz was at his apartment and did not want to go back to Helga, and, while Helga said that Moritz belonged with her, Gereon attempted to convince Helga to come back to his home. Helga said that it was too late, claiming that she had miscarried their baby (she instead had it aborted). When Alfred approached Rath to introduce himself, an angry Gereon shoved him to the floor and fought with him before the security intervened and banned Rath from the hotel. Rath then joined Graf's birthday party, where he met with Graf and Ritter; a cheerful Gennat later joined them before they sang a birthday song for Graf. Gennat then consoled Rath about his loneliness, saying that he would ban marriage in his department if he could, as their job often meant making unpleasant personal decisions. As Graf sang for most of the guests, Rath and Ritter kissed in the hallway, out of sight of their colleagues.

The next day, Dr. Schmidt was brought into the police station to perform an act of criminal telepathy to locate the missing Weintraub. Schmidt performed a ritual on a woman, Juliana, with the object of having her reimagine the circumstances of Weintraub's disappearance, and she said that Weintraub had been knocked down during a fight, and a knife was involved, a knife that was still at the scene of Weintraub's struggle with a doppelganger on the roof. She then started to repeatedly shriek that the "force field" was at the station, causing all of the policemen to grow frightened until Schmidt calmed her down. The police returned to the scene of the crime and found a knife on the roof, and Gennat decided to have it tested to see if it was used by Weintraub. Rath supposed that Walter Weintraub was not the only phantom, as there were two knives and multiple phantom costumes.

Later that day, Rath asked Zorgiebel for an arrest warrant for Horst Kessler, saying that he was certainly the man who placed the bomb in Benda's house. Zorgiebel was skeptical, believing that it would go the same as Pechtmann, but Rath suggested a forceful interrogation. Zorgiebel refused to take action until Rath gathered solid evidence. Rath visited the bar that Kessler frequented, demanding to know where Kessler was, but the patrons of the bar said that the Nazis weren't so popular around there, with Albrecht Höhler saying that the only brown things found in Friedrichshain were tar and feathers. Shortly after, Rath visited Pechtmann's wife while pretending to be Schneider from party leadership, but he found out that Pechtmann had disappeared two days earlier. That night, Rath followed his son to his Hitler Youth meeting, figuring that Kessler would be there, but he arrived just in time to find that Kessler (the alias of Horst Wessel) had been shot dead by Höhler. Rath went to the station to pick up his son after he testified about the murder, with Bohm taking on the case.

During the drive home, Gereon told his nephew that Kessler was a criminal who was wanted for a crime, and could have gone to prison for life. He then counseled Moritz that he had the wrong friends, but Moritz retorted that, whenever his Hitler Youth friends had said that the police were for the reds, he had always defended his father. Gereon told Moritz that the police didn't take sides, but Moritz doubted him, and Gereon told him to be quiet, becoming angry with his radicalization. The next morning, however, they got along well, and Rath asked Moritz if he could borrow his copy of Mein Kampf, which he had not yet read.

At work, Rath learned from Bohm that Kessler's death was likely a red-light district dispute. Rath also received a report from Ulrich that Weintraub's fingerprints were found on the knife; Ritter protested, saying that the perpetrator was wearing gloves. Ulrich and his assistant Kaspar Weisshaupt said that the prints were weak, but unambiguous, and that the handle must have been wiped. Rath began to doubt the investigators' explanation, but their conversation was interrupted when Ilse Ritter and her husband Erich arrived at the station to confront Charlotte over hiring an unqualified physician for Ilse's eye surgery, leaving her blind in one eye and teary in the other; Erich punched Henning for trying to intervene before being arrested. Bohm said that, in order to avoid more spectacles like that, he was opposed to women in homicide.

Shortly after, Rath visited Zorgiebel and told him that he was suspicious about the elimination of the two Nazis involved in the Benda affair, and he and Zorgiebel both supposed that Wendt was involved. Rath asked Zorgiebel to keep the investigations going to draw Wendt out of his shell. Just hours later, however, Wendt confronted Zorgiebel with Benda's diary, given to him by Benda's widow, and threatened to publicize Zorgiebel's role in covering up the Blutmai massacre unless Zorgiebel resigned. That night, Rath met with Katelbach, who asked him to find the complete blacklist of enemies (which had a few hundred names), and said that the government couldn't kill or arrest all of the bright minds on the list. Katelbach also joked that he planned to drag out Rath's democratic inclinations while he lived in his household. At dinnertime, Behnke joined Rath and Katelbach and delivered documents given to her by General Wilhelm Seegers' daughter Marie-Luise Seegers, and he called Graf and declared that they had work to do.

Rath met with Graf that night and asked him to develop and print the film from the smuggled footage Behnke had given to him. When Rath entered Ulrich's office, he found Ritter's purse but not Ulrich or Ritter. Rath eventually opened a cabinet door, out of which fell Weisshaupt's body, and Ulrich proceeded to tackle Rath and inject him with insulin. Rath shot a fleeing Ulrich in the shoulder, but Rath collapsed from the overdose, and Ulrich told Rath that Charlotte shared his fate. Ulrich fled as Rath passed out, but Rath grabbed some spilled sugar cubes and swallowed them, preventing his lungs from closing. He then entered the lecture hall as Ulrich delivered a speech to an imaginary crowd, with Gennat tied up next to him. Rath confronted Ulrich during his speech, demanding to know where Ritter was. Ulrich threatened to hang Gennat if Rath shot him, and he had Rath leave as he finished his speech to the imaginary crowd. This gave Rath time to find Graf and ask for his help, and he also found Ritter's unconscious body. Meanwhile, Graf and several policemen quietly cut Gennat's rope. Rath returned to the auditorium to confront Ulrich, who showed Rath his invention, a glove that could plant another person's fingerprints on sensitive evidence, and proceeded to pick up a gun while wearing a glove containing Rath's fingerprints. Ulrich planned to frame Rath for the shooting of Gennat, but Rath revealed to Ulrich that he had found his secret chamber, and that Ritter was being taken to the police hospital for treatment, meaning that Rath had a witness against Ulrich. Ulrich, helpless, attempted to shoot himself, only for Rath to knock the gun away from his head, enabling the police to arrest him alive. Rath then untied Gennat, who thanked him for his good work. Rath then saw Ritter off as she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Rath and his squad proceeded to raid the Gosztony brothers' headquarters, and Rath discovered the Phantom's outfit in a cabinet. He also subdued Sandor after the latter attempted to ambush him, and, back at headquarters, Gennat deduced that the series of murders started with an act of revenge; the murderer of Betty Winter had a score to settle with Edgar Kasabian. At the same time as Gennat's conversation with journalist Fred Jacoby, Kasabian and Weintraub bribed the police to abandon the vehicle in which Sandor was being held, and they sprayed him with Thompson submachine gun fire. Rath later followed Ritter to the women's prison, where Overbeck's sentence was to be carried out. Wendt had beaten them there and had a guard prevent Ritter from reaching the execution site with a stay of execution obtained by a judge, as the execution coincided with a day of mourning for Gustav Stresemann's funeral (a decree from Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany cancelled all executions on days of mourning). Rath comforted Ritter for her loss, and he and Ritter both sought vengeance against Wendt for his act, as he had let Overbeck die to cover up his crimes.

Rath visited Wendt at the Hoppegarten racetrack, wearing a wire to the meeting. Rath said that he knew that Wendt had set up Benda's murder, that he covered his tracks by getting rid of all accomplices, that he forced the sentence of Overbeck and expedited her execution, and had a motive of personal gain. Wendt said that personal gain had nothing to do with it, and that Germany benefited from the removal of Jews and Bolsheviks from influential positions. Rath said that the country would also benefit from the police not having murderers in leading positions, but Wendt said that he would take responsibility for actions for the reconstruction of the German Empire. He decried Rath as a simple policeman with a simple assignment, and Rath admitted that he was. When Wendt asked why Rath didn't arrest him, Rath said that he had no proof, and Wendt concurred that, in criminal law, an event without proof never happened. Wendt admitted that, while he was responsible for everything Rath pinned on him, it meant nothing because Rath lacked proof. Wendt then bade Rath farewell, and Rath brought the footage back to his squad, who were amazed at Rath's success.

Rath then visited Zorgiebel as he moved out of his office, having been blackmailed by Wendt into resigning. Zorgiebel relieved Rath by letting him know that the Prussian Interior Minister Albert Grzesinski had appointed himself as police chief rather than Wendt, thanks to Rath's help. Zorgiebel shook Rath's hand and wished him all the best before taking his leave.

In October 1929, Rath witnessed the stock market crash from the stock exchange, where papers were strewn across the building and people outside rioted. Rath came across Bohm aiming a gun at himself, as he had lost all of his savings during the crash, but Rath talked him down, reminding him of his family and his successful career. Bohm was eventually talked down, and Rath told him to get some rest, as tomorrow was another day.