“Borowski and the Shadow of the Moon”
These murders served as a template
Axel Milberg (right) with his son August Borowski.
© NDR/Christine Schroeder
In the new “crime scene” in Kiel, Commissioner Borowski has to dig deep into his past. Five questions about “Borowski and the Shadow of the Moon”.
Moving, personal, oppressive. The latest Borowski crime scene from Kiel once again got under your skin. The northernmost investigator in Germany had to delve deep into his past in “Borowski and the Shadow of the Moon” and also fight his own long-forgotten demons. In the end it is at least clear who killed his first great love back then. In the end, these questions remained unanswered:
1. Is there a real model for the case?
no The case catapults the audience far back into the 70s and tries to reflect the spirit of the time in retrospect. Of course, this includes: hippie times, the urge for freedom, VW bus, hitchhiking. The latter led to serious discussions in many families at the time. Isn’t hitchhiking far too dangerous? So-called hitchhiker murders, also known as hitchhiker murders, were on everyone’s lips at the time and led to great fears – above all, of course, among parents.
In the 1970s and 1980s in particular, there were actually a striking number of crimes, most of which were committed against young women hitchhiking – including rape and murder. The phenomenon has been observed across the country and some of these crimes have never been solved. This phenomenon ebbed away again in the 1990s.
2. Are there other parallels to real cases?
The forest plays a central role in the Borowski thriller. The bodies had been buried there for decades and were only discovered by accident. Unfortunately, such so-called cold cases occur again and again. It was not until March 2022, for example, that bone parts were found in a section of forest in the Bavarian district of Eichstätt. The investigations revealed that the remains of a woman from Munich who disappeared 27 years ago were discovered there.
The first indications of the remains of Sonja Engelbrecht were already in 2020, when a femur was found that had probably been carried away by an animal from the actual place where the corpse was deposited in the forest. Since then, the police investigation has been in full swing. A reward of €10,000 has been announced for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator.
3. Did Jimi Hendrix really play on Fehmarn?
Yes, and it was even the last appearance in his life. The guitarist played in front of tens of thousands of people at the beginning of September 1970 as part of the Love and Peace Festival on the Baltic Sea island in Schleswig-Holstein. The music icon died ten days later in London. He choked on his vomit after consuming alcohol and sleeping pills. To this day, homage is paid to Hendrix’s appearance on the island.
Once a year, always on the first Saturday in September, the Jimi Hendrix Revival Festival took place on Fehmarn from 1995 to 2010. In 2020, the Staberhuk lighthouse celebrated the 50th anniversary of the legendary performance. An absolute must for Hendrix fans: since 1997, a red memorial stone at the stage location at that time has commemorated the deceased musician.
4. Who plays young Borowski?
In some flashback scenes, the young Borowski can be seen who, unlike his girlfriend, does not hitchhike to Fehmarn, but decides to stay at home. It’s the last time he sees his first girlfriend. In these scenes, Axel Milberg’s son can actually be seen: 18-year-old August Milberg.
In the run-up to the broadcast, Milberg spoke about the special circumstances surrounding the shooting. For him as a father, the two days of shooting were more exciting than for his son. Will he follow in his father’s footsteps? “If he actually wants to be an actor after high school, which he’ll be graduating in these months, well, let him try,” Milberg said. Milberg revealed that his son paints, plays the guitar, loves sports and reads Nietzsche.
5. Who plays the unassuming serial killer Mertins?
Michael Martins has led a bourgeois life for decades, with a little house, a wife and a church choir. What nobody knows: he is a serial killer who only stopped killing when he met his wife. An accidental find of bones throws his ordinary life upside down.
Mertins is played by Swiss actor Stefan Kurt (62), who has already appeared in several “Tatort” productions. Most recently in 2020 in the Berlin episode “A few words after midnight”. The biggest successes of the native of Bern include two Adolf Grimme awards, which he received for his performances in the films “Der Schattenmann” and “Gegen Ende Nacht”.