Few trials are currently more in the public eye than the NSU trial at the Munich Higher Regional Court, where 40-year-old right-wing extremist Beate Zschäpe from Jena has been on trial since May 6, 2013 for complicity in the gruesome murders committed by the National Socialist Underground. In 2013, before the start of the trial, detectives Binz and Ladwig drove with Zschäpe in a police convoy from the Cologne detention center to Thuringia and back. The purpose of the trip was so that Zschäpe could see her sick grandmother and her mother once again.

“Letzte Ausfahrt Gera – Acht Stunden mit Beate Zschäpe” is a docudrama told as a road movie that focuses on the ongoing NSU trial. “The form of the docudrama offers the opportunity to tell the journey of Beate Zschäpe, an extremely enigmatic person for most people, accompanied by detectives Binz and Ladewig from the Cologne Ossendorf prison to Jena/Gera in scenic images,” says ZDF Head of Culture Peter Arens. Police officers Binz and Ladwig were not allowed to interrogate Zschäpe during the journey, but had conversations about which there are no notes or reports – only a 12-page memo about which Binz was questioned during the trial.

The film is a production of AVE Gesellschaft für Fernsehproduktion in co-production with UFA FICTION on behalf of ZDF. Producers are M. Walid Nakschbandi and Nico Hofmann. The editors are Stefan Brauburger and Stefan Mausbach, ZDF-Zeitgeschichte.