Spies lead double lives. So do their children—though without realizing it. They grow up in families where things are kept secret, where deception and repression are the norm. On the surface, everything seems normal: school, vacations, dinner. But behind the facade, their parents work for a secret service during the Cold War, caught between East and West, between ideology, betrayal, and personal conviction.
Family Stories
Now, the new two-part TV documentary “Agent Children” (3SAT/ZDF) tells the story of the Cold War through the lens of family history. The focus is not on the agents themselves, but on their children. How does it affect a person when their own father or mother is suddenly exposed as a spy? When parents become traitors, heroes, or enemies of the state? And when the adults’ political decisions ultimately destroy an entire family’s life?
Two films portray six people whose lives were shaped by their parents’ espionage. Their stories take viewers deep into the world of East-West German intelligence, but above all, they speak of loyalty and disappointment, of silence, guilt, and the lifelong search for answers.
Several children of well-known agents from East and West have agreed to participate in this event—including the children of Günter Guillaume, the “Chancellor’s spy”; Werner Stiller, the Stasi officer who defected to the West; and Hansjoachim Tiedge, the former member of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution who defected to the GDR.
PARTICIPANTS
- Rainer Braun’s *Agent’s Child—East*
- Pierre Boom: “Agent’s Child—West”
- Martina Tiedge: “Agent’s Child—East”
- Nina Rothermundt, Director
MODERATOR
Prof. Dr. Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Political Scientist
Additional information
Dates
September 2026
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