Synopsis
The film's story unfolds in West Berlin in the late 1950's, where my father was part of an undercover intelligence mission in the former US Military Secret Service, the Army Security Agency or the ASA. After moving to West Germany in the early 1970s, my father surprisingly seems to be drawing the attention of American government officials. Later in the 1980's, he makes many new friends in the other part of Germany behind the iron curtain – many of whom turn out to be not such good friends, because he became a victim of eavesdropping and observation by the STASI, the former East German Secret Service. In his STASI file he is identified as an 'agent of an imperialistic intelligence service' and thus receives a code name: 'pirate'. Was my father really a spy? As his son and as a filmmaker I have started a thorough examination of his life. And found myself confronted with a huge pile of material: boxes full of memories, old letters, official and private documents, photos, audio recordings and video tapes. Family events are suddenly intermingled with facts from contemporary history. Conversations with former military buddies in West-Berlin, with friends and possibly girlfriends from the former GDR, with historians, as well as with students, professors or close relatives will hopefully provide answers - or perhaps arouse new suspicions
