The Lives of Others
Plot
Plot
----

In 1984 [East Germany](/wiki/East_Germany "East Germany"), [Stasi](/wiki/Stasi "Stasi") *[Hauptmann](/wiki/Hauptmann "Hauptmann")* Gerd Wiesler, code name HGW XX/7, is ordered by his friend and superior, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz, to spy on [playwright](/wiki/Playwright "Playwright") Georg Dreyman, whose pro\-[communist](/wiki/Communist "Communist") politics and international recognition have so far kept the state from directly monitoring him. Dreyman's very appearance as a model East German mystifies Wiesler; the playwright has no known vices or record of disloyalty or dissent at all. At the request of Minister of Culture Bruno Hempf, Wiesler and his team [bug](/wiki/Covert_listening_device "Covert listening device") Dreyman's apartment, set up surveillance equipment, and report Dreyman's activities. Wiesler is disappointed to discover that Hempf is having Dreyman observed not for suspicions of disloyalty or dissent, but for his own romantic interest in Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa\-Maria Sieland. After an intervention by Wiesler leads to Dreyman's discovering Sieland's relationship with Hempf, he implores her not to meet him again and to be true to herself. She reconciles with Dreyman.

Dreyman's friend Albert Jerska, a [blacklisted](/wiki/Blacklist_%28employment%29 "Blacklist (employment)") [theatrical director](/wiki/Theatrical_director "Theatrical director"), gives him [sheet music](/wiki/Sheet_music "Sheet music") for *Sonate vom Guten Menschen* (*Sonata about a Good Man*). Shortly afterwards, Jerska hangs himself. Dreyman realises that the GDR has not published its own suicide rates since 1977, and decides to publish an article in Western media. To determine whether or not his flat is bugged, Dreyman and his friends feign a defection attempt. A sympathetic Wiesler does not report it and the conspirators believe they are safe. Since all East German typewriters are registered and identifiable, an editor of prominent West German newsweekly *[Der Spiegel](/wiki/Der_Spiegel "Der Spiegel")* smuggles Dreyman a [Groma Büromaschinen](/wiki/Groma_B%C3%BCromaschinen "Groma Büromaschinen") Kolibri, an ultra\-flat [typewriter](/wiki/Typewriter "Typewriter"), which he hides under a floorboard. It has only a red ribbon, which stains his fingers.

Dreyman publishes an anonymous article in *Der Spiegel* accusing the state of concealing the country's elevated [suicide](/wiki/Suicide "Suicide") rates. The article angers the East German authorities but the Stasi cannot link it to a registered typewriter. Rejected by Sieland, Hempf orders Grubitz to arrest her. She is [blackmailed](/wiki/Blackmailed "Blackmailed") into revealing Dreyman's authorship of the article, although the Stasi do not find the typewriter. Grubitz, suspicious of Wiesler, has him do the follow\-up [interrogation](/wiki/Interrogation "Interrogation") of Sieland. Wiesler makes Sieland reveal the typewriter's location.

When the Stasi return to Dreyman's apartment, Sieland realises that Dreyman will know she betrayed him and flees into the street and is hit by a truck. Dreyman runs after her and Sieland dies in his arms. Grubitz finds nothing beneath the floorboard; he ends the investigation with a perfunctory apology to Dreyman. Grubitz then informs Wiesler that while the investigation is over, so is Wiesler's career; his remaining years with the Stasi will be steam\-opening letters for inspection in Department M, a dead\-end assignment for disgraced agents. The same day, [Mikhail Gorbachev](/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev "Mikhail Gorbachev") is elected [leader of the Soviet Union](/wiki/Leader_of_the_Soviet_Union "Leader of the Soviet Union").

Two years after the fall of the wall, Hempf and Dreyman meet at a performance of Dreyman's play, each reflecting on life before and after [German reunification](/wiki/German_reunification "German reunification"). Dreyman asks why he was never monitored by the Stasi, to which Hempf replies that he had been: "We knew everything." Dreyman finds the abandoned listening devices in his apartment and rips them from the walls.

Dreyman reviews his Stasi files at the [Stasi Records Agency](/wiki/Stasi_Records_Agency "Stasi Records Agency"), reading that Sieland was released just before the second search and could not have removed the typewriter. He is confused by other contradictions until, seeing a fingerprint in red ink in the final report, he realises that the officer in charge of his surveillanceStasi officer HGW XX/7had removed the typewriter from his apartment and concealed his activities, including his authorship of the suicide article. He tracks down Wiesler, who now works delivering mail, but ultimately decides not to approach him.

Two years later, Wiesler passes a bookstore window display promoting Dreyman's new novel, *Sonate vom Guten Menschen* ("Sonata about a Good Man"). He opens a copy of the book, discovering that it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, in gratitude". As he buys a copy, Wiesler is asked if he would like it giftwrapped. He replies: "No, it's for me."


Who is the main character in the story?