Our country 1986

Sometimes you have to deceive to uncover the truth.
Günter Wallraff was a master at this, and his film "Ganz unten" attracted over a quarter of a million viewers to the cinema.
"There is absolutely no risk," said Interior Minister Zimmermann when news of the reactor accident in Ukraine reached Germany.
Shortly afterwards, the import of foodstuffs from seven Eastern European countries was banned by the EC, as was the sale of field vegetables and fruit from NRW.

A young radiologist from Bochum wanted to find out for sure and set off with a Geiger counter: in Hamm-Uentrop, Dietrich Grönemeyer detected increased radiation doses that could not have come from Chernobyl but from the nearby nuclear power plant.
All denials did not help: radioactivity had also escaped there.
These and other lies led to the public's confidence in nuclear power being permanently shaken.

Capitalism?
Communism?
No one has a monopoly on the truth.
Perhaps there was something like a third way.
More and more young people therefore went to Nicaragua.
But in spring 86, 12 of these reconstruction workers were kidnapped by "Contras".
Four of them managed to escape, including Dagmar Vogel from Oberhausen.

The kidnapping made waves right up to the highest government circles.
The US Secretary of State brazenly claimed that the reconstruction workers were armed and therefore a party to the war.
An outright lie.
In the summer, World Cup fever broke out once again in NRW: Toni Schumacher had saved the German team in the final with his saves.
But in the final of all games, the national goalkeeper from Düren let three balls through.
But the truth is: one bad day does not make a bad footballer.

The water shimmered red, fish floated up the keel.
After the major fire at the Swiss chemical company Sandoz, the fire was quickly extinguished, but the Rhine was contaminated.
All harmless, said the company.
Shortly afterwards, the second wave of poison sloshed down the Rhine, this time from BASF in Karlsruhe.
Also harmless.
And then?

In times of need, most Rhine communities were able to switch to alternative water supplies.
However, the 13,000 inhabitants of the town of Unkel depended on water from the Rhine.
"And that was simply turned off," says Elisabeth Barth.
The small Rhineland-Palatinate town was supplied by the fire department from tankers for two weeks.
Until rescue came from NRW.

Shift in the pit: Zollverein was the last colliery in Essen to close in December 1986.
The end of an era, and on the day before Christmas Eve of all days!
Günter Stoppa helped wind up Zollverein and shook his head at the strange people from the monument protection authorities.
They wanted to turn the colliery into a museum.
Zollverein is now a World Heritage Site and very much alive.
In truth, every end is also a beginning.

Ten prominent personalities from NRW are sponsoring and narrating the films.
They tell the stories and events of their highlight year, making the "Unser Land - Die 80er" series a very personal and entertaining journey back in time to an explosive decade.
"Alles Lüge" is narrated by Jan-Gregor Kremp, who began his acting career in 1986.

First broadcast: Friday, September 21, 2018, 8.15 p.m., WDR