Et is January 24th, 1981, a cold, wet Saturday. They stay for one night with the GDR national team in the airport hotel in Berlin-Schönefeld. The next day the team should go on a competition trip to Argentina, the country of the world champions.
When the machine takes off, three players are missing. Instead of flying to South America, Matthias Müller, Peter Kotte and Gerd Weber are brought back to Dresden in a Barkas minibus belonging to the Ministry for State Security.
Not a word is spoken on the journey. “Drive to hell”, Weber calls the hours in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG: “We were asleep when, shortly before five in the morning, two men stood in the hotel room and ruled us: ‘Get out! Pack your clothes! You’re not flying! ‘”
At first he felt like he was in an agent thriller. But it’s not a movie. It is real life, and from now on it will be completely different for Weber, Kotte and Müller.
.
