Hero of the station

Michael Hartung is the owner of a not-so-successful video rental shop in Berlin. One day, a journalist visits him, writing an article about a spectacular mass escape from the GDR, during which 127 people travelled from Friedrichstraße station to the West on an S-Bahn train. The journalist has discovered Stasi files which reveal that Hartung used to work as a signalman at Friedrichstraße station and organised the escape. Hartung initially denies this – he was only involved in the escape by a stroke of luck. But after a decent fee and a few beers, he is willing to confirm the story. He was never a hero, but if that’s what the police files say… An incredible media frenzy immediately ensues. Hartung enjoys the fame, gives interviews, appears on television, and collects royal fees. He is even received by the German Federal President and becomes an icon of Germany’s equivalent of the Velvet Revolution. Then, however, love enters his life, and Hartung must decide whether to continue the lie or admit that he is a fake hero. But it may already be too late. Maxim Leo has crafted a brisk, moving, funny, and immensely readable story about an unwilling impostor.