SILENCED - The Writer Georgi Markov and the Umbrella Murder
Realizador Klaus Dexel
Países Germany
Duração 92 min
Sinopse
A secret service murder, which attracted worldwide attention, took place on 7 Sept. 1978 on Waterloo Bridge in London. It was one of the most mysterious crimes of the Cold War. The Bulgarian dissident and writer Georgi Markov supposedly was poisoned by a stab in the leg presumably through the tip of an umbrella. Markov died four days later, on 11 Sept. 1978, of heart failure. The February 2010 issue of the prestigious TIME magazine listed the murder of Georgi Markov at number 5 of the „Top 10 Assassination Plots of the World., The victim, Georgi Markov, writer and journalist, after 1971 worked for the Bulgari- an Service of the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and, importantly, for Radio Free Europe, where in weekly programs he sharply criticized the totalitarian system in his homeland -- es- pecially that of the former state and party leader Todor Zhivkov, which triggered the dictator’s revenge., The assassination was not fully detailed previously. In the film, we now show the most likely version of the crime, based on reconstruction of the attack, through testimony of experts, and credible statements of people, who had spoken with Georgi Markov directly after the attack., The film clarifies the background and political context of the attack to the present and traces the activities of secret agent “Piccadilly”, the alleged killer who disappeared after 1993. „Silenced“ is both a historical as well as an investigative-documentary film about an extraordinary event from the time of the „Cold War“, but it could apply to other per- petrators and victims of similar actions today, too.
A secret service murder, which attracted worldwide attention, took place on 7 Sept. 1978 on Waterloo Bridge in London. It was one of the most mysterious crimes of the Cold War. The Bulgarian dissident and writer Georgi Markov supposedly was poisoned by a stab in the leg presumably through the tip of an umbrella. Markov died four days later, on 11 Sept. 1978, of heart failure. The February 2010 issue of the prestigious TIME magazine listed the murder of Georgi Markov at number 5 of the „Top 10 Assassination Plots of the World., The victim, Georgi Markov, writer and journalist, after 1971 worked for the Bulgari- an Service of the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and, importantly, for Radio Free Europe, where in weekly programs he sharply criticized the totalitarian system in his homeland -- es- pecially that of the former state and party leader Todor Zhivkov, which triggered the dictator’s revenge., The assassination was not fully detailed previously. In the film, we now show the most likely version of the crime, based on reconstruction of the attack, through testimony of experts, and credible statements of people, who had spoken with Georgi Markov directly after the attack., The film clarifies the background and political context of the attack to the present and traces the activities of secret agent “Piccadilly”, the alleged killer who disappeared after 1993. „Silenced“ is both a historical as well as an investigative-documentary film about an extraordinary event from the time of the „Cold War“, but it could apply to other per- petrators and victims of similar actions today, too.