Max McLaughlin

The New York cop comes to Berlin in 1946 to help set up a police force. 31 years old, raised in Brooklyn, third generation in NYPD. His mother was a German immigrant and he has a big brother, Moritz. One evening when Max was nine, his father came home drunk and had an argument with Max's mother. He threatened her with his service weapon and a shot went off, which killed her on the spot. Max ran to his dead mother, which provoked his father even more, so that he pointed the gun at Max. He shot again, but Moritz threw himself into the line of fire, intercepted the bullet and thus saved his little brother's life. The father then committed suicide. A traumatic experience that connects the brothers for better and worse to this day. Max married a girl from the neighborhood early, but the relationship didn't last long. There is something in him that keeps him from enjoying life, from engaging in relationships. Today Max has little contact with his wife, but they take care of their ten-year-old son Jimmy together. Max writes a letter every week and speaks to him regularly on the phone. Thanks to his mother, Max speaks German quite well. She also gave her sons German names, derived from the famous brothers Max and Moritz, who are notorious for their vicious pranks. Max travels to Berlin with the attitude of a blue-eyed idealist and is there responsible for rebuilding the Berlin police in the American sector. But there is also a personal reason for Max to come to Berlin: he suspects his long-missing brother there.