TV series about the first Afro-German police officer in the east

Probably no screenwriter could come up with his real story better. That’s why it has now been filmed – for the whole world.

Samuel Meffire was born in 1970 on the same day his father died under circumstances that are still unclear today. He was the first Afro-German in the Saxon police service.

In 1992, politics made him the advertising face of East Germany in a campaign against xenophobia. After he left the police service in 1994, he became a criminal, spent seven years in prison for robbery and aggravated assault – and then made his way back into mainstream society.

Now a lavish series starring Malick Bauer has emerged from Samuel Meffire’s story. “Sam – Ein Sachse” (from April 26) is the very first German production for the streaming provider Disney + ever – and a brilliant roller coaster ride through Meffire’s life.

And also a roller coaster ride through the turmoil of reunification and our new, all-German society in which exclusion and everyday racism have not been overcome to this day.

Meffire’s life was to be filmed around 15 years ago: by Jörg Winger, then the producer of “SoKo Leipzig”. He had just hired Tyron Ricketts as the first Afro-German TV commissioner – against resistance because the time was not yet ripe. Meffire recalls the offer with a laugh: “I nodded on the outside, but on the inside I thought, ‘Poor lunatic…’ I always thought of myself as someone who would undress to lie on his stomach…”

It was immediately clear to him that Malick Bauer wanted to be the main actor in this roller coaster ride. He just wouldn’t have waited so long for an opportunity like this. Because: For many years, role offers for Afro-Germans were more of a stereotype than acting.

Bauer on BILD am SONNTAG: “In my case, it just took too long for me to get a chance through this series. I’m over 30 and have been relatively good for a relatively long time. There are even more people like me who have systematically been given fewer opportunities.”

Above all, Samuel Meffire laments the many missed opportunities since reunification: “When I see how much effort has gone into initiatives such as the ‘Rebellion of the Decent’ and others over the past 30 years, I have to say: little or nothing positive has come of it effects.”

So haven’t we learned anything? Meffire: “Or we asked the wrong questions. Or dug in the wrong place. Unfortunately, we only see the symptoms.” Right-wing chat groups, for example, hate comments. Meffire: “But their roots are always hurt, rejection and cut biographies. That’s where we have to start.”

The social unit has occupied him since reunification. “If we approach each other from both sides, if we ask all people in East and West what they can contribute to our common house, and if we in West Germany might say: ‘Maybe we don’t have everything right after reunification done…’ – then maybe we have a chance.”

At a time when Malick Bauer did not yet see many opportunities for his career, he briefly considered leaving Germany. Bauer: “When I started my job, around 2011, I had this thought because there were only a few Afro-Germans who could play fulfilling roles.

I don’t want to belittle their performance, because today I’m certainly standing on the shoulders of these colleagues, for example Theodor Wonja Michael, Günther Kaufmann, Michael Klammer and Tyron Ricketts. But compared to today, these colleagues just didn’t get roles that were adequate to their talent. My role models were Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker. So I thought that if I could do it, then it would only be in America or England.”

Bauer did not emigrate. And Meffire is also happy about it: “I think you belong here – and not in England or America. In America you would probably have been a face among many others. But in Germany you have a special quality.”

He is often perceived as a new discovery, says Bauer. A mistake! “If you ask me today where I’ve been for so long, I’ll say: I’ve been there the whole time! But maybe television just didn’t want or couldn’t offer me better roles.

I’m not any better than all the other colleagues before me, I’m just later. Maybe now is the best possible time for me, but it’s not all scratched yet. And it is certainly new to add Afro-Germans to the German narrative.”

Samuel Meffire and Malick Bauer are also fathers. Meffire has three children, Bauer has a son. Do both have the hope that the next generation will overcome social boundaries?

Bauer shakes his head: “No, sorry. It’s not going to happen that quickly. But the question must be what we can all do to make our country better for everyone – and not just for Afro-Germans, but for all minorities.”

Samuel Meffire agrees with his series self: “We don’t all have to be the same. It is enough if we are understood as equals. Because we can all complement each other in a meaningful way.”

Role model, crash and back

Samuel Meffire, the former model police officer, was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison by the Dresden district court in October 1996. Before that, he fled to the Congo and turned himself in to the authorities. In 2003 he was released prematurely – and changed his life radically – becoming a role model again.

He is committed to fighting exclusion and intolerance, works as a trainer for the public sector, among other things, with a focus on dealing with dangerous situations. Samuel Meffire has been living in Bonn for 19 years.

From the theater stage to the whole world

Malick Bauer grew up in Bremen. In Hamburg he ventured his first steps in the world of theatre. Bauer completed his acting training between 2015 and 2019 at the University of Music and Theater in Leipzig. In the seven-part series “Sam – Ein Sachse” produced by Ufa, Malick Bauer plays his first leading role in the series.

This article comes from BILD am SONNTAG. The ePaper of the entire issue is available here.