German drama 'Blindspot Berlin' revisits 2016 Christmas market attack

A decade after the deadliest jihadist attack in Germany's history, a new six-part TV series looks at the institutional failures that allowed it to happen.

"Blindspot Berlin," which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival , follows the year-long police investigation that failed to stop Anis Amri — a Tunisian whose asylum applications had been rejected, and who was already known to German security services — from driving a hijacked truck into a crowded Christmas market at Berlin's Breitscheidplatz on December 19, 2016.

Twelve people died, including Lukasz Urban , the Polish driver Amri shot before seizing his vehicle. Dozens more were injured; a 13th victim died of their injuries in 2021. Amri fled the scene and made his way across Europe before being shot dead four days later by Italian police, near Milan, during a routine identity check.

"What happened behind the scenes of that attack is in many ways just as disturbing," says "Blindspot Berlin" director David Nawrath . "[It's] a picture of overwhelmed institutions, systemic failure and a staggering blindness to the threat that was developing right in front of our eyes."

Along with the people who were killed, at least 56 were injured in the truck attack Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler

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