Berlin Alexanderplatz — Season 1, Episode 2: How Is One to Live If One Doesn’t Want to Die?

Episode synopsis

Biberkopf is self-employed, hawking necktie holders on the street, but has trouble making enough and doesn't consider himself an orator. After turning down the opportunity to sell sex ed manuals, he's talked into selling the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and wearing a swastika armband. In the subway, Franz is confronted by a Jewish man selling hot sausages, but denies being antisemitic, and Dreske with two other men also known to him. Dreske admires Lenin and the Soviet Union, but Franz responds by decrying revolution and 'their' Weimar Republic.

About Berlin Alexanderplatz

In late 1920s Berlin, Franz Biberkopf is released from prison and vows to go straight. However, he soon finds himself embroiled in the city’s criminal underworld.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1The Punishment Begins
• E3A Hammer Blow to the Head Can Injure the Soul
• E4A Handful of People in the Depths of Silence
• E5A Grim Reaper with Powers from Almighty God
• E6Love Has Its Price
• E7Remember—An Oath Can Be Amputated
• E8The Sun Warms the Skin, But Burns It Sometimes Too
• E9About the Eternities Between the Many and the Few
• E10Loneliness Tears Cracks of Madness Even in Walls
• E11Knowledge Is Power and the Early Bird Catches the Worm
• E12The Serpent in the Soul of the Serpent
• E13The Outside and the Inside and the Secret of Fear of the Secret