Stock fraud, muggings and murder: the world is bad. In the middle of the week, the television viewer should help to solve crimes. But there is also good news in the popular ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY…unsolved”. As the story of a courageous man proves.

“Please stay safe!” Says moderator Rudi Cerne at the end of his program “Aktenzeichen XY…unsolved”. There are good reasons for his wish, because crime seems to be everywhere. This format is not a mood lift, but – according to the makers – important to get on the track of unsolved cases with the help of the viewers.

Are the victims sometimes just too naive? The ZDF program reports on a particularly perfidious snowball principle. Stock scammers introduce people to lucrative investments. In reality, they are bogus companies. A married couple apparently trusts the system blindly, exhausts the credit limit at the bank – and ends up losing almost 200,000 euros, many other “investors” also fall for the well-planned scam. Are people just too greedy?

A brutal murder happened in Hanover almost a year ago. Dirk Schleicher, one of 45,000 homeless people in Germany, is stabbed to death in a park. The man, without a home for decades, was a loner. Is there a personal motive behind the crime or a general hatred of the homeless? The policeman in the studio emphasizes: “It can also be a perpetrator.” Next case: The attack on a couple is particularly despicable. It becomes random victims. The two are on the Autobahn near Brühl. Suddenly, a rock weighing almost a kilogram slams through the windshield of her car and hits the woman in the head. The policeman at the crime scene says: “She had an army of guardian angels.” There is no trace of the perpetrators who threw the stone from the bridge. It is assumed that they are young people.

The case of a young woman from early 2019 who lived in a refugee accommodation near Kassel is also curious. At the end of the program, someone reports who claims to have seen the woman with her now three-year-old son. It is still strange that the person who disappeared had not taken any identity papers, cell phone or clothing with her. Escape or kidnapping?

The highlight of the program is a contribution about the contender for the next “XY Prize”. We get to know Thomas Weis, 56. The man is a painter and varnisher. On December 29, 2021, Mr. Weis returns from an excursion. Before dinner he wants to smoke a cigarette and stands in front of the front door. Suddenly he hears horns and screams, he rushes into the street. There he witnesses a man brutally stabbing a woman in the car. It’s his ex-wife and he’s going after her with full force. Thomas Weis says about himself in the “XY broadcast”: “I’m not a man of big words.” He overpowers the man with considerable courage – and risking his own life. The attacked woman can only just be saved. “I would do it again,” says the rescuer. “He wanted to kill her, I couldn’t let that happen.” Presenter Rudi Cerne is enthusiastic: “It’s incredibly determined and courageous. Hats off!” And that’s a comforting moment on this show.

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