Dennenesch Zoudé was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The daughter of an Ethiopian road construction engineer, Zoudé has lived in Berlin since the age of two. 

Zoudé trained to be an actress at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. She was a member of the ensemble of the Nibelung Festival Worms, where she performed the role of Brunhilda.

She is known today for her numerous TV and cinema productions and established the first dark-skinned TV detective in the German TV series Polizeiruf 110. The series Gegen den Wind (Against the Wind) provided her breakthrough in Germany. Her more recent films inlcude Meine Heimat Afrika (Africa, My Homeland) and Vergiss nie, dass ich dich liebe (Never Forget That I Love You).

Zoudé is committed to protecting the rights of the black population in Germany and in Africa. She is involved with the Fairchance Foundation, an educational organization for children and people with a migrant background. 

Mark Waschke was born as the second of three sons in Wattenscheid, Germany. From 1995 until 1999 he studied acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts.

From 1999 – 2008, Waschke was a regular staff member of the Berlin theatre company Schaubühne Berlin under Thomas Ostermeier, who has described him as “a goodlooking, virile actor, who takes full responsibility for his performances and for the emotional diversity of the characters he plays.

Since 2005, Waschke has appeared in television series and films, notably Buddenbrooks, directed by Heinrich Breloer (2008), Habermann (2010), The City Below, directed by Christoph Hochhäusler (2010), Summer Window, directed by Hendrik Handloegten (2011), and Generation War, directed by Philipp Kadelbach (2013).

In the 2013/14 season, he rejoined the Schaubühne. He has said that acting on stage is a mental and physical need, not only because it does not get interrupted as it does in filming but also because it offers “a different kind of responsibility, for oneself, the role, the play, the great ritual, which at its best doesn’t only do something for the audience [...]. In a rare moment it becomes utopia.”

In 2009, Waschke won the Prize for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Roma Fiction Fest and the Bavarian Film Awards for Best Actor in Habermann; in 2012 he was awarded the Franz-Hofer-Prize and in 2013 he won the German Actors Award.

Juan M. seeked as a Kudirsh-Syrian refugee asylumn in Germany in 2015. He did assist a journalist who reported on the film's case by translating skype interviews with the family of Schabas Saleh Al-Aziz.

Ellen S. fled the GDR with her then six year old son hiding in a trunk of a diplomatic car while passing the border. After 23 years in West-Germany she returned to the GDR only five weeks before the wall fell in 1989.

Walter G. arrived as a 15 year old repatriate in Germany in 1996. He is the chairman of the integration association Lyra and a member of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) in Berlin.

Bernd R. attempted to flee the GDR via Hungary but was arrested by the Hungarian army and deported to the interrogation prison in Potsdam where he was jailed for three years.

Orlando M. arrived as political refugee to West-Berlin in 1976 after he spent three years in a Chilean workers camp after the Pinochet regime jailed him for his union activism.

Esteban R. came as a Cuban contract worker to the GDR.

Dilan B. was born in Germany to an exiled Kurdish family and currently studies economics in Berlin.

Monika S. attempted to flee the GDR in 1981 when she was caught by intelligence officers in Prague  and imprisoned for three years until the was bought free from the BRD. Today she gives guided tours trough her former prison cell in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. 

Moises M. arrived as an Angolian guest worker to Eberswalde, Brandenburg. After the deadly attack of his friend Amadeo Antonio in 1990 he co-founded the African cultural association Palanca in memory of his friend and to counteract racism in Germany.

Hoa L.T. came a as war refugee from Vietnam to the GDR and is engaged in communal work in Brandenburg and Berlin as of today. 

Sidathi A. arrived with a scholarship from the Western Sahara to Dresden in 1988, only a few month before the wall fell. He is an active member of the independence movement of the Western Sahara.

Szabadi T. came as a Hungarian guest worker to the former GDR.