Babylon Berlin

as Inspector Gereon Rath, a combat veteran of the Imperial German Army during World War I and a policeman newly transferred from his home town of Cologne to Berlin; he struggles with morphine dependence linked to his war experiences, particularly his survivor's guilt over the loss of his brother (seasons 1–4)

Volker Bruch

as Charlotte Ritter ("Lotte"), a flapper from the slums of Neukölln and an occasional sex worker at the Moka Efti cabaret, who works as a police clerk and dreams of becoming the first female homicide detective in the history of the Berlin Police (seasons 1–4)

Liv Lisa Fries

as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Bruno Wolter, a Berlin Police investigator whose affability masks unseemly tendencies; he becomes the primary antagonist in season 2 (seasons 1–2)

Peter Kurth

as Councillor August Benda, the Jewish chief of the "Political Police" department of the Berlin Police. A tenacious investigator and true believer in the Weimar Republic, Benda is equally loathed by monarchists, communists, and Nazis; for years, he has been investigating the Black Reichswehr (seasons 1–2)

Matthias Brandt

as Greta Overbeck, a down-on-her-luck childhood friend of Charlotte Ritter who eventually finds a job as domestic servant to Councillor Benda and his family and reluctantly gets entwined in an assassination scheme (seasons 1–3)

Leonie Benesch

as Countess Svetlana Sorokina ("Sveta")/ Nikoros, a White Russian émigré, crossdressing singer at the Moka Efti cabaret, and spy for the Soviet secret police (seasons 1–2)

Severija Janušauskaitė

as Alexei Kardakov, an anti-Stalinist Russian refugee and the leader of a fictional Trotskyist cell in Berlin called the "Red Fortress" (season 1; guest season 2)

Ivan Shvedoff

as Alfred Nyssen, a steel manufacturer with links to Reichswehr and Freikorps officers plotting to overthrow the Republic and restore Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German throne and who detests the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (seasons 1–4)

Lars Eidinger

as Stephan Jänicke, a young detective in the Berlin Police who has been assigned by Councillor Benda to investigate Wolter for ties to the Black Reichswehr (season 1; recurring season 2)

Anton von Lucke

as Edgar Kasabian, "the Armenian", the impeccably dressed owner of the Moka Efti cabaret and the leader of organized crime in Berlin; a ruthless but deeply principled gangster, he acts as a secret protector to Inspector Gereon Rath for personal reasons (season 1–3; recurring season 4)

Mišel Matičević

Henning Peker as Franz Krajewski, a drug addict who works as a police informant (season 1; guest season 3)

as Elisabeth Behnke, a kind friend of Bruno Wolter who maintains a boarding house where Inspector Rath stays (seasons 1–4)

Fritzi Haberlandt

as Samuel Katelbach, an eccentric writer and sometimes journalist who befriends Rath at the boarding house (seasons 1–4)

Karl Markovics

as Dr. Anno Schmidt, a mysterious doctor whose atypical practices are considered fringe by the Berlin medical community but heralded by others, including The Armenian (seasons 1–4)

Jens Harzer

as Major General Wilhelm Seegers,^[a] a member of the Reichswehr's General Staff and DCI Bruno Wolter's commanding officer during the Great War; he opposes the Republic and is up to many secret activities (seasons 1–2; guest seasons 3–4)

Ernst Stötzner

as Dr. Völcker, a communist doctor who disagrees with the practices of the Berlin police department (seasons 1–4)

Jördis Triebel

as Reinhold Gräf, a photographer for the Berlin police department who works closely with Rath (seasons 1–4)

Christian Friedel

as Col. Trokhin, a Soviet diplomat and official of Joseph Stalin's secret police who targets anti-Stalinists (seasons 1–2)

Denis Burgazliev

as Karl Zörgiebel, the stern police chief of Berlin and former chief of Cologne (seasons 1–3)

Thomas Thieme

as Helga Rath, Inspector Gereon Rath's secret lover of more than ten years and the wife of his brother, who has been missing since the First World War (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1)

Hannah Herzsprung

Ivo Pietzcker as Moritz Rath, Gereon Rath's nephew and Helga's son whose curiosity gets him into trouble (seasons 2,4; recurring season 3)

as Colonel Gottfried Wendt, an ambitious and untrustworthy political police counselor who is a power player with the NSDAP (seasons 2–4; guest season 1)

Benno Fürmann

as Walter Weintraub, the mysterious and ruthless partner of the Armenian who returns from time in prison (seasons 3–4)

Ronald Zehrfeld

as Esther Kasabian, a former actress married to the Armenian who dreams of returning to acting as well as reconciling the men she loves (seasons 3–4)

Meret Becker

as Ernst "Buddha" Gennat, the stern but kind head of Berlin's Homicide Department, based on a real director of the Berlin criminal police (seasons 3–4; recurring season 2)

Udo Samel

Luc Feit as Leopold Ullrich, detail-oriented police analyst (season 3; recurring season 2)

Trystan Pütter as , a pro bono attorney interested in Greta's case, based on a real lawyer (seasons 3–4)

Hans Litten

Thorsten Merten as Alfons Henning, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Czerwinski (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2)

Rüdiger Klink as Paul Czerwinski, a homicide investigator working under Rath with Henning (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2)

as Wilhelm Böhm, a high-ranking homicide detective who often clashes with Rath and Ritter (seasons 3–4; recurring seasons 1–2)

Godehard Giese

as Marie-Luise Seegers,^[b] a communist law student who disagrees with her father General Seegers (seasons 3–4)

Saskia Rosendahl

as Tristan Rot, aka Herbert Plumpe, widower of Betty Winter, a melodramatic actor with an interest in the occult (season 3)

Sabin Tambrea

Julius Feldmeier as Otto Wollenberg/,^[c] a friend of Fritz with villainous intentions (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2)

Horst Kessler

as Fritz Höckert/Richard Pechtmann, a friend of Otto with villainous intentions (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2)

Jacob Matschenz

Irene Böhm as Antonie Ritter ("Toni"), Charlotte's younger sister (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3)

Hans-Martin Stier as , Zörgiebel's successor (season 4; guest season 3)

Albert Grzesinski

as Walter Stennes, a young Nazi lieutenant who collaborates covertly with Wendt (season 4; recurring season 3)

Hanno Koffler

as Gustav Heymann, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tempo (season 4; recurring season 3)

Martin Wuttke

as Max Fuchs ("Reinstecke"), Kasabian's right-hand man (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3)

Sebastian Urzendowsky

as Abraham Goldstein, a Jewish American gangster (season 4)

Mark Ivanir

Moisej Bazijan as Jakob Grün, a jeweler and a relative of Goldstein (season 4)

Marie-Anne Fliegel as Annemarie Nyssen, Alfred's mother (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3)

as Georg Wegener, the Nyssen family lawyer and Alfred's confidant (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3)

Holger Handtke

as Fred Jacoby, a journalist and Gräf's romantic partner (season 4; recurring season 3)

Peter Jordan

Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam

Production of Babylon Berlin on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016

Production of Babylon Berlin on the Metropolitan Backlot, 2016

Alexanderhaus, on Alexanderplatz

Side entrance of the Berlin City Hall, used as Police Headquarters

The lobby of the Rathaus Schöneberg, used as the lobby of Police Headquarters

Ratskeller Restaurant of the Rathaus Schöneberg, used as Aschinger cafe

Robert-Koch-Forum, used for interior scenes set at Police Headquarters

Hermannplatz station in Berlin-Neukölln

The former Delphi cinema in Berlin-Weissensee, used as the Moka Efti nightclub

Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, location of The Threepenny Opera sequences

Interior of the Immanuelkirche, used for Anno and Helga's wedding

Villa in Dahlem used as the Benda residence

Atrium of the Behrensbau, used as the psychiatric clinic

Former Deutsche Bank headquarters, used as the Soviet Embassy

Church of the Redeemer at the Havel river in Potsdam

Drachenburg Castle in the Rhineland

Hoppegarten Racecourse

Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum, used as the Anhalter Güterbahnhof

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord

Ullsteinhaus houses the offices of Tempo in Season 3

Berlin's Old City Hall, used as the stock exchange in Season 3

The Kammergericht, used as the Ministry of the Reichswehr in Season 3

Lobby of the Kammergericht

District Council Hall of Rathaus Treptow

Cafe Grosz was used as the Romanisches Café in Season 3

Woelckpromenade 7, the exterior of Rath's apartment

Karl-Marx-Allee, used as the Kurfürstendamm in Season 4

Amtsgericht Wedding, used as the Landgericht Berlin-Mitte in Season 4

Lobby of the Amtsgericht Wedding

GASAG Building

1920s Berlin

Adolf Hitler's rise to power

Roaring Twenties

Golden Twenties

Weimar culture

(1980 miniseries)

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Cabaret

Official website

at IMDb

Babylon Berlin