At Dreyman's birthday party, his friend Albert Jerska, a blacklisted theatrical director, gives him sheet music for "Sonate vom Guten Menschen" ("Sonata for a Good Man"). Shortly afterwards, Jerska hangs himself. A grieving Dreyman decides to publish an anonymous article in "Der Spiegel", a prominent West German newsweekly. Dreyman's article accuses the state of concealing the country's elevated suicide rates. Since all East German typewriters are registered and identifiable, an editor of "Der Spiegel" smuggles Dreyman a miniature typewriter with a red ribbon. Dreyman hides the typewriter under a floorboard of his apartment but is seen by Sieland. When Dreyman and his friends feign a defection attempt to determine whether or not his flat is bugged, a now sympathetic Wiesler does not alert the border guards or his superior Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur) and the conspirators believe they are safe.