Although its main theme – the planned invasion of the GDR by American-led NATO forces – was a common motif in East German propaganda since the beginning of the Cold War, author Bernd Stöver viewed For Eyes Only as the final link in a chain of publications, starting at 1958, intended by the government to demonstrate the necessity of building the Berlin Wall and to justify it after it was erected.
[1] The film's plot was loosely based on three actual espionage affairs: primarily, it was modeled after the case of Horst Hesse, an East German agent who infiltrated the American Military Intelligence Division in 1955 and managed to smuggle out two safes containing classified documents, which allowed the Stasi to uncover some 140 spies.
Hesse was celebrated as a hero in East Germany - largely due to the film's success[2] - but later research established that his role in the operation was exaggerated.
The fifth column of Western saboteurs referred to in the film, that were to organize a second '17 June 1953', was based on a network uncovered in 1959, when three American agents related to it were captured in Karl-Marx-Stadt.
Müller, who had no driving license, was only shot in the Opel Kapitän used in the filming when it was being pushed or towed, while a member of the production team drove it in the car chase scenes.
[6] The film was received in a highly positive manner in the East German press: on 23 July 1963, the critic of the Schweriner Volkszeitung wrote: "it is thrilling, because its plot is true: a real plan to invade our country existed, but had to be canceled after 13 August 1961."
On 10 August 1963, a commentator in Das Freie Wort noted "there is nothing fictional in there... Bonn constantly declares its intention to 'free' East Germany.
"[3] Peter Ulrich Weiß, who researched Cold War media in East Germany, pointed out that the film presented a highly politicized portrayal of the characters: Stasi agent Hansen was depicted as humane and devoted to his country, while being contrasted with the West Germans: he was only suspected, as one of the MID personnel tells in the film, because "he is the only one from the East... and the only one to have served during World War II merely as an infantry corporal.