Horst Schimanski is a fictional policeman who appears in the German Tatort (i. e. 'crime scene') crime series. Portrayed by Gotz George, he made his debut in the 1981 episode 'Duisburg-Ruhrort' and appeared in 29 episodes until 1991. In 1997 his own Schimanski crime series was started. Schimanski now was a retired policeman living in Belgium with his long-time girlfriend Marie Claire. In the early episodes he often did some semi-legal work for the German police.