Katharina Nielsen

* Adult
* Teenager

*"Whatever happens, you'll tell me the truth. Don't lie to me. Whatever it is."*
―Katharina to her husband Ulrich regarding their missing son Mikkel[src]
**Katharina Nielsen** (née **Albers**) is the daughter of Helene and Hermann Albers. She is married to Ulrich Nielsen, with whom she has three children, Magnus, Martha, and Mikkel. In 2019, she is the principal of the Winden Comprehensive School.

## Biography

### 1986

Katharina lives with her abusive mother, Helene Albers. Her father is Hermann Albers, although he is out of the picture as a father figure. Katharina is named after Hannah Kahnwald's new identity after traveling to 1954, where a young Helene met Hannah at an abortion clinic.

As a teen, Katharina is seen as a headstrong pupil at the Winden high school. She is dating the rebellious young Ulrich Nielsen, provoking jealous rage in Hannah Krüger.

She and Ulrich once tied Regina Tiedemann to a tree in the forest and left her there as a prank. Later, wrongly suspecting Regina has accused Ulrich of rape, Katharina attacks her in the forest, only driven off when a mysterious stranger, later revealed as Boris Niewald, appears brandishing a gun.

### 1987

#### September 23

Young Katharina is at home when her mother returns. Helene goes directly to a cabinet and starts drinking straight from a bottle. Worried, Katharina asks her if she is alright, also noticing that her mother was bleeding. Helene looks at her hands and starts to wash them, as Katharina now got up and asked to know what had happened. Helene suddenly froze and grabbed Katharina by the chin, asking if the hickey she had on her neck was from Ulrich before calling her a tramp and slapping her. Helene pushes Katharina back and hits her some more before saying her daughter was not worthy of the name she had given her.

### 1994

#### June 20

Katharina marries Ulrich. Despite vowing never to have kids in their youth, the two end up having three: Magnus in 2001, Martha in 2003, and Mikkel in 2008.

### 2019

Katharina is now principal of the high school and mother of three. She remains a fierce woman to contend with, but the enemies she made in her youth have not forgiven her.

#### June 20

The day of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Ulrich tries to pressure Katharina into having sex, but is interrupted by Mikkel, who enters their bedroom having developed a red rash all over his body, which his mother recognizes as rubella. As they head to the hospital, they find Jonas who has traveled from 1921 to this date and has a wound on his neck (which he covers up with his jacket). They are surprised he is not at the lake with the others and offer him a ride but he declines. Katharina, Ulrich, and Mikkel make a stop at the Kahnwald's to pick up some extra glasses for their party.

Later, at the anniversary party, Katharina is in full party mode. She greets Hannah and Charlotte warmly and encourages them to dance and drink with the other guests. Upstairs, Mikkel wakes up feeling sick again, and after some pleading, has his mother come upstairs and lie down beside him in bed.

One day, Regina attacks her after a school performance, and Hannah carries on an affair with Ulrich.

She discovers Ulrich's many calls to Hannah and drives to the Kahnwald household to confront her, not knowing that Ulrich had earlier broken off the affair. The embittered Hannah lies and says Ulrich was planning to leave Katharina—something his disappearance seems to confirm.

### 2020

Katharina is driven crazy by the fact that both her son and her husband are missing. In 2020, Katharina goes to the cave while looking for them.

#### June 24

Charlotte informs Katharina that Ulrich and Mikkel are still alive, but that they are not "here." Katharina is confused. She takes her to the bunker, but she becomes angered when she sees Hannah there. She scoffs when she sees (older) Jonas, who tells her he is Hannah's son and her grandson. She finds it impossible to believe that Ulrich and Mikkel have travelled back in time. Hannah tries to assure Katharina she travelled back and saw Mikkel. She tells them they have all lost their minds and leaves.

She goes to the school. She looks through old records of 1986 for Michael Kahnwald, who was a student then. She finds his class photo. She sees her son Mikkel in it and breaks down crying.

#### June 25

Katharina is looking at the school photo with Mikkel in it. Martha and Magnus come downstairs. Katharina tells them that there is something they need to see but they say they have to go. Martha lashes out at her, demanding to know why all of a sudden she wants to speak to them when she has ignored them for months. Katharina attempts to stroke Martha but she rebuffs her and says they no longer need to talk. They both leave.

She goes to the Kahnwald house, looking for Jonas. Hannah tells her he has disappeared. Katharina asks how she can go back in time to see Mikkel, as Hannah told her she did. Hannah says that Jonas has a "time machine," but has taken it with him. Katharina notices pictures of Michael and remarks how he was always there, right in front of her. She then accuses Hannah of having slept with both her husband and her son and always wanting everything that was hers, like a parasite. She asks if Ulrich ever told her he loved her, as he would always choose her.

They are interrupted by a knock on the door. It is Clausen, who has come after Hannah was not home for their appointment. He finds it hard to believe a woman whose son is missing would miss that. He is surprised to see Katharina there. He shows her the sketch of the Stranger and asks if she has ever seen him. She says she has not, and leaves. He then asks Hannah, who also denies recognizing him.

#### June 26

Katharina breaks into the Kahnwald's house, searching for Hannah. On seeing Martha and Jonas together she pulls them apart and asks Martha whether she knows who this man is: The son of her brother, her nephew. She tells Jonas to keep his dirty hands off her and takes Martha away.

#### June 27

Katharina arrives with the device at Kahnwald's house looking for Jonas, but finds him empty. She looks around her room and finds her backpack, which contains the orb light and her annotated Winden Cave map. She comes downstairs and spies on a photo album of Michael. Flipping through it, she sees photos of her son growing up, leading her to cry. Jonas, the "strange" adult, enters. She asks him how to use the machine and bring Mikkel back. Jonas tries to explain that it is impossible. Katharina says she doesn't want me to come back and not exist. Mikkel belongs there, does not. He replies that the past cannot change, since he already exists and the events that led to his existence cannot change. He says he would trade his own life for the Mikkel, but he cannot because his future already exists.

Katharina goes to the caves with the map and orb light, and heads in. She follows the stream of time particles to the Sic Mundus door; as she opens it.

### 1987 (time travel)

#### September 22

Katharina wakes up at the Kahnwald home and looks at a picture of her with Mikkel. As she heads downstairs, the phone rings with the postal service threatening to disconnect her phone the following month if Ines didn't pay. Katharina picks up flyers which mentions Michael Kahnwald has been missing for three months. She puts it into a bag and leaves the house.

Katharina goes to the school and is handing out flyers, asking if people know Mikkel. All of a sudden, young Ulrich passes right in front of her; she says his name in surprise, which Ulrich hears and turns around. Ulrich asks if he knows her, and Katharina asks him if he knows where Mikkel could be. Ulrich says that maybe the lunatic (old Ulrich) had gotten him. When Katharina asks who he meant by the lunatic, Ulrich tells her to keep her hands off him. Young Hannah shows up greets Ulrich, as well as young Katharina, who thought that he was not going to school that day. Young Katharina kisses Ulrich, but is interrupted by Hannah who tells her they would be late for their history class.

Middle-aged Katharina remembers something, but mentions it out loud, which makes young Katharina ask what "her deal" was. Ulrich says she probably is crazy, and ignores her when Katharina asks about the lunatic again. Young Hannah turns around and tells her that somebody had escaped from the asylum last summer, grabbing "Michael" and taking him to the cave. Katharina grabs young Hannah suddenly and tells her to stay away from Mikkel and from Ulrich. Hannah is left in shock as she leaves.

Katharina walks inside the police station, demanding to know why she was not told about the man from the psych ward. The police officer she was talking to tells her tells her that she could not know any information on the whereabouts of Michael Kahnwald. Katharina tries telling him that Mikkel is her son, but the police officer tells her she has no proof, and refuses to identify herself. Katharina mentions that Mikkel had not been showing up to school, was not at home, and he had not been seen in three months.

Katharina was worried, but the police officer tells her that Child Protective Services knew where Mikkel and Ines were, so she did not need to worry. After the kidnapping, they decided the boy needed time off, and the lunatic returned to the ward where he had been for 34 years. Katharina asked for the name, but the police officer mentioned that if she showed up there again, she would be put under protective custody.

At the psych ward, middle aged Katharina walks in and asks if she can visit someone that had been there during 34 years. Since she was crying, the lady at the front desk asked if she knew her, because she looked familiar. She asked if she was related to him, and Katharina mentioned he was her husband. The secretary figured Katharina was one of the people who go for lunatics or prisoners because they are not able to find anyone else. She told her to return the following day until Katharina mentioned her necklace had Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. She mentioned her mother also had one, and told the secretary that she had traveled a very long way to see him.

She was ultimately taken to see him, while old Ulrich played chess by himself. Katharina sat down in front of him, but he did not acknowledge his presence until she said his name. When he turned up to look at her, she gasped and he remembered her. Ulrich was overwhelmed, and started trembling. Katharina looked deeply at him, and swore she would get him out of there.

#### September 23

Katharina is at the psychiatric ward, and tells Ulrich to wait by the door so she could get him out later. Ulrich nods, but does not say or do anything other than to nod. Katharina tells him they will go home and bring Mikkel with them. Ulrich apologizes for everything, and Katharina nods understandingly.

Helene Albers walks through the woods, but picks up the pace when she sees Katharina following her. She turns around and asks what she wants, so Katharina pulls a knife on her, and asks her for the key card to the psychiatric ward. Helene twists her arm until Katharina pleads for her to stop, while calling her "mama". Helene steps back in shock, and asks her what she had said before running away, with Katharina closely behind. Katharina trips, but is able to get back up quickly and pushes her mother to the ground, who in turn starts pressing her face against the ground. Katharina is able to grab a rock next to her and proceeds to hit her mother across the face with it until the latter does not move. As Katharina looks for the keycard, however, Helene gets up, and hits her head from behind, telling her she was not her mother because the middle aged Katharina was from hell. Helene got on top of her daughter and began hitting her on the face with the rock until Katharina did not move. After this, she started putting rocks in Katharina's backpack and dragged her into the lake.

### 2019 (alternate version)

#### November 4

Mikkel is playing a videogame, which Katharina tells him to turn off. Martha asks Katharina what's wrong with him, and Katharina tells her he had been having the same nightmares. Martha tells Mikkel that maybe it wasn't a dream, and that maybe the here and now was one, and none of them were real. Mikkel laughs sarcastically and the lights in the house start flickering, as Katharina takes his videogame away. Katharina asks if Magnus is awake yet, but nobody knows he is having sex with Franziska. Katharina offers them rides to school, but they decide to go on their own. She also reminds Martha that the next day they would be staying with their father. Martha is annoyed by this, but heads off for school.

At school, Katharina makes an announcement on the school's PA in which she summons all students to an assembly in the gymnasium. Hannah walks into the high school, and walks right into Katharina, who tries to ignore her. Hannah says she wanted to see her, and tells her she knows that she and the kids were a part of him and that she would back off. Katharina sarcastically thanks her, and tells her that Ulrich wanted to bring something over, when Hannah asks if Ulrich had been to her house earlier that morning.

#### November 7

Jonas wakes up from an illusion where Martha was laying next to him. Startled, he wakes to see she is in fact, there next to him. They get dressed in silence, until Jonas hands her her coat and and says they need to go. She calls him, but regrets having said anything, and so they head downstairs, where Katharina asks furiously where she had been. Martha cries and hugs her mother reassuringly, and she hugs her back. Katharina asks Martha what is wrong, but Martha does not respond and only says she needs to go.

#### November 8

Martha is sitting on her bed until she gets up and begins cutting her hair frantically. Katharina is asleep, and wakes up startled to see Martha as she was seen when she brought Jonas to Eva's World. Katharina asks if she had cut her hair, but her daughter only asks her if she believes in fate, to which Katharina responds that she does not know, but corrects herself saying she believes people take life into their own hands. Katharina realizes Martha probably does not want to speak to her, but assures her daughter she is there if she ever needs to. They hug and Martha tells Katharina she had promised to do something before leaving.

Later, during the apocalypse, she holds on to Mikkel so as to comfort him.

### Origin World

t is a house party at the Tiedemann's home. Regina is being celebrated by her friends. Peter is with Bernadette Wöller and Hannah is with Torben Wöller, joined also by Katharina. Bernadette looks at Torben's eye and comments it is looking a lot better. They ask him to tell them the story behind how his accident had happened, and as he began to tell it, a loud thunder bolt startled the group, also turning off the lights. Bernadette jokingly asks if it is the apocalypse, but Hannah is staring at a yellow rain jacket akin to Jonas'. Katharina asks her if she is okay, and Hannah mentions she had a deja-vu. She mentions it might sound absurd, but she had dreamt about that very moment the night before, except the world had ended, leaving everything dark forever. However, she mentions that it had felt good suddenly being free of everything in the unending darkness. Bernadette jokes that Hannah should get checked, and Hannah blames it on hormones. Regina asks them if they had one wish due to the world ending what they would wish for. Katharina wishes for a world without Winden, and they all say cheers. As they do, the lights turn back on, and Peter mentions maybe Winden does not want to leave. Torben says it could be a good thing, while holding Hannah's stomach, which revealed she was pregnant. The couple kiss, and when they ask what they think the name could be, Hannah says she does not know, but comments how she thinks Jonas would be a good name.

 Appearances

### Season 1

* Episode 1 "Secrets" (2019)
* Episode 2 "Lies" (1986, 2019)
* Episode 3 "Past and Present" (1986, 2019)
* Episode 4 "Double Lives" (2019)
* Episode 5 "Truths" (1986, 2019)
* Episode 6 "Sic Mundus Creatus Est" (2019)
* Episode 7 "Crossroads" (1986, 2019)
* Episode 9 "Everything Is Now" (1986, 2019)
* Episode 10 "Alpha and Omega" (2019)

### Season 2

* Episode 1 "Beginnings and Endings" (2020)
* Episode 2 "Dark Matter" (1987)
* Episode 4 "The Travelers" (2020)
* Episode 5 "Lost and Found" (2020)
* Episode 6 "An Endless Cycle" (2019)
* Episode 7 "The White Devil" (2020)
* Episode 8 "Endings and Beginnings" (2020)

### Season 3

* Episode 2 "The Survivors" (1987, 2020 --> 1987)
* Episode 5 "Life and Death" (1987, 2020 --> 1987)

## Gallery

*→ See **53** images of Katharina Nielsen at **Images of Katharina Nielsen**.*

1. ↑ *Dark* Season 2 Episode 2: "Dark Matter"
2. ↑ https://dark.netflix.io/en/event-timeline/katharina-nielsen
3. ↑ *Dark* Season 3 Episode 5: "Life and Death"