When she fails to report at the agreed time, Martin, against warnings from friends, decides to travel to Berlin but is intercepted and searched on the way.
Back in Vienna, the worsening situation on the streets and the reactions of the antisemitic caretaker, actor colleagues, or the housekeeper whose socialist husband is imprisoned, confront the couple.
The housekeeper recalls the February battles of 1934 and offers Hoffmann shelter in her communal apartment in case of emergency.
Together they try to escape to Prague by train, but Martin is picked out of the crowd at the station while Carola manages to flee.
A taxi driver promises Hoffmann to take him to the border the next day, but he is intercepted by the Gestapo on his way home that same night.