The film stars Tim Holt, Bonita Granville and Kent Smith and was directed by Edward Dmytryk from an adaptation by Emmet Lavery of Gregor Ziemer's book Education for Death, which had previously been adapted as a Disney animated short film.

Six years later, as war looms in Europe, Karl Bruner, now a lieutenant in the Gestapo, removes students of foreign nationalities from the American school.

Nichols' friend Franz Erhart, a formerly bold journalist who now fears being reported by his own children, suggests that the professor seek permission from the Ministry of Education to inspect a labor camp where Muller is likely being held.

When Muller is interviewed by Henkel and Dr. Graf of the education department, she furiously declines the opportunity, making her true feelings clear.

When Bruner learns of this, he tries to persuade Muller to pretend to be a good Nazi and bear his child to prove her usefulness to Germany, but she refuses.

However, Henkel arranges for a national radio broadcast of the trial of Bruner and Muller and promises Karl full honors at his funeral.

At the airport, Nichols hears Karl's opening statement denouncing Hitler's Germany before the young man is shot and killed.

[6] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther considered the melodrama to be "obvious, conventional" and noted: "Edward Dmytryk, who directed, has set the whole thing in an oratorical style and has given it the quality of a philippic rather than a credible story from life.

"[2] Despite lukewarm critical reviews, Hitler's Children was a great financial success, grossing $2,655,000 domestically and $700,000 foreign and earning RKO a profit of $1.21 million.