The movie is set in Maoka (present day Kholmsk), and the story is based on the deaths of nine women who worked in the postal telegraph office in the city.
The Soviets engaged in widespread kidnapping, rape, and murder of any civilians who were unable to escape.
[3] The movie was eventually banned in the Soviet Union after two weeks' distribution in Hokkaidō and western Kyūshū.
On August 25, 2008, a Japanese television drama was aired called Kiri no Hi, which was based on the same historical events.
However, the television drama caused less of a political uproar in Russia than Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no Mon, due to the movie's insistence that it was a work of "fiction" and because it did not focus on the Red Army's crimes and brutality but instead talked about a wish for world peace.