In the final days of World War II, German soldier Rudi Kleinschmidt is arrested for the perceived theft of "air force chocolate" which, in reality, he bought through the black market.

When he goes to visit his friend, Lissy Flemming, Kleinschmidt once again encounters Schramm, now a successful prosecutor after keeping his Nazi past a secret and portraying himself as having resisted the regime.

[1][2][3] Staudte did not believe the film could actually be made and stored the idea for it in his desk, where it was discovered by Manfred Barthel, who forwarded it to his boss, producer Kurt Ulrich.

Europa-Verleih, which had financed a number of socially critical, poorly received films before, and lost money in the process, was unwilling to invest that much.

[4] Staudte had to reduce his budget to DM 1 million and change the script from a drama to a comedy in order to be able to make the film.

[4] The Nazi area received very little coverage in the first decades of the post-war West German movie industry which was dominated by Heimatfilm and light entertainment.

[1] The film was criticised for making Schramm too comical a figure for such an important subject, while Giller received praise for his convincing portrait of Kleinschmidt as a victim of wartime and postwar justice.