Summaries

Synopsis

In the spring of 1945, the Allied armies invade Nazi Germany as the end of World War II draws near. Heinrich (Robert Maaser), a decorated Wehrmacht veteran, is captured and hanged by Waffen-SS led by a fanatical lieutenant colonel Von Starnfeld (Alexander Scheer), after a desertion attempt. Heinrich believes that the Axis powers are murderers and that he had enough of the war. The lieutenant colonel hangs Heinrich and leaves with his platoon.The platoon is led by Dorfler (Florian Schmidtke) & also includes Bürgermeister Richard (Stephan Grossmann)

Heinrich is rescued by Elsa (Marie Hacke), who brings him to her farm home that she shares with her brother, Paule (Simon Rupp). Elsa is helping Heinrich as she hates the Nazis.Heinrich warms up to Elsa and says that he deserted as he wanted to get back to his daughter, who survived an allied bombing raid that killed his wife.In the nearby village of Sonnenberg, the SS arrive and begin to search a destroyed home previously occupied by Hebrews (Family of Johannes Lowenstein) as they seek a large amount of hidden gold.Robert Schlick (Simson Bubbel) is the mayor of the town. The house is burnt down, and the SS shovel through every brick to find the Gold.

The mayor also runs an inn but doesn't have any good food to feed the SS platoon. Meanwhile the allies are closing in, and the SS men Led by Dorfler don't see any way how the Lieutenant Colonel can get the Gold to Hitler behind enemy lines. Dorfler doesn't trust Starnfeld's intentions when he finds the Gold.

A squad of SS soldiers led by Dorfler, plunder the village for supplies, coming upon Elsa's farmhouse. As Heinrich hides in the attic, the SS abuse Paule, who has Down syndrome, and attempt to force themselves on Elsa. They are rescued by Heinrich; the squad of SS are killed but Sergeant Dorfler escapes. Heinrich, Elsa, and Paule leave the farmhouse and hide in the forest. However, Paule, unable to part with his dairy cow, returns overnight and is captured by the remaining SS the following morning.

Dorfler brings Paule to the local church and abuse him in front of the villagers. He is marched to the top of the church steeple as two SS soldiers prepare to hang him. However, Paule pushes one from the tower and shoots the other. Heinrich and Elsa arrive as Paule is killed by Starnfeld.

A battle ensues and Elsa is captured. Heinrich is pursued by the SS soldiers & Dorfler and Heinrich manages to escape them and kills several Nazis in the process. Heinrich is badly injured after the last fight with Dorfler and only manages to escape when Allied fighters strafe the town and distract the Nazis. Heinrich hides at the priest's house.The SS are unable to find the gold. They know that Lowenstein tried to buy his way out of the concentration camp and said that there were 31 bars of gold hidden in a box under his house.

The local priest reveals to Heinrich that the Lowensteins had a son Johannes who married into a rich family. But as Germany became more and more fascist, Johannes realized that there was no future for Hebrews in the country. He decides to emigrate to Palestine, but his parents refused as Germany was their home. Johannes had sold the company and converted all wealth to Gold. During the November pogrom, the Lowensteins were captured, and their house burnt down. The mayor and the town residents hid the gold from the Nazis.But the priest reveals that he stole the gold from its hiding place and hid it in the church. The priest has a girlfriend named Irmgard (Petra Zieser), who attends to Heinrich's wounds.

Heinrich plans to use the gold to draw the SS in and to free Elsa.Meanwhile the town mayor wants to reveal the truth about the gold to the Starnfeld, but he is killed by Sonja, who is a resident of the town. The town people believe that the Nazis will be gone soon, the war will be over, and soon they will be rich beyond imagination.

Starnfeld is in love with Elsa and wants to marry her. Elsa plays along for her survival.At night, when they are alone, Elsa kills Starnfeld when she shoves his own cyanide pill from his ring into his mouth and crushes it. Elsa escapes Nazi custody and runs to the priest's house.Not knowing that Elsa was free, Heinrich lures the SS out to exchange the Gold for Elsa. Dorfler realizes that Starnfeld is dead, and he is in charge. He attacks Heinrich. Elsa realizes that Heinrich came for her and goes back to save him. Irmgard tells Elsa about Heinrich and they both arm themselves for the final confrontation.Meanwhile Sonja corners the priest to find out where the gold is hidden.Dorfler gives his own blood to revive Heinrich as he alone knows the location of the Gold.

The priest leads Sonja & the others to the church and the gold. But the gold is booby trapped with grenades which kills everyone except Sonja and the priest. That's when the SS arrive with Heinrich. Dorfler shoots the priest as he knew that grenades were meant for the Nazis.This is when Elsa & Irmgard attack the church and provides a distraction for Heinrich to regroup himself. Together Elsa and Irmgard shoot down the remaining Nazi soldiers, with Heinrich killing Dorfler by himself. With the SS defeated, Heinrich and Elsa leave the village.

However, Nazi sympathizer Sonja (Jördis Triebel) betrays Elsa and doesn't provide any help during the shootout. Sonja shoots the last SS soldier standing and escapes with the Gold.Meanwhile as Sonja attempts to flee in a German staff car, an American Sherman tank crew destroys her vehicle. As she lays dying, the soldiers discover the gold, and while at first consider reporting in the discovery, their Sergeant (Roy McCrerey) tells them not to, so the group can split it among themselves instead.

Later Heinrich and Elsa are later seen arriving at the city of Hagen, where Heinrich has an emotional reunion with his daughter.