This film consists of three parts:

Part I addresses the theme of captivity under the Russians.  Using partly up-to-now unpublished film materials as well as interviews with former POWs, this part tells of the suffering, death and unbearable life in Soviet gulags.  Yet, there is also a tone of redemption:  prisoners often tell of the help from the local population in feeding and caring for the former enemies.

Part II shows life in the camps of the Americans, British and French.  The re-education into democracy; the forced labor in rebuilding what the Germans destroyed; even the dangerous work of clearing mine fields, which was forbidden under the Geneva Convention.  Stories by witnesses of hunger and death, but also about love, sexuality and the yearning to return home.

Part III reveals what it was like for many of the soldiers who were able to survive captivity and return to their homes.  Would they be able to fit into their new environments?  Could they adapt to being civilians?  And how did their loved ones and Landsmanner feel about their return and the re-awakening of the question of Germany's war guilt when they did come home ... sometimes more than 12 years later.

DVD-R is in German with no subtitles. Approx. 135 mins.