Krakow, Poland 1946. SS-Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld a highest ranking female SS-guard at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück escapes from prison where she waited for Nazi crimes trial. The filmmakers discover that the escape of the SS-woman was organized by her former victims – Polish prisoners of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. They not only helped her to avoid death sentence but also hid her for ten years from the Polish authorities and, in 1957, smuggled her back to Germany.

The story was kept secret because its disclosure threatened punishment, both for the former German SS-guard, as well as for the Polish escape supporters.

Why did Ravensbrück survivors helped an SS-woman avoid death sentence?
The film authors embark upon a journey into the past to explain the mystery of Johanna Langefeld’s escape from Polish prison.

Based on archival materials and witnesses, the filmmakers try to explain the circumstances of the escape, to find out who Johanna Langefeld was and why Polish Ravensbrück survivors decided to save her from punishment.

This Polish-German investigation leads to surprising discoveries about the heroes of the story as well as the historical circumstances. Filmmakers discover that the leader of the group of Ravensbrück survivors who helped the SS-guard to escape, was a Jewish woman whose all family members were murdered by Nazis in death camps.

IMDB page

Duration: 91 minutes

Languages: German; Polish with English Subtitles