Habermann

Wealthy ethnic German mill owner in Eglau who believes in peaceful coexistence between Sudeten Germans and Czechs. He is apolitical and marries Jana, a Czech woman who is later revealed to be half-Jewish. He is protective of his Czech workers, especially Masek, the son of his housekeeper Eliška, and he tries to shield them from abuse. He ultimately succumbs to the regime’s cruelty, bribing Koslowski to stop executions, and dies when the mob hangs him at the mill.

A Czech wife of August; she is later revealed to be half-Jewish. She endures persecution and is separated from her husband, facing a concentration camp ordeal before escaping with her daughter with help from Red Army soldiers. Her resilience anchors the family’s memory after their exile and she carries the weight of the marriage’s tragic consequences.

August’s Czech best friend who warns him about the fate of Czechs after annexation and later confronts the consequences of collaboration. He is a cautious ally who tries to navigate a dangerous landscape and ultimately exposes the truth about mob violence after liberation.

SS Sturmbannführer who brutalizes Czech workers, enforces harsh orders, and arranges executions to punish resistance. He escalates violence, breaks his word, and becomes a key instrument of oppression that catalyzes the town’s descent into terror.

Son of Eliška, the Habermann housekeeper, and a Czech worker who becomes entangled in the mill’s deadly power struggles. He is involved in violence and is later claimed as Habermann’s heir, only to be lynched by a local mob that views him as a traitor.

Housekeeper to the Habermann family and mother of Masek; her secret about Habermann’s paternity adds to the film’s web of loyalties and betrayals. She aids in the revelation of hidden inheritance and becomes part of the combustible power dynamics surrounding the mill.

August’s younger brother who joins the Wehrmacht, adopts Nazi ideology, is wounded, and later deserts. His arc explores the friction between family ties and ideological allegiance during the war.

The Czech bookkeeper at Habermann’s mill who is killed by Koslowski, a death that sparks further violence and escalates the town’s fear and resistance.

The collaborating mayor of Eglau who supports the Nazis and fuels the mob’s violence; he is implicated in the later memory debates about leadership of the mob and the real Hubert Habermann’s lynching.

The daughter of Jana, who endures displacement and exile alongside her mother. She embodies the human cost of war and forced migration in the Sudetenland.