Habermann

In 1937, August Habermann runs a prosperous mill in Eglau that serves both as a sawmill and gristmill. He treats Sudeten Germans and Czechs as co-workers and neighbors, trying to keep peace between communities. He marries Jana, a Czech woman who is later revealed to be half-Jewish, cementing a mixed family in a tense time.

Following the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland is ceded to Germany in October 1938. August welcomes the change, hoping it will open the German market for his business. Karel, his Czech friend, warns that Czechs will become second-class citizens, and the warning foreshadows coming brutality.

SS Sturmbannführer Kurt Koslowski arrives and begins mistreating the Czech workers. Under his command, August is forced to sell flour to a local hospital at cost for the German war effort. The brutality toward Czechs shocks August, who cares especially for Masek, Eliška's son and his trusted employee.

Masek, the son of Eliška, is one of August's trusted Czech workers. The relationship deepens when it is revealed that Eliška was August's father's mistress, making Masek August's half-brother, though their bond remains forged through shared hardship.

In 1941, August's ardently Nazi younger brother Hans joins the Wehrmacht after graduating from the Hitler Youth. The family becomes divided by ideology as the war intensifies. The decision underscores the pull of national loyalty against personal relationships.

In 1943, pamphlets predicting Germany's defeat circulate, unsettling the regime. Koslowski orders the killing of Hora, the Czech bookkeeper at the mill, signaling a brutal escalation of control. This act foreshadows further violence against Czech workers.

In 1944, Hans is badly wounded while serving; Jana helps him escape by pulling him off a train, turning him into a deserter. Both insist he has suffered enough for 'that madman' and urge him not to return to the front. The act strains the family as the war rages on.

While traveling with Karel on a forest road, Masek kills a German soldier he encounters, forcing Karel to kill another to silence a witness. The violence underscores the brutal, collapsing rule of law under occupation. The incident deepens fear and mistrust in the town.

Koslowski decides to execute 20 Czechs selected at random in retaliation. August bribes him with the family’s expensive jewelry to stop the executions. Koslowski breaks his word and executes nine, while sending Jana and her daughter to a concentration camp.

Hartel, the collaborating Mayor of Eglau, tells Koslowski that Jana's father was Jewish. August is broken in spirit and ignores Karel's advice to flee the Sudetenland, declaring that his home is where his family has lived for centuries and that he is spiritually dead.

After Czechoslovakia is liberated in May 1945, a lynch-mob atmosphere prevails as Sudeten Germans are attacked and forced onto trains toward occupied Germany. The town's divisions erupt into collective punishment as the war concludes.

Jana and her daughter escape from the concentration camp with the aid of Red Army soldiers advancing into the Sudetenland. They are guided toward safety and a path back to their homeland as Allied forces push forward. The journey marks a fragile step toward reuniting the family.

Eliška loots the Habermann safe and reveals to Masek that his father was Wilhelm Habermann, effectively giving him his supposed inheritance. Masek proclaims himself the owner of the mill, prompting Hartel and a vengeful Czech mob to lynch him as a traitor. The violence reflects postwar vendettas and the collapse of legal order.

The same lynch mob that targets Masek captures August, tying him to the water wheel of his own mill. He is killed in a brutal act of revenge as the town grapples with its shattered social order. The murder seals the town's fate in the immediate postwar chaos.

Jana and her daughter are expelled from the Sudetenland as the region is emptied of its German-speaking population. Karel gives Jana a piece of jewelry from August to keep his memory alive. The epilogue notes that the real mob leader was never prosecuted, leaving memory and accountability unresolved.

The epilogue reveals that the real Hubert Habermann's death involved a mob led by Mayor Hartel, and though the truth is acknowledged, no one is prosecuted. The community is left to confront the consequences of collective violence and historical memory. The story ends with a somber reminder of unresolved accountability.