None Shall Escape

After World War I, Wilhelm Grimm returns to the village of Lidzbark and resumes his job as the local teacher. The villagers welcome him back despite the recent hostilities, and he rekindles his relationship with Marja Pacierkowski. His bitterness over Germany's defeat begins to cast a shadow over his conduct.

Grimm becomes openly disdainful of the villagers, blaming them for Germany's loss and resuming his engagement despite the war. His marriage to Marja is soon canceled, and he derides his Polish fiancée as a peasant only interested in a wedding dowry. The community's taunts feed his growing bitterness.

Taunted by pupils, Grimm molests a girl named Anna. The rape is blamed on Anna's male friend Jan Stys, and Marja eventually learns the truth by accident. The revelation destabilizes his relationships and deepens his isolation.

Anna drowns herself in the village lake, triggering a mob's outrage. A fateful stone thrown by Jan Stys blinds Grimm's left eye, marking the turning point in the story and signaling the collapse of his fragile facade.

A local trial is held, but it fails to convict Wilhelm Grimm for the crimes in Lidzbark. The proceedings leave the townspeople to decide his fate, and the outcome sows doubt about justice. After the trial, Grimm returns to Germany, escaping accountability in Lidzbark.

Grimm travels to Munich to visit his brother Karl, who despises the Nazis. The visit foreshadows the moral divide between them as Wilhelm's path remains dark. Karl cannot deter him, and Wilhelm's presence in Germany marks the beginning of a more sinister allegiance.

Despite Karl's warnings, Wilhelm joins the Nazi Party and begins to rise within its ranks. In 1929, when the party is illegal, he is hunted by the police. His nephew helps shield him, rewarding loyalty with a swastika badge.

When World War II starts, Grimm becomes the commander of the occupying force in the same village he once taught. He rules with brutality, forcing Marja, now a schoolteacher, to burn the children’s books and taunting her about his leg.

Grimm oversees the large-scale deportations of Jews and other minorities. The rabbi tries to quell dissent by telling the crowd to rebel, but the Nazis open fire, and Grimm kills the rabbi while Father Warecki offers his final words.

Willie finds Marja and Janina sheltering the injured Jan Stys but leaves without Jan. Janina is forced into work at the officers' club and soon dies; Willie prays by Janina's body in a church, only to be shot by Wilhelm in the back.

Back in court, Grimm refuses to recognize the authority of the tribunal and repeats Nazi propaganda. The judge finally leaves the question of his fate to the people, turning the courtroom into a spectacle rather than a verdict.

The film closes with the verdict left to the villagers, underscoring how justice is shaped by collective fear and complicity. Grimm's legacy of cruelty remains unresolved as the proceedings end and the crowd confronts its own moral responsibility.