The Damned

On Baron Joachim von Essenbeck's birthday, the Essenbeck family hosts performances, highlighting their refined, aristocratic world. Günther plays a cello piece while Martin performs a drag number, showcasing their siblings' dynamic. News that the Reichstag is burning interrupts the celebration and signals a possible upheaval in power.

Joachim warns that political turmoil is expanding as the Nazi influence grows. He announces that Herbert Thallman will be replaced by his boorish nephew Konstantin as vice president of the family steelworks. The decision reveals how the personal and political are becoming inseparable.

Friedrich Bruckmann, seeking favor with the party and cementing his status, kills Joachim with his handgun and frames Herbert for the crime. Herbert escapes abroad but is forced to leave Elizabeth and their two daughters behind. The murder shifts control within the Essenbeck empire toward Friedrich and his allies.

Herbert Thallman slips away from Germany to avoid capture or punishment. Elizabeth and the daughters are left behind in a fragile family environment. The exile creates a rift as the personal tragedy intertwines with the Nazi ascendancy.

Martin inherits the majority of shares in the steelworks as the patriarch's death leaves a power vacuum. Sophie manipulates events to place Friedrich, not Konstantin, in charge, consolidating influence for herself and her new ally. The arrangement accelerates the Essenbeck family's alignment with Nazi power.

Aschenbach convinces Friedrich and Martin to bar the company from selling weapons to the SA, hoping to marginalize the rival faction and curry favor with the army. The move demonstrates how business interests and political loyalties are fused in the Nazi era. It also foreshadows the tightening grip of internal purges.

Konstantin discovers Martin's sexual abuse of his nieces and Lisa Keller's suicide, and uses the information to resume supplying weapons to the SA. He leverages these scandals to influence power within the family and the regime. Martin's vulnerability begins to be exploited as the purge looms.

With Aschenbach explaining that Hitler plans to purge the SA, Sophie agrees to help free Martin from Konstantin's blackmail. Aschenbach warns that the purge will reshape alliances and power within the empire. The conversations tighten the knot around the Essenbeck family as the storm approaches.

A gathering of high-ranking SA officers at a hotel in Bad Wiessee devolves into a boisterous, revelatory night where the men engage in sexual excess. At dawn, SS troops storm the hotel and slaughter the SA men, signaling the purge's brutal escalation. The incident reorders loyalties inside the Essenbeck circle.

Friedrich, aided by Aschenbach, personally executes Konstantin to eliminate a rival and cement his control. The action marks a brutal consolidation of power within the family and its Nazi-aligned factions. The Essenbeck empire now follows Friedrich's lead, with Sophie hovering behind the scenes.

Aschenbach arranges for Friedrich to take the late Joachim's surname and grant him the title of Baron, allowing a formal marriage to Sophie on equal terms. The legal recognition consolidates Friedrich's status within the family and the Nazi-aligned power structure. The combination of name, title, and alliance strengthens the empire's legitimacy.

Aschenbach grows uneasy with Friedrich's assertive leadership and offers to help Martin remove Sophie and Friedrich. Martin accepts, aligning himself more closely with the SS and the regime's ruthless logic. The plan to reshape the family’s power intensifies as loyalties fracture.

During a family dinner, Herbert unexpectedly returns and reveals that Elizabeth and her daughters were arrested and sent to Dachau, where Elizabeth died. The revelation exposes the human cost of the regime's machinations and the family's complicity. Joachim's murder and the subsequent betrayals are reframed as part of a wider catastrophe.

Günther is outraged by Konstantin's murder and Friedrich's elimination of him, and Aschenbach uses the anger to push Martin further into the Nazi cause. The younger Essenbeck becomes a weapon of the movement, fueling the empire's expansion and the consolidation of power. The family feud mirrors the national violence enveloping Germany.

Martin, now part of the SS, engineers a final ritual of power: Friedrich and Sophie marry and take cyanide on Martin's orders. He then inherits control of the steelworks as the Essenbeck empire fully comes under Nazi domination. The family’s legacy ends in blood, betrayal, and total subjugation to the regime.