The Ogre

Abel Tiffauges grows up in a brutal Catholic boarding school in France. He prays to Saint Christopher that the prison-like school will burn down. When his friend Nestor accidentally sparks a fire during punishment, the chapel burns as he wished. From that moment, he believes fate will protect him.

The chapel blaze becomes a turning point for Abel, reinforcing his superstition that luck favors him. He interprets the disaster as proof that destiny will intervene on his behalf. The world seems to conspire to keep him out of harm's way from then on.

In 1940, Abel works as a car mechanic in Paris and photographs local children. A girl named Martine steals his camera, he scolds her, and she falsely accuses him of assault. The police believe the accusation, and he is arrested and tried. With Germany invading France, he is conscripted into the army as punishment.

Abel is sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in East Prussia. He secretly slips away to a forest hunting cabin, where he feeds a blind moose. The routine of escape and care gives him a dangerous sense of independence amid captivity.

A German officer visits him at the cabin and is intrigued by Abel's affinity for animals. He explains the moose is known as the Ogre to locals and advises Abel to return to the camp. The encounter plants the seed for a new path Abel will follow.

Weeks later, the officer returns and takes Abel from the camp to Hermann Göring's hunting lodge. The Chief Forester assigns him the job of looking after the estate's animals. Abel senses that power and cruelty can coexist with his love for animals.

Göring arrives with a cheerful facade but soon shows a volatile, sadistic temper. He fires the entire staff, including Abel, before leaving. The Chief Forester arranges for Abel to be reassigned to Kaltenborn Castle, a Nazi boys' academy nearby.

At Kaltenborn Castle, Abel quickly becomes popular with the cadets and is treated as a privileged servant. He is tasked with recruiting local boys into the academy. Locals whisper about the Ogre and pamphlets warn parents to watch for him.

The castle housekeeper, Mrs. Netta, explains that locals fear Abel for taking the boys and have published pamphlets about the Ogre. The nickname sticks as he recruits more children. Tension grows as the community questions the morality of his assignment.

During a training exercise, one cadet is left horribly burned after standing behind another as a comrade fires a Panzerfaust. The incident shakes Abel and deepens his doubts about the Nazi program. He begins to see the regime's violence more clearly.

Count Kaltenborn is exposed as part of a plot to kill Hitler and is arrested. He is taken away in a car and never seen again. The castle becomes unstable as the inner circle collapses.

News spreads that the Red Army has crossed into East Prussia. Officers in charge and the oldest cadets are sent to the front, leaving the castle with a skeleton staff. The war outside intensifies and the outlook of the Nazi dream deteriorates.

One night, Abel discovers a boy named Ephraim barely alive beneath a pile of corpses on the road and brings him to the castle attic. He hides the boy there, sheltering him from discovery. This act binds Abel to Ephraim as the war closes in.

The Soviets arrive and demand the castle's surrender as Raufeisen leads veteran soldiers in a final stand. The castle is set ablaze during the fighting, and none of the defenders survive. Abel escapes with Ephraim across the marshes, ending the tale as he recalls the road's grim journey.