Die Mörder sind unter uns / The Murderers Are Among Us

One of the first post-World War II German films and the first Trümmerfilm, an aesthetic style for films made directly after World War II highlighting the material impacts of the war, The Murderers Are Among Us examines how ordinary citizens recover from war traumas. Susanne Wallner, a Holocaust survivor, arrives home to discover Dr. Hans Mertens, a military doctor who can no longer bear to attend to human suffering, living there. Mertens becomes agitated with the arrival of his former captain Ferdinand Brückner, who killed over 100 Polish citizens during the war. Mertens decides to kill Brückner, but Wallner convinces him to submit him to the authorities for war crimes.  Produced by DEFA in the German Democratic Republic, the film aims to promote justice-seeking through war tribunals rather than vengance to address war crimes.