Jacobowsky und der Oberst plot
In the summer of 1940, the German forces of the Nazis have almost completely overrun Europe and it will not be long before France will ask for an armistice. In the midst of battle, the haughty Colonel Oberst (Peter Pasetti) of the Polish Army, with important strategic secrets in his bag, tries to make his way to England. Like so many Poles, he is anti-Semite and when he gets his Jewish compatriot Jacobowsky (Horst Bollmann) in his path, he considers the man - who has been on the run for some time from the Nazis who want to kill him - as a nuisance. Gradually, however, he begins to appreciate his companion when he discovers that Jacobowsky is able to navigate the most impossible situations and remains an optimist even in the darkest moments.