Destitution Intensified

‘Germany – May, 1945 – Hitler is dead. Dieter Barth, a German officer, is captured by the British and survives the detention camp but is accused of being ex-Gestapo and is taken to Bad Nenndorf, the British interrogation centre. He manages to escape but is recaptured by James Jagger, a captain in the Military Provost Branch who is trying to stop the burgeoning black market in Hamburg. James enlists Dieter’s help, promising in return to help him find his missing wife.

Arriving from England, Bill Thornton, a former policeman, quickly realises he can become wealthy, establishing a network, supported by two American officers, dealing in the black market. When Bill is asked by the Americans to take a large shipment to Lubeck, the psychopathic leader of the largest vice and black market group in Hamburg, Cyrek Rutkowski, establishes that it is stolen bullion and sets out to get it.

With an infant son, Brigitte has managed to survive the war and now has to survive the peace. Realising her body is her only asset, she accepts the degradation she suffers in return for cigarettes, the only currency of the black market.

Set in the chaos and confusion surrounding the end of the war, can James and Dieter stop the bullion leaving the country, can Brigitte keep her child alive, can Dieter find his wife?’