In the midst of the young Federal Republic of Germany, which at the end of the 1950s is still characterized by brown cliques in politics and justice, Attorney General Fritz Bauer (Ulrich Noethen) leads a lonely fight for justice and the apprehension of Nazi perpetrators. He is driven by his deep conviction that the crimes of the Nazi era must be brought to justice and by the painful experience of having narrowly escaped Nazi persecution himself as a German Jew during the Third Reich. With the firm intention of helping to establish a democratic basic order in post-war Germany, Bauer tried to persuade the Israeli secret service to arrest Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. In addition to Fritz Bauer’s role in the capture of Eichmann, the film also looks at Bauer’s personal history: left to his own devices, Bauer not only had to assert himself against resistance from politicians and the judiciary, but also had to fight against critics and enemies from within his own ranks in order to make his decisive contribution to the liberal basic order of the young republic and to coming to terms with the Nazi past.

Die Akte General” is directed by Stephan Wagner (“Tatort – Das Muli”, “Harter Brocken” “Der Fall Jakob von Metzler”). The screenplay was written by Alexander Buresch. Ulrich Noethen as Fritz Bauer as well as David Kross, Bernhard Schütz, Dieter Schaad, Uwe Bohm, Godehard Giese, Ronald Kukulies, Gustav Peter Wöhler and many others star in front of Thomas Benesch’s camera.

It is a UFA FICTION production in co-production with SWR, ARD Degeto, SR and BR, funded by MFG Baden-Württemberg and FFF Bayern. Editorial responsibility lies with Michael Schmidl (SWR, in charge), Christine Strobl (ARD Degeto), Andrea Etspüler (SR) and Amke Ferlemann (BR). Producers are Benjamin Benedict and Nico Hofmann, Jochen Laube acts as associate producer, producer is Leif Alexis.