The Mortal Storm

Professor of Physiology Viktor Roth celebrates his 60th birthday in a southern German town in 1933. He is given a rousing round of applause by his students and presented with a statuette bearing a torch of knowledge. The professor is admired by his colleagues and students and much loved by his wife, stepsons Otto and Erich, and his daughter Freya. The celebration coincides with the day that Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. Otto, Erich and Freya's fiance Fritz Marberg have been fans of Hitler and his ambitious goals of making Germany the greatest nation on Earth. They all become avid Nazis. Professor Roth, who is a Jew, is not pleased. When he is asked by Nazi students if there is a difference between Aryan blood and non-Aryan blood, he tells them no. They immediately boycott his class. Soon after that, he is sent to a concentration camp. Freya ends her engagement to Fritz and she and her lifelong friend Martin Breitner soon fall in love. The oppressive Nazi regime, whom Martin despises, forces him to flee to Austria after defending a Jewish teacher in the community. Viktor dies in the camps, and Freya and her mother try to flee. Freya is detained at the border because they find a manuscript from her father in her suitcase. Her passport is confiscated. The Nazi officials think is has a coded message or, at least, undermines the claims of Aryan supremacy. Martin comes back to rescue her, leading her on skis over a high pass to Austria. Close on their heels is a Nazi patrol, led by Fritz, that is tracking them down.