"The first feature to come out of the post-war German Democratic Republic was Staudte's savagely powerful The Murderers Are Among Us. While other European cinema grew preoccupied with the reconstruction following the holocaust, German filmmakers became more introspective in their handling of the aftermath. Made expressly for the German people, this film addresses the problems of a defeated nation confronted not only with external ruin but also an agonizing internal strife. "Staudte's script focuses on the lives of a concentration camp survivor and a shell-shocked doctor who collaborated with the Nazi regime, and their attempt to find love and a new life together. Consumed by haunting memories, the doctor is unable to resume his civilian practice until he finds the commander who ordered a mass extermination one Christmas Eve."