Why do normal people become mass murderers? Why do decent family fathers kill women, children and babies on a daily basis? The perpetrators are members of the Nazi death squads, who killed about 2 million Jewish civilians in Eastern Europe – by bullets, face to face. We hear their thoughts, as they wrote them down in letters and diaries, we hear what they said at court: Why they did not refuse to execute these horrific orders, how killing became a routine, how they managed to excuse themselves, how they were manipulated by their leaders. It's the blueprint of a genocide.(fonte: German-films.de)

Quali sono esattamente i meccanismi di manipolazione della mente e delle azioni di un individuo che si creano o che vengono utilizzati all'interno di una dittatura fascista? Ruzowitzky, già regista de "il falsario", spiega con questo particolare film questi meccanismi psicologici. Dall'esperimento di Milgram sino ad altri meno conosciuti.