Durante la campaña bélica de Rusia y en vísperas del ataque a Stalingrado, el soldado alemán Fedor Baranowski, hastiado de la guerra, trata de escapar del horror que se vive en el frente y escapar con su amante ucraniana Liuba. Aprovechando la confusión de un ataque enemigo, Fedor huye del vagón de tren en que viaja su unidad y se reúne con Liuba, pero los amantes son arrestados en casa de la joven. Como a los más de 200.000 soldados que desertaron del ejército alemán, a Fedor le espera el pelotón de fusilamiento. La última noche la pasa con el sacerdote militar Brunner que trata de llevar algo de paz espiritual al condenado. De ese modo Brunner también deja el terreno libre al oficial von Armin para que pase la noche con su mujer ya que Brunner sospecha que después del ataque a Stalingrado nadie vivirá para contarlo...
> "paar Wochen lang auch mal ein Mensch sein wollte." An active participant in the anti-Nazi Resistance and permanently linked to the Rote Kapelle, Harnack proposes this little-known and distressing story just when the mass extermination and in general the events of the Second World War were still fresh. Pastor Brunner is sent against his wishes to the despicable Proskurow section of the Wehrmacht to perform last rites on Fedor Baranowski, but even before contacting the man sentenced to death - as a deserter - he will see the stupidity of the regime in his homeland. whose philosophy of the übermensch crystallizes in installing prisoners without heating and whose state mentality is summarized in the reasoning of Major Kartusche: "keine Schlappschwänze brauchen" (There is no need for the weak), referring contemptuously to those who will be executed the next day. In that enormous, countless mess with which war makes melodrama of human beings, the name Baranowski joins the group of overcrowded prisoners and they sing to the tune of the affable recently arrived shepherd, with a high pitch, enough to annoy and fill the people with rage. German gendarmes.
That night Pastor Brunner meets other souls just as sad as him, for example Oberleutnant Ernst who cannot sleep thinking that he himself will give the orders to shoot the deserter, and also later Captain von Arnim, a young soldier who was added to the pastor's bedroom to share and embarrassed begs him to allow his fianceed nurse to enter. And immediately afterwards, while he turns to see the bed occupied by the happy couple, in silence, perhaps thinking that this is denied to others, the pastor will read the condemned man's file all night long, reliving his great affront and betrayal of the Third. Reich. While Baranowski was in his detachment somewhere in the Soviet Union, the young man entered an austere small town shack where there was a boy Stan, about 3 years old or younger. Food and vodka were introduced, although it is prohibited by German regulations to fraternize with citizens of occupied towns or cities. When the beautiful mother arrives, with obvious mimicry language, she uses onomayopeia and chicken sounds to show that she is looking for a couple of chickens and food and vodka for her group. The woman, named Luba Gauke, ends up falling in love with Baranowski and is reciprocated. But upon being discovered, he is sent on a train 1,500 km away as punishment and terrified of never seeing Luba and his son again, he escapes under the railway until he is arrested and convicted again. Once again, with the ending, it is once again demonstrated that the morality and military and political attitude of the SUPERMAN crushes man. That is why the man condemned to death sadly states before his pastor confessor: "I wanted to be human for a few weeks"..."paar Wochen lang auch mal ein Mensch sein wollte