Der Hauptmann von Köln (1956)

Former head waiter Hans Albert Hauptmann is unemployed, penniless, and homeless after a brief argument with his landlady. All he has left is his suitcase, covered in stickers from various countries, and his best friend’s suggestion that he apply for a job as a temporary waiter at the “Prinz Regent” Hotel that evening. There, he meets distinguished veterans of the Second World War—closeted former Nazis—and introduces himself as “Hauptmann, Albert.” They immediately treat him as a captain. Before long, he is also mistaken for the decorated Captain Albert, who is presumed dead, and is therefore treated as an honored guest. The mayor, too, hears that the Captain—actually wanted as a war criminal—has resurfaced, and gets him a position as director of Montan AG, even though Hans Albert would much rather work as a waiter again and spend more time with Hannelore, a beautician. Meanwhile, the real Captain Albert is living under the assumed name Hans Karjanke with Adele, who pretends to be his widow. To avoid prosecution, he even goes so far as to swear that Captain Albert died on the battlefield in 1945. A short time later, he marries Adele as Hans Karjanke and believes he can now start a new life. But at the wedding reception, he learns that someone believed to be Captain Albert is making a career for himself. Adele’s visit to Hans Albert sends him into a panic, though only briefly. Since Hans Albert has a knack for integrating military matters into everyday life—for example, he wants chocolate cannons distributed to children—he is appointed a member of the Bundestag. As the “returned war criminal,” his task is to grant a general amnesty to the so-called “U-boats”: men living under false names for fear of prosecution for war crimes. Hans Albert actually succeeds in getting the amnesty passed. Now Captain Albert’s moment has come. Although he is initially arrested as an impostor, he is able to establish that he is the real Captain Albert, with the help of his former comrades-in-arms, who have by now been released under the amnesty. Hans Albert is arrested shortly before his wedding to the industrialist’s daughter, Pferdeapfel. In court, he cannot produce any war crimes that would qualify him for amnesty. He is sentenced to five years in prison—precisely because he is not a war criminal, as Hannelore’s new boyfriend observes after reading the newspaper.