Der Staatsanwalt hat das Wort: Seriöser Erfinder sucht Teilhaber (1965)

Hans-Dieter Mackprang, married for the second time and initially employed as a teacher, now earns his living as a self-employed toy maker. Early one morning, two criminal investigators visit him at the hotel where he has spent the night with his supposed fiancée, Astrid Böhm. They tell him that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. He insists there must be some mistake, but is arrested all the same. A flashback follows: months earlier, Mackprang met Astrid while out at a restaurant with her friend Elfriede, and she gave in too quickly to his flattery. The next evening, Mackprang meets the Dutch businessman Mijnheer Gruitmaans to show him his designs and models for new toys. But the preliminary contract, signed at the Leipzig trade-fair office of the state foreign-trade company Limex, merely obliges Gruitmaans to explore production possibilities in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, just a few days later Mackprang places a newspaper advertisement seeking investors “for the final financing of several domestic and foreign patents, up to 30,000 marks.” Ludmilla Glogowsky, a wealthy widow in a small town in the Ore Mountains, falls for the advertisement and writes to Mackprang. The “reputable inventor” soon visits her at home and promises her a lucrative return. She readily agrees to give him an initial 5,000 marks, then pays him a further 15,000 over the following months. He uses the first 5,000 marks to placate his patent engineer, to whom he owes a substantial sum. But he spends most of the rest on personal expenses. Meanwhile, his actual work as a toy designer recedes further and further into the background. Time and again, the cunning swindler manages to cheat his fellow citizens, among them 21-year-old bricklayer Wilfried Richter. Mackprang persuades master furrier Strauss to join his “company” as a partner and managing director. In good faith, Strauss transfers ownership of his Moskvitch to Mr. Roempke as partial security for a loan Roempke has given Mackprang. But Mackprang offers the car for sale twice, each time demanding a substantial down payment, and makes considerable profits arranging other illegal car purchases. When he realizes that all the money he has gathered together will not be enough to repay Roempke’s loan by the agreed date, he even considers selling his former girlfriend Elfriede’s tobacco shop, along with its stock, without her knowledge. But the inventory proves very unfavorable. Even in this precarious situation, however, luck comes to Mackprang’s aid. A newspaper advertisement tells him that a scientific institute in the north of the country is looking for a larger car in exchange for two Wartburgs. Since he was recently offered a Tatra in Thuringia, he plans to use it in the exchange and later sell the two Wartburgs at hugely inflated prices. However, he fails to obtain another 10,000 marks from Mrs. Glogowsky, because her son stops her from handing over the money. Although Mackprang does not have the sum he had counted on to buy the Tatra, he still writes a cheque for that amount. The criminal investigation against him now gets under way, uncovering further financial manipulations. But Mackprang has hurriedly left his place of residence. Given the strong grounds for suspicion and the risk that he might conceal or destroy evidence, a warrant is therefore issued for his arrest. Thirty-six-year-old Hans-Dieter Mackprang had defrauded 21 citizens—mostly through scams—of a total of 200,000 marks. Many witnesses had to be questioned, and numerous invoices and receipts checked. The district court sentences Mackprang to four years in prison for fraud in a particularly serious case and for repeated violations of price regulations. He was required to compensate his victims for the damage caused.