Verbrechen nach Schulschluß (1959)

When high school student Fabian König tries to free a chained-up farm dog, he comes into conflict with the police. After he is expelled from school, the very teacher who had encouraged him to do it betrays him. The teenager also encounters complete incomprehension from his father, an authoritarian retired colonel. Fabian thus almost inevitably goes astray, forming a violent youth gang and beginning to steal. A little later, he meets the orphan girl Ulla Anders, who falls in love with him. When Ulla learns of Fabian’s criminal activities, she wants nothing more to do with him. But soon afterward, the pimp Horst Bregulla threatens her, and Fabian saves her at the last moment from being raped. When Bregulla is found dead soon afterward, suspicion immediately falls on Fabian. On the testimony of Bregulla’s acquaintance, the dubious witness Erna Kallies, he is arrested and eventually sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter. In the prison, Fabian earns the trust of the understanding prison doctor, Dr. Knittel. Knittel is convinced of Fabian’s innocence and conducts his own investigation. He tracks down Ulla, who has gone into hiding on Sylt and is able to prove Fabian’s innocence. Erna Kallies, who had testified against Fabian in court to divert attention from her own guilt, confesses to the crime after Knittel exposes her. Fabian’s case is reopened, and he now faces a lighter prison sentence. He is now held responsible only for the thefts. Ulla promises to wait for him.