The Vienna Writers Circle … to
belong is a death sentence
1938, Vienna. When the Nazis’ take over Austria, known as
Anschluss
, they focus not only on Sigmund Freud, but also on his “Circle” of creatives that once met regularly at Vienna’s Cafe Mozart.
For two of that Circle, writers Mathias Kraemer and Johannes Namal, first cousins, they first fear that they won’t be allowed to write anymore. They turn for advice and help to their literary agent, Julian Reisner, and a local police contact, Inspector Josef Weber.
As Nazi edicts become day by day more threatening, Mathias and Johannes are faced with tough decisions in order to save both themselves and their families. But there’s only so much that they can do as a relentless SS Officer, Heinrich Schnabel, hunts down a collection of old Circle photos and their connected network. Consignment to a death-camp seems inescapable.
But survival outside the circle appears equally as tough. Inspector Josef is facing conflicts of his own. Having delayed declaring his love for a beautiful Romani-gypsy, he fears that she too faces the camp.
Can any of them survive? Pitted against the ruthless Schnabel and a brutal camp Sergeant, Helmut Vogt, the odds are against them as the grip of evil tightens around them.