Berlin 1933: as a boy of nine, Willy Mannheim (the son) is tricked by the Gestapo into revealing his mother's whereabouts. She is ultimately tortured and left to die, but not before she tells Willy the name, Anton Kessler. When letters arrive from an Uncle Kurt, telling of his search for the men responsible for Freda's death, Menard's hope for justice is rekindled, for he too has been searching for the men responsible.
