Der Untertan

Erzählt wird die Lebensgeschichte des perfekten Untertanen Diederich Heßlings (Werner Peters), der als Sohn eines Fabrikanten in einer Kleinstadt mittels Großbürgertum, Kaisertreue und Prügelstrafe zu einem Mann erzogen wird, der nach oben buckelt und nach unten Tritt. Nach Schule, Studentum und militärischem Drill wird er zum despotischen Führer der familieneigenen Fabrik. Patriotisch bis ins letzte Glied, geht er in die Politik und fährt während seiner Urlaubsreise sogar zum im Ausland weilenden Kaiser. Doch Militarismus und Obrigkeitsgläubigkeit haben für ein Volk fatale Folgen...

Diederich Heßling is scared of everything and everyone. But as he grows up, he comes to realize that he has to offer his services to the powers-that-be if he wants to wield power himself. His life motto now runs: bow to those at the top and tread on those below. In this way, he always succeeds: as a student in a duel-fighting student fraternity and as a businessman in a paper factory. He cajoles the obese district administrative president Von Wulkow and wins his favor. He slanders his financial rivals and hatches a plot with the social democrats in the town council. On his honeymoon with his rich wife Guste, he finally finds a chance to do his beloved Kaiser a favor. And when a memorial to the Kaiser is unveiled in the town where Diederich lives and works, he delivers the address. He stands behind the lectern in the pouring rain, saluting his Kaiser. The crowd is dispersed. Everything is laid in ruins...