On 25 April 1945, Soviet and American troops meet at Torgau, in Saxony, on the banks of the Elbe. Torgau becomes the symbol of this historic day. But for the soldiers of the Wehrmacht, the name Torgau is associated with another reality: its prison “Fort Zinna”, which housed the Reichskriegsgericht — the infamous RKG, the highest military court of the Third Reich.

Barely freed, former prisoners of Torgau — Fort Zinna write a report in which they accuse the judges and members of the RKG of being war criminals. They demand justice. But the archives of the RKG disappear in the chaos of defeat. The Allied forces conduct only partial investigations and ultimately, all prosecution is abandoned.

The film begins in Prague, with the recent rediscovery of the RKG archives and thus the possibility of reconstructing the history of this tribunal. Historians and legal scholars shed light on the relentless mechanisms of this Nazi military justice, responsible for sentencing nearly 30,000 Wehrmacht soldiers to death. German soldiers, but also forcibly conscripted Alsatians, Mosellans, Luxembourgers, and Poles — the last surviving witnesses tell us about their prison journeys.

In light of the recovered evidence and the work of historians, “Torgau 1939-1945” pays tribute to the journeys of these soldiers who, at the risk of their lives, fought to preserve their freedom of conscience.