Synopsis:

German Jewish actor and cabaret performer Kurt Gerron was recruited by the Nazis to create a propaganda documentary about the Theresienstadt camp, in order to divert the suspicions of the Red Cross. "A grotesque and shameful lie," says Ian Holm, the film's narrator, who also describes the obscene misinformation conjured by the Nazis, hiding what was really a concentration camp: "a self-sustaining commune of like-minded people: artists, scientists, craftsmen and entertainers."

This film looks at reasons behind Gerron's decision to refuse Hollywood actor Peter Lorre's help to escape to America and to participate in the Nazi's chilling fabrication, a decision that ultimately failed to protect him from his final fate as he was shipped to Auschwitz.