After the invasion of the Germans into Poland in September 1939 a quarter of the country is annexed by the German Reich.
In 1940 a mayor, who has long been a member of the NSDAP is send to Poland to become "Amtskommissar", kind of mayor in Poddembice, a town near Lodz, which is now called Litzmannstadt and belongs to the "Reichsgau Wartheland". After 17 months he is displaced as his conservative-national attitude conflicts with the instructions of his party. He tries to save his career, but does not apply the typical violent methods of the Nazis.
After the war he arranges his notes from this time to a diary, called "Wartheländisches Tagebuch", which is published in extracts in 1961. He uses only pseudonyms and calls himself Alexander Hohenstein.
His heirs still refuse to publish the real names. But all the place names and settings appearing in this film are authentic.