The Night of the Generals

The Night of the Generals: A Novel is a thriller novel by German writer Hans Hellmut Kirst, published in 1962. Plot In German-occupied Poland in 1940 in Warsaw, a prostitute is murdered in a very bestial way. Since the Polish police discover that she is on a list of German intelligence agents, they have to summon the German military police. From the lavatory by the staircase an old man has seen the leg of the suspected killer, and states that it was most likely some kind of uniform which the killer wore that he never had seen before, adding that the trousers had a red stripe down the side. The gathered crowd of German soldiers get angry: "He is accusing a German General!"; but their captain (Hauptmann) stops them, and asks "Why would this man lie to us?". It has become clear for the military police captain that this very repulsive murder has been committed by a general of the Wehrmacht, and despite all the evil of the Nazi regime behind the front, a general of the German Army is nevertheless not allowed to commit sexual murders. The captain discovers that at the time of the murder only three German generals were present in Warsaw; he then decides to find out which of them is the killer.