Poul Kürstein, Dane by birth, describes his his experiences on his way from German occupied Copenhagen to a post as head of Danish library-service in Schleswig, the northern part of Germany. The Danish minority there, relicts from the lost war in 1864 with Prussia and Austria, strives to survive Nazi pressure. The author describes the last days of the Nazi regime, when the Government had left Berlin to lead the country and war from Flensburg. Visits in camps for Russian POW's, in the British courts, and reports from the daily life tell the storie of how members of the Danish minority and Germans as a whole stumbled their way to democracy and cooperation.