Address Unknown 1944

Martin Schulz, Paul Lukas, and Max Eisenstein, Morris Carnovsky, are German expatriate art dealers living in the United States. Their families are connected through love: Heinrich Schulz, [Peter van Eyck], and Griselle Eisenstein, [K.T. Stevens], are in love, and Griselle travels with them to Germany to seek acting opportunities.

In Germany, Martin meets Baron von Friesche, [Carl Esmond], joins the Nazi Party, and becomes a significant government official. He immediately demands that Max stop writing to him, asserting that Max is Jewish. When Max sends a hand-delivered letter to prove he’s acting of his own free will, Martin makes it clear they are no longer friends.

Griselle has been acting in Vienna under the stage name Stone and lands a leading role in a Berlin play. Before the premiere, the censor, [Charles Halton], insists on cutting lines that would clash with Nazi doctrine, such as “Blessed are the peacemakers ….” On opening night, Griselle speaks the lines anyway. When the censor forces her to reveal her real name, the antisemitic crowd riots, and the play’s director hustles the still-defiant Griselle out of the theater to keep her safe.

Realising the danger, she seeks help from Martin at his country estate, but he slams the front door in her face. A shot rings out, and Elsa, [Mady Christians], is appalled by her husband’s heartlessness. Max and Heinrich learn of Griselle’s death from a short letter in which Martin merely states that she is dead.

Martin then receives a telegram indicating that Max will resume writing to him and that Martin will understand his messages. He finds Max’s first letter incomprehensible, as if it were coded, and he is warned that receiving coded messages is illegal. Nevertheless, letters continue, and Martin is forced to resign his party position.

Elsa decides to take their children to Switzerland. Martin sends a letter begging Max to stop writing. Border guards intercept the letter, and Elsa destroys it to protect the family, deepening the suspicion surrounding him. Von Freische warns that the Gestapo will question Martin. Faced with this terror, Martin contemplates suicide, but that night he leaves his mansion, illuminated only by a flashlight.

Back in San Francisco, a letter addressed to Martin is returned with “Address Unknown.” Max confides in Heinrich that he had not resumed writing, and the look on Heinrich’s face reveals that it was he who had sent the letters.