Based on a true event Robert Siodmak made a very good, tragi-comic (and underrated) satire on how during the 50's West Germany dealt with its Nazi-past. A postman shows civil courage in 1944 but still has to pay for the consequences after WW2. The postman wrote Goering to stop the war after which he was officially declared of unsound mind; it takes him 15 years to get rehabilitation. This mix of comedy, satire and tragedy could have easily lead to an uneasy film. But Siodmak has a very tight directorial control thereby getting the right balance between the elements; there are some typical Siodmak trade marks too as the emphasis on the staircase.