Inglourious Basterds

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STORY PREFACE

You only have power over people
so long as you don’t take everything away from them.
But when you’ve robbed a man of everything
he’s no longer in your power - he’s free again.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The First Circle, Chapter 17

It is the 11th of November, 1918. Two trains approach each other in the Compiègne forest. A meeting, between the occupants, is about to take place.

At this spot, not far from Paris, warring nations end their conflict. Although the fighting (with ghastly consequences) has led to a stalemate, one side (the Allies) makes costly demands. The other (Germany) reluctantly agrees.

That agreement, the first step toward a treaty (signed in the palace of Versailles the following year), effectively requires Germany to give-up war making in general. It also demands the defeated county to pay huge reparations.

When the harsh terms are made public, people are stunned. One foot soldier, Adolf Hitler, later vows to do something about it.