After World War II, a lot of people, who lived in the eastern parts of the Third Reich had to be relocated. One of them is Hugo Starosta (Martin Held) with his family. They live in a fortress. Hugo is unemployed, his children don't seem to like school, but somehow they managa to get through.
Mario is in Hannover to work as a miner but after losing his job he decides to go back to Italy. When Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and later on he offers him a new job as "magliaro" (cloth seller), Mario changes his mind and decides to follow Totonno to Hamburg. In Hamburg, Totonno and his friends have to sell Mayer's cloth, but they meet with the hostility of a Polish gang and Mario falls in love with Paula Mayer.
Released three days after Adolf Hitler became Reichskanzler, it was the first film to have its screening in Nazi Germany. It became a symbol of the new times touted by the Nazi regime. The title (literally "morning-red") is the German term for the reddish coloring of the east sky about a half hour before the sunrise. On patrol Captain Liers and his submarine crew sink an important British ship, but while returning to harbour, they're lured into a trap by a British vessel disguised as a neutral Danish one. They sink it after it attacks them without warning, but while they prepare to rescue survivors, a British destroyer sinks the sub. On the sea bed 60 feet down, with all but the bridge flooded, the 10 surviving crew have only 8 rescue devices. Liers orders the crew to use them, but they disobey - either all escape or nobody does.
