Rechnitz is the name of a small town on the Austrian-Hungarian border. It became a metaphor for Austria’s careless handling of its National Socialist past. With the help of interviews, the two Austrian directors Margareta Heinrich and Eduard Erne try to get closer to the circumstances of the Rechnitz massacre in 1945. During an evening party at the castle of Countess Batthyány, née Thyssen-Bornemisza, over 180 Hungarian Jews were shot. The film shows the futile search for the mass grave and the silence of the villagers for decades. It was shown at many international festivals and inspired Elfriede Jelinek to write her play »Rechnitz (The Exterminating Angel)«.