In the years 1944 and 1945, Operation K meant death for about 4,700 prisoners of war, who had been sent to Block 20 of the Mauthausen concentration camp. However, on 2nd February 1945, 519 Russian concentration camp internees succeeded in escaping. Barefoot and without food or drink, they attempted to cross the Mühlviertel, a rural area of Upper Austria. Only nine of them survived their flight, for the others fell victim to a man-hunt which is remembered as the 'Mühlviertel Hare-Hunt'. Almost 50 years later, the events are filmed ('Hasenjagd', English title 'The Quality of Mercy' by Andreas Gruber), and Michail Rybtschinskij, one of the survivors, returns to the villages, hills and forests in which he fought for his life.