The Rise of Alois Piontek

By claiming to be able to manufacture synthetic diamonds on the cheap, a West German businessman managed to pour other people's money into his company. He christened the first gem "Erhard", and the flattered namesake, Germany's Minister for Economics, expressed "greatest interest" in the project - until the fraud was exposed. Kipphardt builds up this true event to a tragicomical farce and shows a "Wirtschaftswunder" (economic miracle) based on pure deception. In their search for investors, his heroes, Sambale and Piontek, end up hoodwinking the whole government. Deep down, Piontek wants to be an honest man, and he balks at the manipulations forced on him by the situation, and he ends up hanging himself...