Käuzchenkuhle

Each summer, the bright young Jampoll – who is actually called Jean-Paul (but none of his friends are able to pronounce the French name) – visits his grandparents in Mecklenburg. This year, however, the atmosphere is strange: Grandfather Kalmus seems distant and gloomy. He often withdraws to his room and writes into a notebook. Sometimes, he nervously wanders about the neighborhood, carrying and old cap made from fox fur in his hands. The cap belongs to the deaf-mute Gotthold who once drowned in the body of water called "Käuzchenkuhle", a place supposedly haunted by ghosts and therefore avoided by the villagers. Although Jampoll does not actually believe in ghosts, he senses that something is wrong and that Kohlweis, a stranger who has only recently moved into the area and works at the sawmill, seems to be somehow involved. Together with his friends, Jampoll tries to lift the secret and discloses a crime from the past: During his time as an SS officer, Kohlweis stashed aside stolen pieces of art towards the end of World War II, incriminating both Jampoll′s grandfather and Gotthold in the criminal act during which Gotthold lost his life – a fact that still weighs heavy on the old Kalmus. The box containing the stolen goods is supposed to be lying on the ground of the "Käuzchenkuhle" and Kohlweis plans to recover it. As soon as the children find out about this, they call the police who manage to apprehend the criminal and an accomplice in the very act.