Franz tells Eva that Mieze has left him. Eva reassures him, though she is a bit concerned herself. A robbery pulled off by Pums’s gang goes wrong and Meck burns himself with a welding torch. Franz takes Meck to his apartment to bandage his wound. Meck tells Franz that Reinhold is a bad guy, but Franz claims he has a good heart. Meck takes the police out into the woods and helps them find Mieze’s strangled body, telling them he helped to bury her. Eva brings Franz a newspaper that relates Mieze’s murder. Franz lapses into demented laughter, claiming he is pleased that at least Mieze did not leave him as he had thought.

Franz Biberkopf ist ruiniert und gibt auf. Mieze, der einzige Mensch, durch den das Leben noch sinnvoll war, ist ermordet worden.

Franz Biberkopf se arruina y se da por vencido. Mieze, la única persona que aún le daba sentido a la vida, ha sido asesinada.

Biberkopf tror att Mieze lämnat honom. Han bryter ihop när nyheten kommer om att Mieze, den enda människan som gav hans liv en mening, har hittats mördad. Biberkopf tar tjänst som vakt vid infarten till en fabrik.