Protective circuit for an arrangement of a plurality of individual cells in a battery pack, • wherein a predetermined number of individual cells are connected one behind the other in a cell row (A, B, C, D) and more than two cell rows (A, B, C, D) lie parallel to one another, • and wherein at least one cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at a point of a cell row (A, B, C, D) between individual cells is electrically connected to the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at a same point of the parallel cell row (A, B, C, D) via a compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc), • wherein all cell connectors (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at the same point of the parallel cell rows (A, B, C, D) are electrically connected to one another via compensating lines (L na, L nb, L nc), • and wherein the potential (U nr) of the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) connected to the compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc) of the one point of the one cell row and the potential (U nl) of the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) electrically connected to the compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc) at the same point of the parallel cell row (A, B, C, D) are detected, • and wherein the detected potentials (U nr, U nl) are fed to an evaluation unit, characterised in that • within the parallel circuit of more than two cell rows (A, B, C, D), the potentials (U nr) of the cell connectors (Z nd) of the outer, last cell row of the parallel circuit and the potentials (U nl) of the cell connectors (Z na) of the outer, first cell row of the parallel circuit are detected and the detected potentials (U nr, U nl) are directly compared to one another and evaluated, and in that, depending on the result of the evaluation, a signal is generated which is used as a control signal for switching off the battery pack. • wherein a predetermined number of individual cells are connected one behind the other in a cell row (A, B, C, D) and more than two cell rows (A, B, C, D) lie parallel to one another, • and wherein at least one cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at a point of a cell row (A, B, C, D) between individual cells is electrically connected to the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at a same point of the parallel cell row (A, B, C, D) via a compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc), • wherein all cell connectors (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) located at the same point of the parallel cell rows (A, B, C, D) are electrically connected to one another via compensating lines (L na, L nb, L nc), • and wherein the potential (U nr) of the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) connected to the compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc) of the one point of the one cell row and the potential (U nl) of the cell connector (Z na, Z nb, Z nc, Z nd) electrically connected to the compensating line (L na, L nb, L nc) at the same point of the parallel cell row (A, B, C, D) are detected, • and wherein the detected potentials (U nr, U nl) are fed to an evaluation unit, characterised in that • within the parallel circuit of more than two cell rows (A, B, C, D), the potentials (U nr) of the cell connectors (Z nd) of the outer, last cell row of the parallel circuit and the potentials (U nl) of the cell connectors (Z na) of the outer, first cell row of the parallel circuit are detected and the detected potentials (U nr, U nl) are directly compared to one another and evaluated, and in that, depending on the result of the evaluation, a signal is generated which is used as a control signal for switching off the battery pack.