When you look at Maria's photos...
...you always know exactly when they were taken.
Maria was born in 1900.
And when she's 20 in the picture, then you know it's 1920.
That's how she looked as a young mother.
She was about 30 then. The mother of Anton and Ernst.
When Anton went to the Hitler Youth in 1934...
...Maria was 34 years old.
She was always there for her sons.
She met the civil engineer, Wohlleben, in 1938.
You can see them dancing.
Her husband Paul left her in the lurch in 1928.
Twelve years later he wrote...
...from America saying he wanted to visit her.
Maria didn't know he was still alive.
She went to Hamburg with Anton to pick up Paul.
But he wasn't there because the war had started.
That was in 1939.
And here is Maria at 44.
Hermann, her child by Otto, is just four years old.
That's during the war too, in 1944, when Anton got married to Martha.
In this one Maria was 45 and the war had just ended.
In 1946 her husband - you can see him at the top there...
...Paul, the American, came to Schabbach on a visit.
There, Maria is 48. It was the year of the currency reform.
There she is 56 and Hermann, her youngest boy, is 16...
...and at the High School in Simmern.
Maria had quite a lot on her mind then.
Anton, her eldest son...
...has formed an optics company in the village.
That's him in front of the factory. He is 33 now.
And Ernst, the second eldest thought about nothing but flying.
That's him in a helicopter. He is 32 now.
Oh, our Maria!
She was our family calendar.
I always used to call her our living century.
In the photo on the right she was 65. That was in 1965.
Hermann, her youngest, has got older too, with the years.
He is not the youngest these days, any more than I am.
He spent time in America and now he lives in Munich.
He was always interested in music.
He always played the organ and wrote songs.
And today, he is a famous composer, famous in America too.
Maria again. All three of her sons have made something of themselves...
...Anton, Hermann and Ernst.
THE PROUD YEARS
- Which road, this one or that one? - I don't know.
You take that one, I'll take this one.
It seems they meet.
Give me the figures again.
1963, about 50 million; 1964, 82.6 million.
- We have to turn right. - So I'll go right.
No, left.
The Simon family...
...founded the firm in 1949...
...and still controls it as a family business.
What's that?
What a peculiar place.
Drive on!
The visitors from Brussels.
I'm glad we could arrange this meeting.
My colleague, Herr Eichinger.
Sorry we're late, we got lost in the forest.
Have a seat.
Are those the firm's founding fathers?
My grandparents, my father.
A firm with a tradition.
Please eat something first; that's our home-made sausage.
I prefer to smoke, if you don't mind.
Excellent sausage. We have this sort in Flanders.
I'd be pleased to take you out, if you ever visit us.
That's a famous sausage hereabouts.
Home-made, Simon quality.
Your secretary seems to know all about sausages.
The liver sausage and the black pudding...
...were made by my mother.
That's from the Schabbach butcher, Manfred...
...an old schoolmate.
Tell me, is it all forest around here?
Don't you like it?
Delicious. Excellent.
Is there any left over?
I can give you some to take, if you like.
- I'd appreciate that. - Help yourself.
"Careful! Not customers!"
I must have a smoke.
"They want to buy out my factory."
I thought they looked suspicious.
"A sum has been mentioned. Come over, unobtrusively."
What do you think?
What's that? Army boots?
Did I ever tell you I took up photography...
...as a boy, when I was fourteen?
I had a box camera and a tripod, from my uncle.
We photographed houses and buildings.
Architectural photographs.
No distortion. Wide angle.
An ordinary modern camera can't do that.
Suppose we develop an objective lens...
...which has some focal adjustment.
- Got any ideas? - I had such an idea, too.
We'd have to...
...separate the lens from the barrel...
...and then connect them with a variable adjustment.
I thought so, too. Concentrate on it for the next fortnight.
Ever seen anything like it?
Gentlemen, I think this offer of yours is some misunderstanding.
I am now forty-four, our order book is in excellent shape.
I have just registered three new patents...
...and taken on extra specialist workers.
I don't know why I should retire from business.
As we see it, you are not mass-producing.
You specialize in products for technology, medicine...
...space exploration, etc...
And we are a multi-national concern...
...operating in fields adjacent to yours.
You need only imagine...
...what would happen to your ring of patents
...once it is broken.
Magnificent work. Never seen the like.
Neither have l.
It's no secret that our concern...
...has invested large sums in processes comparable to yours.
Sooner or later they will be successful.
I can only reply with personal arguments.
I love my work.
I've built up a factory which for me and the local population...
...is our livelihood.
We all depend on this firm.
Sixty million is a lot.
I imagine you have other dreams apart from work.
We offer sixty million, our final figure...
...which means transferring all your past and future patents to us.
Obviously.
I must take advice, and I request a few weeks for reflection.
Obviously.
Can I help at all?
I don't suppose you'll want to return to Brussels today.
You could stay the night here at "The Linden Tree".
They have very good rooms.
I must show you something.
Robertchen and l just cleared out the cellar...
...as the builders are coming...
...and I found this box in a suitcase.
You'll never guess what's in it.
Pauline! That's money!
Old, pre-war money.
Pauline, that's thousands.
I think Robert hid it before he was called up.
He always said we'd be well off when we'd won the war.
I worked it out.
Those are the shop takings for July and August, '39.
- And he didn't tell you? - No last words, I swear to you.
And it's turned up now.
When it's no longer worth anything.
How stupid men are sometimes.
Do you know what I miss most in my flat in Simmern?
All the clocks ticking.
What plans we had in those days.
You with your fur coat.
And you wanted to go to Lake Garda.
Robertchen and his wife were in Morocco recently.
They brought me a real caftan and a leather pouffe.
But I can't sit on it, it hurts my knees.
Actually, we ought to be content.
Anton's been successful.
Ernst has his business and jets from place to place.
Hermann's finished his studies...
...and will soon have his first radio concert.
Robertchen's got twice the turnover we used to have.
And Gabi's husband drives a BMW.
And we two, Pauline?
Our travels are with one finger on an atlas.
Isn't that right?
You know what?
We'll go to America and visit our Paul.
Look. Paul sent me this card from Florida.
They say the sun shines there all year round.
Then we'll fly to Florida.
- On an aeroplane? - Well, of course.
- At our age? - Older people than us fly.
Who can afford such a thing?
I asked at the travel bureau. We can easily afford it.
- Well, I have saved a bit. - Maria, we'll do it!
Then let's drink to it.
It can't be done, Pauline.
- Why? - Because of the cow.
- What cow? - My cow.
Sell her.
I'll call the cattle dealer.
Wait a bit.
I'll do it now, or you'll change your mind.
Glasisch! You needn't look, it's not cooked yet.
Heard the latest? They're starting colour TV in Berlin.
And now because the expression "applying pressure" to the button...
...when used by a member of the government...
...might be misunderstood...
...I'm now, so to speak, firing the starting pistol...
...for German colour television.
Such cheek!
Typically American.
When a Yank's on a crowded street where we would say, "Excuse me"...
...he says, "What will you take to step aside?...
- "...We'll pay sixty million." - What?
- Are we that rich? - Yes, but now keep quiet.
You must regard it all as your success.
At last we know what we're worth.
If I refuse, suddenly we're not worth anything at all.
If only I could say something useful to you.
If only I knew to whom to turn.
One bit of advice, don't let anyone in the firm notice anything.
Perhaps I should speak to our new engineer.
God, don't do that!
You're capable of asking people in the pub...
...you've remained so naive.
What am I to do?
Now I know.
Now I know whom you can speak to, your father in America.
To Simon Electric lncorporation, Detroit.
Telex...
...0431...
...34576.
Dear Father...
...I need your advice on an urgent business matter.
Time is short. Is a meeting possible?
Anton.
Then give our telex number.
It's 2.10 p.m. in Detroit...
...they'll have finished their lunch break.
It's like the old days, Anton.
5,316 kilometres you walked...
...with your patents in your head...
...from beyond the Urals to Schabbach.
- How time flies. - And now it's standing still.
- Jäbsche. Where are you? - Hello, Ernst.
- Have you thought it over? - Well, I don't know.
I've costed it all.
Your house has got a bit shabby, hasn't it?
You're almost the last in the neighbourhood.
It looks as if the war is still on.
Modernization, that's the slogan of today. Admit it.
Those windows need enlarging, with aluminium frames.
They're clean and weatherproof. The front door, too.
This is Mosmann's house; isn't he related to you?
Doesn't it look good now?
My firm will give you...
fifteen years guarantee on doors and windows.
It's too dear for me.
Nonsense. Think about the advantages.
Look, I'm from around here, too.
How we kids suffered from the lack of light, air and vitamins!
- Cut the soft soap! - Move with the times, eh, Elsbeth?
Father, I saw a girl's room in the catalogue. It was great.
Interlaced carvings on the doorposts, that's what I'd like.
I've furniture, too. Take a look, your eyes will pop out.
Complete renovation programmes, and here's my special offer.
I'll take the old fixtures in part payment...
...even windows and doors.
- But not before harvest. - Take your time. I'll come back.
Keep the catalogue.
Your house has become a real palace.
Just as I imagined it, the same as in Woppert.
Wonderful.
But the old front door sticks out like a sore thumb.
Change it, too.
You're right.
Which of these would you prefer?
That's not so easy to clean. I'd like that other one.
Same colour as the other door?
If both are the same colour...
...we'll mistake the front door for the stable.
You'd never guess what an old house it is within.
Doesn't Grandma say the house is three hundred years old?
Now it looks brand new.
Is it meant to be sandstone, or natural stone?
The main thing is, it's modern.
If brick becomes fashionable, we can replace this with brick.
Aluminium's the coming thing; they're using it in space.
You think you can tell us farmers anything.
- Will it keep out the Hunsrück wind? - What do you do with the old stuff?
That's just a hidden form of discount.
The odd sale doesn't cover my storage costs.
Our Mike's working in your brother's firm.
Anton's a fine chap.
With such a brother, we trust you, Ernst.
I've heard you two don't get on well.
Rubbish. Every family has a cross word now and then.
Anton, this telex came in.
"Managing Director Paul Simon currently in Germany...
"...Park Hotel, Baden-Baden.
"Best wishes. Simon Electric, Detroit,USA."
Lotti, place a call to the Park-Hotel, Baden-Baden.
Father is in Germany?
Why weren't we told anything?
Brenner's Park-Hotel?
Mister Paul Simon, please.
He's out? But he is staying with you, isn't he?
No, thanks, not necessary.
Don't you want to leave a message for him?
I'm going there.
Turn right, then you'll get to Fremersbergstrasse.
You'll see the "South-West Broadcasting" signs...
...just follow those.
What's he doing in South-West Broadcasting?
There's a problem. What do you mean by large and small "Tuchels"?
Those are our plugs.
- How do I translate that? - That's your problem.
Anton...
...how did you get here?
How did you find me here?
Why weren't we told you were here?
Wait, I'll come out.
You're surprised, aren't you?
We were close to what I wanted...
...but we ought to destroy the sound more.
Have we got a tape of an old Volkswagen engine?
- Do you think that will work, Daddy? - Let's try it.
If only we'd solved the plug problem.
I've had a work commissioned by the radio.
Daddy has built the whole installation for me in Detroit.
For two years my research department has worked only for Hermann W. Simon.
- A very clever boy. - Can your people fix those plugs?
I've brought Allan from the States, he's a technical genius.
We'll sort out the plugs. Have you a soldering iron?
What's a soldering iron?
Have we a soldering iron?
Let's play M5 back, then.
Anton, I'm sorry, but we're in mid-production.
Daddy, it sounds great.
Allan, the chainsaw again.
In Japan, they've got small cars like these, too.
- Were you in Japan? - Of course.
Is that the park where the nightingales sing?
I couldn't sleep for them, it was so lovely.
Let's lie in and wait for them.
You'd better go into the hotel, Anton's waiting.
- I'll do it alone. - I'd forgotten him. Don't be long.
Anton, one shouldn't hang on to things.
What have you got?
Daddy, listen to this. It sang again.
I recorded it in the park.
Now we'll alter it a bit, multiply it...
...then we'll have a rhythmic pattern nobody can identify.
Well, Anton, my advice is...
...sell... immediately!
I did that with my Detroit factory two years ago.
- Surprised, eh? - You sold it? That's news.
For two years, Simon Electric has been an IBM company.
But I kept the research department for myself.
So I've produced these musical toys rather at IBM's expense.
Our Daddy, eh?
After the recording, I'll donate the installation...
...to Karlsruhe University.
My tax adviser devised all that.
I can just see it...
...in the University entrance hall...
...a beautiful marble plaque...
"...To our benefactor, Paul Simon...
"...the pioneer of electronic sound installations."
- Don't get carried away. - lt's usual in the States.
In my case, things are different. I've just applied for two patents.
You said sixty million. Well...
Taking into account their saving on research, buildings, equipment...
...the takeover of the work force and the name...
...your whole technical know-how...
...ask for one hundred to one hundred and ten million.
- So you advise me to sell? - Of course.
That'll make nice music.
How's business? Good?
Can I have a beer?
Why have they gone so quiet?
Sometimes it's loud, then it's quiet, then it gets loud again.
It's like walking from beyond the Urals.
Not bad, Ernst, about beyond the Urals.
How is Anton doing?
- Why not tell me what you know? - Have I ever known anything?
Is it true your brother's in difficulties?
So that's it. I don't know, but I shouldn't be surprised.
Is it true that your brother wants to sell up?
It concerns some of us, too.
Well, you can't count on me.
I'm not lending my brother a penny.
Where Anton is now, he doesn't need you.
- Leaving in the middle of the night? - Yes, the bill please.
I'm calling my work "Connections".
We begin here for five seconds with an electronic intro...
...then piano and flute.
I won't disturb you any longer, just to say goodbye.
Anton, my son.
Spending money is much nicer than earning money.
I've only appreciated that in my old age.
This musician is ruining me, but I'm enjoying it.
He impressed me in the States.
He's shameless about accepting things.
But then, his father's name, Wohlleben, meant "to live well".
Best wishes to your mother.
Now, Hermann, start again.
What are you doing out here so early?
Want to run a bit with me?
I run every morning between five and six...
...summer and winter.
Who's hunting over there?
A hunting club from Düsseldorf.
I've an hour to spare. Want a lift?
All right, just this once.
They come from all over...
...as though everything's obtainable in the Hunsrück.
It will be a great honour to show you my business.
About time, too, after five years. You've never visited me.
I was near here a year ago.
Why didn't you call in?
What have you got in the barn?
Doors. Over five hundred front doors.
- That's a lot, Ernst. - Too true, it's a lot.
These are my entire stores.
There, replacement wood.
Here, old window frames.
Those are old beams, up to five hundred years old.
Those pieces are used in the old half-timbered houses.
- Is that your wife? - Well, not exactly.
- Well, is she or isn't she? - Not yet, Anton.
Mind your head.
So those are the front doors?
And room doors, windows, shutters, beds.
And out there are huge barn doors.
Below is the workshop; five restorers work for me.
Out of two items, they make three.
Ernst, remember this?
Anton, smell this.
It smells like the inside of that cupboard.
The original smell of 1865.
I had it created by a perfume designer from Augsburg.
I got the idea when I bought an old car.
The dealer had used a spray to give it a new car smell.
It fooled me and I bought the car.
I told myself that others were sure to be as stupid as me.
We supply wardrobes, tables, chairs...
...ceiling beams, floors, facades...
...for villas and pubs from Flensburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
And that's my secret weapon.
Smell it again.
Believe me, the sense of smell is man's most primitive sense.
The sense most closely connected with the subconscious.
Seeing, hearing, feeling, don't come until much later.
And thinking - forget it! That comes last of all.
People have within them a yearning...
...for the smell of 1865.
It even works on metal.
So my business is flourishing.
- And yours? - Ernst, I don't understand you.
No wonder. I don't understand myself.
It's embarrassing, but I must tell you.
Everyone's worried.
There's a rumour.
- What rumour? - That you're in difficulties.
Nonsense. Who's talking such rubbish?
I said it was rubbish, too.
All will be explained.
Staff meeting in the meadow in half an hour.
Lotti, tell the despatch staff...
...to bring their sandwiches to the meadow.
And don't forget Karl in the boiler room.
What did your father say, Anton?
Typical American.
Hermann is the only one he cares about...
...and he never settles anywhere.
I don't understand you.
A man must know where he's at home. At least we do.
And what do we do now?
We carry on. As usual.
I'd pictured us with all that money, evicted onto the street.
We're waiting down there.
I'm proud of you.
Lotti, where are you?
Come here, with paper and pencil.
Listen carefully, everyone.
I'll dictate a telex message which will be sent straight away.
"With regard to your offer of 12th August, 1967...
"...concerning the takeover of our business by your concern...
"...we inform you that we are not interested at all.
"Simon Optical Works, Schabbach/Hunsrück."
Telex that immediately.
I'll tell you what it all means.
I have no secrets at all from you.
You know only too well I walked...
...5,317 kilometres from Russia.
From beyond the Urals to Schabbach on foot.
I might as well have stayed there if I wanted to sell the firm.
Fritz, Otto, your grandfather started here with me.
He had real peasant's hands; now look at your hands.
Precision mechanic hands...
...and those are my assets... your hands.
Those Corporations that have a finger in every pie...
...will get their fingers burnt with us.
My principle is: "quality succeeds".
We know if one of us in the firm has messed something up.
If, for instance, there's a complaint about goods marked number 317...
...then we know that you, Fritz, have botched the job.
That's how it is. We're unbeatable.
And because we're unbeatable, they want to buy us up.
Because they can't copy us.
Would the concern want to alter anything?
It's like this.
As long as we're here in Schabbach...
...there'll be a standard in the world.
If they buy us out, they'll get rid of that standard.
That will ease competition for them.
They'd use our name for three or four weeks...
...so that it looks like free market economy...
...then they'd secretly get rid of the competition.
That's their aim.
I just wanted to remind everyone...
...that this is the only precision works in the Hunsrück...
...and our existence depends on what's done here.
I'll keep faith with you, everyone.
As long as I live, you can hold me to my word...
...and with the coming struggle for survival
...against the big concerns...
...we must all retain a mutual trust.
Our development engineer, Herr Schauss...
...will explain our projects and investments.
We won't climb down.
We'll march ahead.
Dear fellow workers...
...I'd just like to explain briefly...
- Did you send it? Any answer? - It takes time.
Frau Simon, don't get upset about it.
All that work for a drop of milk, it's not worth it any more.
Going to your mother's?
I don't believe it.
Still like a century ago.
Down to the last nail.
What are you doing here?
My first aeroplane.
Our house is a treasure trove.
Things I'd quite forgotten.
And there's also Grandma's room and the parlour...
...dating from 1813, with period chairs.
And your mother's still alive, and your brother...
...and your youth, and your soul if you have one.
- What's wrong? - What do you want?
Do you want to sell your parents house...
...as you did with half of Hunsrück?
Calm down!
You never knew the meaning of work.
You've lived from the hard work of others.
You've never thought out anything in your stupid head.
Hold on, I've built up my business, just as you have.
For fifteen years, every day...
...I've worked fourteen hours, like you all...
...so what do you want?
You have nothing for your children to inherit.
What little the war spared...
...and what your parents and grandparents created...
...people like you use to make pub interiors in Düsseldorf.
I've always wanted to tell you that.
You haven't a spark of culture under your dirty fingernails.
You're oversensitive, Anton.
With bankruptcy looming over your works...
...your kids won't inherit anything.
You're on the wrong track there.
This is mine, you've got no right to it.
It's too hot for you up here. Downstairs you'll be cooler.
You're out of place, up so high.
You looter of corpses!
You pedestrian!
It still flies. Did you see, Anton?
Has it begun already?
This is South-West Radio in a link-up with West German Radio...
...the Free Berlin, Austrian...
...Swiss and French broadcasting systems, the BBC...
Put the speakers further apart.
... We bring you the first performance of the new work...
...'Connection Number One" by the German composer...
...Hermann W. Simon, born in 1940.
It is performed by members of the Radio Orchestra...
...conducted by the composer.
Our little Hermann.
Electronic passages...
...arranged by Simon Electric Incorporation, Detroit.
I know where he gets the "W" from.
It's customary in America.
No, he gets it from his father, Wohlleben.
Yes, he remembers his father, because he's artistic.
Artistic!
- I'm very happy. - I think it's going to be great.
How do you like the man next to me?
He's my intended.
- Where did you find him? - He's a painter.
- Well done! - He's Sepp Vilsmeier, from Munich.
Later I'll show you his letters to me.
Yes, later.
He's a painter, Lotti's intended.
- Like it? - I think it's great.
Hermann looks fantastic.
Quiet!
You can't hear a thing.
What instrument is that?
- It isn't any instrument. - lt's electronic.
That's what he got from Grandpa in America.
I never knew...
...the boy had become such a stranger to me...
...but now I've heard his music.
He's so far removed from me, Anton.
You just can't believe it at all.
Do you know what, Anton? Do you know what really hurts?
That we can't even listen to music together any more.
Do you know where he is now?
Mother, perhaps he'll telephone afterwards.
Yes...
...all right, Anton.
Hermann, those are birds.
Those are nightingales, like in the forest.
In the background, there's a brook.
I've never heard such music.
Hermann, where did you get it all?
So foreign and so beautiful...
...as if from other lands.
Hermann, you did that very well.
Congratulations, but it goes a little too far.
One can't mix a soulless medium like a tape with that divine flute.
The human element is missing.
I'd like to congratulate you...
...but didn't you also use some concrete material...
...in those tape inserts?
Were those birds? I think that's what I heard.
- You studied with Messiaen? - With Fortner.
Do you come from a district rich in bird life, in the Hunsrück?
Yes, but I recorded the birds here, in Baden-Baden.
SUMMER 1969
I wasn't expecting you at all.
You might have telephoned; I'd have baked us a nice cake.
Mother, that's sweet of you, but I haven't that much time.
We're on our way from Paris to Berlin and just happen to be here.
- Today? - Yes, we'll see how far we get.
You're a terrible boy.
For two years, not a word from you, and then you're at the door.
Do you know what Mother's making here?
Sloe wine.
Kathrin, try one, they taste great.
They're not poisonous.
So sour, they shrivel your arse and your shirt-tail with it.
Don't you want to shave any more?
But you've such a handsome face.
It's true.
Hermann, who's the girl?
That's Kathrin, my girlfriend.
- And the other one? - She's also my girlfriend.
And your music, Hermann. I don't understand that, either.
Now the school bus will be able to turn easily.
- Focussed properly, Hartmut? - Yes, now get away.
Look happy, everyone.
That's our Ernst.
Thank God that thing's going.
It's stood there fifty years.
I can remember the day we erected it.
In most villages those things have gone.
About time, too.
They've put them all in the cemeteries.