...she was making these women read aloud to her.
They were reading to her.
At first we thought this guard, this guard is...
more sensitive,
she's more human,
she's kinder.
Often she chose the weak, the sick,
she picked them out, she seemed to be protecting them almost.
But then she dispatched them.
Is that kinder?
I want to move on now to the march.
As I understand it, you and your daughter were marched for many months.
Yes. It was the winter of 1944. Our camp was closed down,
we were told we had to move on.
But the plan kept changing every day.
Women were dying all around us in the snow.
Half of us died on the march.
My daughter says in the book,
less a death march, more a death gallop.
Please tell us about the night in the church.
That night we actually thought we were lucky
because we had a roof over our heads.
Go on!
We’d arrived in a village, as always, the guards took the best quarters,
they took the priest’s house.
But they let us sleep in a church.
There was a bombing raid. In the middle of the night.
The Church was sit.
At first we could only hear the fire, it was in the steeple.
Then we could see burning beams,
and they began to crash to the floor.
Everyone rushed,
rushed to the doors.
But the doors had been locked on the outside.
The church burned down?
Nobody came to open the doors? Is that right?
Nobody.
Even though you were all burning to death?
How many people were killed?
Everyone was killed.
But you survived?
Thank you.
I want to thank you for coming to this country
today to testify.
I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re doing any more.
Don’t you?
You keep telling us to think like lawyers,
but there’s something disgusting about this.
How so?
This didn’t happen to the Germans. It happened to the Jews.
What are we trying to do?
We’re trying to understand.
Six women locked three hundred Jews in a church,
and let them burn.
What is there to understand?
Tell me, I’m asking:
what is there to understand?
I started out believing in this trial. I thought it was great.
Now I think it’s just a diversion.
Yes? Diversion from what?
You choose six women, You put them on trial,
You say ‘They were the evil ones, they were the guilty ones’.
Because one of the victims happened
to write a book!
That’s why they’re on trial and nobody else.
Do you know how many camps there were in Europe?
People go on about how much did everyone know?
‘Who knew?’ ‘What did they know?’
Everyone knew. Our Parents, Our teachers.
That isn’t the question.
The question is ‘How could you let it happen?’
And - better - ‘Why didn’t you kill yourself when you found out?’
Thousands! That’s how many. There were thousands of camps.
Everyone knew.
Look at that woman...
Which woman?
The woman you’re always staring at.
I’m sorry but you are.
I don’t know which woman you mean.
You know what I’d do?
Put the gun in my hand,
I’d shoot her myself.
Shoot then All.
Why did you not unlock the doors?
I’ve asked all of you and I’m getting no answer.
Two of the victims are in this court. They deserve an answer.
Here, this is the SS report. You all have copies.
This is the report which was written, approved and signed by all
of you immediately after the event.
In the written report, you all claim you didn’t even know about the fire until after it happened.
But that isn’t true, is it?
Well? It isn’t true.
I don’t know what you’re asking.
The first thing I’m asking is, why didn’t you unlock the doors?
Obviously. For the obvious reason.
- We couldn’t. - Why couldn’t you?
We were guards.
Our job was to guard the prisoners.
We couldn’t just let them escape.
I see.
And if they escaped, then you’d be blamed, you’d be charged,
you might even be executed?
Well then?
If we opened the doors, then there would have been chaos.
How could we have restored order?
It happened so fast. It was snowing.
The bombs - There were flames all over the village.
Then the screaming began. It got worse and worse.
And if they’d all come rushing out, we couldn’t just let them escape.
We couldn’t.
We were responsible for them.
So you did know what was happening?
You did know? You made a choice.
You let them die
rather than risk letting them escape.
The other defendants have made an allegation against you.
Have you heard this allegation?
They say you were in charge.
It isn’t true. I was just one of the guards.
She was in charge
She was!
It was her idea.
Of course she was.
Did you write the report?
No. No.
We all discussed what to say.
We all wrote it together.
She wrote it! She wrote the report!
Is that true?
Yes you did!
Does it matter who did?
She wrote it!
I need to see a sample of your handwriting.
My handwriting?
Yes. I need to establish who wrote the report.
I’m sorry, but I really don’t see how that’s apropriate. Nearly 20 years have gone by.
Take her this piece of paper. Counsel, approach the bench.
Are you really going to compare
handwriting of twenty years ago, with handwriting of today?
Counsel, approach the bench.
There is no need.
I wrote the report.
Silence, please.
Order.
You’ve been skipping seminars.
I have a piece of information.
Concerning one of the defendants.
Something they’re not admitting.
What information?
You don’t need me to tell you. It’s perfectly clear
you have a moral obligation to disclose it to the court.
It happens this information is favourable to the defendant.
It can help her case. It may even affect the outcome,
certainly the sentencing.
So?
There’s a problem.
The defendant herself is determined to keep this information secret.
A moment, please.
What are her reasons?
Because she’s ashamed.
Ashamed of what?
Have you spoken to her? - Of course not.
Why "of course not"?
I can’t.
I can’t do that.
I can’t talk to her.
What we feel isn’t important. It’s utterly unimportant.
The only question is what we do.
If people like you don’t learn from
what happened to people like me,
then what the hell is the point of anything?
Schmitz!
You have a visitor.
Quiet Please!
Michael Berg!
Time’s up.
Are you came in?
You’ve taken your time.
What is it?
Where you're going?
I’m sorry.
I need to sleep by myself.
Nazi
Silence in the court!
All rise!
The court finds guilty the defendants Rita Beckhart,
Karolina Steinhof, Regina Kreutz,
Angela Zieber, Andrea Luhmann
jointly aiding and abetting murder in three hundred cases.
The court finds the defendant Hanna Schmitz
of murder in three hundred cases.
The court sentences the accused as follows.
Beckhart Rita, Karolina Steinhof,
Regina Kreutz, Angela Zieber and Andrea Luhmann
you will each serve a total sentence in prison of four years and three months.
Hanna Schmitz,
in view of your own admissions and your special role,
you are in a different category.
The court sentences the accused Schmitz to imprisonment for life.
Where are we going?
I said : I’ll tell you when we get there.
You told me you liked surprises.
I like surprises.
She’s grown, hasn’t she?
I don’t know. It’s so long since I saw her, Michael, how can I tell?
Is my fault.
We shouldn’t have come unannounced.
Daddy’s going to live in his own house.
Mother, I’m afraid I’ve have some bad news.
Julia knows. We’ve already told her.
Gertrud and I are getting a divorce.
You didn’t come for your father’s funeral, but you come for this?
it’s not easy for me to visit this town.
Were you really so unhappy?
- That’s not what I’m saying. It’s not what I meant. - Well then?
You mustn’t worry about Gertrud.
I’m going to look after her. And anyway, let’s face it, she’s already
a state prosecutor,
she earns far more than I do.
Michael, I’m not worried about Gertrud.
I’m worried about you.
“Sing to me of the Man, Muse,
the man of twists and turns Driven time and again
off course, once he had plundered The hallowed heights of Troy...
215 - mail.
217 - mail.
121966215.
Number.
open it.
Testing. Testing. 1-2-3. Testing. Testing.
"The Odyssey." by Homer
“Sing to me of the Man, Muse,
the man of twists and turns Driven time and again
off course, once he had plundered The hallowed heights of Troy...
‘The Lady with the Little Dog’ by Anton Chekhov.
"Talk of a new face, which is a display of the prom ..."
‘The Lady with the Little Dog’
I want to take out a book.
Which book?
Do you have "The Lady with the Little Dog"?
What’s your name?
Hanna Schmitz.
The Lady with the Little Dog,
42813 The Lady with the Little Dog,
1,2,3,4,5,6.
‘Thanks for the latest, kid. I really liked it.’
- There is no letter? - No letter.
Sign it.
Please, send more romance
I think schiller need a woman. "
Are you getting my letter? Write to me kid.
- Mr Michael Berg? - Yes.
- Thank you for calling me.
You got my letter?
I have it here.
As I say, Hanna Schmitz is coming up for release very soon.
Hanna has been in prison for over twenty years.
She has no family. She has no friends.
You’re her only contact.
And I’m told you don’t visit her.
No. I don’t.
When she gets out, she’s going to need a job. She’s going to need somewhere to live.
You can’t imagine how frightening the modern world will seem to her.
I have no one else to ask
If you don’t take responsibility for her,
then Hanna has no future at all.
It’s kind of you. Thank you for letting me know.
You’re Michael Berg?
I'm Louisa Brenner. Good Morning!
We were expecting you earlier.
I should warn you: for a long time Hanna held herself together.
She was very purposeful. In the last few years
She’s different. She’s let herself go.
I'm taking you straigh to the canteen.
They’re just finishing lunch.
Before you.
You’ve grown up, kid
I’ve got a friend who’s a tailor,
he makes my suits. He’ll give you a job.
And I’ve found you somewhere to live. It’s a nice place.
Quite small but nice. I think you’ll like it.
- You’ll like it. - Thank you.
There are various social programmes
cultural stuff I can sign you up for.
And there’s a public library very close.
You read a lot?
I prefer being read to.
That’s over now, isn’t it?
Did you get married?
I did. Yes I did.
We have a daughter.
I’m not seeing as much of her as I would like. I’d like to see a great deal more of her.
The marriage didn’t last.
Have you spent a lot of time thinking about the past?
You mean, with you? ?
No. No,
I didn’t mean with me.
Before the trial I never thought about the past.
I never had to.
And now?
What do you feel now?
It doesn’t matter what I feel.
It doesn’t matter what I think.
The dead are still dead.
I wasn’t sure what you’d learnt.
I have learnt, kid.
I’ve learnt to read.
I’ll pick you up next week, OK?
That sounds a good plan.
We can do quietly, or shall we make a big fuss?
Quietly.
OK. Quietly.
Take care, kid. - You too.
See you next week.
I have come to collect Hanna Schmitz.
Please, take a sit
She didn’t pack.
She never intended to leave.
"The talk was a new face.."
‘The Lady with the Little Dog’
She left me a message,
a sort of will.
I’ll read out the bit that concerns you.
“There is money in the old tea tin.
Give it to Michael Berg.
He should send it, alongside the 7,000 marks in the bank,
to the daughter who survives the fire.
It’s for her.
She should decide what to do with it.
And tell Michael I said hello.
- Ms Mather? - Yes.
- Michael Berg? - Yes.
You’re Michael Berg. I was expecting you.
- Please. - Thank you.
So you must tell me: Exactly brings you to the United States?
I was already here. I was at a conference in Boston.
You’re a lawyer?
I was intrigued by your letter
But I can’t say I wholly understood it.
You attended the trial?
Yes. Almost twenty years ago.
I was a law student.
I remember you, I remember your mother very clearly.
My mother died in Israel - A good many years ago.
I'm sorry.
Go On, please!
Perhaps you heard. Hanna Schmitz recently died.
She killed herself.
She was a friend of yours?
A kind of friend.
It’s as simple as this.
Hanna was illiterate for the greater part of her life.
Is that an explanation of her behaviour?
No.
Or an excuse?
No. No. She taught herself to read when she was in prison.
I sent her tapes.
She’d always liked being read to.
Why don’t you start by being honest with me?
What was the nature of your friendship?
When I was young I had an affair with Hanna.
I’m not sure I can help you, Mr. Berg.
Or rather, even if I could I’m not willing to
I was almost sixteen when I took up with her.
The affair only lasted a summer. But..
But what?
I see.
And did Hanna Schmitz acknowledge the effect she’d had on your life?
She’d done much worse to other people.
I’ve never told anyone.
People ask all the time what I learned in the camps.
But the camps weren’t therapy.
What do you think these places were? Universities?
We didn’t go there to learn.
One becomes very clear about these things.
What are you asking for?
Forgiveness for her?
Or do you just want to feel better yourself?
My advice, go to the theatre, if you want catharsis, please.
Go to literature. Don't go to the camps.
Nothing comes out of the camps.
Nothing.
What she wanted...
what she wanted was to leave you her money.
I have with me.
To do what?
As you think fit.
Here.
When I was a little girl, I had atea-tin for my treasures.
Not quite like this. It had Cyrillic lettering.
I took it with me to the camp,
but it got stolen.
What was in it?
Oh. Sentimental things.
A piece ofhair from our dog. Some tickets to operas my father had taken me to.
It wasn’t stolen for its contents.
It was the tin itself
which was valuable, what you could do with it.
There’s nothing I can do with this money.
If I give it to anything associated with the extermination of the Jews, then to me it will seem
like absolution and that is something
I’m neither willing nor in a position to grant.
I was thinking maybe an organization to encourage literacy.
Good.
Do you know if there’s a Jewish organization?
I’ll be surprised if there isn’t.
There’s a Jewish organisation for everything.
Not that illiteracy is a very Jewish problem.
Why don’t you find out? Send them the money.
Shall I do it in Hanna’s name?
As you think fit.
I’ll keep the tin.
Thank you.
January 1995
Where are we going?
I thought you liked surprises.
I do. I do like surprises.
Who was she?
That’s what I wanted to tell you.
That’s why we’re here.
So tell me.
I was 15,
I was coming home from school,
I was ill...
is a help to me a woman.
Legendas: Marcelo Veles
Synchro: Marcelo Veles