- She was with her mother. - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] In the book, she describes a selection process.
At the end of the month's labor, every month,
sixty inmates were selected.
Picked out to be sent from the satellite camp back to Auschwitz.
That's right, isn't it?
Yes, that's right.
[judge] And, so far, each of your fellow defendants
has specifically denied being part of that process.
Now, I'm going to ask you.
Were you part of it?
Yes.
[murmuring]
So you helped make the selection?
- Yes. - [judge] You admit that?
Then tell me,
how did that selection happen?
[Hanna] There were six guards,
so we decided we'd choose ten people each.
That's how we did it every month.
We'd all choose ten.
Your fellow defendants took part in the process?
We all did.
[judge] Even though they've denied it?
Saying "we," "we all" is easier than saying "I," "I alone,"
isn't it, Miss Schmitz?
Did you not realize
that you were sending these women to their deaths?
But they were new arrivals, new women were arriving all the time.
So... the old ones had to make room for the new ones.
[gasping]
- I'm not sure you understand... - We couldn't keep everyone.
- There wasn't room. - [judge] No.
But what I'm saying...
Let me rephrase.
To make room, you were picking women out and saying,
"You, you and you have to be sent back to be killed."
Well, what would you have done?
Should I never have signed up at Siemens?
[man] Ms. Mather, they're ready for you now.
Go, go. Go, go, go.
- Where's Michael? - I don't know.
[judge] In your book, you describe the process of selection.
[llana] Yes.
You were made to work and then, when you were no longer any use to them,
then they sent you back to Auschwitz to be killed.
[judge] Are there people here who made that selection?
[llana] Yes.
[judge] I need you to identify them. Can you please point them out?
Her.
And her.
Her.
And her.
Her.
And her.
[judge] Thank you. Please continue.
Each of the guards would choose a certain number of women.
Hanna Schmitz chose differently.
[judge] In what way differently?
She had favorites.
Girls, mostly young.
We all remarked on it.
She gave them food and places to sleep.
In the evening, she... she asked them to join her.
And we all thought...
Well, you can imagine what we thought.
And then we found out 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?
[judge] I want to move on now to the march.
As I understand it, you and your daughter were marched for many months.
[Mrs. Mather] In 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."
[judge] Please tell us about the night in the church.
That night, we thought we were lucky because we had a roof over our heads.
[judge] 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 hit.
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.
[judge] The church burned down? Nobody came to open the doors?
Is that right?
[Mrs. Mather] Nobody.
[judge] Even though you were all burning to death?
How many people were killed?
Everyone was killed.
[judge] 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 here anymore.
Don't you?
You tell 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 300 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... 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."
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'd you let this happen?"
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 them all!
[judge] Why did you not unlock the doors?
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.
This is the SS report. You all have copies.
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's not 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?
- [Hanna] No! - Well, then?
If we'd opened the doors, there would have been chaos.
How could we have restored order?
It happened so fast. It was snowing. The bombs.
The flames... There were flames all over the village.
Then the screaming began, and got worse and worse.
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... I was just one of the guards.
- She was in charge. - [woman] She was!
- Of course she was. - Did you write the report?
No. No. We all discussed what to say. We all wrote it together.
She wrote the report. She was in charge.
- [judge] Is that true? - No.
- Yes, you did! - Does it matter?
- She wrote it. - [judge] I need a sample
- of your handwriting. - My...
- My handwriting? - Yes. I need to establish
- who wrote the report. - I don't see how that's appropriate.
- 20 years have gone by. - Take her paper. Approach the bench.
- Compare handwriting of 20 years...? - [judge] Approach the bench.
[judge] I will not be overruled in my own court.
[counsel] I'm sorry...
I'd rather listen to you.
There's no need.
I wrote the report.
[murmuring]
[judge] 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 favorable 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.
[laughing]
- [Rohl] A moment, please. - Sorry.
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.
[children shouting]
[laughing]
[guard] Quiet, please!
Gertrud Ballow.
Andreas Michael Springer.
Michael Berg.
Walter Sherman.
[guard] Time's up.
[girl] Are you coming in?
[girl] You took your time.
[panting]
What is it?
Where are you going?
I'm sorry.
I need to sleep by myself.
[door unlocks]
I'll just be a minute.
[siren wailing]
[crowd chanting]
- Nazi! - Nazi whore!
- [shouting] - Nazi!
[man] Silence in the court. Silence in the court.
All rise.
[judge] The court finds guilty the defendants
Rita Beckhart, Caroline Steinhoff,
Regina Kroit, Angela Zeva
and Andrea Lumen
of jointly aiding and abetting murder in 300 cases.
The court finds guilty the defendant
Hanna Schmitz of murder in 300 cases.
[murmuring]
The court sentences the accused as follows:
Rita Beckhart, Caroline Steinhoff,
Regina Kroit, Angela Zeva and Andrea Lumen
to 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're in a different category.
The court sentences the accused, Schmitz, to imprisonment for life.
[murmuring]
Where are we going?
I said I'll tell you when we get there.
- You told me you liked surprises. - I like surprises.
[Michael] She's grown, hasn't she?
I don't know. It's so long since I saw her, Michael. How can I tell?
It's my fault. We shouldn't have come unannounced.
[Julia] Daddy's going to live in his own house.
Mother, I'm afraid I have some bad news.
Julia knows. We've already told her.
Gertrud and I, we are getting a divorce.
You don'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.
She's already a state prosecutor, so she earns far more than I do.
[mother] Michael...
...l'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"
- [door unlocking] - [guard] 215, mail.
217, mail.
220, mail.
[indistinct chatter]
1219. 66215.
Number?
Open it.
Testing, testing. One, two, three. Testing, testing.
[static on tape]
[Michael on tape] The Odyssey by Homer.
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..."
"...to the house of death. But they held fast in place,
hoping that others might still come.
Shades of famous heroes, men who died in the old days
and ghosts of an even older age, I long to see."
"Come, sheathe your sword, let's go to bed together.
Mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love.
We'll breed deep trust between us."
"Not for all the world, not until you consent to swear, goddess,
a blinding oath you'll never plot some new intrigue to harm me."
"Straightaway, she began to swear the oath that I required.
Never, she would never do me harm.
And when she'd finished then, at last,
I mounted Circes' gorgeous bed."
"When young Dawn, with her rose-red fingers shone once more,
they yoked their pair again,
and out through the gates and echoing colonnade,
they whipped the team to a run and on they flew,
holding nothing back, and the princes reached the wheatlands..."
"...those purebred stallions...
...as the sun sank..."
"...is my beginning."
"Truly, and I have to confess, I am jealous.
It's true, till now..."
"Perfectly astonishing. I've always said it was all tricks,
but he went to sleep under my very eyes."
"He lifted a large newspaper from the table
and began stamping his feet and flourishing the newspaper
to drive Gregor back into his room." "Zhivago... even a cake,
rather like a Baba au Rhum known as a Zhivago bun.
At one time you only had to say to your sleigh driver in Moscow,
'Zhivago's.' And, rather as if you had said..."
[overlapping dialogue]
"The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov. "
"The talk was that a new face had appeared on the promenade,
a lady with a little dog.
Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov had already spent two weeks in Yalta,
so he was bored with it and always looking for fresh faces."
Sitting in the pavilion at Vernet,
he saw a young woman walking on the seafront.
A fair-haired young lady of medium height, wearing a beret..."
[voice trails off]
I want to take out a book.
Which book?
Do you have The Lady with the Little Dog?
What's your name?
Hanna Schmitz.
[Michael on tape] The Lady with the Little Dog.
[muttering]
... Dog.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
The Lady with the Little Dog.
The...
The.
The. The. The.
The.
- No letter? - No letter. Sign.
- [woman on phone] You're 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 20 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.
Mm-hmm.
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? - Yes.
I'm Louisa Brenner. Good morning.
- How do you do? - 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 straight to the canteen.
They've just finished their lunch.
[Brenner] Table four.
You've grown up, kid.
I've got a friend who's a tailor.
He'll give you a job.
And I've found you somewhere to live. It's a nice place.
Quite small, but it's nice.
- You'll like it. - Thank you.
There are various social programs, cultural stuff I can sign you up for.
And the public library is 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'd like.
I'd like to see a great deal more of her.
The marriage didn't last.
Have you spent 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.
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 learned.
Well, I have learned, kid.
I've learned to read.
I'll pick you up next week, OK?
That sounds a good plan.
We can do it quietly, or we can make a fuss.
Quietly.
OK. Quietly.
Quietly.
- Take care, kid. - You, too. See you next week.
[buzzing]
I've come to collect Hanna Schmitz.
Please. Please, take a seat.
[Brenner] She didn't pack.
She never intended to leave.
[Michael] "The talk was that a new face
had appeared on the promenade,
a lady with a little dog."
[Brenner] She left me a message.
A sort of will.
I'll read 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 survived the fire.
It's for her.
She should decide what to do with it.
And tell Michael I said hello."
[sobbing]
[horns honking]
- Ms. Mather? - Yes.
- You're Michael Berg. - Yes.
I was expecting you.
- Please. - Thank you.
So you must tell me, exactly what brings you to the United States?
I was here already. I was at a conference in Boston.
- You're a lawyer? - Yes.
I was intrigued by your letter, but I can't say I wholly understood it.
- You attended the trial? - Yes. Almost 20 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... 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 behavior?
- No. - Or an excuse?
No. No.
She taught herself to read when she was in prison.
I sent her tapes.
She had always liked... being read to.
Why don't you start by being honest with me?
At least start that way.
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.
And...
...even if I could, I'm not willing to.
I was almost 16 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 theater 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 it with me. - To do what?
As you think fit.
Here.
When I was a little girl, I had a tea 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? - Sentimental things.
A piece of hair from our dog. Some tickets to the operas
my father had taken me to. It wasn't stolen for its contents.
It was the tin itself
that was valuable,
what you could do with it.
There's nothing I can do with this money.
I give it to anything associated with extermination of Jews,
then to me it seems...
...like absolution, and that's something I'm neither willing
- nor in a position to grant. - I was thinking maybe
an organization to encourage literacy.
Good. Good.
Do you know if there is a Jewish organization?
I'd be surprised if there isn't.
There's a Jewish organization 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.
[choral music plays]
- Where are we going? - I thought you liked surprises.
I do. I do like surprises.
[Julia] Hanna Schmitz.
Who was she?
That's what I wanted to tell you.
That's why we're here.
So tell me.
[Michael] I was 15.
I was coming home from school.
I was feeling ill.
And a woman helped me.