Central Studio of Children and Youth Films
named after M. Gorky
By commission of State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers
on Television and Radio Broadcasting
Mister Bolzen.
Do you hear me, Mr. Bolzen?
I have to tell you this.
I don't know about you,
but I'm already charged with oxygen for our awful city life.
What do you think, Mr. Bolzen, isn't it time for us to go home?
I think it's time.
Oh, Mister Bolzen!
Mister Bolzen,
please be a gentleman to the end and help me.
I can't step over this.
- Please, Frau Zaurich. - Thank you.
For several years now, Mister Bolzen,
you've been bringing me here in the early spring.
I must say that this outing will last me
almost a whole year.
You know,
I don't feel like going back to town.
How about you?
That's what I mean. I'm sick and tired of my institution.
You understand that I mean that damn joint and my...
with your permission, that profession of mine.
Hold this, please.
Of course, if it were not for the war and my children were alive...
Do you know what herb it is? It's a wonderful, medicinal herb.
If you dry it, you can make a decoction from it.
Smell it. One must drink it if he has bad kidneys.
- Do you have bad kidneys? - No.
It's a pity, because that decoction helps a lot if you have bad kidneys.
What do you think, can I wear these rubber boots for another season?
- Of course you can. - I think so too.
The birds are singing so beautifully! It's so good that spring has come!
You know, spring means victory over hunger, over winter.
And even, if you like, a victory over death.
- You think so? - Don't you?
- Well, I think you're right. - Yes, I'm right.
We're going to tell you about some events
of the last spring of the war.
The last spring of the war.
In three months fascism will be crushed,
but now fierce fighting is going on on the Oder,
near Budapest, in Pomerania.
We will tell you only about seventeen days of that spring.
SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING
Starring Vyacheslav TIKHONOV
Also starring
Kruger - Yevgeny KUZNETSOV
Kaltenbrunner - Mikhail ZHARKOVSKY
Hitler - Fritz DIEZ (GDR)
Goring - Wilhelm BURMEYER (GDR) Himmler - Nikolai PROKOPOVICH
Bormann - Yuri VIZBOR Schellenberg - Oleg TABAKOV
Holtoff- Konstantin ZHELDIN
Frau Zaurich -Emiliya MILTON Pastor Schlagg - Rostislav PLYATT
Astronomer - Yuri KATIN-YARTSEV
Kaltenbrunner's aide-de-camp - Stanislav KORENEV
Don't ever think of seconds haughtily.
The time will come you'll know this self-evidence:
Like whistling bullets by your head they flee,
Those moments, those moments, those moments.
Those moments...
02.12.1945 (16 hours 30 minutes)
Hitler's bunker.
Transcript of a meeting at the Fuhrer's.
Those present were:
Reich Marshal Goring,
Field Marshal Keitel,
Chief of Land Forces Jodl,
Reichsleiter Bormann,
Reich Minister of Arms and Munitions Speer
Head of the Reich Security Main Office Kaltenbrunner,
Brigadefuhrer of the SS Schellenberg,
Foreign Ministry envoy Havel,
Admiral Fosse, Admiral von Puttkamer,
Captain Neurath, aides-de-camp, stenographers.
"We have got but hours,
just hours, to win a victory," said Hitler.
Everyone who can look, analyze and make conclusions,
must answer only one my question: Is the victory possible soon?
I'm not asking for a blindly categorical answer.
I'm not putting up with blind faith.
Never before has the world seen
such paradoxical in its controversy
a union as the allied coalition.
While the aims of Russia, England and America
are diametrically opposite,
while they are moving, directed
by the diversity of their ideological aspirations,
we are moved by only one aspiration, with our whole life subordinated to it.
While contradictions between them are growing and will continue to grow,
our unity, as never before, has acquired
the solidity I have strived for throughout the years
of this strenuous and great campaign.
To help destroy the coalition of our enemies
by diplomatic or any other way would be utopian,
if not a demonstration of panic and the loss of perspective.
Only by inflicting them military blows,
by demonstrating our unbending spirit
and our inexhaustible might
can we speed up the demise of that coalition,
which will break down to the thunder of our guns.
I'm turning my eyes to the Germans.
Only our nation can and will be victorious.
At present the whole country has become one military camp.
I mean Germany, Austria,
Norway, part of Hungary and Italy,
the greater territory of Czech and Bohemian protectorates,
Denmark, Holland.
This is the heart of European civilization.
We've got in our hands the material of victory.
Now it depends on us, the military, how well
we can use this material for the sake of our victory.
Believe me, the very first devastating blows of our armies
will make the allied coalition crumble down."
Main Office of the Reich Security
02.12.1945 (19 hours 45 minutes)
Reichsfuhrer of the SS Himmler.
You can go.
- May we begin? - Yes.
Please, begin.
- Won't light be a problem? - It's getting dark very quickly now.
Anyway, it would be better to pull down the blackout shades.
All right.
Top secret.
Personal file on Walhter Schellenberg,
Brigadefuhrer of the SS, Chief of the 6th Dept. Of the Reich Security.
Reference on Walther Schellenberg, member of the Nazi Party since 1933,
Brigadefuhrer of the SS, Chief of the 6th Dept. Of the Reich Security
(political intelligence).
A true Arian.
Of Nordic character, brave and firm.
Open, sociable and friendly with friends and colleagues.
Merciless towards the Reich's enemies.
An excellent family man.
His wife's candidature approved by the SS Reichsfuhrer.
No discrediting liaisons.
A splendid sportsman.
Proved an outstanding organizer in work.
February of 1945, the eve of the victory over nazism.
The events of the last week give us full grounds for this statement.
The advance of the Russian armies
that has broken the nazi defenses on the Oder,
their fortitude, displayed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia,
have earned eternal glory for the Red Army.
The fierce battles on the sea attest to
the Allies' absolute superiority.
The armies of Eisenhower and Montgomery are carrying on a successful offensive.
A complete victory
in the air and on the sea is final and obvious.
The propaganda hype. You may not translate.
Tell them to show our newsreels.
Run the latest reel of "Die Deutsche Wochenschau", please.
A disgusting propaganda hype.
- But it's true, Reichsfuhrer. - Don't succumb to panic.
And you said we couldn't fight.
You're right, we still can fight.
But we should have already begun a dialogue with the West.
The delay means death.
It's spring of 1945, not autumn of 1941, Reichsfuhrer.
Thank you for reminding me.
But in fact, each morning I look at the calendar.
What else?
Russian newsreel, their special edition on the Yalta conference.
Interesting.
It came by John's channel.
It's interesting. Go ahead.
Go on, please.
The news of the work of the historic Yalta Conference which started
on February 4, 1945 went all over the world.
In the air is the plane of the USA President, Mister Roosevelt.
President of the United States of America Franklin Roosevelt.
In the air is the plane of the prime minister of Great Britain,
Mister Churchill.
Prime minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill.
Here, in Livadia,
the talks of the heads
of the anti-Hitler coalition, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill,
were going on for 8 days.
For 8 days the leaders of the three great powers
met at the round table
to discuss the questions of the final defeat of Nazi Germany
and the establishment of a lasting peace.
The conference had on the agenda and decided the following questions:
The defeat of Germany,
the occupation of Germany and the control over it,
the reparations of Germany,
the question on a conference of united nations.
He got old, hasn't he?
- Who? - Stalin.
The issue of Poland has been thoroughly discussed...
I don't think so.
The principles and terms of the meeting
of Foreign Ministers have been fixed.
It has been also decided at the conference that the Allies'
land, sea and air forces,
based on a greatest than ever before
coordination of military efforts, would strike
on fully agreed dates new,
even more powerful blows at the heart of Germany.
What an idyll.
Blows from the east, west, north and south.
That's what has been decided at the conference.
He did get old.
What is it, Walther?
In his place, I think I wouldn't display so openly
his complete misunderstanding and aversion to his ally.
Though that should suit us.
Reichsfuhrer, it's spring of 1945.
Yes?
- May I come in? - Yes, please.
I'm listening.
Yes.
In Lisbon.
5/11.
I've reported.
I've reported it.
Yes.
This is not a matter to discuss on the phone.
No.
Not now.
Top secret.
Personal file on Wilhelm Ferdinand Holtoff,
Obersturmbanfuhrer of the SS (4th Dept. Of the Reich Security).
Reference on Wilhelm Ferdinand Holtoff,
SS Obersturmbannfuhrer, member of the Nazi Party since 1938.
A true Arian.
Character approaching the Nordic, firm.
Maintains good relationship with his colleagues.
Excellent work showing. A sportsman.
Merciless towards the Reich's enemies.
Unmarried. No discrediting liaisons.
Holder of the Fuhrer's decorations and the SS Reichsfuhrer's citations.
Yet a lot still remains unclear. Yes.
I agree. Hail Hitler.
I've been ordered by my superiors to consult with you.
I got a very intricate case.
Either my prisoner is mentally unstable,
or he should be handed over to you, to the intelligence.
He speaks like those English swine on the radio.
Sit down.
I can't go on like this! I just can't! I can't, do you understand?!
I just want to live, to live under anyone,
under fascism, under capitalism, with Hitler, without Hitler.
I can't go on like this!
I just suffocate from your blindness, stupidity, insanity!
Who ordered you to write proclamations?
You couldn't have thought of that filth yourself.
Who gave you the text? Your hand was directed by the enemy's will.
With whom of the enemy did you connive? Where and when?
I connived with nobody and nowhere.
I'm afraid of talking even to myself.
I'm afraid of everything. Don't you have eyes?
Don't you realize that's the end? We are finished!
Don't you understand that each new victim now means vandalism?
You've kept repeating you live for the sake of the nation.
So go away and save the rest of the nation!
You're condemning poor children to death!
You're fanatics seizing upon power!
You eat well, you smoke good cigarettes,
you drink coffee, cognac.
So let us too live like human beings, not like dumb slaves.
Or kill me right now, so that I don't go mad
from the sense of my own impotence, of the stupidity of the nation
which you've turned into a dumb flock.
Wait. Shouting is not an argument.
Do you have any suggestions?
What?
I'm asking: What specific suggestions do you have?
How can we save our children, women and old people?
What do we have to do for that?
It's always easier to criticize and bear malice.
It's much more difficult to propose a reasonable program of action.
I reject astrology.
I bow down before astronomy.
I was refused a chair in Kiel.
That's why you're being so malicious!
Wait.
Stop shouting.
Go on, please.
There's interconnectedness
between everybody living on Earth
and the sky, the sun.
That interconnectedness helps me
take a more correct, a more sober
look at everything going on on the soil of my homeland.
I'd be very interested in discussing that subject with you in greater detail.
But now, I think, my colleague will permit you to go to your cell,
where you will rest for a couple of days, and then we'll continue our talk.
You can take him away.
You can go, too.
He's a bit insane, don't you see that?
All scientists, writers, actors are insane in their own way.
They need a special approach, because they live their own life
they've invented for themselves.
Send this eccentric to our hospital for expert examination.
If it were a peacetime, we would have sent him to a camp.
He would have quickly been reformed and become useful to the Reich,
working at some institute, but now...
He talks like a Briton from the London Radio,
or like a Social Democrat conniving with Moscow.
People invented radio to listen to it, and he's listened a lot.
No, it's not serious. We, the intelligence, are not interested.
But I'd like to meet with him in a few days
to feel whether he's actually a scientist orjust a neurotic.
If he's a serious scientist, we'll go to Mueller or Kaltenbrunner
and ask them to give him a good ration and evacuate him to the mountains,
where all the cream of our science is now.
Let him work.
He will stop blabbering as soon as there's no bombing,
plenty of bread and butter and a mountain cottage in the wood.
- Don't you agree? - I do.
No one would have blabbered
if everyone had a cottage in the wood,
plenty of bread and butter and no bombing.
- I mean... - I'm sorry, pal.
On Schellenberg's instruction I have to meet in 20 minutes
with the chief of Prison 123.
- Hail Hitler. - Hail Hitler!
Top secret.
Personal file on Max Otto von Stirlitz,
Standartenfuhrer of the SS (6th Dept. Of the Reich Security).
Reference on Max Otto von Stirlitz,
SS Standartenfuhrer, member of the Nazi Party since 1933.
A true Arian.
Of Nordic character, self-possessed.
Maintains good relationships with his colleagues.
Irreproachable in carrying out his line of duty.
Merciless towards the Reich's enemies.
An excellent sportsman: Tennis champion of Berlin.
Unmarried. No known discrediting liaisons.
Holder of the Fuhrer's decorations and the SS Reichsfuhrer's citations.
Bring him here.
Schranke's speaking. Call Block 5 duty guard to me.
He's been in prison 6 months already.
Yes, Standartenfuhrer, to be more exact, 6 months and 15 days.
Why do you so often call the doctor for him? Is he ill?
He's on a hunger strike.
How long has he been on the last hunger strike?
A week.
Hail Hitler.
Prisoner No.524 for an interrogation by Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz.
May I go and carry out the order?
Blackjack. I won.
Christ!
Psalm 8.
More.
Seven. Eight.
- Who's banking? - I do.
What are you staking?
His leg. Higher, higher.
That's it.
He'll hold on for half an hour.
What if you lose?
- I'll knock his tooth out. - It's against the regulations.
I'll make it loose with a finger. Are we banking?
Kurt, call No. 524 for interrogations.
- 524? - Yes.
Number 524 for interrogations.
Got you. Number 524 for interrogations.
- Has he been in a solitary? - Yes.
- Twice? - Twice.
Who gave the order to put him with the criminals?
That was his investigator's injunction.
- And what? - The same as before.
- Did you apply the deterrent method? - Yes.
And what?
Prisoner 524 will be here right away.
Fine.
I'm taking this pastor of yours with me until 10 p.m.
I'm sorry, Standartenfuhrer, but...
Here's Brigadefuhrer Schellenberg's instruction.
Without convoy?
It's all written there.
Put him in order.
I'll be back to pick him up in half an hour.
At 22:00 you'll get him back.
At 22:15 he should be in a solitary.
Good afternoon.
I've lived... in Berlin...
for 52 years,
but I've never been here before.
Come on in. Have a seat.
Beer, please.
I'm glad to see you're alive and well. Considering our times, it's something.
- Please. - Thank you.
Beer to this table.
Yes, it's strange.
What's strange?
Strange...
that you've lived in Berlin for 52 years and never been here.
Though you've been to London, Paris, Prague, Bern. Isn't that so?
Yes.
I've been to...
Paris, London, Prague and Bern.
You forgot to mention two more cities.
Antwerp and Budapest.
I've been already asked that during the interrogations.
The interrogations when I was...
beaten, deprived of sleep and...
and food.
Forget about Antwerp, the English have it now anyway.
But Berlin... I deliberately took you for a ride about the city.
Did you see what happened to Berlin?
I did.
Well? Go on, eat.
- It's terrible. - What's terrible?
It's terrible that you, a pastor,
are not a patriot of the German state system.
Tell me, the fact that I, a pastor,
have been tortured for 6 months in prison -
is that an inevitable result of your state system?
Prisons are reforming the stray.
Obviously, those who haven't gone astray, but were the enemies,
are to be eliminated.
Is that you who decide who is right
and who is guilty?
Of course.
So you know everything about everyone?
Who has erred and who has not erred.
So you know about each of us absolutely everything?
- We know what the nation wants. - The nation...
The nation is made up of people.
So you eliminate people
in the name of the nation.
Waiter!
- What would you like? - Coffee.
Two cognacs and the cigarettes.
Tell me, how often in the history of Christianity
did they destroy the heterodox people
in the name of the welfare of the rest of the flock?
They destroyed heretics.
All right. But fighting heresy, did the church permit violence?
It did.
Violence against heresy had been done throughout 8 centuries.
We came to power in 1933. What do you expect from us?
In those 11 years,
we've done away with unemployment, we gave food to the Germans.
Yes, while doing violence to the heterodox.
If you're such a convinced opponent...
perhaps you should've leaned more on the material, instead of spiritual?
Excuse me, I don't understand you.
Why didn't you try to organize
an anti-government group among your parishioners?
You see, if I began to use your own methods
against you, I would have...
...unwittingly become someone like you.
So if a man comes to you...
What man?
Some young man from your parish.
And he'll say, "Father, I do not agree with the regime
and I want to fight it."
I won't stand in his way.
All right, but he'll say he wants to kill the Gauleiter.
And the Gauleiter has 3 children, girls.
2-year-old, 5-year-old and 9-year-old.
And a paraplegic wife.
What would you do?
I don't know.
And if I question you about that man, what would you say?
To you I will say nothing.
Good work, Stirlitz.
Frankly, I didn't expect it.
I didn't think he'd agree so quickly.
Didn't think he would so quickly agree to collaborate with us.
A very good job, Stirlitz.
He didn't agree because of fear.
Mediating is his natural occupation.
He has nothing to fear. He plays with open hands.
I wouldn'tjump at so categorical conclusions, Stirlitz.
Put him to a good test.
In his cell? Planting our man there?
All right, arrange a good testing on the loose.
I'll try to persuade the Reichsfuhrer
to let the pastor go free for a while for our purposes.
Reception room of Kaltenbrunner,
Chief of the Main Office of the Reich Security.
02.13.1945 (18 hours 23 minutes)
Sit down.
Top secret.
Personal file on Friedrich Wilhelm Kruger,
Gruppenfuhrer of the SS.
Reference on Friedrich Wilhelm Kruger,
SS Gruppenfuhrer, member of the Nazi Party since 1929.
A true Arian, devoted to the Fuhrer.
Of Nordic character, firm.
Equable and sociable with friends.
Merciless towards the Reich's enemies.
A good family man. No discrediting liaisons.
In work proved to be an indispensable expert at his job.
Do you have any excuse,
an objective enough excuse, which the Fuhrer would've believed?
In fact, you, and only you, Kruger,
were responsible for the punitive operation in Cracow.
Here, see the reports
about how Cracow was not blown up.
And after you read them, answer me.
No.
I have no excuses.
And there can be no excuses.
I'm a soldier, war is war.
I don't expect any allowances made for me.
This failure should be analyzed, not to be repeated again.
Obergruppenfuhrer, I know my guilt is immense.
But I would like you to hear what Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz has to say.
He was fully informed about the operation and he can confirm
that everything had been prepared with utmost thoroughness and care.
What does Stirlitz has to do with the operation?
He's from Schellenberg's intelligence,
he dealt with different matters in Cracow.
Yes, I know.
He was on the Runge case, concerning the missing V-2 missile.
But I considered it my duty
to inform him of the details of our operation,
believing that on his return
he will report to the Reichsfuhrer or to you how we prepared the operation.
I was waiting for further instructions from you,
but never received them.
Was Stirlitz among the persons
to be familiarized with this operation?
I don't know that.
Please check
if Stirlitz from the 6th Dept. Was included in the list of
the persons cleared for the operation on the destruction of Cracow.
Obergruppenfuhrer, I am...
the only one to blame,
and I would be greatly distressed if you punished Stirlitz.
I deeply respect him as a devoted fighter.
I can redeem my guilt only with blood on the battlefield.
And who will fight the enemy here?
I? Alone?
It's too easy to die for the Fatherland and our Fuhrer at the frontline.
It is much more difficult to work here, under bombardment,
wiping filth out.
Just bravery isn't enough here, it takes brains, Kruger,
a lot of brains.
Find out, please,
had Stirlitz seen any of the superior officers on his return from Cracow.
If he had, who was it.
And what exactly was the subject of the conversation.
I've already made inquiries. He hasn't reported to anyone.
On his arrival, Stirlitz immediately got down
to selecting persons suitable for infiltrating the Southern group.
Thank you. You may go.
Take a rest today.
And tomorrow write in detail everything about the operation.
Then we'll think where to send you for work.
We have few people and a lot of work, a great deal of work, Kruger.
Hail!
Bring me all Stirlitz's files for the last year or two.
But make sure that Schellenberg doesn't know about it, we don't want any panic.
Stirlitz is a valuable operative and a brave man,
we shouldn't cast a shadow of suspicion on him.
And prepare an order on Kruger.
We'll send him to work as Deputy Chief of the Prague Gestapo.
Call for the car. In 20 minutes I have to be at the crematorium.
Yes, sir.
02.13.1945 (18 hours 30 minutes)
This is Budapest.
Today, February the 13th,
after many days of bloody fighting,
having shattered the fierce resistance of Hitler's troops,
the Soviet Army liberated
the capital of Hungary from fascist oppression.
The armies of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, assisted by the 3rd Ukrainian Front,
have completed the defeat of an enemy encircled grouping in Budapest
and got full control of Hungary's capital.
In the course of February 11-12 fighting in the city's western part,
by preliminary estimations, over 30 thousand
enemy soldiers and officers have been taken prisoner.
The soldiers-liberators had been welcomed by the citizens of Warsaw,
Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade, Vienna,
which were liberated due to the heroism of the Soviet soldier.
Today they are welcomed by the citizens of Budapest.
The Soviet tanks have entered the territory of Germany.
The armies of the 1st Belarusian Front under command of Marshal Zhukov,
having broken the enemy defenses, came out to the Oder,
the last water barrier on their way to the capital of Hitler's Germany.
The storming of the nazi stronghold has begun.
Stirlitz arrived home when dusk began to descend.
He loved that time of the year. There was almost no snow.
In the morning the tall pine-tree tops were lit by the sun,
and it felt like summer already.
Here, in Babelsberg, very close to Potsdam,
he lived alone in his cottage.
By some strange coincidence, Babelsberg
has remained but not touched by bombardment.
Only the cannonade was heard here, which was more audible with each day.
There were few people left here, just like in Berlin.
People went to the mountain villages, fleeing from the air raids.
- Good evening, Mister Stirlitz. - Good evening.
You can go home for tonight.
Thank you. Here's your mail. I'll prepare your supper and leave.
All right.
- What time is it? - About seven, Mister Stirlitz.
- And more exactly? - Quarter to seven.
All right.
"Lucky girl, she can afford those 'about seven"', -
Stirlitz thought to himself.
"The happiest people on earth are those
who can be so casual about time,
without thinking of the consequences."
Moscow speaking, "North-1" calling "Taiga-5".
Calling "Taiga-5", "Taiga-5".
Informing geological groups 12, 16, 21
of the results of the analysis of batches
sent January 1, 3 and 7 of this year, respectively.
38, 977, 35, 610,
97, 653...
It was a coded message for him.
He's been waiting for it for 6 days already.
He received such coded messages once a month.
There were plenty of numbers.
The announcer recited them in her habitual dry and precise manner.
To her those numbers were just digits.
21st, a special attention to be paid to the lower Jurassic deposits
in Quadrant AC-5
in the area of Mound 2569.
When packing rock samples please keep to our standards.
Congratulations to Nikolayev on the birth of his son.
Weight - 3.5 kg, height - 49.
Over. Will repeat in an hour.
The instruction received by Stirlitz over Moscow Radio read as follows:
Center to Yustas.
According to our information, some high-ranking officers
of the SD and SS Security have been appearing in Sweden and Switzerland
trying to make contact with the aids of Allen Dulles.
You must find out if those attempts at contact are:
1. misinformation,
2. personal initiative of high-ranking SD and SS officers,
3. execution of the Center's order.
In case these SD and SS officers
were acting on orders from Berlin,
it is necessary to find out who sent them on that mission.
Who of the Reich's leaders in particular
is seeking contacts with the West.
Alex.
Alex was the chief of Soviet intelligence.
And Yustas was
he, Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz,
known in Moscow as Colonel Maksim Maksimovich Isayev
only to the highest officials.
Don't ever think of seconds haughtily.
The time will come you'll know this self-evidence:
Like whistling bullets by your head they flee,
Those moment, those moments, those moments.
Each moment has a reason of its own,
lts own bells, its own notability,
Distributing to some shameful renown,
To some only infamy, to others - immortality.
Of tiny moments even the rain is made.
The water pours from heaven in a torrent,
And it may take a half-life just to wait
For it to come, your one and only moment.
It comes like a gulp of water in the prime
Of a scorching summer, comes like an atonement.
But don't forget your duty at any time,
From the very first to the very last moment.
Don't ever think of seconds haughtily.
The time will come you'll know this self-evidence:
Like whistling bullets by your head they flee,
Those moments, those moments, those moments.
Those moments...
End of Part One