Did he find at that very moment the lives of his friends to be more valuable than his own?
If so... why?
Our bodies are not our own property...
but our nation's...
our country's...
and before all, our Führer's.
And what?...
What can be a better ending for our lives,
than a heroic death?
Siegfried Gladen...
our nation thanks you and assures you that it will never forget you.
Lower!
I can't believe my own eyes!
It can always be done just a little bit better.
Don't let the tiredness get to you!
Enough!
Young men...
today we'll practice high jumps,
my favorite sport discipline.
It requires absolute body control.
The stomach muscles must be hard as a stiff board,
as they support the whole body.
If you bend at the waist, you won't achieve a thing.
Hard as a stiff board.
Who wants to try first?
Come here, boxer kid.
Hard as a stiff board. Go on.
Well? Hit me.
Fine...
Line up for the first jump!
Quite a brave act.
Will you come home with me on Sunday?
It's my father's birthday.
- Heil Hitler, master Stein. - Heil Hitler, Johan.
Albrecht, finally. Good to see you.
Friedrich? I've heard so much about you. Welcome.
- Thank's for the invitation. - No need for thanks.
- Mom, I... - Tell me later, dear.
Come. Show me your room.
Not bad.
Yup, everything was already here.
- In the whole house? - Yup.
Quick, quick, quick!
Thank you, I'm very touched.
Happy Birthday.
Good evening, father. Happy Birthday.
Thank you, Albrecht.
You've lost weight. Are you playing enough sports?
Sure, of course. Naturally.
This is Friedrich.
- You know... - Of course.
I've heard a lot about your boxing skills.
A warm welcome.
Dear Heinrich...
on behalf of your old mates we wish you the very best,
and a good start in Warthegau.
I hope you've got enough skills to clean up the local mess!
Cheers!
Dear father,
I wrote a small birthday poem for you.
Here it goes:
- "At first..." - Thank you, Albrecht, thank you very much.
I'll listen to it later.
Dear Franz...
party companions...
thank you for this great party.
Let me tell you that the task I was given fills me with great pride.
I know, that it wouldn't have been granted to me, in Berlin.
Some people simply can't understand my methods,
but in this country, it's the Führer who decides, not the bureaucrats.
Cheers! Carl, Willhelm, Franz.
- How's your combat training? - Good.
Albrecht's going to be a Waffen SS officer after school.
Ah, then tasks of strength might not be all that...
So, you're the boxer, are you?
And in perfect shape, I've heard.
Really? Then maybe you could show us some of your 'moves'?
An excellent idea!
Gentlemen...
after dinner, I invite you to the cellar, where our young elite
will show us something very special.
What a great idea.
Surprised, aren't you?
I train in my free time to keep in shape. Undress!
- Undress? - Yes, you'll show us what you've learned.
- But Albrecht doesn't... - Ahhh, every German should box.
And... box!
What's that supposed to be?
Fight honestly, you don't have to spare anyone here.
Fight honestly.
No.
Hit me!
- No. - You're to box!
Hit me, coward!
You're to fight!
Albrecht!
Don't you worry. Great punch.
Genius.
Hans, give our young people some vodlka.
Our country needs people like you.
More people like you on the Eastern front, and we can close that chapter for good!
Cheers!
- But, sir... - No refusing, Heinrich.
- Shall we, young master? - Yes, let's go.
Albrecht, listen...
Attention!
About face!
Young men...
Good news for you. Due to intensified air battles,
Wehrmacht has requested some of Napola's students.
Yesterday our whole eighth grade volunteered. They're off to terrify the enemy!
And I'm filled with pride that our second school certificate students have embraced the call,
and have not chosen to run from danger.
- Heil Hitler, young men! - Heil Hitler, sir!
Well, at least, they no longer have to be here.
How long are you going to stay mad at me?
I'm not mad.
I'm afraid.
Of what?
Friedrich....
Wake up.
What's going on?
It's your father.
Let's go! Fall in line!
Attention!
Seventh grade reporting, sir.
- Heil Hitler, young men! - Heil Hitler, sir!
At ease.
Young men, we've got a problem.
The day before yesterday, a transport with war prisoners arrived at Allenstein.
12 Russians escaped into the forests near Karlstadt.
They overpowered two guards, and stole their weapons.
Nobody knows the local area better than you do,
so I ask for your help.
If you wish to take part in this dangerous mission,
and help recapture these wild monsters,
- answer loudly "Yes, sir!" - Yes, sir!
Then, let's go!
Faster!
Take the ammo by yourself.
Live ammunition?
And what did you think?
That we were going to catch them with our bare hands? Next.
Go, go!
Get in!
Forward!
Young men... do your best, don't let them escape.
I'll award the most zealous units with a Contribution Cross myself.
Load your weapons!
Unlock them!
March off!
Halt! Don't move!
Halt!
Hands up, or I'll shoot!
I saw one there, he had something in his hands.
Oh my god, they're just children!
Bandages! Hand them to me! Hurry!
- What's he saying? - I don't know.
It won't be any help... Albrecht!
Everything's ok, calm down, everything will be fine...
He's dead.
It's high time.
Let's go!
What's happened here?
Report.
Five captives shot while trying to escape.
- Is that the last one? - Yes.
Stand back, Albrecht.
Father, no!
Don't you dare defy me in public again! Understand?
- Do you understand?! - Yes, father.
Good job, young men.
Let's go, there's more of them to recapture.
You too! Get moving and fast!
- Sir, we... - Why suddenly the "Sir"?
Yes, of course, I mean Heinrich.
Come, Albrecht.
Let's go. Move it.
- Pull yourself together! - Pull myself together?
Do you know what we've just done?
We didn't have to shoot!
I didn't give you an order!
But your father said that they were armed!
What are you staring at?
I'm not looking at you.
I know what you're thinking...
Don't look at me like that!
- Albrecht! - Stay here.
It won't do any good.
Hey Weimer, were you the one who shot him?
Hey, say something, answer my question.
I asked you something.
Are you deaf?
- Break it up! - I'll take care of it.
Take their weapons.
Are you out of your minds? This is a combat mission!
Get in.
Let's go.
You're lucky the Russians didn't abduct you.
You'll be leaving jail tomorrow.
You, that way.
Christoph?
Shut up, Hefe.
- I'd like to talk... - Shut the fuck up!
Attention!
Sit down!
Take out your notebooks, you're going to write an essay.
"Winter landscape as a background for German Knight Sagas."
You've got an hour, starting from now.
Alright, your time's up.
Christoph, come to the front and start reading.
Please.
"German landscape as a background for German Knight Sagas."
"German landscape is a very important background for Knight Sagas."
Oh, really, Christoph?
"The earliest sources prove the enormous role of winter landscape in historic..."
Enough. Take your seat.
Albrecht, come, you'll read.
Please.
Despite being a bit childish...
winter and a view of freshly fallen snow awakens in us
a feeling of inexplicable joy.
Perhaps because as children, we think of snow in relation to Christmas.
In my dreams I am the hero who saves the virgin from the dragon.
One who frees the world from evil.
When searching for the escapees yesterday,
I remembered the boy who wanted to save the world from evil."
Albrecht, enough.
"Upon returning I realized that I myself am that evil,
the very evil I wanted to free the world from."
Albrecht, enough.
"Killing the captives was wrong.
- They weren't armed, as Stein had told us, just to bait us." - Stop it.
- "We didn't shoot men, but helpless children." - Leave this instant!
How can you explain your behavior?
Do you understand the position you've put me in?
I don't think you have the slightest idea of all the privileges you have here.
Do you know how much I would have sacrificed just to be able to graduate from such a school?
But I wasn't granted such a chance,
by the age of 16, I'd already been working for 3 whole years.
And you...
All you do is to trample on everything.
But that's over now.
You're going to write an essay,
in which you'll tell the 'real' version.
And I expect you to voluntarily join the Waffen SS by yourself.
I've already talked to Borner, brigade leader.
Ukraine will suit you the best, right now.
- I can't. - What?
I won't write a new essay.
Yesterday, I wrote what I really thought.
I'm to be given that essay early tomorrow morning,
or else you won't survive this.
Alright, get out. End of jail.
- What's going on? - Haven't you heard?
Albrecht defamed his father in an essay.
What?
Albrecht!
What's happened?
I'll be 17 in one week.
My father's shipping me off to the Eastern front.
I'm to write another essay to straighten things out.
So why did you write that essay?
I couldn't have done it any other way.
What do you mean I couldn't...?
Yes, you couldn't neither...
when you punched the coach.
- That was something completely different. - Oh, really?
- You didn't help anyone by doing so! - Yes, I did.
So who'd you help? Explain it to me, I can't understand it!
I helped myself...
Oh, really? You helped yourself?
You didn't think about anyone else, did you?
He?! Say something! He?!
You fucking egoist!
That's the first essay of mine my father has ever read.
So what are you going to do now?
I don't know.
Get up! In 10 minutes I want to see everybody at the lake!
When I say "in 10 minutes"...
then you are to be at the lake in 10 minutes. Is that clear?
Okay.
You'll enter this air hole here...
then swim to the second one.
Whoever's ready goes to wash himself, then it's on to breakfast.
Christoph, you're the first.
Well, come on, it's not getting any warmer here!
Christian and Peter, go to the second air hole.
Ok, it's back to your room. Hup!
Friedrich, you're next. Come!
Albrecht, your turn.
Tjaden, next!
Albrecht. Albrecht!
Albrecht, no! No!
Too weak...
He was simply too weak...
Obituary.
Please!
Friedrich...
Good to see you up.
I'd like to have this printed in the upcoming issue.
No.
But then...
They can't yet bury him.
- You can't do that... - Amidst people who have died for the Führer,
for motherland and for the nation, there's no place for suicides.
His parents think the same way.
They've seriously asked me if I've forgiven you for the fact that you're partly responsible for his death.
Both strongly feel that their son changed greatly since meeting you.
But I defended you.
Don't worry. I know how much that Saturday fight, in the name of our school, means to you.
Strong proof of your faith in your tutors,
and your gratitude for the chance that you were given here.
Thank you. You may leave now.
How are you doing?
Friedrich, what happened back there in the forest was terrible,
and Albrecht's death is a severe loss.
But right now it's all about your life, your future.
There are scouts from various sport schools in the audience.
Use this fact well.
Is everything alright?
Make him cry!
You know the rules.
No punches below the waist. No head butting, fight fairly.
Now to your corners.
Box!
One... two...
three...
four...
Box!
Strip! Everything.
The underwear is also ours.
Dismissed.
Hurry Weimer! Get on with it!
Let's go, forward march!
Up until 1945, there were over 40 Nazi educational outposts,
with more than 15,000 students, all within the territory of the German Reich.
When the war was finally acknowledged as being lost, they were still sent out for the "Last Struggle".
Blinded by instructed fanaticism and despite being insufficiently armed,
they offered a stubborn resistance.
Half of them died...
NaPolA