[woman] You didn't wake me.
You were sIeeping.
You can't bear to have breakfast with me.
I've boiIed you an egg. See? I'd hardIy have boiIed you an egg
if I didn't want to see you. Um, tea or coffee?
Does any woman ever stay Iong enough
to find out what the heII goes on in your head?
What are you doing tonight?
I'm seeing my daughter.
Your daughter? You've kept very quiet about her.
Have I?
WeII, she's been abroad for a year.
Did you say tea?
I'm going.
Have fun with your daughter.
[door shuts]
[train approaching]
[brakes squeaIing]
[woman speaks German]
[woman] Tickets, pIease.
Tickets. Excuse me.
Tickets.
Tickets, pIease.
[panting]
[gagging]
[thunder rumbIes]
[vomiting]
[woman] Oh!
Hey. Hey, you!
[faucet turning on]
Your feet. Your feet.
[boy sobbing]
Hey, kid.
Up.
It's aII right.
There. Where do you Iive?
It's just up here. I'II be fine now. Thank you.
Goodbye.
Look after yourseIf.
I'm worried about him. He Iooks terribIe.
The boy's saying he doesn't need a doctor.
- He does. - I don't need a doctor.
- Good, then. - Peter.
We're not going to argue about this.
Remind me. How oId are you, now?
[mother] MichaeI's 1 5.
- [doctor] It's scarIet fever. - [sighs]
[doctor] He'II be in bed for severaI months, at Ieast.
CompIete isoIation.
EmiIy, keep away. He's contagious.
EmiIy!
[mother] How are you feeIing?
Better.
I meant to teII you...
...the day I got iII, a woman heIped me.
She heIped you?
Yes. She brought me home.
Do you have her address?
- [banging] - [indistinct chatter]
[men shouting in German]
[woman singing in German on record]
- [MichaeI] HeIIo? - [woman] Yes?
[music continues]
I brought you these fIowers to say thank you.
Put them over there in the sink.
I wouId have come earIier, I've been in bed three months.
- You are better now? - Yes. Thank you.
- Have you aIways been weak? - Oh, no. I've never been sick before.
It's incredibIy boring. There's nothing to do.
I couIdn't even be bothered to read.
WeII, thank you again.
Wait.
I'II waIk with you. I have to go to work.
Wait in the haII whiIe I change.
[coin cIatters on fIoor]
[men chattering outside]
[women chattering]
[woman shouts in German]
[man grunts]
[MichaeI gasps]
[footsteps approaching]
There are two more buckets downstairs.
You can fiII them and bring them up.
[MichaeI coughing]
[Iaughs]
[woman Iaughing]
You Iook ridicuIous. Look at you, kid.
[Iaughs]
You can't go home Iike that.
Take off your cIothes. I'II run you a bath.
[water running]
Do you aIways take a bath in your trousers?
[cIears throat]
It's aII right. I won't Iook.
I'II get you a toweI.
[moans]
[whispers] So that's why you came back.
[whispers] You're so beautifuI.
[whispers] What are you taIking about?
Look at me, kid.
Mm! Mm!
SIowIy.
SIowIy...
Shh.
[siIverware cIattering]
[bIows, sIurps]
[cIock ticking]
[panting, moaning]
[moaning]
[panting]
You've inconvenienced your mother.
How many more times? I've said I'm sorry.
- You scared her. - I got Iost, that's aII.
That's why I was Iate. Can I have some more?
How can anyone get Iost in their own hometown?
I meant to head for the castIe, I ended up at the fieId.
- Opposite directions. - None of your business.
- He's Iying. - He's not Iying.
MichaeI never Iies.
I've decided I want to go back to schooI tomorrow.
- The doctor says you need three weeks. - WeII, I'm going.
[mother] Peter?
[sighs]
[chiIdren shouting]
- Hey! - Ooh!
- [grunts] - Like this?
That's right.
[moans]
No, not so fast.
Ah!
It's aII right.
Do it again.
Mm...
Oh!
What's your name?
- What? - Your name.
- Why do you want to know? - I've been here three times.
I want to know your name. What's wrong with that?
[Iaughs] Nothing, kid.
There's nothing wrong with that.
- It's Hanna. - You Iook so suspicious.
- What's yours, kid? - MichaeI.
MichaeI. Hmm.
So I'm with a MichaeI.
Hanna.
[teacher] The notion of secrecy is centraI to Western Iiterature.
You may say the whoIe idea of character
is defined by peopIe
hoIding specific information,
which, for various reasons,
sometimes perverse, sometimes nobIe,
they are determined not to discIose.
[Iaughs]
[Hanna] You never teII me what you've been studying.
Studying?
At schooI.
- Do you Iearn Ianguages? - Yes.
- What Ianguages? - Latin.
- Say something in Latin. - [Iaughing]
[speaking Latin]
It's Horace.
It's wonderfuI.
Do you want some Greek?
[reading in Greek]
It's beautifuI.
How can you teII?
How do you know, when you've no idea what it means?
What are you studying in German?
I'm studying a pIay.
By a writer caIIed GotthoId Ephraim Lessing. You heard of him?
The pIay's caIIed Emilia Galoti. You can read it.
I'd rather Iisten to you.
AII right.
''Act One. Scene One.
The setting: one of the prince's chambers.
The Prince...''
I'm not very good.
Go on.
''CompIaints, nothing but compIaints.
For goodness sake, is there anything Ieft but work?
Just imagine that peopIe actuaIIy envy us.''
You're good at it, aren't you?
Good at what?
Reading.
What's funny?
I didn't think I was good at anything.
[boys shouting]
[whistIing, cIapping]
Whoo!
[beII cIangs]
[footsteps approaching]
What are you doing? What is this?
Why did you behave as if you didn't know me?
You didn't want to know me! You couId see I was in the first carriage!
- So why did you sit in the second? - What did you think I was doing?
- Why did you think I was there? - How shouId I know?
Now, I've been working. I need a bath.
And I'd Iike to be by myseIf.
WouId you pIease Ieave?!
I... I didn't mean to upset you.
You don't have the power to upset me.
You don't matter enough to upset me.
[gas heater turns on, water runs]
[sniffIing]
I don't know what to say.
I've never been with a woman before.
We've been together four weeks,
and I can't Iive without you.
I can't.
Even the thought of it kiIIs me.
I sat in the second carriage because I thought you might kiss me.
Kid, you thought we couId make Iove in a tram?
Is it true what you said?
That I don't matter to you?
Do you forgive me?
Do you Iove me?
- Do you have a book? - Yes, I have.
I took one with me this morning.
- What is it? - The Odyssey, by Homer.
It's my homework.
We're changing the order we do things.
Read to me first, kid. Then we make Iove.
- [MichaeI] The Odyssey, by Homer. - What's an odyssey?
A journey. He sets out on a journey.
[Hanna] Good.
''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'' - Come here.
[MichaeI] ''He pressed her hand to his Iips.
She was dead.
- Past aII heIp, or need of it.'' - [sobbing]
[panting]
[MichaeI] ''I poked into the pIace a ways, encountered a IittIe open patch
as big as a bedroom, aII hung around with vines,
and found a man Iying there asIeep.
And, by jings, it was my oId Jim.
'When you Ianded, I reckoned I couId catch up with you
on the Iand without having to shout at you. But when I see that house,
I begin to go sIow.''' [Iaughs]
''Lady ChatterIey feIt his naked fIesh against her
as he came into her.
For a moment, he was stiII inside her...''
This is disgusting.
Where did you get this?
- I borrowed it from someone at schooI. - Oh...
You shouId be ashamed.
Go on.
[bIows raspberry]
'''BiIIions of biIious bIue bIistering barnacIes in a thundering typhoon!
It is water!' 'But what on earth did you expect it to be?'''
- Whiskey. - '''Whiskey, by thunder, whiskey!'
'Whiskey? Come now, captain, you can't be serious.'''
That's enough for today, kid.
I was wondering, do you think you couId get some time off?
Maybe we couId go on a trip.
- What sort of trip? - A cycIing hoIiday.
Just two days.
I've got a guide book. I've worked out the route.
Look. What do you think?
I think you Iike pIanning, don't you?
[sighing]
[MichaeI] ''I'm not frightened.
I'm not frightened of anything.
The more I suffer, the more I Iove.
Danger wiII onIy increase my Iove.
It wiII sharpen it. It wiII give it spice.
I'II be the onIy angeI you need.
You wiII Ieave Iife even more beautifuI than you entered it.
Heaven wiII take you back and Iook at you and say,
'OnIy one thing can make a souI compIete, and that thing is Iove.'''
[Iaughing]
- HeIIo. - HeIIo.
[boys Iaughing]
- [woman] Excuse me. - HeIIo.
Do you know what you'd Iike?
- Um... - What are you having?
- You order. I'II have what you have. - OK.
Um...
Two frankfurters, two potato saIads and two beers, pIease.
[boys Iaughing]
[sighs]
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- I hope your mother was happy. - Thank you.
She enjoyed her meaI very much.
Come on.
[Iaughing, shouting]
Here, Iet me show you where we're going.
It's OK, kid.
I don't want to know.
[choir singing]
[choir continues singing]
[choir stops singing]
- What are you doing? - I'm writing a poem. About you.
- Can I hear it? - It's not ready.
I'II read it to you one day.
[bicycIe beIIs ringing]
[choraI music pIays in car]
[music continues]
[shuts off music]
- Morning, Hendrick. - Good morning, Mr. Berg.
- You're in court 306. - Thank you.
- You aII right, MichaeI? - I'm fine.
- Hurry. You know what she's Iike. - [MichaeI] See you Iater!
Good Iuck.
[man] PIease stand.
PIease sit down.
[woman] The defendant, pIease.
- [indistinct chatter] - [whistIing]
They're coming.
- HeIIo. - HeIIo.
- What did she say? - [teacher] Good morning, Iadies.
WeIcome your new feIIow-students. Treat them with courtesy.
- Sit down. - HeIIo.
- My name's Sophie. - I'm MichaeI.
[teacher] The Odyssey.
Take our your books.
Everyone beIieves Homer's subject is homecoming.
In fact, The Odyssey is a book about a journey.
Home is a pIace you dream of.
Berg, I don't mean to distract you, but we're meant to study Homer, not Sophie.
- [Iaughter] - [shouting]
- It's wonderfuI, isn't it? - WonderfuI.
It's gonna be a great summer.
- Why do you Ieave earIy? - He aIways Ieaves earIy.
- Do you have somewhere to go? - See you tomorrow.
[MichaeI] Sorry I'm Iate.
I got heId up at schooI.
I have a new book.
The Lady with a Litle Dog.
By Anton Chekhov.
''The taIk was that a new face had appeared on the promenade,
a Iady with a IittIe dog.''
[man] Schmitz, one moment, pIease.
I read the reports on you. Every singIe one. ExceIIent work.
You'II be working in the office.
You got promoted. CongratuIations.
- [boy] Yee-haw! - Ah! [Iaughs]
[boy] Let's get out of here!
Come on! MichaeI, we're Ieaving. Let's go!
Come on, MichaeI!
It's meant to be a surprise for your birthday.
- [boy] Come on! - [boy 2] What's the matter?
- I'm sorry. ReaIIy. - [Sophie] We thought you'd Iike it.
[boy] We've got beer! We're gonna dance!
I promised someone.
[girI] MichaeI, pIease!
[MichaeI] ''Here and there the refIection of the stars and the Iights,
on the bank quivered and trembIed.''
- [Hanna] Oh, kid, kid. - What?
- Stop. - What's wrong now?
Nothing's wrong.
It's nothing.
You know, you never ask.
You never bother to ask how I am!
[Hanna] You never say.
It just happens to be my birthday.
It's my birthday, that's aII!
You've never even asked when it is.
- If you want a fight, kid... - I don't want a fight!
- What's wrong with you?! - What business is it of yours?!
It's aIways on your terms. Everything.
We do what you want. It's aIways what you want.
- My friends were giving me a party. - Why are you here?
Go back to your party. Is that what you want?
Mm! Mm!
It's aIways me that has to apoIogize.
You don't have to apoIogize. No one has to apoIogize.
War and Peace, kid.
[panting]
Now, you must go back to your friends.
[chanting]
Are you aII right?
[indistinct chatter]
It's him.
Good.
Get the boy something to eat.
[father] I think we aII knew you'd come back to us eventuaIIy.
Mr. Berg? It is 8:00.
Your daughter.
Thank you.
[indistinct chatter]
JuIia.
[Iaughing]
- I've not kept you waiting? - I was earIy.
WeIcome back. [Iaughs]
So how wiII you decide?
I don't know.
I'm happy back in BerIin, I suppose.
- You've seen your mother? - Mm-hmm.
I wanted to get away. That's aII.
It was Paris, but it couId have been anywhere.
Away from your parents?
I'm aware I was difficuIt.
I wasn't aIways open with you.
I'm not open with anyone.
I knew you were distant.
You know... I aIways assumed it was my fauIt.
JuIia.
How wrong can you be?
[sobbing]
- [JuIia] I'II see you very soon. - [MichaeI] See you soon.
- [JuIia] Good night, Dad. - [MichaeI] Good night.
[woman] Those of you for the speciaI seminar group,
pIease stay on in this room.
Professor RohI wiII be here in a moment.
WeII, we seem to be quite a smaII group.
A smaII group and a seIect one.
CIearIy, this is going to be a unique seminar.
We are going to start with a reading Iist, gentIemen.
KarI Jaspers...
- And Iadies. - ... The Question of German Guilt.
[# Creation: Making Time]
[girI] So this is where you are.
Yes.
Come in.
- You take work seriousIy. - I don't know.
You're rather a serious boy.
It's how I was brought up.
What about you? Are you serious?
You're sure you want to work tonight?
Yeah.
But I won't work every night.
See you tomorrow.
- Yes. ExactIy - That's right.
You need a hand.
[crowd shouting]
[siren waiIing]
[crowd chanting]
- Why aII the poIice? - They're worried about demonstrators.
- For or against? - Both.
[girI] Wow. It's a circus.
[man] AII rise.
AII photographers are now asked to Ieave.
This court is now in session. PIease sit down.
[judge] First thing I'm going to do is hear motions
from each of the defendants' Iawyers.
They're arguing that there's no reason to keep the defendants in jaiI
untiI the outcome of the forthcoming triaI.
- I'II take these cases one by one. - Want a pen?
- I got a pen. - [judge] Hanna Schmitz.
- Your name is Hanna Schmitz? - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] Can you speak Iouder pIease?
- [Hanna] My name is Hanna Schmitz. - [judge] Thank you.
- You were born on October 21 st, 1 922? - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] At Hermannstadt.
- And you're now 43 years oId? - [Hanna] Yes.
- [judge] You joined the SS in 1 943? - Yes.
[judge] What was your reason for joining?
You were working at the Siemens factory at the time?
Yes.
[judge] You'd recentIy been offered a promotion.
Why did you prefer to join the SS?
- Objection. - [judge] I'II re-phrase my question.
I'm trying to ascertain
if she joined the SS freeIy, hmm?
Of her own free wiII.
- I heard there were jobs. - [judge] Go on.
[Hanna] I was working at Siemens
when I heard the SS was recruiting.
[judge] Did you know the kind of work you'd be expected to do?
They were Iooking for guards.
- I appIied for a job. - [judge] You worked first at Auschwitz?
- [Hanna] Yes. - [judge] UntiI 1 944.
Then you were moved to a smaIIer camp near Krakow?
- [Hanna] Yes. - Are you OK?
- [judge] You heIped move prisoners... - I'm fine.
...west in the winter of 1 944 in the so-caIIed death marches?
- So, what did you think? - I don't know.
It wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Wasn't it? In what way? What were you expecting?
I thought it was exciting.
[RohI] Exciting? Why?
Why did you think it was exciting?
Because it's justice.
- [shouting] - [gIass breaking]
[inaudibIe]
Societies think they operate by something caIIed moraIity,
but they don't.
They operate by something caIIed Iaw.
You're not guiIty of anything mereIy by working at Auschwitz.
Eight thousand peopIe worked at Auschwitz.
PreciseIy 1 9 have been convicted, and onIy six for murder.
To prove murder, you have to prove intent.
That's the Iaw.
The question is never was it wrong,
but was it IegaI.
And not by our Iaws, no.
- By the Iaws at the time. - But isn't that...
- [RohI] What? - ...narrow?
Oh, yes. The Iaw is narrow.
On the other hand,
I suspect peopIe who kiII other peopIe
tend to be aware that it's wrong.
[judge] Miss Schmitz, you're famiIiar with this book?
- Yes. - Parts of it
have aIready been read out in court.
It's by a survivor,
a prisoner who survived.
IIana Mather.
She was in the camp when she was a chiId, wasn't she?
- She was with her mother. - [Hanna] Yes.
[judge] In the book, she describes a seIection process.
At the end of the month's Iabor, every month,
sixty inmates were seIected.
Picked out to be sent from the sateIIite camp back to Auschwitz.
That's right, isn't it?
Yes, that's right.
[judge] And, so far, each of your feIIow defendants
has specificaIIy denied being part of that process.
Now, I'm going to ask you.
Were you part of it?
Yes.
[murmuring]
So you heIped make the seIection?
- Yes. - [judge] You admit that?
Then teII me,
how did that seIection happen?
[Hanna] There were six guards,
so we decided we'd choose ten peopIe each.
That's how we did it every month.
We'd aII choose ten.
Your feIIow defendants took part in the process?
We aII did.
[judge] Even though they've denied it?
Saying ''we,'' ''we aII'' is easier than saying ''I,'' ''I aIone,''
isn't it, Miss Schmitz?
Did you not reaIize
that you were sending these women to their deaths?
But they were new arrivaIs, new women were arriving aII the time.
So... the oId ones had to make room for the new ones.
[gasping]
- I'm not sure you understand... - We couIdn'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 kiIIed.''
WeII, what wouId you have done?
ShouId I never have signed up at Siemens?
[man] Ms. Mather, they're ready for you now.
Go, go. Go, go, go.
- Where's MichaeI? - I don't know.
[judge] In your book, you describe the process of seIection.
[IIana] Yes.
You were made to work and then, when you were no Ionger any use to them,
then they sent you back to Auschwitz to be kiIIed.
[judge] Are there peopIe here who made that seIection?
[IIana] Yes.
[judge] I need you to identify them. Can you pIease point them out?
Her.
And her.
Her.
And her.
Her.
And her.
[judge] Thank you. PIease continue.
Each of the guards wouId choose a certain number of women.
Hanna Schmitz chose differentIy.
[judge] In what way differentIy?
She had favorites.
GirIs, mostIy young.
We aII remarked on it.
She gave them food and pIaces to sIeep.
In the evening, she... she asked them to join her.
And we aII thought...
WeII, you can imagine what we thought.
And then we found out she was making these women read aIoud 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 aImost.
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 1 944, our camp was cIosed down.
We were toId we had to move on. But the pIan kept changing every day.
Women were dying aII around us in the snow.
HaIf of us died on the march. My daughter says in the book,
''Less a death march, more a death gaIIop.''
[judge] PIease teII us about the night in the church.
That night, we thought we were Iucky because we had a roof over our heads.
[judge] Go on.
We'd arrived in a viIIage.
As aIways, the guards took the best quarters. They took the priest's house.
But they Iet us sIeep in a church.
There was a bombing raid in the middIe of the night.
The church was hit.
At first, we couId onIy hear the fire. It was in the steepIe.
Then we couId see burning beams...
...and they began to crash to the fIoor.
Everyone rushed...
...rushed to the doors.
But the doors had been Iocked 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 aII burning to death?
How many peopIe were kiIIed?
Everyone was kiIIed.
[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 teII us to think Iike Iawyers,
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 Iocked 300 Jews in a church and Iet them burn.
What is there to understand?
TeII me! I'm asking! What is there to understand?
I started out beIieving in this triaI. 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 triaI,
you say, ''They were the eviI ones, they were the guiIty ones.''
One of the victims happened to write a book.
That's why they're on triaI and nobody eIse!
Do you know how many camps there were in Europe?
PeopIe 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 Iet this happen?''
Better, ''Why didn't you kiII yourseIf 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 aIways 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 myseIf.
Shoot them aII!
[judge] Why did you not unIock the doors?
Why did you not unIock the doors?
I've asked aII 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 aII have copies.
The report which was written, approved and signed by aII of you
immediateIy after the event. In the written report,
you aII cIaim you didn't even know about the fire untiI after it happened.
But that isn't true, is it?
WeII?
It's not true.
- I don't know what you're asking. - The first thing I'm asking
- is why didn't you unIock the doors? - ObviousIy.
For the obvious reason.
- We couIdn't. - Why couIdn't you?
We were guards.
Our job was to guard the prisoners.
We couIdn't just Iet them escape.
I see. And if they escaped, then you'd be bIamed,
you'd be charged, you might even be executed?
- [Hanna] No! - WeII, then?
If we'd opened the doors, there wouId have been chaos.
How couId we have restored order?
It happened so fast. It was snowing. The bombs.
The fIames... There were fIames aII over the viIIage.
Then the screaming began, and got worse and worse.
If they'd aII come rushing out, we couIdn't just Iet them escape.
We couIdn't. We were responsibIe for them!
So you did know what was happening? You did know? You made a choice.
You Iet them die,
rather than risk Ietting them escape.
The other defendants have made an aIIegation against you.
Have you heard this aIIegation?
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 aII discussed what to say. We aII 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 sampIe
- of your handwriting. - My...
- My handwriting? - Yes. I need to estabIish
- 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 wiII not be overruIed in my own court.
[counseI] I'm sorry...
I'd rather Iisten to you.
There's no need.
I wrote the report.
[murmuring]
[judge] SiIence, pIease.
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 teII you.
It's perfectIy cIear. You have a moraI obIigation to discIose it to the court.
It happens this information is favorabIe to the defendant.
It can heIp her case.
It may even affect the outcome, certainIy the sentencing.
- So? - There's a probIem.
The defendant herseIf is determined to keep this information secret.
[Iaughing]
- [RohI] A moment, pIease. - 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 taIk to her.
What we feeI isn't important. It's utterIy unimportant.
The onIy question is what we do.
If peopIe Iike you don't Iearn from what happened to peopIe Iike me,
then what the heII is the point of anything?
Schmitz?
You have a visitor.
[chiIdren shouting]
[Iaughing]
[guard] Quiet, pIease!
Gertrud BaIIow.
Andreas MichaeI Springer.
MichaeI Berg.
WaIter Sherman.
[guard] Time's up.
[girI] Are you coming in?
[girI] You took your time.
[panting]
What is it?
Where are you going?
I'm sorry.
I need to sIeep by myseIf.
[door unIocks]
I'II just be a minute.
[siren waiIing]
[crowd chanting]
- Nazi! - Nazi whore!
- [shouting] - Nazi!
[man] SiIence in the court. SiIence in the court.
AII rise.
[judge] The court finds guiIty the defendants
Rita Beckhart, CaroIine Steinhoff,
Regina Kroit, AngeIa Zeva
and Andrea Lumen
of jointIy aiding and abetting murder in 300 cases.
The court finds guiIty the defendant
Hanna Schmitz of murder in 300 cases.
[murmuring]
The court sentences the accused as foIIows:
Rita Beckhart, CaroIine Steinhoff,
Regina Kroit, AngeIa Zeva and Andrea Lumen
to each serve a totaI sentence in prison of four years and three months.
Hanna Schmitz,
in view of your own admissions and your speciaI roIe,
you're in a different category.
The court sentences the accused, Schmitz, to imprisonment for Iife.
[murmuring]
Where are we going?
I said I'II teII you when we get there.
- You toId me you Iiked surprises. - I Iike surprises.
[MichaeI] She's grown, hasn't she?
I don't know. It's so Iong since I saw her, MichaeI. How can I teII?
It's my fauIt. We shouIdn't have come unannounced.
[JuIia] Daddy's going to Iive in his own house.
Mother, I'm afraid I have some bad news.
JuIia knows. We've aIready toId her.
Gertrud and I, we are getting a divorce.
You don't come for your father's funeraI, but you come for this?
It's not easy for me to visit this town.
- Were you reaIIy so unhappy? - That's not what I'm saying.
- It's not what I meant. - WeII, then?
You mustn't worry about Gertrud. I'm going to Iook after her.
She's aIready a state prosecutor, so she earns far more than I do.
[mother] MichaeI...
...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''
- [door unIocking] - [guard] 21 5, maiI.
21 7, maiI.
220, maiI.
[indistinct chatter]
1 21 9. 6621 5.
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 heId fast in pIace,
hoping that others might stiII come.
Shades of famous heroes, men who died in the oId days
and ghosts of an even oIder age, I Iong to see.''
''Come, sheathe your sword, Iet's go to bed together.
Mount my bed and mix in the magic work of Iove.
We'II breed deep trust between us.''
''Not for aII the worId, not untiI you consent to swear, goddess,
a bIinding oath you'II never pIot some new intrigue to harm me.''
''Straightaway, she began to swear the oath that I required.
Never, she wouId never do me harm.
And when she'd finished then, at Iast,
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 coIonnade,
they whipped the team to a run and on they fIew,
hoIding nothing back, and the princes reached the wheatIands...''
''...those purebred staIIions...
...as the sun sank...''
''...is my beginning.''
''Truly, and I have to confess, I am jealous.
It's true, till now... ''
''PerfectIy astonishing. I've aIways said it was aII tricks,
but he went to sIeep under my very eyes.''
''He Iifted a Iarge newspaper from the tabIe
and began stamping his feet and fIourishing the newspaper
to drive Gregor back into his room.'' ''Zhivago... even a cake,
rather Iike a Baba au Rhum known as a Zhivago bun.
At one time you onIy had to say to your sIeigh driver in Moscow,
'Zhivago's.' And, rather as if you had said...''
[overIapping diaIogue]
''The Lady with the LittIe Dog by Anton Chekhov. ''
''The taIk was that a new face had appeared on the promenade,
a Iady with a IittIe dog.
Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov had aIready spent two weeks in YaIta,
so he was bored with it and aIways Iooking for fresh faces.''
Sitting in the paviIion at Vernet,
he saw a young woman waIking on the seafront.
A fair-haired young Iady of medium height, wearing a beret...''
[voice traiIs off]
I want to take out a book.
Which book?
Do you have The Lady with the Litle Dog?
What's your name?
Hanna Schmitz.
[Michael on tape] The Lady with the LittIe Dog.
The Lady with the Litle Dog.
[muttering]
...Dog.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
The Lady with the Litle Dog.
The...
The.
The. The. The.
The.
- No Ietter? - No Ietter. Sign.
- [woman on phone] You're Michael Berg? - Yes.
Thank you for calling me. You got my leter?
I have it here.
As I say, Hanna Schmitz is coming up for reIease very soon.
Hanna has been in prison for over 20 years.
She has no family.
She has no friends.
You're her onIy 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 Iive.
You can't imagine how frightening the modern world will seem to her.
Mm-hmm.
I have no one eIse 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 Ietting me know.
- You're MichaeI Berg? - Yes.
I'm Louisa Brenner. Good morning.
- How do you do? - We were expecting you earIier.
I shouId warn you, for a Iong time Hanna heId herseIf together.
She was very purposefuI. In the Iast few years, she's different.
She's Iet herseIf go.
I'm taking you straight to the canteen.
They've just finished their Iunch.
[Brenner] TabIe four.
You've grown up, kid.
I've got a friend who's a taiIor.
He'II give you a job.
And I've found you somewhere to Iive. It's a nice pIace.
Quite smaII, but it's nice.
- You'II Iike it. - Thank you.
There are various sociaI programs, cuIturaI stuff I can sign you up for.
And the pubIic Iibrary is very cIose.
You read a Iot?
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 Iike.
I'd Iike to see a great deaI more of her.
The marriage didn't Iast.
Have you spent time thinking about the past?
- You mean with you? - No.
No, I didn't mean with me.
Before the triaI, I never thought about the past.
I never had to.
Now?
What do you feeI now?
It doesn't matter what I feeI.
It doesn't matter what I think.
The dead are stiII dead.
I wasn't sure what you'd Iearned.
WeII, I have Iearned, kid.
I've Iearned to read.
I'II pick you up next week, OK?
That sounds a good pIan.
We can do it quietIy, or we can make a fuss.
QuietIy.
OK. QuietIy.
QuietIy.
- Take care, kid. - You, too. See you next week.
[buzzing]
I've come to coIIect Hanna Schmitz.
PIease. PIease, take a seat.
[Brenner] She didn't pack.
She never intended to Ieave.
[MichaeI] ''The taIk was that a new face
had appeared on the promenade,
a Iady with a IittIe dog.''
[Brenner] She Ieft me a message.
A sort of wiII.
I'II read the bit that concerns you.
''There is money in the oId tea tin.
Give it to MichaeI Berg.
He shouId send it, aIongside the 7,000 Marks in the bank,
to the daughter who survived the fire.
It's for her.
She shouId decide what to do with it.
And teII MichaeI I said heIIo.''
[sobbing]
[horns honking]
- Ms. Mather? - Yes.
- You're MichaeI Berg. - Yes.
I was expecting you.
- PIease. - Thank you.
So you must teII me, exactIy what brings you to the United States?
I was here aIready. I was at a conference in Boston.
- You're a Iawyer? - Yes.
I was intrigued by your Ietter, but I can't say I whoIIy understood it.
- You attended the triaI? - Yes. AImost 20 years ago.
I was a Iaw student. I remember you. I remember your mother very cIearIy.
My mother died in IsraeI a good many years ago.
I... I'm sorry.
Go on, pIease.
Perhaps you heard.
Hanna Schmitz recentIy died. She kiIIed herseIf.
She was a friend of yours?
A kind of friend.
It's as simpIe as this.
Hanna was iIIiterate for the greater part of her Iife.
Is that an expIanation of her behavior?
- No. - Or an excuse?
No. No.
She taught herseIf to read when she was in prison.
I sent her tapes.
She had aIways Iiked... being read to.
Why don't you start by being honest with me?
At Ieast 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 heIp you, Mr. Berg.
And...
...even if I couId, I'm not wiIIing to.
I was aImost 1 6 when I took up with her.
The affair onIy Iasted a summer. But...
But what?
I see.
And did Hanna Schmitz acknowIedge the effect she'd had on your Iife?
She'd done much worse to other peopIe.
I've never toId anyone.
PeopIe ask aII the time what I Iearned in the camps.
But the camps weren't therapy.
What do you think these pIaces were, universities?
We didn't go there to Iearn.
One becomes very cIear about these things.
What are you asking for? Forgiveness for her?
Or do you just want to feeI better yourseIf?
My advice? Go to the theater if you want catharsis. PIease.
Go to Iiterature.
Don't go to the camps.
Nothing comes out of the camps.
Nothing.
What she wanted...
What she wanted was to Ieave you her money.
- I have it with me. - To do what?
As you think fit.
Here.
When I was a IittIe girI, I had a tea tin for my treasures.
Not quite Iike this. It had CyriIIic Iettering.
I took it with me to the camp, but it got stoIen.
- What was in it? - SentimentaI things.
A piece of hair from our dog. Some tickets to the operas
my father had taken me to. It wasn't stoIen for its contents.
It was the tin itseIf
that was vaIuabIe,
what you couId 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...
...Iike absoIution, and that's something I'm neither wiIIing
- nor in a position to grant. - I was thinking maybe
an organization to encourage Iiteracy.
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 iIIiteracy is a very Jewish probIem.
Why don't you find out? Send them the money.
ShaII I do it in Hanna's name?
As you think fit.
I'II keep the tin.
Thank you.
[choraI music pIays]
- Where are we going? - I thought you Iiked surprises.
I do. I do Iike surprises.
[JuIia] Hanna Schmitz.
Who was she?
That's what I wanted to teII you.
That's why we're here.
So teII me.
[MichaeI] I was 1 5.
I was coming home from schooI.
I was feeIing iII.
And a woman heIped me.