By commission of State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers
on Television and Radio Broadcasting
SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING
PART 8
Starring
Stirlitz - Vyacheslav TIKHONOV
Holtoff - Konstantin ZHELDIN Mueller - Leonid BRONEVOY
Kathe - Yekaterina GRADOVA Barbara - Olga SOSHNIKOVA
Pastor Schlagg - Rostislav PLYATT
Allen Dulles Vyacheslav SHALEVICH
Gewernitz - Valentin GAFT Guesmann - Alexei EIBOZHENKO
General Wolf - Vassily LANOVOY
Dolman - Yan YANAKIYEV Scholz - Lavrenti MASOHA
Narrator Yefim KOPELYAN
Don't put on the light.
How did you get in here and why can't I put on the light?
- And who are you scared of? - Not you.
Then, let's grope our way.
Watch out, there's an armchair here.
I already feel comfortable in your house. It's cozy and quiet in here.
Especially, during air-raids. Sit down.
My back hurts so badly. Must've been sitting in a draught.
I need to take an aspirin.
But I might take a laxative instead of an aspirin in the dark.
Let's pull down the curtains, they are very thick, and light the fire.
I tried to pull down your curtains. They're with a secret.
Come on, there's no secret.
What's happened, old pal?
Who are you so scared of?
Mueller.
- Your boss? - Right.
What happened in those two days, while I was away?
Has God descended to earth? Kaltenbrunner married a Jewish girl?
Nearly.
I said not to put on the light, didn't I?
I've taken out the fuses.
It's quite possible you have bugs and cameras planted here.
By whom?
By us.
Why?
That's exactly why I'm here.
If you're afraid you'll be photographed,
make yourself comfortable in the corner, nobody will see you there.
I'll go and take an aspirin.
- Took an aspirin? - Yes, I did.
Light the fire and sit down, we have no time.
We need to discuss a lot of pressing questions.
Why is it hooting?
- Why is it hooting? - It always does.
When it warms up, it'll stop hooting.
- A strange fire. - Very strange.
So, what have you got, buddy?
Me? Nothing.
And what are you going to do?
- In general? - In general, too.
In general, I wanted to take a bath and hit the sack.
I'm wet to the bone and dead tired.
I've come to you as a friend.
Come on.
Why are you beating about the bush? Or is your name Monte Cristo?
Want a drink?
Yes, I do.
Good brandy.
- Another glass? - With pleasure.
Stirlitz, throughout this week I've been busy with your case.
I don't get you.
Mueller asked me to double-check your physicists' case, non-officially.
You're speaking in riddles with me, Holtoff.
I don't get it.
Either explain it to me in detail
how the arrested physicist is related to me,
or make me understand why you non-officially double-checked my case
and why Mueller is seeking evidence against me.
I can't explain it to you, because I have no clue myself.
But I know that you're under surveillance.
Me?
No, it's totally absurd.
Or our bosses have lost their heads in this turmoil...
Stirlitz, didn't you teach me to analyze everything and keep cool?
You advise me to keep cool after what you've just told me?
Yes, I'm worried.
I'm mad and I'll go to Mueller right away.
He's sleeping. And don't be in a hurry to confront him.
First listen to me.
I'm going to tell you what I've dug up in connection with the physicists' case.
I haven't reported it to Mueller yet.
I waited until I tell you.
Okay, shoot.
I summoned three experts
from the new armaments development department.
I also summoned them, when you put Runge in jail.
Right, we put Runge in jail.
But why did you check on Runge in the military intelligence?
- You don't get it? - No, I don't.
Runge went co colleges in France and in the States.
Can't you guess that his connections there
are by far more important than he himself here?
We lack courage to view the problem in perspective. It's our disadvantage.
We can't allow ourselves to set our imagination free.
From here to here, and not a step aside - that's our big mistake.
Well, I agree with you.
As for not being daring, I'm not going to argue with this.
But I can argue over the separate points.
Runge claimed that we needed to continue researching
the possibility of getting plutonium out of radioactive elements.
That's what his scientific opponents charged him with.
So,
it was them, who wrote the letter denouncing him.
And I made them confess to this.
But I never doubted it.
What did you never doubt?
That they'd written the letter denouncing him.
Then why were you investigating this case for so long
and Runge still ended up being dismissed from his job?
I needed to find out whether Runge was simulating,
and if "yes", who benefited from it - we or our enemies.
And you concluded that our enemies would benefit from his proposals?
You've read the case, haven't you?
I have.
And now our people from London inform us
that Runge was right.
The Americans and the Brits followed his suit,
while we kept him in the Gestapo.
You kept him in the Gestapo.
You, Holtoff.
It's you who arrested him, not us.
It's not us who opened the case, but you, Mueller and Kaltenbrunner.
And not mine, nor yours, nor Schumann's granny is a Jew, but his.
He concealed it.
May his dad be three times a Jew!
A gypsy or not a gypsy, a Jew or not a Jew - what's the big deal?
It's no big deal who his dad was, if he served us,
and like a fanatic.
You believed those bastards.
Bastards.
The movement's old-timers.
Tested Aryans.
Physicists, who were decorated by the Fuhrer himself.
Okay, okay, okay.
That's true.
You're right. Give me another glass of brandy, please.
Have you disposed of it, yet?
Stirlitz, you're holding the cork in your left hand.
I'm asking you about the fuses.
The fuses are in the small table by the mirror.
I think I've taken to drinking.
What do you think, Stirlitz, what will Kaltenbrunner undertake
if I report to him the results of my investigation?
First you must report the results to Mueller.
It was him who issued an order to arrest Runge.
And you were on that Runge's case.
Yes, I was. Absolutely right.
Carrying out the order, prescribed by my superiors.
If you released him now we could make a breakthrough
in creating the retaliation weapon.
- Can you prove it? - I've already done it.
- All physicists share your view? - Most of them.
Most of those whom I summoned for the talk.
- So you're in for... - Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The research results can be corroborated only by practice.
- Where are these corroborations? - In my pocket.
Really?
Really.
I got something from London, the most recent news.
It's a death verdict.
To you.
What do you want, Holtoff?
You're hinting at something, but I can't get you.
I'm ready to say it again.
Deliberately or not, but it's you, and nobody else,
who killed the research on creating the retaliation weapon.
Deliberately or not, but you,
and nobody else, instead of questioning a hundred physicists,
limited the numberjust to ten,
and on the grounds of their testimonies,
and they benefited from Runge's isolation,
you contributed to the fact that Runge's ideas
were labeled harmful and lacking any perspective.
So you want me not to trust
the Fuhrers' true soldiers,
the men, whom Keitel and Goring trust,
and to trust the man who is for the American way of nuclear development.
Is that what you call me to do?
You want me to believe Runge,
who was arrested by the Gestapo.
And the Gestapo never arrests anybody without hard evidence.
And not to trust the people who helped expose him.
It all looks very logical, Stirlitz.
I've always envied
how you can logically arrange your words to reach one clear-cut goal.
You're hitting Mueller
who issued an order to arrest Runge,
you're hitting me, who's defending a Jew in the third generation.
And you become a monument of loyalty, built on our bones.
Okay.
It's all well-calculated.
But I haven't come to you for this.
You were rather farsighted, and Runge,
though in the concentration camp, lives in a cottage, in the SS settlement
and can be engaged in theoretical physics.
Now I'm coming to the key point.
I got into big trouble.
If I report the results of my investigation to Mueller,
he'll understand that, even though you're under his watchful eye
and not one person, but several, are double-checking your work,
you'll be having a weapon against him.
You're right.
It was him who issued an order to arrest Runge.
If I report that the results of your work check-up are not in your favor,
it will indirectly expose him to danger, too.
As for me, no matter how funny it is,
blows will come from two sides.
Both you and Mueller are going to hit me.
He, because my arguments are to be checked and double-checked,
and you...
You've already hinted
how you're going to beat me.
What shall I, a Gestapo officer, do?
Give me a clue.
You're with the intelligence, aren't you?
Do you want to quit the game?
And you? Would you do the same?
Now I can't answer you, Holtoff,
until I hear your "yes" or "no".
Okay, let's assume the improbable, and I'll answer you "yes"?
If we're going to assume the improbable,
it's the wrong address.
Turn to astrologers, and not to me.
Do you know any "gaps" in the border?
Probably.
If the three of us flee to the neutrals?
- The three of us? - Right.
Runge, you and me.
We'll save the great physicist for the world.
I've saved him here, and you've arranged his escape.
How?
And mind, it's you, not me, who's under surveillance.
And you know well what it means to be under Mueller's watchful eye.
Well?
I'm waiting for the answer.
Want a drink?
Yes.
Holtoff lied, when he said that Mueller was sleeping.
Mueller wasn't sleeping. He was waiting for Holtoff.
Mueller had just got a report from the Center of deciphering
on the happenings at the Gestapo secret address in Bern.
The original code got from
Professor Pleischner - a messenger of the Russian intelligence agent.
The original code of the radio operator Katherine Kien.
Comparing these two codes he made an unexpected
and extremely important discovery.
His head even started swimming with the anticipation of luck.
The cipher of the Russian radio operator
was absolutely identical to the messenger's from Bern.
Scholz, can you explain to me what's wrong with this drawer?
- Do you have a spare key? - I don't.
In the morning call the officer on duty.
And now go bring me a magnifier. Mine is in this drawer.
Mueller speaking.
Yes, sir.
Right.
Okay, sir.
By all means.
Yes.
Definitely.
Sure.
When Holtoff comes - send him to me!
Sure.
No, we have something.
Yes.
I've received a report from the Center of deciphering.
And the picture is as follows.
The code of the Russian radio operator
is absolutely identical to the one their messenger brought to Bern.
Yes, it's Professor Pleischner.
That means the resident in Berlin seeks new contacts.
Yes. I'll be here for some time.
Good night, sir.
Yes, perhaps you're right. It's rather good morning.
What do you mean? Have you gone nuts, Stirlitz?
I'm in my right mind.
But he... he's either gone nuts, or...
decided to quit the game.
What?
Bring him some water.
I want you to explain to me properly what's going on.
Excuse me, Gruppenfuhrer, first let him explain it properly.
I'd better write it down properly.
Okay.
Go to your room and write down
what you think necessary.
How much time do you need for it?
If in brief - 10 minutes, in detail - tomorrow.
Why tomorrow?
Today I have some urgent things to do.
And, secondly, he won't come to himself sooner.
Alright. Tomorrow at 9 in the morning.
- May I go? - Go.
Take off his bracelets. Bandage his wound.
And take him home. That's it.
Mueller was seldom wrong,
both when he served the Weimar Republic,
beating up Nazi demonstrators,
and when he went over to the Nazis
and began to put the Weimar republic leaders in jail,
and when he carried out all Himmler's orders.
And later, when he started to be drawn to Kaltenbrunner,
his hunch never failed him.
Kaltenbrunner hardly had forgotten about the task he assigned to Mueller -
to check on Stirlitz' personal file.
It means something had happened.
And, evidently. On a very high level.
And Martin Bormann was the highest level for Kaltenbrunner.
For this reason Mueller ordered Holtoff to go to Stirlitz.
And put on an act.
If Stirlitz had come to him tomorrow
and informed of Holtoff's behavior,
he could've buried the case in the safe with a clear conscience,
and would've considered it closed.
If Stirlitz had agreed to Holtoff's offer,
he could've gone to Kaltenbrunner with open cards
supporting his report with the data, provided by his man.
And it's not a chimera with physics formulas.
But today's happenings were not on his agenda
and didn't fit in either of the scenarios.
Sooner out of the habit to settle the unfinished business,
rather than suspecting Stirlitz,
Mueller summoned Scholz.
At your service, Gruppenfuhrer.
Look here, Scholz.
Have the fingerprints taken
off this glass.
If I'm asleep, don't wake me up.
I don't think...
it's urgent.
03.15.1945 (07 hours 22 minutes)
Any news?
No, Standartenfuhrer.
How's our Russian girlfriend?
We're spending most of the time in exciting ideological debates.
I'm sure that you always win.
Do win, and don't give our pretty Russian girl
any chance to feel like a worthy opponent.
If possible, bring me some coffee, please.
Our coffee is tasteless, it's just a substitute. But we have very good tea.
Obersturmbanfuhrer Kun brought very good tea. Probably, captured.
Make it very strong, then.
Helmut, boil some water, please.
Okay.
Keep listening to possible messages from Moscow,
dear Frau Kien.
I'll be back in a day or two and I think that then
your fate will be cleared up to the end.
You don't need to worry,
all your problems are coordinated with my bosses.
Barbara, I have very little time.
Armies of the 3rd Byelorussian Front
today, on March 15,
fought fierce battles with the enemy
south-west of Konigsberg...
Armies of the 3rd Ukrainian Front successfully ended
the Balaton defensive operation, launched on March, 6.
In the course of fierce defensive battles and counter-attacks
Soviet troops repelled the enemy attempt
to inflict a defeat on Soviet troops in Hungary
and to raise the blockade of the Budapest group of armies...
Aircraft of the 17th Air Force Army
played a considerable role in breaking up the enemy
offensive...
All this created favorable conditions
for the Soviet troops offensive on Vienna.
Bern. The USA Special Office mansion.
Excuse me, Mister Dulles, there was a call from...
Okay.
I have to leave you.
Please, continue the talk. Tomorrow evening we'll meet again.
Okay, today's talk has been very useful and laid grounds for further discussions.
And now, General, the last point
I'd like to clarify.
Tell me...
Who do you see as Chancellor of the future Germany?
Kesselring.
Kesselring, and nobody else.
He's popular with common people, young, daring.
Minister of Foreign Affairs?
Von Neurath.
- The former deputy of Czechia and Moravia? - Yes.
Was he the SS Obergruppenfuhrer?
Like all of us.
I understand.
So, von Neurath.
And who'll be Finance Minister?
Schacht is the only one, who
can be appointed Finance Minister in the future Germany.
True. Though he's as sly as a fox.
To be a simple financier equals to condemn everything to failure.
Right, he financed Hitler.
Hitler used to be Schickelgruber back then.
Hitler was already Hitler back then.
And Minister of Home Affairs?
Who's going to hold Germany in hands?
Wolf?
General Karl Wolf.
SS Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolf.
The sooner you forget about the SS
and all the ranks in the SS hierarchy,
the better it will be not only for us, but trust me,
for you, too.
General, and how do you envisage the future of your immediate boss?
You mean Kaltenbrunner?
No.
Himmler.
It will be the next stage in out talks.
Now I can only promise everything will be done on legal grounds.
Since we want to forget about ranks
and stick just to names.
And then...
What's the key issue now?
To stop the Bolsheviks, not to let them into Europe -
that's how I understand my duty.
And not differently.
03.05.1945 (17 hours 50 minutes)
No, it's...
It's total lack of morals.
I don't blame her, I just...
listen to her and can't help recalling Handel, Bach.
Apparently, in the old days
people of art were more critical of themselves.
They lived in Faith.
They set super-tasks before them
and were kind of light houses.
And this?
It's common practice to speak like this in market places.
This singer will outlive herself.
She'll be remembered after her death.
That's indulgence that speaks in you.
It's love for Paris that speaks in me.
And for quite a while, Pastor.
Stirlitz was in France several months prior
to its occupation by fascists.
And he remembered forever
how those who decided to continue struggle outside France, were leaving it.
In two hours we'll be at the border.
And now say again
what you are to do in Bern.
I have a good memory.
The Bible teaches not only kindness, but how to arrange your memory, too.
But still.
Could you go over it again, please, from beginning to end.
All right. I'm supposed to stop at the "Savoy" hotel.
On that very day...
I admit, you really have a very good memory,
especially considering your age and the uncommonness of the situation.
I think this plan will work. He'll set the ball rolling, and very soon.
And now about Kathe.
In case anything unforeseen happens...
And it can happen, though it shouldn't,
that she'll tell them about me, she'll crack under tortures.
But the pastor'll already get it going, with Pleischner fulfilling my task.
And neither of them knows what part they played in my operation.
In Bern our people who've got a signal from Pleischner,
will be watching the pastor.
And everything will work out fine.
These talks are not going to be held, I won't let Himmler do it.
No way. Now it's a no go.
Never.
You must make appointments not in the blue hall, but in the pink one.
You see,
a good memory is fine, but it won't do any harm to repeat.
Strange, I had an impression you were not listening to me at all.
I'm listening to you very attentively. Go on, please.
Today the pastor'll be in Switzerland, tomorrow he'll get my business going.
Our business, that's more correct.
If the pastor leaves, and everything is OK, I'll take Kathe out of there.
Then I can put everything on the line.
They're tightening the ring. And even Bormann won't help me here.
I'll leave with her through my "gap" if I feel the game is coming to an end.
Right?
Right. And it's good you paid your attention to it.
Always take the second taxi, ignoring the first one,
and no hitchhiking.
And I very much hope
that our friends from the monastery,
who I told you about, will take good care of you.
I'd like to stress it again.
Anything can happen to you.
Anything, Pastor.
If you make a single slip,
you'll find yourself here, in Mueller's basement, before you know it.
If it happens,
you must know...
that if you say my name just once,
when you're delirious or under torture,
it'll mean my death.
And simultaneously with my death,
your sister's and your nephews' immediate deaths, too.
They're tied to me as hostages by those who let me take you abroad.
And nothing can save your relatives should you give them my name.
Understand me right, it's not a threat.
This is reality, and you need to know it.
And always remember it.
I understand you.
All right, then.
I don't want to be misinterpreted in this particular question.
Okay, get dressed.
Wait, my hands are shaking a bit, I need to get hold of myself.
Speak in a normal voice. Nobody can hear us here.
Get in the car.
Say the address, at which you will be writing to our friends.
I remember it.
My size.
Please, say the address.
Bert Uhanson, Number 7, Sveevegen Street,
Stockholm, Sweden.
Right.
Say the text of the telegram which you'll send,
if the talks between Himmler and Dulles have already started?
I'll send a telegram, running... Aunt Elsa...
Oh, there's a knot here.
Let me help you.
So, I...
Aunt Elsa stayed with us in Bern and Lausanne.
She feels fine, but is missing her family.
Every week she writes letters home. Gustav.
Correct?
And if there are no talks?
If... then I'll write...
Thank you. Then I'll write.
Don't believe those who scare you with bad weather in Switzerland.
There's much sunshine and it's warm here.
Correct, great. Let's go.
I hate high-flown words, Pastor.
But Germany's future depends on what you're going to find out
and on your telegrams...
And not only Germany's.
Good luck, Pastor.
Head towards a power plant noise. The hotel is close to it.
It's two kilometers, not more.
Okay, God bless you.
Stirlitz' heart ached.
He saw that the pastor couldn't ski at all.
Hadn't held ski-sticks in his hands for at least 10 years.
<> - he calmed himself.
<<lt's not a long way to the hotel, the hotel is within easy reach.
He'll make it. Everything will be alright. >>
Now he should do the last thing.
Now Kathe is top priority.
03.15.1945 (23 hours 30 minutes)
No, I'm not going to ask for anything
here, dear Schellenberg.
I'll ask for it there.
Yes, I'll need your help first in Sweden,
and then, probably, in Switzerland.
No, what is known to two, is known to everybody.
Thank you, buddy, you've always helped me out,
and I love you tenderly, like a true friend.
So, what have we got?
Gruppenfuhrer, on the glass, on the Russian agent's suitcase,
on the hotline receiver there were fingerprints of one and the same man -
SS Standartenfuhrer Stirlitz.
I asked you to get me Swedish blades. Where, where...
- Who did the examination? - At the 5th lab unit.
Come to me, now.
Send Rolf to me, now.
Send a car for him, he'll now go to the Russian <>.
Block all roads.
Send our men to Stirlitz' place.
If he's home, don't take him,
but ask him to come to me.
Dispatch a coded message to all borders.
That's it.
Erich, round the corner. You go with me. Stay here.
Hans.
- Smoking again? - I'm not smoking.
I smell it. Quit smoking.
Let me look at it again.
10 minutes ago Stirlitz stopped the car.
He felt he was falling sleeping right at the wheel.
He hadn't had a wink of sleep for almost two days.
He decided he must sleep for at least a half-hour,
otherwise he wouldn't get to Berlin.
A half-hour.
10 minutes had already passed.
He slept very soundly and peacefully.
But in exactly 20 minutes he would wake up.
It was also one of his habits he had worked out throughout the years.
He would wake up and head to Berlin.
Screenplay by Yulian SEMYONOV
Directed by Tatiana LIOZNOVA
Cinematography by Pyotr KATAYEV
Production Designer Boris DULENKOV
Music by Mikael TARIVERDIYEV
Lyrics by Robert ROZHDESTVENSKY
English Subtitles by Galina BARDINA
End of Part 8