GERMANY
Let others speak of their disgrace, I am speaking of my own.
O Germany, pale mother!
How you sit defiled among the peoples.
Among the besmirched you stand out.
Of your sons the poorest lies struck down.
When his hunger was great,
your other sons raised their hands against him.
This is now notorious.
With their hands thus raised, raised against their brother,
they stride around insolent before you and laugh in your face.
This is known.
In your house lies are loudly bawled.
But truth must keep silent, is that so?
Why do the oppressors on every side praise you...
but the oppressed indict you?
The exploited point their fingers at you,
but the exploiters laud the system devised in your house.
And at the same time all see you hiding the hem of your skirt...
which is bloody with the blood of your best son.
When they hear the speeches issuing from your house, people laugh.
But whoever sees you grips his knife as one seeing a murderess.
O Germany, pale mother!
What have your sons done to you...
that you sit among the peoples a mockery or a threat!
Spoken by his daughter Hanne Hiob.
GERMANY, PALE MOTHER
I can remember nothing about the time before my birth.
No blame can be attached to me for events before my birth.
I didn't exist then.
I began when my father first saw my mother.
Hello, young lady.
Hey, honey! Turn round then!
But she's much too fat!
He wasn't the Nazi. That was the other one, his friend.
Heil Hitler!
She didn't scream.
A real German woman.
With black hair?
Pure Aryan.
Her family’s all blonde.
She's the only one with black hair. Seven beautiful sisters.
She didn't say a word.
I'm going to the rowing club dance with her sister.
She's blonde. Corn-colored hair.
She's prettier, only she's got black hair.
Look! A dead cat!
I can't stand cats.
Think that's unlucky?
Unlucky? How come?
Mother.
I have learnt to be silent, you said.
You taught me to speak. My mother tongue.
He's still wearing turned-down socks, the old socialist.
We'll soon make short work of them.
I don't know how you concentrate, you talk such a lot.
I'm leaving anyway. That'll stop all this bullying.
Have I bullied you?
It all depends how you look at it.
But you are staying?
I'm going to devote myself to the Fatherland.
You mean you're going to work for the party?
Look, that's Germany.
I can cover it with just my thumb.
We shall rule the world.
New York.
Show me that.
Victory or destruction.
I'm backing destruction.
Typical.
My father thinks the same.
He's a socialist, too.
At least you're not one.
I don't care.
I just want peace and the girl with the black hair.
I want to live. Surely the Führer can't be against that.
My aunt, your sister, loved the Nazi. Unfortunate.
But this is your love history, my mother and father.
- Are you in the party, too? - No.
- Your sister is. - Yes.
Can I see you again?
Happy. Perfectly normal.
Only it happened at this time. In this country.
The story of my beginning.
Can I see you again?
- Are you in the party? - No.
Why aren't you in the party?
Don't know. Can't I see you again?
Your friend’s in the party.
- Can I see you again if l join? - No.
- No what? - No.
Shouldn't l join or shouldn't I see you again?
Answer my question then.
It's important to me.
The most important thing in the world.
Is something the matter with Ulrich?
He was at the Nazi congress.
So what?
He showed me a photo. She's the girl for him, he said.
From Nuremberg. They are engaged.
You're far too good for Ulrich. He's got no brains.
Yes he has!
Let him go.
It's easy for you to say that.
Shall I go back to my bed?
No, you can stay here.
That's coming from the Bernsteins!
That's Rachel!
- Let me go! - Rachel, what's the matter?
But that's Rachel from my class!
I thought you were in the party.
But that's Rachel!
Come to bed. We'll think about Ulrich.
You can be so hard.
Switch on the light.
You've got a new bloke.
Who?
Not the Nazi, the other one.
I think I'll marry him.
Why? Stay here with me.
I'm getting too old for this place.
I don't want a party member, and he does not belong.
Why don't you? They are smart.
Yes, perhaps that's why.
- Have you got a date with him? - No.
Perhaps you won't see him again.
Of course I will!
What are you waiting for?
Oh, I forgot.
I wanted to carry you over.
It doesn't matter.
Like in a film. Frau Meierholt next door said.
You were young as she, my father.
But I remember your face always old, like when you came back from the war...
they then sent you off to fight.
I can't find the pin.
Let's get undressed.
I cannot imagine your embrace...
or how your skins touched.
You are my parents, I am between you.
I did not marry.
I learnt that from you.
At least there's no photo of Hitler above the bed.
What?
Frau Meierholt says we need Hitler above the bed.
Then our children will be better.
I thought you didn't want any.
I can't manage this, either.
Help me.
Heil Hitler on your birthday!
Our gifts are poor in comparison.
Newly washed?
I ironed them myself.
What a lot of work!
Hitler: You know of my many attempts.
Hear that? The Führer wants peace!
But I got this today.
The woman from Nuremberg is here.
Fine! You can be one of the first!
Han's call-up. He's sent to Poland.
Show me what it looks like.
I wanted to tell you tomorrow.
You're acting as if it were bad.
It is bad news.
The lovely carpet!
I'll make more tea. Or would you prefer wine?
Wine.
To drink to your health...
Don't be so miserable. Ill weeds grow apace.
It's only because he's a civil servant they are sending him first.
So Ulrich will stay here?
There are other tasks to do here.
I wish I could go with you others.
Why didn't you join the party? You should have joined.
Pull yourself together.
Please, pull yourself together.
They sent you to kill,
but you weren't capable of that.
Who is?
My father.
Fatherland.
Hey, you're blubbing! A German soldier doesn't cry!
Pull yourself together, man!
I can't. She looked like my wife. They didn't do us any harm.
Do you think it's any different for us? Think we enjoy it?
I don't know.
- No, thanks. I don't need them. - What, you do it without?
Mind you don't catch something!
I love my wife.
LOVE
Her husband has been killed.
She's going to the cemetery.
They gave him such a fine burial yesterday.
We sent a wreath, too.
Turn off the radio.
Hans is still alive.
The last letter is two weeks old.
Ill weeds grow apace.
Please turn off the radio.
My red's used up. I need some more from Duckstein's.
They've gone. They were Jews.
Jews! They were so old.
They were still Jews, all the same.
I need the red. No one else has it.
You're making that for when Hans comes back.
Anyone there?
They've gone. There's no one there.
I need this red. But you haven't a key, either?
The very idea!
I need it to finish my blouse. I want it for when my husband comes.
It is true. I believe you. You didn't want it. But you didn't stop it.
I accuse you. But with what rights?
How am I better? I was just lucky to be born later.
I can't find it.
Then take another color.
Here's a nice blue. Light and navy. Blue's much nicer.
You think so?
Much better. So now be off with you!
What's the matter?
It's all too fast for me.
You were away so long, and now...
Do you like it?
What?
My blouse.
Am I so different for you?
I don't know...
I've traveled three days. Just waiting for this moment.
I can't help it.
You've been with another man.
That Nazi.
The swine that stayed at home.
No.
You're lying.
I'm not!
How am I to know that?
I thought you were as pure as virgin snow.
I haven't touched another woman.
And you?
I really haven't. Not even looked at another man.
I know that.
I couldn't.
I know that.
I want a child from you.
A part of you here when you're away.
Don't you want children?
Yes, if that's what you want.
Why must you go back? Poland has been defeated.
I have to go to France.
Where then? Paris?
She looked like my mother, like Lene.
Look, my wife. She looks like you.
Shall I line you up too?
Deneuve, Patrice, born February 21, 1921.
Constant, Annick, born December 17, 1920.
Jennot, Philippe, born March 24, 1919.
Duchamp, Jean-Claude, born November 7, 1920.
Thierry, Michael, born June 12, 1921.
Bouché, Gilles, born October 30, 1918.
Marchaud, Jean-Luc, born September 1, 1919.
Looking back, I can say one thing.
The past two years have been decisive in the war's outcome.
Our first opponent was removed in a few weeks.
Norway's attempts to stop our supplies were also foiled.
Attempts to reach the Ruhr failed.
France has also been overcome.
England has been chased away from the continent.
Consider whether England intends to start her coup with a major offensive.
They only have to tell me when and I'll clear the area in advance.
Fire!
It's coming again.
More! Nice deep breaths! Breathe in!
Breathe in! No, breathe in!
Almost there now.
Now push at the next contraction. Together, now!
Head on your chest and push!
Fine, the head's already there!
Now nice, deep breaths!
The head's there. One more push!
Heil Hitler! A girl!
A girl! No fine boy!
It's so strange for me.
As they cut me free from you I fell onto a battlefield.
So much I hadn't seen was already destroyed.
It's 3 a.m. We're rolling east. Only the stars seem to be awake.
They play their silver light on men who soon must be at the front again.
Each turn of the wheels brings us nearer.
Our third day traveling.
A cold wind blows, the trucks rattle.
The doors don't shut. There's drafts everywhere.
Ice on the windows.
A hole in the ice reveals the white, open terrain of the east.
There we are now on our long march in the lonely landscape.
These men will have no Christmas. But their hearts are at home.
Calling Stalingrad again.
Here is Stalingrad. The Volga front.
The Lapland front again.
The barracks in Finland here.
South of France again, the Luftwaffe.
Here is an airfield in the South of France.
The navy again. Army, South of France.
A watch-out on the French Riviera.
Here is the front in the Caucasus.
U- Boat commands in the Atlantic come in.
A U-boat station in the Atlantic ocean.
Here is the Mediterranean front and Africa.
Attention: Here is Zakopane.
From the military convalescent home in the Tatras we greet...
our comrades at the front.
Please join in this old German Christmas carol.
All stations join in this spontaneous wish from comrades...
in the Tatras...
They are singing in Finland and the Arctic,
in the battle region of Witebsk...
and we now bring all together,
Leningrad, Stalingrad, France...
and now Africa...
and now they are all singing...
this old German carol.
If the enemy thought he could sap our spirit with a few attacks...
He was wrong. They were and are...
a signal for total war...
In Germany we shall no longer speak...
of lost comforts.
Quiet!
They are going mad.
Have you already heard from your sweetheart?
He wrote from the east front.
In Russia?
Have a drop of this, love.
Do you good. Never tasted it before?
Got lice?
You get used to anything.
Rather have lice and be alive...
that no lice and be dead.
Don't go and leave our little group, dearie.
Calm yourself.
That was our house,
and that was me once.
We've only the Berlin relatives now.
We can wait for your father there.
Perhaps he's still alive.
He's bound to be alive still. You hear? He's alive all right.
He's got to be alive.
After the bomb wrecked the house...
we felt really cheerful, you and me.
To Berlin on foot, in high heels,
vagabond Lene and me.
Stop it, or I'll lose the case.
Our silver's in there... all we have.
How do I get to Halensee from here?
The bus from Zoo station.
Where's your family then?
Disappeared. I'm looking for them.
How long then?
Six weeks.
I'm looking for the Fritzens.
That's their furniture.
I mean Dr. Fritzens, from the Air Ministry.
Yes, that's him.
Are they moving house in Berlin?
No, they are going to the country.
Hello, who's there?
Oh, little Lene!
They were the rich relations.
I couldn't stand them, even then.
I thought we could stay here.
But we are moving.
Why? Bertrand's got such a good job.
He's not too well, he wants to get away to the countryside.
Come in anyway.
He's upstairs.
Leave them where they are.
She wanted to stay here.
Hans is coming here next week and she wanted to try to meet him.
That's all right.
The flat will be empty for a while.
We have a few things still to do in Berlin.
But we're going to a hotel.
Lene can stay here if she wants.
Isn't someone moving in here?
Not at once. We aren't just nobody!
I'd so like to bathe with the baby.
Go ahead.
The maid's still here.
She'll run the bath for you.
Go on, eat some more.
Chew 32 times for each bite.
Always the same.
One chew for each tooth.
Your teeth are o.k., better than mine.
32 times!
Look, another sponge!
So Lene and I loved each other in the bath,
and flew like witches over the roofs.
- Perhaps they'll still come. - Perhaps not.
I'm waiting for my husband, 230th Infantry Regiment.
They definitely came this morning.
They're already in the barracks.
I'm waiting for my wife.
She's bound to come. The trains don't run frequently.
Best of luck!
Lene and I in the midst of war.
Is the troop transport here which arrived this morning?
I'm looking for my husband, 230th Infantry Regiment.
They didn't arrive.
The man at the station said so.
Well, they're not here.
Heil, Hitler!
Give me a cuddle!
Where can we go? I've two days off.
Two days? So long?
Again?
Come here!
I want to sing with you in Monte Carlo...
under the palm trees,
if you can't see heaven for palm trees, you can't find heaven with me.
What was I to do with a father?
I wanted to be a witch amongst the ruins with Lene.
You're all right,
you can still dance.
Dance with us!
I can't. I'm not in the mood.
Our house was bombed.
That was in the shelter, all that was left.
Can you imagine having a baby in an air raid?
The worse it gets, the more I sing.
Not so much for the child as for me.
You've changed so much.
You think so?
And I'm still the same.
Just more worn out.
What should my father do with me?
I saw how she started to live.
Her struggle to live.
How she raised her head and arms,
and how she first kneeled.
And then stood up.
First she could stand, now she walks.
Somehow that was more important than the whole war... for me at least.
We shall fight to the last man.
What?
Victory...
or destruction.
That is worthy of the German people.
Yes, and Bertrand's leaving the city. The officials know what'll happen.
Don't let them take you in now, you must live, that's all.
I was jealous of him and he of me.
Here is the Berlin observation post.
We must go to the shelter.
Not for every little thing, only when the warning goes.
They're disappearing again.
Her screaming gets on my nerves.
Just what I wanted.
But not him.
I don't know him.
Must she stay here all night?
Yes, she's so nervous because of the air raids, it keeps her quiet.
I would have liked to hold you.
Let's sleep. We are all tired.
It's like heaven, to have a night without a raid.
Let's go to sleep.
You should stop breast-feeding.
But there's nothing else.
But she's eating you up.
Perhaps.
I often think, when she is young...
we'll be old and our faces will show what we went through.
And she'll have forgotten it all.
Sometimes I envy her,
and then I think, she takes all my strength.
She gets fat and I get thinner.
When I've finished this I'll go.
Go to the countryside. I'll be reassured then.
Saxony, Silesia, all's quiet there.
You can't stay here in Berlin.
I thought we were winning.
How do you know she'll still be alive when it's over?
I don't know, l just think so.
I'm off now.
My will is in the envelope in the suitcase.
Goodbye.
He's gone, gone away.
Our Führer Adolf Hitler died today...
in the Chancery while fighting...
against Bolshevism.
Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home.
Your house is on fire...
and your children are alone.
Fly away!
Dönitz, Hitler's successor...
will address the German people.
German men...
and women.
Soldiers of the Wehrmacht.
There once lived a miller,
he wanted to find a husband for his beautiful daughter.
He decided that the first suitable man who asked...
could marry his daughter.
Sure enough a suitor came, and as he seemed rich...
and the father could find no fault in him he was promised the daughter.
But she didn't seem to love him as a bride should love her husband.
And whenever she saw him or thought of him...
her heart was heavy.
One day the bridegroom said to his betrothed:
"You have been my betrothed for so long and you have never visited me."
The girl said, "I don't know where your house is"
He replied. "Deep in the forest.
You must visit me on Sunday. I have invited some friends.
To help you find the way I will scatter the path with ashes."
When the day came for the girl to visit him...
fear crept over her.
She filled pockets with dried peas and set off.
At the edge of the woods...
she found the path with ashes and followed.
As she went...
she scattered the peas to her left and to her right.
She walked all day...
until she reached the darkest part of the forest.
There stood a lone, strange house...
and the girl was very afraid.
But she went into the house. There was no one there.
All was silent.
A voice called suddenly: "Turn around, young lady, turn around!
You're in a murderer's house!"
And the girl turned around and saw a bird.
The bird called again: "Turn around, young lady!
You're in a murderer's house!"
The girl ran through every room until she reached the cellar.
An old, old lady sat there.
The girl asked her,
"Old lady, do you know if my bridegroom lives here?"
The old lady begun to moan and said,
"Poor child, you are in the house of a murderer.
You think that you are to be his bride, but you will be the bride of death.
Your bridegroom will come back, chop you into little pieces...
and then cook your body and then gobble you up!
If I didn't pity you, you would have no chance."
Then the old woman hid the girl behind a big barrel and said,
"When the robbers are asleep we can escape. I've waited long to escape."
As she finished speaking...
Aren't you hungry?
The robbers came home, quite drunk.
A young girl was with them.
She moaned and screamed. The robbers gave her 3 glasses of wine.
White wine, red wine and yellow.
Her heart stopped beating.
The robbers tore off her clothes,
chopped her body into little pieces and flavored them with salt.
A robber found a ring on one of the girl's fingers.
He couldn't pull off the ring, so he chopped off the finger.
The finger fell from the table...
and landed behind the barrel right on the girl's lap!
The robbers wanted to look for the finger but the old woman said,
"Don't bother with the finger. Drink a draught from the good wine."
The old woman had put sleeping powder in the wine. They fell asleep.
Then the girl sprang from behind the barrel and ran away.
She was afraid a robber would awake, but God helped her escape...
from the house with the old woman.
The wind had blown the ashes away. But the peas had sprouted plants.
I want to see!
She found her way by means of the pea shoots...
and the moonlight.
The next day she reached the mill.
The girl told her father everything that had happened.
On the wedding day the robber appeared.
The father had invited many guests.
Each guest had to tell a story after the dinner.
The girl sat perfectly still and silent. The bridegroom said,
"Don't you have a story to tell?"
She said, "I'll tell you about my dream.
I walked through a forest until I found a house.
There wasn't a soul there. A bird called,
"Turn back! You are in a murderer's house!"
It was only a dream.
I went to the cellar of the house.
An old lady sat there.
I asked if my bridegroom lived in the house.
The old woman replied, "You poor child.
Your bridegroom lives here.
But when he returns, he'll kill you and cook you and gobble you up!"
It was just a dream I had.
The old woman hid me behind a barrel...
and then the robbers returned.
They had captured a young maiden. They gave her wine to drink,
white, red and yellow wine.
It made her heart stop beating.
It was only a dream."
The victors' right, little girl.
They rob and take women.
It was only a dream.
One robber found a ring on the dead girl's finger.
He took an axe and chopped off the finger.
The finger fell from the table and fell into my lap, behind the barrel.
And here is the finger with the ring.
And saying this she pulled out the finger and showed it to them.
The robber, now white as chalk, jumped up and ran away.
The guests caught him and handed him over to the police.
And his robbers were punished for their ill deeds.
Cigarettes for silver?
Eggs in exchange for cigarettes?
Eggs for cigarettes?
That was all in ruins, too.
Here is the last military report of the war.
Headquarters report:
Cease-fire on all fronts since midnight.
On the General's orders fighting has ceased.
There will now be a three minute break in transmission.
Hans is in Greece?
Yes... his old dream.
Not quite how he imagined it.
I can see him standing there, reciting from The Iliad.
He'll be back soon then.
I'm looking forward to it.
Of course.
Of course?
Why not then?
I don't know.
I've been alone with the child so long.
The things they see!
What should we expect from peace?
To begin with, clearing up after the war was fun.
But the stones we broke up formed houses worse than the old ones.
If we'd known that, Lene...
Yes, that's good.
Don't take any of their nonsense!
Is she asleep?
Yes, she is.
At this hour?
It's for us, three times.
I'm your father.
Yes?
- Give him a kiss. - No!
Let it be.
Come with me.
Are you hungry?
I can't.
It doesn't matter.
I can't either.
It's been too long since.
Too long.
Tomorrow.
Till we get used to each other.
I must re-accustom myself.
It's slowly all taking shape.
There are still mines everywhere.
Old friend!
I'm still alive, too!
So I see.
De-nazified!
I was never in the party.
You had the good sense.
No, more by chance, to be honest.
Yes, the criminals.
Who?
The Nazis, who else?
Oh, I see.
This is my daughter.
Go and tell Daddy he's a weirdo.
You're a weirdo!
No sense of humor.
The return of family life.
We started inside while outside there was peace.
Write neatly!
She must write neatly.
Leave her alone.
The looks you give!
As if someone had done you harm.
During the war I always thought of afterwards.
Now it's afterwards and like this.
You had another man.
No!
I know you did.
- Therefore your behavior. - How dare you!
No, stop! Leave her alone!
I'm exhausted.
I'm going to bed. Leave me alone.
You're to go, too!
I've been promoted.
Because I wasn't in the party.
What's the matter?
I don't know.
It came suddenly.
But why?
It's nothing.
We'll go to the doctor's.
Don't move till we get back!
It's her teeth. I'll have to extract them all.
No, I don't want that.
Please don't. Please.
Are you the husband?
If not, I can't guarantee the paralysis won't spread.
It can affect the whole body, and then I can't promise anything.
You must do what you think is right.
Life is more important.
I've made some soup, you must eat.
Mommy!
For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful.
It's facial paralysis.
Yes, we were right at the time.
It was a bold chance, but it worked.
I don't see the connection.
The Air Ministry and now the Church.
I studied law and theology.
So easy.
It's all right, don't cry. I'll clear it up.
I just wonder how you organize your thoughts though.
I am an administrator. I don't preach from the Bible.
I'm an administrator.
Pass the bottle.
Thank you.
You need law for administration.
For my job with the Nazis and also my present job,
it didn't hurt to have studied theology.
I always considered the metaphysical in my free time.
It was my hobby, so to speak, and now it's my profession.
Are the ladies going to return? If not I'll light up.
I'm sensitive to smells.
Little Hans down a hole, fast asleep.
Are you ill, little Hans?
You can't jump any more?
Jump, Hans, jump!
Give me some.
Adenauer: The Federal Government thinks that West Germany...
The worst liqueur ever.
... must have suitable defenses...
It's Maundy Thursday.
... to preserve Europe's cultural values.
The old winter with its weakness...
drew back to the mountains.
From there it sends forth...
showers of ice above the green lea.
The sun permits no white to remain.
Everywhere stirs education...
and striving.
We the German Social Democrats...
Adenauer will manage it.
We'll soon be someone again.
Ulrich is getting promoted.
A bit better than Hans.
That was quick, old boy.
Ruddy quick.
They can't turn down qualified men.
- You reckon you're qualified? - Yes!
Strauss: Europe can't be neutral.
Qualified...
You can have it all. All of it.
Buried, hidden from the enemy.
I don't need it anymore. I don't want it.
I need love!
Love is what I need!
You've got love. You have, truly.
You've ruined everything for me. You want to kill me.
I'll kill you.
I've got a test at school tomorrow.
Let the child sleep.
Yes, you just sleep, and I'm dying!...
Please, Mommy, go back to bed.
I don't want to live anymore.
Do what you want, I've enough problems.
Ulrich has been promoted again, they've forgotten me.
I am more capable.
No one believes it, least of all you.
I don't want to live anymore.
Neither do I.
Open the door, Mommy.
Please open the door.
Come out, please.
I am so alone, don't leave me alone.
It was a long time before Lene opened the door.
Sometimes I think she's still behind it.
And I'm still standing outside...
and she'll never come out to me.
And I must be grown up and alone.
But she is still there. Lene is still there.
On the one side this story is for Lene and on the other side, for Anna.