Are you the two...
Kat-zen-stein kids?
Our name's Vignal! Victor and Marie.
Sure, and mine's Napoleon Bonaparte.
C'mon, hop on.
Why isn't Madame Nina meeting us?
She's busy! You'll see her this afternoon.
C'mon!
I'm the gardener.
I ain't clipped but it's my spuds you'll be eatin'.
Listen to 'em!
Your pals.
Proper little yids, the lot of 'em!
The final struggle is beginning
The revenge of the starving masses
The revolution is on the march...
Let's go back! They sing like soldiers.
Back to sleep with that farmer's pigs?
Kids!
Georges, Sylvie!
Don't be scared! They're prisoners. It's over. The Germans are POWs.
See those men with machine guns? They're Americans.
Slowly!
- Meet Georges and Sylvie. - Hello!
Eva's your dorm supervisor.
Arie is yours, Georges.
All right?
Let's all unload the truck.
- They're separating us? - Just to sleep.
Madonna mia!
Cheddar cheese again! Is no good for pasta.
No problem. No pasta!
But I got this to make omelets.
Egg powder!
It makes omelets like rocks. Good only for Americans.
There's no more cheese, or soap, or oil,
even with coupons, so stop grumbling and thank the GIs.
They're not supposed to give us food because of the black market.
- What's for the staff? - Your usual share, Anselme.
I'll take the mare back, then.
Georges, Sylvie...
You like milk chocolate?
To welcome Georges and Sylvie,
mishmosh for everyone!
There we are!
Skip it. Nuns do that, not Jews.
Jesus, son of God, was a Jew.
It's true! Nuns aren't allowed to lie.
We might not look it but we're all sons of God.
There is no more God.
Tomorrow we'll start the Revolution. No more war!
Amen!
You can eat some.
It's different. It's American.
Do a dare!
Sing us the 'Internationale' in Javanese.
Flugede, flugede...
Wanna hear it in Tibetan?
It goes...
At school, they all knew.
If they'd warned us, we'd have stayed at home.
At recess, they handed out chocolate. Only to us.
Good chocolate, the best.
Too good to be true.
I slipped out with Georges through the garbage door.
The chocolate was so we wouldn't cry when the police came for us.
It was for them, not us.
Excuse me, are you in charge of the Jewish orphanage?
It's not an orphanage.
One of the station men asked me to introduce you.
I have time before the next train.
The little one,
his dad came with some railroad men from the Resistance
and left him with us. Late August 1940, it was.
He'd just finished teethin'.
His dad said a month but...
nobody came back for him.
Who was his dad?
The Resistance men called him 'Michel'.
Nobody knew his real name.
We gave the kid our name, to be safe.
My husband wants to keep him, he's all we've got.
But he don't belong here.
- What's your name? - Jules-Marie Andrieux.
- You want to come with me? - Marie says it's best for me.
She can visit you any time.
- And Papa Jules too? - Sure.
So you're leaving us, son?
Marie says it's best for me.
She's always right.
No use arguing. Marie's always right.
I can visit you any time, the lady said.
- Nina. - Madame Nina.
Gimme a kiss, son.
I have his papers and everythin' ready.
He's a good little boy. And bright! Knows his ABCs already.
Come on, then.
You won't change his name, will you?
Jules-Marie Andrieux is his name. Does he have any other?
Well, no.
So why change it?
You never saw them? Not even a picture?
Got any uncles or aunts?
With no name, how'd he know?
I know my real dad's name was Michel.
- Do people die in the Resistance? - Yeah.
It's war.
Was your dad in the Resistance too?
Our parents were sent to work in Germany.
Is Nina nice?
She's strict but nice.
She give spankins?
Not that we know of.
Finish it. New kid's privilege.
You think they killed some of us?
They must've arrested some.
You think we'll stay here long?
Until Papa and Mama come for us.
I saw Mama last night.
She kissed me and sang 'Lululu' until I fell asleep.
Was she wearing her sky blue dress?
- How do you know? - I saw her too.
Did she sing to you?
Yes.
And after, did you cry...
like me?
Hey, Fritz!
Grownups have it all. I wanna kill a Kraut too!
Any tuna? Protein for the kids?
There's still a war on, Nina! It's all gone.
You want more cheddar?
- The kids don't like it, Sandy. - It's all I got.
Nina, please come to my office when you're done.
These pictures were taken by the Russian Army.
HQ doesn't want our boys to see them.
They might kill German prisoners in revenge.
February 2nd, Auschwitz-Birkenau camp
was liberated by the Red Army.
Those were the gas chambers.
Those chimneys are what's left of the crematoria.
The corpses...
all those corpses.
Planned and timed.
The Russians have freed two other camps. Majdanek...
Gas chambers?
Yes.
Can I do anything?
Do you have any tuna fish?
Protein for the children?
Tuna fish?
- They're not Americans. - Why not?
Some are black. Black men live in Africa.
They went to America long ago, by ship.
Why aren't you my mama?
- I didn't carry you in my tummy. - Neither did Marie.
Jules and Marie...
saved your life. They gave you their name.
Would you be my mama if you could?
Yes.
What would my name be?
You'd have my father's name. It's the tradition.
What's his name?
Jules-Marie is your name and a fine name, too. Sorry...
I'm not feeling too good.
Did too much chocolate make you sick?
On my exercise books
On my school desk, on the trees
On the sand of snow
I write your name.
On all the read pages
On all the blank pages
Stone, blood, paper or ash
I write your name.
On the gilded pictures
On the weapons of warriors
On the crows of kings
I write your name.
On the jungle and desert
On the nests, on the bushes
On the echo of my childhood
I write your name.
On the fields, on the skyline
On the...
On the wings of birds
On the mill of shadows
I write your name.
And by the power of a word
I start my life again
I was born to know you, to name you
Freedom!
You look grim. What's up?
- German secret weapons? - Allies retreating?
No, far from it!
The Russians have crossed into Germany.
So why the grim face? Are you sure?
Sure. They're advancing on Berlin.
In the plains and in the fields
At the call of the great Lenin
The partisans rose up...
- You OK, Nina? - I'm fine.
Nina...
What, Avner?
I should dance to make you happy?
Those ones aren't alive.
No.
They were sick, right?
That's where they got sent from Drancy. To Buchenwald.
Not all of them.
To Buchenwald or Auschwitz?
We're not sure yet.
They went to work in Germany. So why kill them...
Pravda reports millions dead.
Millions dead!
What are the chances now? One in a thousand?
Ten thousand?
We have to wait. The war isn't over.
They'll take a long time to come home.
I'm scared.
I'll take you back to bed.
I can't. I pooped all over myself.
Don't worry.
Let's get you cleaned up.
It doesn't matter.
Take my hand.
See? You're not the only one.
Yeah, but she's a girl.
Yaakov Bomze?
I'm Marlene,
your downstairs neighbor.
Soura's daughter?
And Moshe's.
A brave man.
Very brave.
Your father...
did forced labor with me in the mines.
I saw it all.
Him...
and the others.
He wanted you to know.
So I came.
Marlene?
Let me in, please. You haven't eaten in two days.
Answer me!
I slept in her arms last night.
Her perfume's still on me, see?
I can't smell it...
but I have a cold, so no wonder.
She's looking for us!
She's sure to come back!
Why don't we ever dream about Papa?
Papa's too busy fighting with De Gaulle.
Marlene, you must get up.
You've been crying for a week.
Please get up.
They beat my father to death...
with clubs!
The day after, Mama threw herself on the electric barbed wire!
We could cry all our lives, for good reason.
But the children need us.
If you can't carry on
or don't want to, don't worry.
Just tell me this evening.
We'll find someone else, don't worry.
I took all the kids out and gave them sticks.
Remind me to get more.
- Sticks? - None left.
All the kids except little Jules-Marie.
He ran to the stream...
The stream?
And came back five minutes later...
'Evening.
I want to go to the Lutetia twice a week to check the lists of survivors.
If we can't afford the train fare, I'll go by bike.
If you agree, that is.
Sit down, Marlene.
Go whenever you want.
How'd it go?
I left the names and birth dates of all our kids at the registry.
All we can do is wait.
- Did you...? - Yes.
Two Rosenbergs, like the little girl!
We have to double-check.
There was even an SS general named Rosenberg.
We can't afford to make mistakes.
It would be so beautiful!
But you're right...
- Was it crowded? - Terribly.
People waiting, milling around...
Hundreds of people, not knowing, searching...
Speak French, Lieutenant.
Speak French!
I have ordered my men to stop working.
Your children attack us freely.
The Geneva Convention entitles POWs...
Geneva Convention?
You didn't apply it to our families!
I want those cabins up by Friday.
Over 400 children from Buchenwald are arriving in France.
Twenty are coming here,
some under 8 years old.
Buchenwald concentration camp, Block 66.
Many were in Auschwitz before.
'Arbeit macht frei.'
I need a week. Sooner is impossible.
What's the big idea?
It's war. I'm allowed to kill Krauts!
Soldiers don't shoot unarmed enemies!
The Krauts did plenty worse.
You want to be like them?
The first group's yours, Nina.
I'll have to add five more.
Can you handle it?
Do we have any choice, Doctor?
I thought they'd be...
They've eaten their fill for six weeks. Kids build up fast.
Don't be misled by their healthy faces.
How will I talk to them?
I understand some Yiddish but I can't speak it.
Just a little German.
Avoid German, even if they know it well.
Be cautious.
Avoid certain words, such as...
'Flame.'
Don't build any camp fires.
Other than that, follow your heart.
Who's he?
- Why's he with the kids? - Gustav was deported too.
He took care of them in the camp.
Good luck.
Barracks!
It's another camp!
A French camp!
Wait!
What's the matter?
- What is that block? - What block?
Those barracks!
Not barracks, cabins.
They're only dormitories!
For us?
No, for the girls.
This is your house, your home.
Look! No soldiers.
Slowly!
I'll fix something for ours.
They are tired. We must sleep.
Wait just a moment.
First, we have to move the girls to other rooms.
You lied to us!
We can't take this!
We're outnumbered.
So?
We're France's youth,
Comrades of the future!
Stop!
Where did this weapon come from?
To kill another Jew?
I don't speak Yiddish.
My parents were from Salonika.
They were denounced and deported to Auschwitz in 1943.
We're all survivors.
We're brothers by blood and tears.
Peace starts now.
Here, in this house. Your house!
Empty your pockets first.
Your pockets, please.
We keep watch.
You speak French?
A little. My mother Romanian.
I'll make some tea.
Shut the door, Nina.
There's plenty of bread.
Should keep bread locked.
No locking up bread in this house.
As long as we have bread, everyone can help himself.
Gustav. Little ones trust him. We, never.
Why is he with you? Tell the truth.
Nobody knows real name of Gustav.
He Communist.
Red triangle.
Number on arm, eight years of camp.
- Was he a Kapo? - Gustav, barrack leader.
He always know when SS coming.
Gustav protect Hungarians.
Hungarians arrive in '44, still strong. Poles already there since '42.
Poles more tired. SS take Poles out to make room.
Gustav picked them out?
If Gustav not barrack leader, worse person instead,
we know.
You're from Hungary?
Moshe's father run important school back home.
Yeshiva.
All gone now.
Now everything in our head.
'Like a mangy, dusty dog,
dying
where it lies.'
It will end one day.
Even if I scrape the number off my skin,
it will never end.
They want an all kosher house!
What's kosher?
You can't eat pork, shrimp and so on.
- We ate ham at home. - Let's all choose.
Ham, you can eat outside.
Kosher, we cannot eat outside.
We live together, we eat together.
Agreed?
In theory, but why let the zealots make the rules?
We're the majority. It's not fair!
My grandma ate kosher.
Until she died, my parents kept kosher at home for her.
Outside, they ate what they liked.
- We'll do the same. - Hold it!
You'd throw out the rabbit?
Those who want can eat rabbit. The others...
can eat bread and jam, tonight.
Okay?
They need meat, kosher or not. Look at them!
Their muscles are wasting away.
One last big can of tuna.
Good idea!
American fish.
You eat?
Tuna fish, I not know... but not good.
We need a cow for milk.
I can handle cows. My father was a butcher.
Cow? What cow?
Milk good for child.
Sure, we could use a cow.
Clothes, too. And coal...
A lot of things.
Shoot!
Go on, shoot!
That guy on the bike. I think he was my father.
- It was nobody. Shoot! - I wasn't dreaming. I saw him!
Come on!
I'm from Poland too.
From Warsaw.
So dress like a Jewish girl!
Thanks, Rosette.
Thanks, Frizzy.
Gabriel?
The guy on the bike was my father.
Enough already! Help me with my math.
You have to believe me!
Stop it!
I'm sick of the fighting.
It's a good piano, worth tuning.
The lower G and E keys stick but I'll easily fix them tomorrow.
I'm going to bed now.
Monsieur Emile, is my mom here?
Why would she be?
I saw her at the window.
Not her. Your dad dropped in on Sunday...
Dad? So he gave you our keys, did he?
Don't you get it? This is my home now.
But it's all our stuff!
I bought it all.
I have the receipts.
That's a dirty trick!
It's legal. I've done nothing wrong.
You've grown a lot, son.
Where's Mom?
She went to the left.
At Birkenau.
To the left?
You saw her?
Yes.
I saw her.
And did nothing?
There was nothing I could do.
You went to the right.
They called me off the train.
They needed chemists for their gasoline factory.
I found out about Birkenau later.
I was sure you were dead...
but Mom would come back.
We don't choose, son.
We don't choose.
Why didn't you come for me?
To take you where? We have nothing left.
I know. The jerk upstairs took it. Even our furniture.
- You should sue him. - Later.
I don't have the strength.
Look where I'm living.
None of my colleagues can put me up.
See my hands?
Don't cry.
We need men's clothes for them.
They look awful in gray, like Kraut soldiers.
What did they do to Izik?
Better you not know.
They come from the East?
Auschwitz, Buchenwald.
You say they all speak various languages?
No need to change my teaching methods, then.
If I treat them like normal pupils, they'll become normal pupils.
I'm handing out books,
pencils, and exercise books.
Take good care of the books.
They're on loan from the village school.
Gentlemen,
I expect you to be
attentive and studious.
The French language is subtle
and very amusing, you'll see.
He's polite. He calls us 'Gentlemen!'
If you're a gentleman, I'm a Cossack.
It's good manners in France
to call Cossacks 'Gentlemen.'
Subject,
Verb,
Object.
He was on the train without a ticket.
He's lucky I was on duty.
I had no money to get home.
Don't ever do that again!
Ask permission! Marlene would have taken you.
I'll pay the fine.
Forget about it. Good day, Madame.
Goodbye. Thank you.
Get your breakfast. Tell me later.
There's nothing to tell.
I saw my father.
His hands shake and he chainsmokes.
He went to the right. He was lucky.
You like her?
I'm glad.
What will we call her, friends?
Raisele.
- That's my mother's name! - We can't give it to a cow.
Why don't we call her...
Milkmaid? Meidele.
Meidele the milkmaid!
Schmelke, come.
You'll be in charge of Meidele.
Izik, you too. Let Schmelke show you how.
Do it together.
Careful!
Meidele the milkmaid.
Here I work!
It's a cowshed now, Gustav. You're moving out.
We'll help you.
It's gloomy here. Meidele will get bored.
- We'll paint her a picture. - With mountains!
- You have paints and crayons? - If nothing else!
Am I dreaming?
He's Chag...
You could have said! We'd have done something special.
Like it, Meidele?
Why's his cow green?
Cause she ate lots of grass.
I'm from Vitebsk.
Is anyone here from my town?
They shot the Russians on the spot.
Where you live in the war?
America.
The war...
never go to America.
True.
The Americans came and fought here.
You look rich. What is your work?
I make paintings.
You famous in America?
A little.
You lucky.
Friends!
Everyone alive today is lucky.
My father,
he fed me two years with his bread.
One morning,
he not move.
Was dead of hunger.
Three days later,
three days!
The Americans save us.
You call that luck?
Cry, we cannot.
Lend me. I pay you.
You'll break it! Fix up an old bike from the garage
like we all did.
Put it out please, Gustav. No smoking indoors.
Don't give me shit. Let me by. I have date.
- You date girls now? - She no girl.
War widow.
How did you buy a motorbike? What's your racket?
One word, I send you to the shower block!
I never leave here. The boys need me.
You not even find them men's clothes.
You can't organize.
Petty-bourgeois idealist!
English and German
refer to things and places as 'it.'
French has no 'it.'
We have to choose. It's the custom.
'Mountain' and 'valley' are feminine.
It's not logical but it's the custom.
How to guess French custom if we not French?
By learning French you become French, Leiser.
If I learn Chinese, will I become Chinese?
Something wrong?
Not good, Eva! Boys should not see chest holder.
Chest holder!
You not understand?
We call it a bra.
Too many French words talk about woman.
Help me, pal. Go faster.
Go where?
Each take jacket, pants,
two shirts.
Youngest first.
Not thank me. No need.
I not do it for you.
Just give me coffee. I not sleep.
Very bad road to Le Havre.
Why steal the truck? You only had to ask.
But you can't ask. You prefer to hit.
- Got coffee for me? - We have no coffee.
Asking is shit, see?
Always must take.
Coffee?
It's swell!
See this leather headband?
It's new.
Smell it.
The chlorine...
and the rotting flesh behind it.
Can you smell it?
The smell takes me back there.
See? It will never end.
For you.
To wear when you like.
They're yours.
'The earliest inhabitants of our country
recorded in history were primarily
Celts or Gauls, who were tall and fair
and numbered 8 to 10 million in the days of Julius Caesar.'
Good! You learn fast.
You read like a real grownup!
Better'n me! I'm proud of you, son.
We miss you, boy.
Papa Jules, can we go fishing Sunday?
Bring your pals!
They had enough food stored up for the next day,
so before they fell asleep, they quietly cooed...
Mom gave you this. It's her handwriting.
Don't you want to keep it?
I found it in my desk at school.
Keep it. I'm afraid I'll damage it here.
Have you got a picture of Mom?
Gabriel,
I loved your mother more than my life.
We can't suffer forever.
She'd have said the same if I hadn't come back.
Okay.
I'd still like a picture of her.
Up! Take a deep breath...
and keep it in.
Breathe out slowly.
Moshe, stand up straight!
A healthy mind needs a healthy body.
Mens sana in corpore sano. Come on.
How you say that in Jewish?
Let's start again.
Go on, then.
Snacktime!
Snack?
Forget it.
Why? Aren't they hungry?
I give up. They're strangers to their own lives.
They've become savages. We're powerless.
Friday night, let's all dress up clean,
have a special meal and celebrate Shabbat together.
You'll be lighting candles next!
And why not?
Candles, you're right! It's hope. Good idea.
Your hope stinks of centuries of oppression.
What about smokers?
They can smoke in the woods. There's plenty of room.
In private, feel free!
Damn it!
I didn't run bombs past the Nazis to end up in bigotry!
My grandma used to do that.
It's my first time.
It's not wine, it's syrup.
It's awful good!
Kosher food looks no better.
- But no worse. - True, Frizzy,
but God's touch could have given noodles
a taste of roast duck or smoked veal tongue!
Yuck! I hate veal tongue.
Too bad for you.
Put it out! Please, Gustav!
Your only way out is the crematorium chimney!
You'll never forget it!
There's no hope! No life!
No place for us in this world!
We will always be less than dogs!
Bravo, Schmelke!
- Gone? What? - We've been robbed!
I have the key. The lock's intact.
Sandy!
All our food's been stolen.
We're cleaned out.
All gone.
We won the war. Now we're feeding Nazis!
That's life!
I have kids to feed!
Sorry, I gotta go. I'm very late.
For your boyfriend, OK?
I just remembered.
In the storeroom, red door.
Chaplain Shapiro left some KO-K rations.
Take 'em.
What's KO-K?
Won't catch me eating it!
Kosher meat?
It's meat OK, baby.
It's a miracle!
Eat first, baby. Talk miracles later!
I need to hide some treasure.
- Treasure to eat? - Will you help?
- How big? - As big as the truck!
Come! I know hiding place.
There, on the right.
Stop engine.
We walk. Look first.
Our stolen food!
People! Hide quick.
Bastard!
Stop it! What are you doing?
Go to hell, both of you.
- How you get in pantry? - You never guess, shitty rabbi!
Never!
I tie food to rope.
Gustav and Anselme pull it up.
Why you?
Why?
Diarrhea, Nina. In the camp.
Gustav burn all his own bread to make charcoal.
I ate charcoal.
Three days he burn all his bread and diarrhea stop.
How should I punish you, Hershel?
Without you,
they couldn't have robbed us.
I deserve petch. My papa would have petched me.
I can't.
Good!
That'll do.
How about that?
Tonight, I make minestrone like my mamma.
Dr. Weill gave me a letter from a deportee.
She says she's Sylvie's and Georges' mother.
She wants us to pay her train fare from Poland.
We must.
They dream about her almost every night.
About Jean,
bad news.
I'll talk to him.
Listen. The pianissimi are clearer.
Hear it?
Honestly, no.
Don't you want to talk?
Listen closely.
Now.
Jean.
Are you OK?
Leave it, Nina. You can't do anything.
It's up to me to find what's wrong.
I'll find it.
I'm looking and I'll find it.
It'll be OK, I promise.
The sky blue dress, look!
It's not Mama.
She's not Mama.
Where's that dress from?
Raisele gave me it.
We worked in same factory.
Have you no shame?
Raisele wrote the children's names.
She sick with typhus.
Die in morning.
I save my life.
In Poland they still kill Jews with rocks.
Do you have money to get back to Paris?
Burn the dress.
I have no other.
What you want?
Teach me to read Jewish.
To say a prayer for my mother.
What you pay for it?
Chocolate.
Two whole bars.
Find cigarettes.
Smile for your ID card!
- You shouldn't look mean. - We not for ID.
- For US visa. - All the more reason!
Smile for Uncle Sam.
There you go!
Can we start tonight?
I can't.
I only ask for cigarettes to see how bad you want.
Take them and describe the camp.
You can never understand.
My mother died there! I have to understand.
Aaron, please.
I have nothing to tell. Keep cigarettes. Go.
Aaron work on 'special crew' in gas chamber.
One day he pull out his father and kid brother, took them to oven.
After, did he say the prayer?
On special crew, nobody say prayer.
Open the Sider.
Repeat after me.
Repeat.
Page 146.
Rabbi Eiger had a question on this commentary, remember?
The Brisker Ruv had an answer but I forget.
You must remember, Leiser.
Our teachers are gone. We have no right to forget.
We have to rebuild everything.
Otherwise...
the bastards will have won.
My teacher made me play it faster
but I can't anymore.
Music won't flow in me now.
Rosette doesn't want to move in with her aunt.
Do you think she'd come with me to Palestine?
Stop teasing her.
It works with boys, not girls.
Talk to her nicely.
Stop calling her Frizzy.
A penny for your thoughts.
Pea farming in the desert isn't for me.
What is there left for us here, Rosette?
Don't laugh.
I want to be an actress.
On the stage and in the movies.
The movies, no less!
Aren't I pretty enough?
You're beautiful, Rosette Finkelstein.
I'm going to change my name. Movie actors always do.
Germaine Goyotte, 'GG.' Double letters.
Like Michèle Morgan, Danielle Darrieux. No?
Too French, maybe.
That's not funny!
Got it!
Frizzy Fontaine.
It's catchy, a little saucy, very French.
Fits you like a glove.
Frizzy Fontaine.
Not bad.
'Frizzy Fontaine stars in the latest...'
It sounds good. Better than my idea.
True,
'Rosette Schmelkowsky' sounds bad, even for a pea farmer's wife.
It has nothing to do with you or your name.
I just want to be in the movies.
If my name was Rothschild...
If it was, you wouldn't be here.
Learning to swim is a mitzvah.
In the water, don't be scared.
Do as I taught you.
Frog...
I...
A.
Frog...
Very good.
Avner!
Look at me. Do I look like a frog?
But if the fruit is scattered,
the owner does not hope to find it.
Whoever finds it may keep it.
But if the fruit is in a pile or on a wall,
that's a 'distinctive sign' and the finder
must return it to its owner.
We're not tattooed. We have no distinctive sign.
Will we rot by the wayside?
If a man finds scattered fruit,
he eats it. It's his.
If a man finds seeds, he plants them.
They're his.
Adoptive parents are parents.
What's the rabbi like? Does he have a beard?
A neat little goatee like a French rabbi.
He mention gas chambers?
- It wasn't the topic. - Didn't you ask?
My question is not 'Where was God in Auschwitz?'
but why do Leiser and the others still pray every day
after all they went through in Auschwitz?
You're all getting brainwashed. It's unbearable.
Meidele!
She ate too much wet grass.
There!
A bandage is all she needs.
Meidele better?
Yes, Izik. She's better.
She's saved.
No be scared. Meidele saved.
Bloat doesn't hurt cows. Some antiseptic and she'll be fine.
Arie...
- Didn't you notice anything else? - What?
You'd better stick to treating animals!
How come?
- Didn't you hear? - Nothing special. Why?
Izik talked!
Izik talked?
Jean!
Sit down! Sit down! You hear me?
Tea? Or moonshine?
Moonshine please.
They've brought in a rabbi.
With my permission. They want to study the Talmud.
Talmud. In the 20th century!
They should learn French. And math! To find work.
They're free.
They want a teacher.
I can't judge their needs.
Not a rabbi!
We're atheists. We deserve respect!
They only need a little hope.
I'm leaving.
Wilner is opening two new homes.
He was a comrade of my father's.
You understand?
Papa died singing the Internationale.
Jean's finally asleep.
I gave him two sleeping pills.
Poor kid.
Strong stuff!
It shouldn't be legal!
It's only apple.
A hint of apple maybe, but mostly fire!
Ugh!
Firewater heap good for sad Jews!
And me heap sad!
Big Chief Lady?
Pure bootleg!
- Packs a punch! - Straight to the brain.
Smiles, for a change.
Sure...
- but it's not apple. - It's on the label!
Never trust a label. It's not apple.
I'll taste it again, but...
Where'd you get it?
Château Anselme is my bet.
We'll miss him for this!
Sorry, I'm going to cry in my cups.
Think about something else.
Too late.
Whenever I think of her, I get a dreadful blank.
I can't even remember her smile.
She was beautiful beyond belief.
Excuse me.
I'll take a walk.
Don't speak.
I knew Feiga, his fiancée.
She won't be coming back.
I knew a week ago. I can't bring myself to tell him.
I'm sick of being the grim messenger!
Sick to the teeth of a duck on a bike!
Sick.
Sick!
Life's a bitch.
Enough!
Next one to get weepy does a dare. Right?
Booze makes me talk silly.
I've forgotten how to talk silly.
- Can I say something silly? - Go on, do.
I wish...
Will you really?
Yes, I'll be your wife.
Mazel tov!
Here's to...
peace,
love,
and a radiant future.
It's not because of you.
I know.
You can stay.
I won't work for Wilner, don't worry.
I just need to...
To see to yourself, your future.
Let's put it like that.
Did you get our apartment back?
No need now.
We're all going to live with Hélène.
She's a physics lecturer.
She has a big apartment.
It's great, you'll see.
It's near your high school and my work.
You're not an orphan, son.
Hélène?
Is she the brunette there, watching us?
I've been trying to tell you.
I couldn't.
Everything OK?
He wants me to pack up and live with him.
He says I'm not an orphan.
That's good!
But I want to stay here.
Think how your friends would envy you.
What's wrong?
Hélène, his wife. I can tell she doesn't like me.
You scare her more than she scares you.
She doesn't scare me.
She just isn't my mother.
It's not her fault your mom's gone.
Help her.
She'll learn to love you...
if you don't do your best to stop her.
They're expecting a baby, I can tell.
You can make that a problem,
a huge problem,
or you can accept it
and gain a little sister or brother.
It's up to you and nobody else.
Can I come back if it doesn't work out?
Whenever you want.
It will work out.
Bless me.
I don't know how.
I never learned.
My mother put her hands on my head
and whispered something good for me.
Try.
Off you go.
Pack your bag.
Don't be scared.
Run and get changed! You just have time before the party.
Wonderful news!
I've traced Schmelke's uncle.
He moved to Saint Louis, Missouri.
To celebrate, we'll say there's no bad news.
What is it?
Sylvie and Georges.
No. Not them.
Mottell Katzenstein was arrested in April '43 on the Spanish border,
trying to join De Gaulle. The smuggler turned them in.
He died under Gestapo interrogation.
I can't tell the kids.
Don't tell them.
We'll think of something.
Those who are gone... What fault did they commit?
We're punished too, Marlene.
We'll carry on.
We'll carry on...
but we'll miss their wisdom and words forever.
Under enemy fire,
Staff Sergeant Mottell Katzenstein died a hero,
trying to protect his men
during the bitter fighting to liberate Alsace and Lorraine.
You, his children, Sylvie and Georges,
receive the medal that his grateful country
awards him posthumously
for his courage and self-sacrifice.
To the dead!
That was magnificent. The children will write to thank your HQ.
No! The HQ knows nothing about this.
But the soldiers, the flag?
The bugle?
The Colonel's a war comrade
and the medal is mine.
Thanks, Maurice.
Any time, Nina.
I saw Papa last night.
He said it was the anniversary of his death.
He asked me to bury his medal and light candles
to say the prayer.
Why did you take our shoes?
My father...
had no shoes...
and he was very cold.
Subtitles by Nigel Palmer
Subtitling TITRA FILM Paris