I thought that we could build our nest high-up...
in the trees...
Fly away, like birds...
to the mountains.
Choir starts introit "And Believed The Lord" from Haendel' Oratorio: "Israel In Egypt"
[female - male voices change or mix in a long crescendo]
Footage: 1930s Nazi propaganda film "Triumph des Willens'' (Triumph of the Will) by Leni Riefenstahl
[crowd roars saluting Hitler]
[Hitler's distant speech mixes with choir]
[Hitler's car enters parade grounds ] [crowd roaring increases]
[Hitler's yelling grows angrier] [Choir keeps low tempo]
The following story is based on true events.
During World war II, every Austrian soldier called up for active duty, was required to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler.
Sankt Radegund, Austria. 1939
- Potatoes. - Potatoes.
We have some of them already…
- Everything right? -Yes
- Hi, Franz - See you!
- Don't you want an apple? - This one is enough. Thanks.
[OST by James H. Newton: 'Love and Suffering']
- Remember the day when we first met?
- You were shy, like now.
-I remember... that motorcycle.
My best dress.
You looked at me...
and I knew....
How simple life was then.
It seemed no trouble could reach our valley.
We lived above the clouds.
My sister came to live with us.
We had our home.
Your mother...
...Our family.
...Our village:
Radegund.
Enns military base, 1940
Dear Fani,
Warm greetings to you from your Franz, in training.
This week I've had things easy.
In the mornings, riding on a motorcycle...
For me, it's entertaining.
I would love to hear you singing again. - Hello, Sun!
I'm looking forward to our reunion.
I've met a fellow here...
His name is Waldland.
- How can you this? - Well…In two months of training.
No pretense about him. [sings] "A little mouse… in the cornfield"
Always smiling. "And I would be out there…in the..."
"Sometimes, I wish… I would be…in the cornfield"
- March! March! [orders, shouts, bayonettes stab sacks]
Move, move! Stab! -Move!
- Take positions!
[Crow caws- women sing a tune in German]
My dear husband,
They say that France has surrendered.
They are sending farmers home...
for now, at least.
Is it true?
[OST by James H .Newton]
Sister is lonely.
I wish she had someone like you.
We could use you here
to break in the calf.
The harvest comes nearer.
We've burnt the bad weeds.
I got some piglets from Mossbauer.
Four weeks old.
[haggling] -114... -135...Come on: that price is very good
With warm greetings to you,
Your loving wife,... Fani.
Those are fields taken in military campaigns.
Seized by the German soldiers.
Oh, my wife.
What's happened to our country?
To the land we loved?
[James N. Howard's OST - "Return"]
- Where are the kids?
- Inside.
[music - welcoming talk - joy]
- Papa´s coming for you!
- Resie!
- What is it? [whisper]
- I've been called up.
We thought...there would be peace
but this war goes on.
I don't know why!
- Do you believe in what we're fighting for?
- Not really.
- Heil, Hitler! [indistint chatting]
- Cheers!
- He did what he had to. [Mayor Kraus starts speech]
He was not content to watch his nation go under.
Before he came it all was in a state of collapse:
a Babylon.
We were.. we worshipped foreign Gods.
- You're drunk.
- And now...And I'm not your friend! I am your mayor!
And now they tell us
to spare these other races.
Degraded.
So contemptible they can no longer despise themselves.
They sowed the earth with salt.
Instead of a wall, there is a department store.
Foreigners swarm over our streets!
Immigrants, the don't care for the past, only for what they can grab.
This is what happens when the world--
When a world dies.
Men survive,
but their life is gone.
Their life is gone. Their reason for living.
- This is to the new times! Cheers!
- The mask is off.
- I fear for my family.
Mother's old.Yeah...
I hope she dies soon.
Don't they know the evil when they see it?
We are used to it now.
Crime.
No shame!
Be careful!
- Father: if they call me up, I can't serve
We're killing innocent people.
Raiding other countries. Preying on the weak.
And the priests call them heroes, even saints...
the soldiers, that do this.
It might be that the other ones are the heroes.
The ones who defend their homes against the enemy.
Have you spoken with anyone else?
Your wife?
- No. - Family?
Don't you think you ought to consider the consequences of your actions? for them!
You'll, almost surely, be shot!
- Yes.
- Your sacrifice... would benefit no one.
I'll speak with the Bishop about your case.
A wiser man than I.
- Thank you! Thank you!
- These last weeks you're different.
What is it?
- Morning! - Grüss Gott. [Salute in Southern German]
- We are collecting for the war effort.
- I see.
I am sorry, I...
Well. As I said: I don't have anything to give.
I'm...
Please... No!
I wish you all a good day.
-Just let me do it. I´ll speak with him [Mayor Kraus]
...he says he is going through hard times [Laughter and indistinct talk in German]
You have refused to contribute to our collection on behalf of our... veterans?
Their families?
I also hear that you have refused to accept the family allowance,
and other subsidies, the State would have provided you.
Why? Franz! Tell me!
Show a little humor!
Yes!
Nobody refused but you!
Please!
- Thank you.
[Complains in German] ...Then, what have we come here for?
[Bells sound] [Bishop preaching in church ]
- We must be strong.
Stand firm.
Learn the lesson of the blacksmith.
No matter how hard the hammer strikes...
The anvil cannot...!
...need not!...strike back.
The anvil outlives the hammer.
That which is hammered on the anvil... takes his form,
not only from the hammer, but the anvil too.
- The Bishop is waiting.
- Have a seat.
- Your Excellency...
thank you so much for speaking with me.
- If God gives us free will,
we're responsible for what we do,
or we fail to do,
aren't we?
If our leaders... are not good.
If they're evil, ... what does one do?
I want to save my life, but not through lies.
You have a duty to the Fatherland.
The Church tells you so.
Do you know the words of the Apostle?
"Let every man be subject to he power that is placed over him" [Romans 13:1]
You hear those bells?
They're melting them... for bullets.
- I think he was afraid that I might be a spy.
They don't dare to commit themselves; or it could be their turn next.
- We can't blame the bishop for going along.
He hoped, by doing it,
that the regime would be more tolerant towards the Church.
But now, the priests are sent to... to concentration camps.
Church processions banned.
We don't have a say.
What can we do?
We..We're old people here.
- Just one. [Ohlendorf, the painter] - Just one? -Yeah.
Thank you.
I paint the tombs of the Prophets.
I helpe people look up from those pews and dream.
They look up and... they imagine that if they had lived in Christ´s time,
they wouldn't have done what the others did.
They wouldn't murdered those whom they now adore.
I paint all this suffering, and I don´t suffer myself.
I make a living of it.
What we do...
is just create... sympathy.
We create... We create admirers.
We don't create followers.
Christ's life is a demand.
You don't want to be reminded of it:
so we don't have to see what happens to the truth.
A darker time is coming.
And men will be more clever.
They won't fight the truth.
So, just ignore it.
I paint their comfortable Christ.
With a halo over his head.
How can I show... what I haven't... lived?
Some day I might have the courage to venture. Not yet.
Some day I'll...I'll paint the true Christ.
- Heil, Hitler!
-Heil, Hitler! - Have fear of Hitler!
- They won't call you up.
They need farmers.
How else are people going to eat?
- Maybe the war will end soon.
- Is she asleep? - Yeah.
- Why are you looking at me that way?
- It's an act of madness.
A sin. A sin against his family, against his village.
- We are different, Mother.
I'm sorry.
But I'm grateful to you for wishing me the best.
Your life was hard enough already.
- His mother looks at me coldly, like I was to blame.
I want what you want.
But I can't bear...he makes you suffer.
He makes a choice for you too!
But, does he know what he's doing?
Tell him!
Pride! That's pride!
That's what it is.
- Did they say something to you?
I saw them speaking to you by the road.
- They said
their husbands have gone off to war.
Why should they fight to ... save us?
- Did they hurt you?
with their words?
- I don't care!
[Hitler´s speech roars from distant radio]
- All good?
- Yeah.
- You were a wild one.
You fought with the police.
You know. You remember.
Who changed you?
Your wife?
I've sympathy with you.
I don't want anything bad.
- I know.
- So,...uh!... Help me!
- Radegund loves you.
You...You are a child of Radegund.
- I am not your enemy! [Mayor Kraus]
I'm your friend. -oh yeah?
- Yes, I am!
You still belong to our people! You cannot say "no"
to your race!... and your blood!
and your village!... and your home!
We have to defend our land!
Till they came, the people were in despair, humiliated, in chains.
Who do you think they will make responsible?
It's me.
Who do you think they will interrogate?
You'll be hanged!
You understand what that means?!
They'll hang you!
Your family, your wife, your children
will have no one to support them! Your mother will die unconsoled!
- Calm down.
- Don't touch me!... Don't touch me!
You're worse... You're worse than them!
Because they... are enemies, but you ... are a traitor!
[Forge hammering]
-I´ve been there, to Vienna...
I saw what happened there.
-Lost. [Franz´thoughts]
Torn from the tent in which we trusted.
- Killing the insane; children...…[blacksmith goes on]
Brought to the king of terrors. [Franz´thoughts]
- We saw the hate in their eyes. [blacksmith]
[mayor yells slogans]
We've forgotten our true Fatherland. [Franz voiceover]
[mayor Kraus raves and rants- soldiers cheer him]
[village kids shout at Franz' girls]
- What would your father say? [Mayor Kraus]
What do you think?
- He fought.
- He died. - Yes.
And what do you think what for he died? In the trenches. In the mud.
Think about it.
- Yeah,
- I've had a dream. [Franz]
I saw a train.
The locomotive was powerful and dark...
It drew the children.
And you couldn't see where it was going; just... the fields and trees flashing by.
I owe to a memory
of what I knew once.
I find no one to turn to.
Nothing enters my soul.
-Let him in peace! - Watch out! You, dogs!
- Not that our prayer's not being answered.
if we're faithful to Him, He'll be faithful to us.
And I believe it.
We have Him:
That's enough.
- The whole world's shaking.
There's no answer.
To follow Hin... It's insanity.
[violins notes of Arvo Pärt's " Tabula Rasa" ]
What are you going to do, Franz?
The've asked you to take an oath to the Antichrist, yeah?
I know...I know.
It's a life without honor.
Is this here... the end of the world?
Is this the death... of the light?
We are like a breath... [Franz´s thoughts]
Like a shadow that passes away.
- Madness!
- I've been called up.
- You could hide in the woods.
We could run away, to the mountains.
- Does a man have the right to let himself be put to death [Franz thoughts]
for the truth?
Could it possibly please God?
He wants us to have peace, .... happiness.
Not to bring suffering on ourselves.
We have to stand up to you.
- You gotta do it, don't you?
- Her happiness... is in your hands. [sister Resie]
She could've had other men.
We have enough troubles in our lives.
You want too little for yourself, Fani.
Why don't you oppose him, Fani? Uh?
Resist him!
You don't know what unhappiness is?
No man ever left you?
- You can't change the world.
The world's stronger.
I need you.
[ parts from James N. Howard´s OST ]
You could work in a hospital.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Is there?
You want to have more? [The girls play and laugh near them]
My dear son, [Mother's voiceover]
...You're all I have.
You know what it is like to grow up without a father.
I know what it's like to be alone.
[J.S. Bach. St. Matthew Passion. Cantata: "Kommt, Ihr Töcher, Helft Mir Klagen" (Come,you daughters: help me lament!)
- Girls, your...your father is going away.
On a journey.
On a long journey.
He'll be gone for a while.
-Grüss Gott. [South German salute: hello, good evening…]
[ Bach's cantata: choir in dramatic crescendo]
- I love you.
- You want to follow the train? Be careful!
Enns. March 2, 1943
- Name? [men answer]
- Jägerstätter , Franz. From Radegund by-the-Danube
- Next one!
[recite oath to Hitler]
My dear wife, [Franz voiceover]
I know you fear for me.
But my burden is light.
- This is some mistake: a bureaucratic mess. You know? [Italian jailmate]
When I compare my suffering to that of other people...
- I´m a good person...[Italian jailmate]
... I see that mine is the smallest of crosses.
[grunts mimicking Hitler]
It is horrible what they have suffered.
...and I don´t want to know what the fuck have done those: but they've done bad things. [Italian rants on ]
Me…. I don't want to be with these people!
And you have to remember what you knew in a better hour.
…And all days like this! Understand? And why me? [Italian jailmate]
[Bosnian jailmate yells] Where's my water, son of a bitch?
Spring has come.
My three little girls must be already be running barefoot, picking flowers.
It would be better to tell them where their father is...
...than to tell them stories.
The fresh green of the grass is good for a person.
Someone with freedom might not notice it.
- Go on!
- Get away from each other!
Greetings to Mother, to you, the girls and all.
See you again.
Dear husband,
Greetings in God, who will make everything right again.
Greetings from your three little women.
They say to tell you only about the good things they are doing... Of course.
But I wouldn't surprise you by telling you about their disobedience.
[ violin from OST by James Newton]
I have to scold the girls.
They're always demanding my attention.
Rosi's always asking about you.
When we're going to bed, she says:
"Leave the door unlocked, so papa can come in."
At meals: "Save some for papa."
She sang a song for you.
...Wondered if you could hear it.
Rosi wanted to take your picture to bed with her tonight:
[whispers night prayer to girls]
You were supposed to sleep beside her.
I told her that, when father comes home, he will.
- Good night.
Warm greetings from your loving wife,
Fani.
- You may leave us alone. [Captain Herder]
Have a seat.
What good do you think your defiance is doing anyone?
You think it will change the course of things?
You think the authorities are aware of you?
That your protest will come to their attention?
You think anyone will know of it? ... About you?
No one knows what goes on behind these walls. No one.
What purpose does it serve?
- Does it make no difference whether this war is just or unjust?
- You shine their shoes. [Captain Herder's voiceover]
You fill their sandbags.
Are you innocent? - Walk! [guard snaps order]
- Du think you are out there… Uh?
And what now? What?... What?... What?
[prisoners' senseless speech and laugh]
What is it? Pride? [C. Herder's voiceover]
Are you better than the rest?
Are you alone wise?
How do you know what is good or bad?
You know better than I?
Did heaven tell you this?
Heard a voice?
There's a difference between the kind of suffering we can't avoid...
... and the suffering we choose.
-Your hands! Your hands up!
You've forgotten what the world looks like.
The light...The sky.
I didn't make this world the way it is.
And neither did you.
We all have blood on our hands.
No one is innocent.
Crime, bloodshed,... everywhere.
He, who created this world,
... he created evil.
Conscience makes cowards of us all.
Take care, my friend.
The Antichrist is clever.
He uses a man's virtues
to mislead him. [Capt. Herder finishes his speech]
Dearest wife,
I leave for Berlin at 10:30 a.m.
Have no concerns about me.
Pray for me.
(Berlin) Tegel prison. May 4, 1943
- Go in!
Down.
Up.
Dear husband,
Your letter of May 7 has arrived.
Many thanks.
The well went dry on Thursday.
We need a good rain.
What I feared has come:
I've found no one to assist with the work,
except for Resie.
Strohhofer stole beets from our field.
I hear nothing but your voice.
I visited the widow: Maria.
She hadn't spoken with anyone in two weeks.
The new hay gives me hope.
The scent in the barn.
The wind.
The wheat.
The sky.
[priest voice praying low]
He won't send us more than we can bear.
-Excuse me!
- Jägerstätter [Franz' surname]
- The Colonel must be consulted. [Major Kiel]
- May I meet with him?
- A busy man...
- But... phone! Make an appointment.
- I've tried to, but my call isn't answered.
- That surprises me.
- The problem must be on your side.
The telephone works quite well up here.
-Then, how can I make an appointment?
You don't answer my letters.
It took me two days to get here. It's a very difficult journey.
oooh! [Major Kiel's muffled yell]
- Out! Eveybody out!
- You find it funny, uh? Eyes…on the floor!
[barking complains in German] …..Broken again!
Most beloved wife,
Once again, warm greetings from your loving husband.
I'll write a few words, just as they come from my heart.
Even though I'm writing them with bound hands,
that's still better than if my will were bound.
-Show me your hands. Hold up your hands.
- Have you understood me?
These men have no friends.
No loving hand to hold theirs.
- What are you here for?
- Treason.
They've seen sorrow.
Shame.
Destruction.
What strong hearts!
"No talking allowed!" [written on the wall]
- Bausthülter. High treason.
-Jägerstätter. Undermining of military morale
When you give up the idea of surviving at any price,
...a new light floods in.
Once, you were in a rush,
...Always short of time.
Now you have all you need.
Once, you never forgave anyone.
...judged people without mercy.
Now you see your own weakness.
so, you can understand the weakness of others.
- Jägerstätter!
[tense silence-deserter runs away quietly]
- Do you think...
...I did this?
- He used to be different. [Mother]
He changed when he met you.
My dear children,
I thought of you, especially...
Corpus Christi Sunday.
[ village kids harass family's girls - priest intervenes]
The bells are ringing over the fields.
I would've loved to have seen you with your crowns of flowers.
Your devoted father greets you...
...from far away.
[woman runs yelling angry at Fani's family]
[man roars] -Traitor to the German cause!
We are under pressure, because of something you did!
Shame on you!
You deserve…you deserve… to be executed!
-They should be there! -Yeah! -They should hang you!
Dear husband,
-Traitor to the German cause!
Loving greetings to you on this Sunday.
We are all concerned about you.
Let us alone! [Resie yells to stop harassing]
Hopefully, the things are not going poorly.
The girls send greetings.
Rosi says that we'll give you kisses together.
I'm always with you in thought.
I can go to Salzburg.
-Good morning!
Papa offered to come with me.
-Good morning [Fani to clerk]
Fear overcomes me.
I know it should not.
Trust in the triumph of the good.
No evil can happen to a good man.
"Not a sparrow falls to Earth,
but He knows it" [Matthew 10:29-31] -I have no...no information about him [office Clerk]
-Thank you. [Father to clerk]
- I'm sorry.
A father... loves his child.
A father... wants his child to be happy.
That life could not touch her.
And you...
Such a good child.
Franz too.
Better to suffer injustice than to do it.
- I've been appointed by the court to be your defense attorney. [Attorney Feldman]
As I understand, your resistance is specifically to serving in combat.
But I believe if you were to accept medical service,
and to work...
as an orderly in a hospital; that sort of thing,
they would probably drop these charges.
- Will I be required to swear loyalty to Hitler?
Words. No one really takes that sort of thing seriously...
- I can't.
- You are a stubborn man.
See here, I'm going to leave this paper with you.
Keep it with you.
Sign, and you'll go free.
- But I am free.
- So, why am I here?
- I don't know.
You... [Franz' prayer-voiceover]
my shepherd.
You make me lie down in green pastures...
- Everything OK?.Do you want to talk? [priest visiting prisoners]
...by the river of life.
You...
...my strength.
You show me the path.
You...
... our light.
Darkness is not dark to You.
Bring us to Your eternal light.
...to You.
the true...
the never-failing light.
- You're calling me your brother?
Father. [Franz' whispered prayer goes on]
to you I cry.
My rock.
My fortress.
- I can do as I like with you!
Nobody would know. Nobody would care.
Nobody would lift a hand to stop me.
Who sees us?
Give me strength...
...to follow You.
Spirit.
Lead me.
Show me.
Lord.
you do nothing. [Fani's voiceover prayer]
Where are you? [Fani's prayer]
Why did you create us? [Fani's prayer]
Have to persecuted receive the kingdom of Heaven. [Franz' voiceover]
...The meek inherited the Earth? [prisoner- Devil's Advocate- whispers to Franz]
- The wise deceive us.
Afraid?... Oh!
I was once like you.
Confess it.
Your God has no pity.
He left us. Abandoned us. Like he did your Christ,
His son!
How far are we are from having our daily bread?
How far from being delivered from evil?
If we could only see the beginning of His kingdom.
The dawn.
But...
Nothing...
Nothing ever...
Why give your life for them?
Why your life for them?
Your man died in vain.
He came, and it was all for nothing!
[choir: Haendel's Oratorio "Israel in Egypt" Cantata: "And Believed The Lord"]
- There are 20 centuries of failure. [Devil's advocate whispers]
We need a successful saint!
[choir singing] [Haendel's oratorio "Israel in Egypt"]
- Well, you know... [Resie]
No one will help us.
So we do it on our own.
Sister?
Yes!
Come on!
Again. Come on!
Dear wife, [Franz voiceover]
I still can't say how my future will unfold.
What comes next is seldom better.
And still, now begins the month of June.
The most beautiful month.
Nature does not notice the sorrow that has come over the people.
Though I cannot see much here,
I imagine that everything is in more lovely green than in past years.
At dawn
we can hear blackbirds singing loudly outside our windows.
They seem to have more freedom,
and to know more of peace and happiness,
though they are only unreasoning animals,
...than we humans do.
We, who have the gift of understanding.
- You give me back more than I gave you.
I've found a fellow here
From my training days.
- Franz? [Waldland calls]
Franz? Look at you!
How do you do?
-What have you done? - You're criminal...
He lifts the spirits of the other fellows.
- We're getting on just fine.
Good, bad - together.
He asks about our family.
Don't you worry. Trouble lasts a day.
-Yeah. Eat! Eat!
- Is that all you have? - Yeah.
- Have you heard of the Scharfrichter? ["Sharp Judge"-Traditional German sword executioner]
The one who chops-off your head?
He's a very well-dressed man.
He covers up his head with a ...
...big hat
That man has a good spade:
He cuts your head with a clean cut.
And before you can think a thought...Just: pow!
I wonder how it feels.
Maybe your body holds...
Your hands are down, and you see your head flying away.
You hold up your arms... they reach up to the head.
And they're still in chains.
And you take this young head.
And you put it back on your body.
And you open your eyes.
And the chains are gone.
But, what happens then?
Maybe, you will see the Moon.
Or the stars.
You know? Even if it rains, the sun is shining.
The sun shines on good and evil the same.
The more in chains the madder.
I wish I'd had a wife.
And a farm.
And apple trees, and a cherry tree.
And...
Maybe some grapes. We should do our own wine:
white wine and red wine.
The red wine for the winter,
and white wine for the summer.
We would not drink too much.
We would pray and work. But sometimes...
Sometimes a little drink is good.
Sometimes, we would go to church.
And sometimes not.
Sometimes, we'd stay at home.. and we'd make music.
Reich's Military Tribunal. July, 1943
-Heil Hitler! -Heil!
Franz Jägerstätter. Driver at the headquarters of the reserve motorized brigade in Enns.
Born on May 20th, 1907 in Radegund-on-the-Dabube.
Currently in custody at the Werhrmacht´s preventive prison in Berlin-Tegel.
He refused again to comply with the conscription laws of February 24 th, 1935 to his active service duty
at the 17th motorized brigade in Enns. The defendant performed… [prosecutor's voice fades away]
- Do you have anything to say in your defense?
- Stop being so insolent! Who do you think you are?
You behave cowadly! You are acting the martyr!
You rejected your duty… while all of us go on fulfilling our duties to save your life!
- We'll have a shot recess.
Come in.
Please...
Sit down.
Do you imagine that anything you do will change the course of this war?
That anyone outside this court will ever hear of you?
No one will be changed.
The world will go on as before.
Your actions may even have the opposite effect of what you intend.
Someone else will take your place.
Do you judge me?
- I don't judge you.
I'm not saying "he is wicked, I am right."
I don't know everything.
A man...may do wrong,
and... he can't get out of it to make his life clear.
Maybe he'd like to go back, but he can't.
But... I have this feeling inside me,
that I can't do what I believe it's wrong.
- Do you have a right to do this?
- Do I have a right not to?
-The judgment of this court is...
death.
- So, today they've pronounced the sentence...
but they still have to confirm it.
Sign the paper in your cell. You'll go free. I can work it out.
[Franz starts prayer] [Recites: Psalms. Chapter 55:1-12]
KJB version: " Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication!
[Fani's voice] Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;
[Fani] My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
- It's from his lawyer!
[Resie: stifled shout of anguish]
- They've condemned him to death.
I have to go to Berlin.
- I'll come with you.
- Franz!
- You're doing no one any good.
No one.
This could be the last opportunity to abandon this...
senseless position.
If you do...
- Franz!.
I will at once petition the court to stay the execution of your sentence.
But it must be done without delay. Do you understand?
Now!
I'm.. I´m... sticking my neck out here. This could jeopardize my career.
If not my personal safety.
- The charges would be dropped, I'm sure, if you just...
change your stand.
I beg you to!
The war may soon be over.
You might never have to face a situation that would call on you to do what you oppose.
- My love. [Fani whispers]
- Franz.
Don't you see what's coming?
There's not much time!
God doesn't care what you say. Only what's in your heart!
Say the oath, and think what you like.
Do you understand?
[choir starts: "Agnus Dei" by Wojciech Kilar]
- I love you.
Whatever you do...
Whatever comes...
I'm with you.
Always.
Do what is right.
[Sad Agnus Dei goes on- no other sounds]
- No! Let me go!
[Fani quotes Matthew 7:7] - You said: "knock..
and it will be opened.
Ask -
...and it will be given."
- You've always been good to me.
And to my son.
And I've...
Forgive me.
- You...[Fani]
-You love him more than I do.
- Give him courage.
Wisdom.
Strength.
- Father, [whispers prayer]
- Tomorrow it will be done.
- Thank you, Father.
[Soprano starts singing Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3]
[reads standard sentence quickly]
[sentence stifled by soloist high praying hymn]
- Now, my dear children,
When Mother reads this letter to you,
your Father will be dead.
Through God's Grace we will soon meet again.
Dearest wife, Mother,
It was not possible for me to free you from the sorrows...
that you've endured for me.
And now, all my dear ones,
Don't forget me in your prayers.
I'll pray for you...
...from the other side.
August 9, 1943
-Faster!
- To the Wall!
- Move yourselves!
- What do I write?
- Sit down!
[Franz hushes gently to calm his mate]
- Next one!
Repeat your part of the work!
[Franz whispers Lord´s Prayer] ..Your Kingdom come...Thy will be done...in Heaven..
- Franz! [Fani whispers in voiceover]
- Franz! [Fani whispers]
- Next one!
-Jägerstätter!
-Born on May 20th, 1907 in Radegund on-the- Danube....
From the prison of Berlin Tegel.
- Scharfrichter! [calls executioner]
- Watch you steps! [instruction to guards]
His death sentence was nullified in 1997 by a Berlin court.
After the war, a group of nuns brought his ashes back to Sankt Radegund
At the Mass of his beatification in 2007 , Franz was remembered as a normal person with his faults.
Judge Lueben, (played by Bruno Ganz), was asked to to condemn three priests in 1944. Instead, he chose, to commit suicide.
A time will come when we will know what all this is for.
And there will be no mysteries. We will know...
why...
we live.
We'll come together.
We'll plant orchards,
fields.
We'll build the land back up.
Franz.
I'll meet you there,
["There Will Be No Mysteries" OST James H. Newton]
in the mountains.
"...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts:
and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been,
is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life,
and rest in unvisited tombs." - George Eliot -
Pen name of Mary Ann Evans British writer (1819-1880)
Novel: "Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life" (1869-1871)
Regarded as her best work and one of the great novels in English.
Subtitled by: Spanixtan [January 2020]