Daily I Appear Before Your Face... (1992) - full transcript

The farmer Franz Eimann is born in 1905 in the small village Gründle in the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia. He lives in peace with his Czech neighbors, but life changes when the Nazis invades and occupies the country. As a German he is called to the front in 1943. Fortunately he is too old to serve as a fighting soldier, and never kills anyone. At the end of the war he spends three years in prison in England. After his release he tries to go home, but the authorities in Czechoslovakia don't allow him to return until 1956 because of his ethnicity. When he returns he hasn't seen his wife and daughters for 13 years. After the war all properties belonging to the German-speaking population are confiscated and turned over to the Czechs, including his little farm. Many of German ethnicity have to dig their own graves before being shot down. In 1958 Eimann succeeds to buy a new cottage, where he now lives as a widower, 86 years old. Besides taking care of his few animals, he spends his days worshiping God, who saved him through all the horrors. He goes to the mass in the village church. At home he prays to God in front of a small altar in a little chapel of his own.

Mr Franz Eimann was born
in Orlick? mountains in 1905

in a place which is still known
as Grundle.

As a German he was called
to the front in 1943.

His wife, children and parents
stayed home at the farm.

After the war Eimann spent
3 years in an English prison.

He wrote to the Czech authorities
for permission to return home.

He wasn't able to return
until 13 years later.

He returned with impaired
health to a "foreign" land.

He wasn't able to buy
his own cottage until 1958.

I don't know if I'll manage.

My own body knows it,
I know myself.



I'd like to be young again
but I can't go through it all again.

DAILY I APPEAR
BEFORE YOUR FACE...

A person must accept it,
he can't turn back.

One can't think back
to how it all was.

There'd be war,

he who survived
would come home again.

But that they'd drive people
out of here...

The hope that I'd return
one day kept me going.

I sometimes thought that
I'd never return.

I had unhealthy lungs...

But I always knew

His hand was protecting me.

And my family's prayers

were not in vain.



The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

He makes me lie down
in green pastures.

He leads me beside
still waters;

He restores my soul.

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.

I'm a believer, my parents
and grandparents were too.

That's how they brought me up

and there was more religious
instruction at school.

So, we were guided by this.

Most importantly, one saw what
was good a what was bad.

My grandfather was
a good example for me.

I know there is another life
after death.

One remembers how it
used to be good before.

Friends all around greeted us,
Czechs and Germans,

but times are different now.

In the past the church was full,

we had to let the old people
sit on the front pews.

We had to sit at the side altars.

It's a shame that
it's not like that anymore.

In the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

- May the Lord be with you.
- And also with you.

To prepare ourselves
to celebrate the Eucharist,

let us call to mind our sins.

I was away for 13 years,
we had lived 32 years together,

we were happy together,

one always think about it.

I didn't value our time together.

Now I know I should done
everything better.

It hurts me the most that
my wife had to work so hard,

she had to do everything herself.

I have sinned
through my own fault.

And I ask all the angels
and saints,

brothers and sister to pray
for me to the Lord our God.

If a person has faith,
everything is easier.

They say they'll be
a different life after death.

But my faith will remain.

Lord, have mercy...

Christ, have mercy...

I have to think about that.

We had good cows,
they gave good milk.

It was a wonderful life,
I was young and healthy.

I was glad when everything grew,
it was my life.

I grew up with it,
I had a good wife.

We were both very happy.

Hitler came and as a German
I had to go to the front.

I was away for thirteen years.

I was afraid how the children
would greet me.

If I was still their father.

But I was surprised how
they both hung onto me.

Especially my daughter,

I was always special to her.

I lost the best years of my life.

But I remember the envy
in people, not hatred,

there was always envy.

I always say I'm all right now,
I'm only 86,

but what when I'm really old?

My family worked on the farm
during the war.

After the war
German property was confiscated.

Fields, meadows, woods, cattle,
everything confiscated.

They didn't pay for the cattle,
they didn't even thank us.

They cut down
120-year-old woods,

took our bricks.

The neighbour took it -
he was a Czech.

He didn't want me to come back.

He wanted to own our property.

If I'd have known,
I'd come back sooner.

I was very sorry about that.

We'd reared the cows
since they were born.

My father always said
when we came home

that first the cows get fed,
then us.

That's how I've always done it.

When I came home in 1956,

they thought I'd be
in the cooperative.

But I saw how they were
treating animals there,

I was never going to work there.

Then a gamekeeper asked
if I'd work in the forest.

They'd throw stones
at the cows in the field

and in the cowsheds
they used pitchforks on them.

I couldn't look at it.

The woods made me better -
I was ill when I came home.

The fresh air,
the smell of the woods...

If I was born again,
I'd go to work in the woods.

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;

He leads me in paths of
righteousness for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil;
for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff,
they comfort me.

The Lord is my shepherd...

REST IN PEACE

- May the Lord be with you.
- And also with you.

- Lift up your hearts!
- We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks
to the Lord our God.

It is right to give Him
thanks and praise.

It was terrible here after the war.

They dragged over 20 people
from De?tn?.

They had to dig their own graves.

They shot them
and they're buried there.

I knew those farmers,
they were good people,

they weren't interested
in politics - it wasn't right.

But soon everything
gets forgotten.

This is the cup of my blood,
it will be shed for you

and for all,
so that sins may be forgiven,

the blood of the new
and everlasting covenant.

Do this in memory of me.

My wife knew her parents
would be moved

so she went to help them
prepare their belongings.

She saw her father
stacking wood by the cottage.

She asked him why he was doing
that when they were leaving.

He said that the next person
would be glad of it.

One's homeland is...
how can I put it?

The place where a person
was born and grew up.

When I was in prison

I had a lot of time.

I kept thinking
about my homeland.

So I put my thoughts together
in a poem...

My father always said that
he never forgot his youth.

But he couldn't remember
what he had for yesterday's lunch.

I laughed,
but that's really how it is.

I go outside for something
but when I'm there,

I forget what it is
I came out for.

Your memory gets so bad
when you're old.

I'm not good at this.

In the morning
I think what I need to do

and what mistakes I made
so I don't repeat them.

I work early in the barn

and then go to work again.

When I go to bed I think
what I have to do tomorrow;

I say prayers for my family,
for everything.

My fingers aren't
what they used to be.

Hear our prayer,
good Lord a remain with us...

I ask God to help me do
what I must do,

to give me strength.

May the Lord's peace
remain with you always!

My grandmother had this tumour.

Everyone thought it was cancer.

She had them bring her
some holy water from France,

she had a mass
and the tumour went away.

She had a little chapel built
in memory of the event.

It's built out of stone.

The Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world

Have mercy upon us...

The Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world...

Happy are those
who are called to His supper.

Lord, I am not worthy
to receive you,

but only say the word
and I shall be healed.

I have never shot anyone.

I never had to.

I was too old
to serve in the army.

It was our task to take
munitions to the front.

But I never had to shoot anyone.

May the Lord go with you...

May almighty God bless you all,

the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.

Go in the name of the Lord...

I'd live with my daughter,
but I've got my cats, hens...

I want to die at home.

In the quiet little village,
in a woody grove,

There is a little chapel
under the linden trees.

Beyond it is a cottage
built of wood,

There stood my poor cradle.

Childhood is but a short time,

I lived there
with my father and mother,

When she had finished her work
she sang of home.