Holocaust (1978): Season 1, Episode 3 - Part 3: 1942-1944 - full transcript
Rudi and Helena escape from a long procession of Jews being marched into Babi Yar. They are eventually rescued from a hayloft by a group of Jewish partisans. Erik Dorf attends a top-level Nazi conference in which Heydrich gives Hi...
I am disgusted with all of you!
I want that Jew bitch
and her kids out!
No! They are my family!
Do you know where you're going?
Anyplace they can't find me.
Well, how will you live?
Here, take this.
It may help you.
Will you write to me and
tell me where you are?
Maybe.
Tell Mama not to worry about me.
Take care of her.
These Jews...
are going to have to disappear.
"Disappear"?
I can see through
that baby face.
You know what I mean.
No such plan is contemplated.
You'll ask me to do
your bloody work for you.
Well, don't be surprised if I
start without your permission.
She doesn't speak,
Doctor, she recognizes no one.
Since the incident? Yeah.
What can I do to help?
Well, is there no,
uh, special therapy
or, um... a sanitarium
that could help her?
Nurse? We have a
patient for Hadamar.
Phone them.
"It is with much regret
"that we must inform you
"of the death of your daughter,
"Frauline Anna Weiss.
"Although we did all
we could to help her,
"gave her every care,
"she refused to
take nourishment,
"did not respond to medication.
"And on June 3,
died of pneumonia
"and malnutrition.
"In view of the unsettled
conditions now prevailing,
"we have taken the liberty
"of cremating her remains
"and providing burial
near the sanitarium."
About two years ago,
the Italian ambassador
raised objections
to the Führer's Jewish policies.
Mussolini was offended, so on.
The Führer told
him that in 500 years
the name of Adolf Hitler
will be honored for one thing:
Having wiped the Jews
from the face of the earth.
One more week
of hacking at rocks
and he'll be another dead Jew.
My name is Helena Slomova.
It's been a long time
since I've held a girl's hand.
Too busy running.
Where will you go now?
I don't know.
I'm sorry.
That's all right.
I didn't mind.
Josef...
it is wrong of us to
dwell on our misfortunes.
Agreed.
I'll, uh, I'll speak
to them about
letting you teach school.
Me? Of course.
Wait till you see the
children of Warsaw.
Nothing in their
stomachs half the time,
but those kids give
concerts and plays...
Oh, Josef...
I have never loved you more.
Nor I you.
Oh, dear God.
I look at you and I see Anna.
♪ ♪
Hey!
Hey, you! Stop!
Some smuggler.
Aaron, you're late again.
Sorry, teacher.
I... had to clean the yard.
He was on the
Christian side again,
I bet, smuggling.
Smuggling! Smuggling! ♪
Stop that.
Aaron, come here.
You have been warned
not to sneak through the wall.
Your mother wouldn't
want you to grow up
to be a smuggler and a thief.
It's all right, ma'am.
I'll change when I'm older.
Here, want an egg?
No, thank you, Aaron.
You worked for it, you keep it.
All right, children.
Now, once again.
From the beginning.
We don't encourage
visitors at rehearsal.
Forgive me for interrupting.
Is Aaron Feldman here?
Aaron.
Josef...
is anything wrong?
Nothing serious.
Do you know me, Aaron?
Sure. Teacher's husband.
You're on the council.
You know me?
Who doesn't know the
famous Aaron Feldman?
The Sewer Rat, the
Prince of Smugglers.
I'm not a smuggler.
Oh, Aaron.
A ghetto policeman
saw you three times.
The next time he'll arrest you.
He won't. I gave him
an egg to shut him up.
You won't be able to give an
egg to the Nazis to shut them up.
They got to catch me first.
Aren't you afraid? Sure.
But I'll do it anyway.
You won't snitch
on me, will you?
No, of course not.
And you won't do it again.
I say concentrate on the
productive, the healthy.
I say concentrate
on feeding everybody.
For a while, the
smugglers helped feed us.
Now, the Germans
are shooting smugglers.
And they threaten to shoot
20 Jews for each
smuggler they catch.
Those boys that crawl
through the sewers
may be our salvation.
Nonsense!
They'll get us killed!
We will all be killed anyway.
I beg your pardon?
We will all be killed anyway.
How do you know?
It has begun already.
The Nazis in
Russia have started.
No more ghettos.
What are you saying?
Mass murders.
Firing squads.
They mean to kill
every Jew in Europe.
Ridiculous.
What is your name, young man?
Adam Levitz.
I tell this council we
should be smuggling
not only food, but
guns and grenades.
Such talk will
guarantee our deaths.
If this council is too cowardly
to give the order,
the Zionists will.
We don't intend to die
without a fight! Get out!
You'll all die here being
polite and tipping your caps.
You have no authority.
You represent no
one. Throw him out!
Why did you arrest
one of my nurses?
She was arrested
for good reason.
Sarah Ohlnick is a smuggler.
Sarah Ohlnick
went outside the wall
to buy food for the children.
She knew the
rules: no smuggling.
I want her released. Do you?
She's one of the best
nurses in the children's ward.
A bit of class snobbery?
Would you be as
eager to have her freed
if she were a
housewife or a beggar?
Of course.
Then you can
appeal for all eight.
Eight?
What the hell do you
think I am, a monster?
That little one, the
beggar girl, she is 16.
And her crime?
Like the others:
smuggling food for her baby.
Oh, good God.
You're a Jew.
I was a Jew.
I'm a convert.
That's why I have this job.
I intend to keep it and
obey orders and survive.
But... use your influence
with the Germans.
Who the hell are you to talk?
You and your brother Moses,
so high and mighty
on that lousy council.
What do you do but follow
orders from the Germans...
Hand in lists of names,
do their work for them?
You want to be a hero?
You try it, Doctor.
Just try it.
The Jewish Council made another
appeal to the Germans, but...
Berta, you didn't need to come.
I wanted to.
Aaron.
They just killed the beggar!
Sarah the nurse.
Oh, Josef, Josef, why
couldn't we have saved them?
It was hopeless, Berta.
God, I'd like to see some
of them covered in blood.
We'll leave now, Berta.
No.
No, it's the least we owe them.
To be witnesses.
Can you come with us?
My brother and I have
forgotten the prayers.
The prayers are no
help anymore, Weiss.
We're running short of ink.
I-I-I'm a chemist.
Get us chemicals
from the hospital.
We'll make our own...
Charcoal, linseed oil.
You're going to print
a resistance paper?
First issue on
the streets today.
But if I bring you chemicals to
make ink, then I'll be involved.
Better involved with
us than with the council.
The council members are alive.
Lawbreakers get shot.
I don't want to get shot.
You'll die anyway.
And better to die protesting.
Look, I am still not convinced
they intend to kill us all.
I mean, what good would
dead Jews be to them?
He can go; we don't need him.
The master craftsman at work.
But such equipment.
Phooey!
Look, look,
don't misunderstand me,
but logic says
that we are not...
Logic doesn't prove
anything anymore, Mr. Weiss.
"To the Jews of Warsaw:
"Let us have an end of apathy.
"No more submission
to the enemy.
"Apathy can cause
our moral collapse
"and root out of our hearts
our hatred for the invader.
It can destroy within
us the will to fight."
All right, I'm with you.
A blessing on you, Mr. Weiss.
We could use the doctor, too.
"It can undermine
our resolution.
"Because our position
is so bitterly desperate,
"our will to give up our lives
for a purpose more sublime
"than our daily existence
must be reinforced.
Our young people must
walk with head erect."
They're braver
than I am, Berta...
Whoever posted
that and printed it.
It's funny, I keep thinking
about our son Rudi.
What about him?
If Rudi were here, he'd...
he'd be in the thick of it...
Putting up posters,
refusing to give in.
I have a feeling he's safe.
I have faith in Rudi.
I, too, Josef.
I confiscated all
the film I could find.
Dreadful quality.
Who filmed it?
Blobel said it was
for battalion archives.
I had the feeling it was
for their own entertainment.
I suppose we
should keep a record.
Do you?
All our work should
be documented.
I wouldn't show this
stuff in newsreel theaters,
but I'd love to rub
Himmler's nose in it.
Maybe get the Führer
to attend a screening.
Look how casual it all is.
They don't even
seem to be crying.
It's quite incredible.
Almost a religious rite.
We'll unload the wagon
for a loaf of bread.
Go away! No
civilians around here.
Please, one loaf?
I said go away.
Don't you know this hotel is
German Army Headquarters?
Stupid idiots.
One loaf.
Hands off, you hear?!
I hope they blow your head off.
Everywhere.
Where was the Red Army, huh?
Where to now?
Come.
Rudi, I can't eat it.
My stomach is jumping.
Make believe it's
a potato pancake.
Nice and greasy.
Stop it, you monster.
Some thanks.
I go and get us dinner,
you only complain.
Wait till we're married.
I won't stand for it.
Hold it; don't move.
What is it?
SS.
I don't believe it.
What?
I know him.
You know him?
Continental Hotel!
The Russians blew it up!
Get back to battalion
headquarters!
They're sending engineers in!
What about Helms?
He's probably dead!
Helms.
Rudi Weiss?
How did you get here?
Never mind.
He's a relative.
Can you believe it?
His sister's married
to my brother Karl.
The last time I saw him
was at a soccer game.
That's before they
threw me off the team.
It wasn't my fault, Rudi.
I got nothing against you.
Water.
Water, please.
Helms, listen to me.
You've been back to Berlin?
You've seen your sister?
Six months ago.
My family, tell me about them.
My parents.
Yeah... your brother's
in Buchenwald.
My mother and father?
In Poland.
Inga heard from them.
They're... They're all right.
Where?
I don't... I don't remember.
Warsaw, maybe.
How the hell can I remember?
Lay off, Rudi.
What did I ever do to you?
Kristallnacht?
Three years ago?
You and that bum, Muller,
beating up my grandfather.
You got it wrong.
We let him go.
We let you go.
My sister Anna?
She's...
What?
She's dead.
What...?!
What happened?
I don't know.
Last year, a year
and a half ago,
I wasn't even in Berlin.
She got sick.
Pneumonia or something.
Inga went to see her.
She... She died in the hospital.
She was only 16, Helena.
I know, Rudi... I know.
And you loved her so.
I ought to kill him.
No.
No, Rudi... he could
be telling us the truth.
I am.
We took your mother and
Anna in, for God's sake.
They're all right.
The doctor and
Mrs. Weiss... Liar!
This uniform makes you as guilty
as if you arrested Karl
and killed Anna yourself!
I obey orders.
Listen.
Just get me out of here.
Get me out to the street
so I can get to an aid station.
Maybe I'll bury you under
a pile of plaster, huh?
The way they bury Jews alive.
I'll get you work passes.
I'll get you out of here.
It's not going to be
safe for Jews in Kiev.
Rudi, he's right.
I think we can trust him.
Yes, same damage here!
They've blown up half of Kiev!
Take cover!
I'm Helms, 22nd Division.
Who are they?
They're Jews.
Take them over to the truck!
Move them out
with the other Jews!
Come on, move! Lousy bastard.
We saved your neck.
What's going to happen to us?
I don't know.
I just want to live long enough
to get even with
that lousy Helms.
Didn't anyone know the
Russians had mines all over Kiev?!
What the devil are
you doing all day?
Drinking vodka and
chasing ballerinas?!
Russian sappers
have blown up Kiev.
Half the city is on fire.
We've lost several hundred men.
Apparently, our
counterintelligence failed.
Of course.
We're too busy shooting Jews.
What do we do now?
I can hear Himmler screaming
about counterespionage.
We'll blame it on the Jews.
You've seen those Kiev Jews.
Old women, old men
in beards, children.
They blew up Kiev?
If we say they did.
We absolve our intelligence
and give Heydrich what he wants:
a Jew-free Ukraine.
We've shot over 100,000 Jews.
Dorf, you're looking at the man
who cleaned out the ghettos
in Zhitomir, Berdichev, Uman.
Are you asking for more?
Remember, Colonel,
if you kill ten Jews,
it gets easier
to kill a hundred.
Easier to kill a thousand...
and easier still to kill 10,000.
♪ ♪
He says we are
going to a work camp.
Work camp.
I've heard that before.
All right, all
right, stay in line!
Keep it moving!
What do they call this place?
Babi Yar.
What does it mean?
Grandma's Ravine.
They don't march
very well, do they?
Hm.
Ukrainians.
What's that over there?
Jewish Cemetery of Kiev.
Appropriate, isn't it?
Of course, this remains
a resettlement operation.
Precisely what they were told
and precisely what they believe.
It's astonishing
how they cooperate.
Which proves they
don't deserve to live.
Ah.
There they come.
They expected
about 6,000 to turn up.
The men tell me
more than 30,000
Jews are down there.
Simply fantastic.
♪ ♪
Don't look.
Women.
The children.
Rudi...
hold me, please.
No one will believe any of this.
They'll say we lied.
Because nobody could
do this to other people.
Take Major Dorf to his quarters.
I'm in charge of
road construction
in the Ukraine.
This place has
got to be surveyed.
Not today. It's a security area.
You mean, I can't go through
because of the target practice?
Maybe next week.
Is there a problem?
This civilian wants
to get through.
He says he's the road engineer.
That's right, Major,
I'm under or...
Erik!
Uncle Kurt. Get in.
Thank you.
Dorf!
You might light to check
with me at headquarters later.
Final tally.
Tally?
Yes, it's, uh, some...
bureaucratic business.
Goodness me, Erik, look at you.
The fearsome major.
Yes.
About Babi Yar... what
were you doing there?
Executions.
Ah, yes, of course, that
would be your responsibility.
I suppose somebody has to.
Who were the, um... victims?
Oh, the usual scum: saboteurs...
People who blew up Kiev...
Criminals, black marketeers.
Jews?
Some.
They're active
in the resistance.
I've only been in the
Ukraine for a few weeks,
but I hear your fellows
are pretty thorough
in dealing with the Jews.
Only when necessary.
We're resettling them.
The road is crowded with them.
All going towards Babi Yar.
And other places.
For resettlement?
Most of them.
Criminals and spies
will be executed.
Cruel business.
Any war is.
But... all those civilians?
I can't wait to see my family.
Believe me, Uncle,
without them, without Marta,
without the children, I
wonder if I could go on.
You're still the best
pulse-taker in the world.
I've had a lot of practice.
You're old trick,
so that it won't be too cold.
Old GPs are full of old tricks.
What do you hear, Josef?
Mozart.
Ah, there we go...
You mustn't tease me.
Breathe deep, mouth open.
Again.
Hm! You sound better.
Are you feeling stronger today?
Yes. I want to go back
to school tomorrow.
If I miss school,
they... run away.
Now, darling, maybe we oughtn't
have the photographs here.
Josef, they...
fill me with hope.
When I hear the children
crying in the streets for bread,
and see the frozen bodies
and the starving old men,
I look at the pictures
and I think, maybe,
our sons are alive and happy.
I'm certain they are.
Karl has a skill;
he's a fine artist.
They'll make use of him.
You see how it is in
the Warsaw ghetto.
I'm a doctor; I can be used.
Anybody who can
contribute survives.
It's cruel, but it's true.
And we will not speak of Anna.
We can't bring her back.
I must stop this
idiotic weeping.
When I get out of bed
and I go back to school, I...
I promise I won't cry.
That's much better.
I'm a spoiled woman,
indulged in too
much by my parents,
you, the servants...
Not so, Berta.
You're as brave as anyone here.
Josef, the money we had
sewn in the coat when I left...
Mm-hmm. What about it?
Take it. Take it.
It can't help us.
For the children
in the hospital.
Oh, Berta.
We may need it for ourselves.
Hmm?
Come in.
Uh, Dr. Weiss,
your brother is back,
with the man from Vilna.
Thank you, Mr. Lowy.
I'll be right in.
Moses went to Vilna?
No. Just to the
railroad station.
This fellow had
to be sneaked in.
Someone wants to
sneak in to the ghetto?
Mm-mm, no, he's a courier.
He must go back tonight.
I'll be back.
High level conference
in the executive.
Don't believe anything
the Germans tell you
about ghettos or work camps.
We take what they
say with a grain of salt.
They mean to murder
every Jew in Europe.
Impossible.
Well, reprisals, yes;
we've had them here.
Not reprisals, mass murder...
The extermination of every Jew.
There were once 80,000
Jews in Vilna ghetto.
Today, there are
less than 20,000.
60,000...
Shot by the SS.
But you can't shoot
60,000 human beings.
I don't believe you, Kovel.
How was it done?
The SS took any
man who could work,
sent them out to the
countryside to dig ditches,
the Lithuanian police
circled the ghetto,
no one could get out, or in.
The Lithuanians went into
the homes, beating, whipping.
The Jews came out quickly,
a few tried to hide,
shot on the spot.
Taken in trucks to the
ditches, undressed, searched,
lined up in the ditches,
shot with machine guns.
They stood there, no tears...
no resistance.
Maybe Vilna was an exception.
Ghetto after ghetto
is being wiped out.
The German army,
they're decent officers.
They must object.
Open your eyes.
Warsaw has the largest
concentration of Jews in Poland.
Your turn will come.
They can't find enough ditches,
guns, bullets,
to kill all of us.
Oh, they're an energetic
and ingenious people;
perhaps they will.
Tell us what we must do, Kovel.
Resist.
You can start with this.
"To all Jews in the ghetto:
"Let us not go to our deaths
like lambs to the slaughter.
"Young Jews, I appeal to
you, do not believe those
"who wish to do you harm.
"It is Hitler's plan to
annihilate the Jews.
"We are the first.
"It's true we are
weak and alone,
"but the only answer worth
giving to the enemy is resistance.
"Brothers, rather die fighting
"than live by the
grace of a slaughter.
"Let us defend ourselves
to our last breath...
Vilna and the ghetto."
But how much good will it do?
You say they'll
be killed anyway.
"They," Dr. Kohn?
We!
Bare hands against
tanks and artillery?
Do you have any guns? - Not yet.
We'll teach the young
Zionists to obey orders
and become soldiers.
Then we'll get guns.
That sounds like Jews...
No guns but start an army.
The Germans can
be bribed, bought off.
They know the war
is finished for them.
They've lost Africa.
America will invade Europe soon.
And we will be dead
when they get here.
Berta, you shouldn't
be out of bed.
I listened, Josef.
Well, it's just,
just a lot of talk.
Nobody's really
certain what to do yet.
I tore the coat apart.
You must buy guns.
How many?
In the first two days,
more than 33,000.
We get rid of over 100,000
there before we're finished.
Have you improved security?
Yes, sir.
What about the clothing?
It's distributed to Ukrainians,
and they don't seem to mind.
They don't ask questions.
♪ O little town of Bethlehem ♪
♪ How still we see thee lie ♪
♪ Above thy deep
and dreamless sleep ♪
♪ The silent stars go by ♪
♪ Yet in thy dark
streets shineth ♪
♪ The everlasting light ♪
♪ The hopes and
fears of all the years ♪
♪ Are met in thee tonight. ♪
Daddy, can't we open presents?
Yeah, presents!
After the concert, children.
You know the rules:
Singing, then clearing
up, and then presents.
Rewards after duty.
It's the same in the army.
Your father got
this long vacation
only after his duties on
the Russian front were over.
And Mama received this
new piano for being so brave
while I was away.
It is magnificent.
One of those wonderful
old Bechsteins.
I was stunned when
the movers brought it in.
I couldn't believe it.
And it didn't cost a penny.
Really? ERIK: No, it was sitting
in the clinic around the corner.
No one played it; it
was gathering dust,
and so the physician who
ran the place offered it to me.
Offered it to you?
Yes, in the interests
of party unity.
Oh.
This piano needs tuning.
Ah, tuning a piano
is no problem.
Getting one is.
Well, it doesn't
seem to have been
very hard for you, nephew.
Whose was it?
I told you. The clinic's.
Oh, some Jewish people
lived there, but they went away.
Oh, I wonder where.
Let's have an intermission now.
Shall we open the presents?
A little less greed, children.
Marta, let them be.
It's only once a year.
Two white mice!
Mama, I wanted a mouse, also!
Oh, Dad, I love them.
I'll name one Siegfried
and the other Wotan.
Better change one name,
because the pet shop
assures me one
of them is female.
A boy and a girl?
They're going to live together
and make mice babies.
I can hardly wait! Babies!
I might give you the sick ones.
Peter!
Erik, the children are tired.
Why don't we all
sing, "Silent Night,"
and they can go to bed?
We can listen to Midnight
Mass on the radio.
Uncle Kurt, you see
how being married
to an administrator
has made her efficient.
I think it might be
the other way around.
Marta's efficiency
has rubbed off on you.
Come on, children,
come on... that's it.
Ready?
Okay.
♪ Silent night ♪
♪ Holy night... ♪
Something seems to
be muffling the keys.
Is one of the strings
broken? Hmm.
Ah!
Hmm.
These were lying on the strings.
Some old photographs.
Pictures! Let me see!
May I? Sure.
Who are they?
It's Dr. Weiss.
And their children, I imagine.
Do you know
where they are, Erik?
Not the faintest idea.
I think he was
deported years ago.
Laura, get rid of these.
We didn't finish
singing "Silent Night."
♪ Silent night ♪
♪ Holy night ♪
♪ All is calm ♪
♪ All is bright ♪
♪ Round yon virgin ♪
♪ Mother and child ♪
♪ Holy infant so
tender and mild ♪
♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪
♪ Sleep in heavenly peace. ♪
How is the Muller
family tree coming?
Lies on top of lies.
What whores they
make of us, Felscher.
It's how we survive.
He's got me painting
in Charlemagne
and Frederick the Great.
They're jealous because
we go back to Abraham.
Beautiful.
You won't forget
the two crusaders.
There and there.
Weiss, you and I will be friends
before this mess is over.
Who knows? With
America in the war,
I may need Jew friends to
say nice things about me.
Don't count on me.
After all I've done for you?
Your wife was here yesterday.
Your monthly letter.
Don't you want it?
You made her pay
the usual price?
It came postage due.
She had to pay a bit,
but then she can afford it.
Go on, Muller.
Get out of here.
I don't want her to
come here again.
She won't.
You're being transferred.
You and Felscher.
Request for a couple
of high-class artists.
Transferred...?
You've developed reputations.
Concentration camp geniuses.
You're going to Theresienstadt
in Czechoslovakia.
The Paradise Ghetto.
I'll, uh...
I'll miss playing
mailman for you.
Don't, Weiss.
Listen...
nothing is as it
should be anymore.
Read it.
Be tolerant of her.
"My beloved Karl,
dearest husband.
"I miss you more each day,
"and pray for the day
when we will be united.
"One can always hope.
"I keep going
to official people,
"but there seems to be no
way I can secure your release.
"We must hope that
your parents are well.
"Miraculously, a letter came
from Warsaw some months ago.
"Your father is
working in the hospital
"and your mother
is teaching school.
"I wish I had some news of Rudi,
"but he has vanished
from the earth.
"Oh, I love you, Karl,
and I want you so much.
"Please understand me, darling.
"I have had to do things
to get these letters to you,
"but my love for you is undying.
Your loving Inga."
Loving.
Cheer up, Weiss.
They say Theresienstadt
is not so bad.
I always wanted to
see Czechoslovakia.
Good morning, Heydrich; Dorf.
What a pair.
One of them part Jew,
the other a Berlin shyster.
We estimate
that there are 11
millions Jews in the world,
and the Final Solution
will deal with all them.
All?
The Führer has ordered
the physical extermination
of the Jews.
Language, Heydrich, language.
The policy regarding
the Jews is as follows.
They will be sent to
labor camps in Poland
where natural
attrition due to hunger,
fatigue and disease
will take its toll.
And any survivors will
be dealt with accordingly.
The "action commandos"
will be expanded?
And other methods.
May we know what they are?
The use of gas
is being examined.
Gas?
It's a possibility.
Now, General, you
know what happened
with the mercy killings
some years ago?
Sir?
I mean, the elimination
of cretins, morons.
Yes, but what do you mean?
Dorf, you know damned
well what I mean!
The Vatican and the
church has raised hell!
He backed down, and
the gassings ended.
Well? The same
thing will happen.
We can't get the
churches angry at us.
Heydrich...
this bloody business
is getting out of hand.
Look...
I represent the Civil
Branch of the Reich,
and I am damn worried!
These are only Jews
we'll be handling.
Yes, controlling the
foreign press, the banks,
whispering in Roosevelt's ear.
Nobody will lift a finger
to protect Jews.
And we'll be on
firm legal ground.
We'll be eliminating enemies
of the state, spies, terrorists.
What's the difference
if they're shot,
gassed or worked to death?
I don't like this.
Oh, damn it, I'm a lawyer,
too, and I want to be heard!
The conventional notion
of justice is dead, Frank.
Do you happened to
remember what the Fuhrer said
about your precious law?
I don't recall.
Dorf, you'd better tell him.
I believe the Führer said,
"Here I stand with my bayonets.
"There you stand with your law.
We'll see which prevails."
If it's extermination you want,
I'll oblige you.
Ah, some momentous
decisions were made today.
Inevitable decisions.
Fascinating.
You have second
thoughts? Of course not.
You and I are obeying
the law, the Führer's law.
Not some abstract notion.
The kind of thing that
Frank was babbling about.
Clear conscience?
I'm obeying orders.
Who am I to judge my superiors?
Why should they need judging?
Tell me, Dorf,
how is your, um...
your charming wife and
your beloved children?
Quite well.
I remember the day we
spent in the Prater in Vienna.
When was that?
Three years ago.
I came to you for guidance
at Heydrich's request.
Ah, yes.
The young innocent.
Your own family, Eichmann?
Splendid,
all things considered.
Wartime shortages and so on.
Our families, Eichmann...
The woman and the
children of Germany...
They give us
courage, determination.
No question.
Loving wife, happy children.
We owe them a better world.
Like the decisions
we made today.
A necessity to assure
the future of the race.
Precisely.
And later generations
will not have the will
or the strength to
finish these tasks.
I look at my children,
and I know I'm
doing the right thing.
Rudi...
I'm cold.
Come closer.
It doesn't help.
I don't think I'll
ever be warm again.
Give me your hand.
Rudi...
we cannot go on...
we cannot go on
running like this.
You think we should
have stayed in Prague?
I don't know, but
at least there...
I had my apartment.
We could get food.
I had friends.
Your friends are all in
concentration camps.
I... I think I am
a burden to you.
I cry too much.
Helena...
I want to cry also.
But I learned, when I
was a kid back in Berlin,
you never cry in a fight.
Never.
Even if it hurts.
Because there's
always the fellow
who wants to see you cry.
And if he does,
he'll murder you.
Nothing left.
Not even a turnip.
Rudi, what are we going to do?
You give me all this talk
about this Jewish nation
your-your Zionist friends want.
Out in some desert?
Surrounded by Arabs?
That fellow with the whiskers...
What was his name?
It's Herzl.
Don't you try to
make me laugh again.
I just want to knock some
sense into your head, that's all.
You think you're going to get
that place without a fight, huh?
Without killing or being killed?
But I'm cold.
I cannot think about
Herzl when I'm cold.
I'll get you something to eat.
Close your eyes...
I have a present.
Rudi, stop.
Come on, close them.
All right.
Now open your mouth.
What is it?
Raw potato.
Vitamins.
It's making me sick.
Then pretend it's a pastry.
Ah, brioche, fresh
from the bakery.
Will you stop it?
Mmm. You smell that coffee?
I'd like mine with cream.
You're awful.
Here we are, a Berlin family,
plenty of food...
but we'll never live in Berlin.
And we will never
live in Prague.
Where, then,
your nonexistent land of Israel?
I don't know.
But wherever we
go, I will be happy.
So will I.
Come on out with your
hands over your heads!
There's 50 of us
here! Partisans!
No, Rudi.
Rudi, that knife won't help.
There are too many of them.
Come on out, slowly!
One gun... I should
have gone for him.
Where are your 50 partisans?
They'll be here
when we need them.
Who are you?
We are Czechs.
We escaped to Kiev and
then we ran away from Kiev.
Why? RUDI: Does it matter?
You are Jews.
We are, too.
Shalom.
Shalom.
Shalom.
Jews with guns.
Very few guns.
The 50 partisans?
Uncle Sasha's imagination.
I am Sasha.
Commander of the partisan
brigade from Zhytomyr.
You know... you're
lucky we found you
instead of the
Ukrainian partisans.
They would have killed
you as soon as the Germans.
Do you have a gun for me? No.
At the moment, we have a
lot more Jews than weapons.
Come. Let's go to the camp.
You both look starved.
Straight ahead to the square.
No talking.
Weiss?
Is there a Karl Weiss?
And Felscher?
Weiss and Felscher?
Here.
Weiss and Felscher?
I'm Karl Weiss.
How did you know us?
Word gets around.
I'm Maria Kalova,
one of the
Theresienstadt artist.
You are to join us.
Stores?
The bank?
All a false front.
This camp is a fraud.
You can get a cup of
warm water in the cafe,
and buy your own valise
back from the leather shop.
But the bank?
It circulates useless currency.
Then it's all a game.
Nothing is a game
to the Germans.
Well, are you
treated well or...?
The barracks are packed
with the old and sick.
They carry the
dead out every day.
Where you came in,
that's a little fortress...
Torture, murder, executions.
Karl, this is no different
from Buchenwald
except in the externals.
What are they up to?
Theresienstadt is their
passport to respectability.
I can't believe it.
You will when the Red
Cross comes through
and decides the Nazis
are treating the
Jews with kindness.
The Swedes, the Swiss...
All the neutrals visit us.
"Ah, a bank...
"and a bakery.
"A cinema.
What are those Jews
complaining about?"
And they can get away with this?
People believe them?
Maybe they want to believe.
Come along.
You are pleased to be through
with Buchenwald, I guess.
This seems to be an improvement.
Don't be deceived
by surfaces, Weiss.
An artist should
see what lies below.
Yes, thank you.
Maria has told me.
This place is a pesthole.
You saw those old
folks on the train?
The ones with moth-eaten
furs and bowler hats?
Some of them are from
my hometown; from Berlin.
The last of the
Jewish bourgeoisie
turned over the last reichsmark
and artworks for
retirement here.
And they die of
hunger every day.
We are the lucky ones.
You and Felscher
keep your noses clean
and you might survive.
Does anyone ever escape?
Or are people ever freed?
Felscher, this is
no ordinary prison.
We are here for
a long, long time.
Your work?
You and your colleagues?
Everyone.
And you're proud of this?
Hm?
I saw no children
who looked like this.
Forgive me, please, Frey, I...
I am certainly no
tower of strength myself,
but I mean... "Ghetto
children at play."
"Sabbath meal
at Theresienstadt."
I mean, really.
Stand watch.
We are a rather eclectic group.
We use several styles.
Do you.
This might be called...
"Concentration Camp Gothic."
Your work?
Yes, but all of us do these.
They're coming.
Thanks.
In our orchestra.
As I said before,
let me show you
the artistic qualities
we bring out.
And how are my
artists today, hmm?
Quite well, Herr Commandant.
Good, good.
My guest is Herr Banson
of the Swedish
Inspection Commission.
He's heard about
our artistic program
and insisted on
seeing it for himself.
Quite an atelier, eh, Banson?
Hardly, um, a torture
chamber, hmm?
Uh, Frey,
show Herr Banson those portraits
of the Jewish children, please.
Charming.
Yet more evidence
how, with kindness,
we treat our Jews.
Whoever heard of a prison camp
with a fine art studio, huh?
Charming.
And now, gentlemen,
let me show you our orchestra.
We do, and as I say,
try to develop and bring out
the inherent
artistic qualities...
Lying sons of...
Easy, Weiss.
Who is he?
Sasha?
He is a doctor.
A doctor.
Where's his office?
Don't joke.
He still can sew a wound
or cut out an appendix.
And the man praying?
Samuel... he is a rabbi.
A rabbi with partisans?
That's my kind of rabbi.
He might even get me
back into the synagogue.
Hey, you kids,
it might not look like it,
but this is a synagogue.
Ha!
Hey, I'll deal with you later.
It's just like Berlin.
I was always getting chased
for playing ball on Saturday.
How did you all get here?
Uncle Sasha brought
us out of Koretz.
The Germans killed
his wife and daughters.
Over 2,000 Jews
shot in one afternoon.
My parents, my brother.
All of my family.
And one of Sasha's patients...
Ukrainian, a good man...
He let us out... 20 people.
Then others joined us
from Zhitomir, Berdichev,
all the places where
Jews were killed.
To this camp?
This is our fourth camp.
The Germans come looking for us.
We tell them we're
Ukrainian partisans.
Do you fight back?
We will when we get guns.
What are you waiting for?
It isn't easy.
There are women,
old people, children.
Uncle Sasha won't leave them.
He doesn't pray with the others?
He tore up his prayer shawl
when his wife was killed.
He tells everyone
who comes here,
"No more sheep
to the slaughter."
But you're just a handful.
Thousands of others
just went to their death.
They were overwhelmed.
No one believed it would happen.
Hey, Weiss, you're
on guard duty.
You know how to shoot?
Sure.
Will this thing fire?
If it doesn't, use it as a club.
Come, I'll show you.
What are you smiling about?
I was just thinking
my father's a doctor.
Oh? Where?
He had an office in Berlin.
He's been in Warsaw
now, a long time.
He once thought I
would be a doctor.
What, you can't stand blood?
No, just a bad student.
Uncle Sasha.
Uncle Sasha, may I go
on sentry duty with him?
Sure.
Matol will show you.
Thanks.
But stay awake.
And no romance either.
Uncle Sasha.
That fellow Samuel, your rabbi.
What about him?
Will he perform a wedding
after we come off sentry duty?
Why not?
You won't even have to pay him.
♪ ♪
"Beloved,
"come, the bride to meet,
"the Princess
Sabbath let us greet.
"Come to the Sabbath,
greetings bring,
"For it is blessing's
constant spring;
"Of old ordained,
divinely taught,
Last in creation,
first in thought."
"In distress I called
upon the Lord.
He answered me
with great deliverance."
May your years be blessed
with happiness and children.
And undying love
for one another.
In the faith of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, you are man and wife.
Mazel tov!
Kiss the bride.
I'm afraid to.
Now that we're married.
Bravo!
Nadya, thank you
for lending me the ring.
Keep it; it was my sister's.
Well, now, you've got
new responsibilities.
Family, house, insurance.
You better save your money.
You sound like my father.
He used to bawl me out
for spending my
allowance on soccer games.
Uncle Sasha! The Nazis!
There's a patrol
coming on the road.
A farmer told me...
He saw the truck.
Everyone, move!
Come on, break camp.
Quick, quick!
Hurry, hurry, let's go.
Rudi, Helena!
We go now, yes?
This way, Reichsführer.
Gentlemen!
Whose idea was this?
Colonel Nebe.
He's an idiot.
He felt the Reichsführer
should get a firsthand look.
I know Himmler
better than he does.
Attention!
Quickly! Put your
clothes in a pile.
Atten-hut!
How many people?
About a hundred, sir.
Normally, we
process larger groups.
We've already
handled 45,000 Jews
in the Minsk area
in five months.
Piker.
We handled 33,000
in two days at Babi Yar.
This way!
That tall young man, the second.
He looks like an Aryan.
Bring him over here.
Sergeant, bring
that tall fellow here.
Are both your parents Jews?
Yes.
Any ancestors who were not Jews?
No.
Pity I can't help you.
Send him back.
Whenever you're
ready, Reichsführer.
Ready?
Yes, yes, any
time, Colonel Nebe.
Fire!
It's the first
time, you realize.
It's a bit hard to take.
Miserable little chicken farmer.
We shoot them by the thousands.
Oh, my God, some
of them are still alive.
Sergeant!
I do think we must
find another way.
Gentlemen, I have never been
so proud of German soldiers.
Your consciences can be clear.
I will be responsible
before God and Hitler
for all your acts.
The men are
appreciative, Reichsführer.
Let's take a lesson from nature.
Combat is everywhere.
Primitive man understood
that a horse was good,
a bedbug was bad.
Now, you might argue that
bedbugs and rats and Jews
have a right to live, and
I might agree with you,
but man has a right to
defend himself against vermin.
Still, Heydrich, we must look
for more efficient methods, yes?
Well, Nebe, you
botched that one.
I'm Colonel Nebe
to you, Major Dorf.
You're lucky you're not a
sergeant, after that mess.
Who authorized you to
invite the Reichsführer
to that sloppy business?
Couldn't you find
gunners who'd kill them all
at the first volley?
Damn you, Dorf.
Don't you bark at me.
You're a disgrace.
Major Dorf, some of us
are sick of your interference.
Are you?
Well, for your
information, Blobel,
we aren't pleased with Babi Yar.
Heydrich wants the
corpses dug up and burnt.
Who the hell are you?
Get your fat behind back
- to the Ukraine.
- Major Dorf,
you have no right to
talk to us in this manner.
Oh, yes, he has.
Heydrich's pet.
You and that part-Jew.
Heydrich has no Jewish blood.
And anyone who spreads
such lies will answer for them.
Go to hell.
I need a drink.
Listen, Major,
I have some ideas on
what Himmler wants...
More efficient ways.
A lower cost for killing.
Dynamite, perhaps.
Injections, gas.
Let him go to hell!
Join us, Major?
Not him.
Keeps his head clear
so he can scheme.
Like a damn kike.
Might have to do something
about that little bastard.
Like what?
He's quick on his feet.
Just tell me you're with me.
You're leaving
for Poland tonight?
Yes, sir.
We're examining
alternative methods.
Before you go,
you better read this.
"Major Erik Dorf, of your staff,
"is a member of a
Communist youth group
"at the university.
"His father was a
Communist leader
"who took his life in a scandal.
"Dorf's mother's family...
possibility of Jewish blood."
It's not signed.
They never are.
How do you feel about it, Erik?
It's all lies, top to bottom.
Uh... oh, my father
was a sort of Socialist.
I never was a member
of the Communist Party.
I may have once attended
a meeting out of curiosity.
No Jewish chromosomes?
Absolutely not.
The usual check was run on
me in 1935, when I enlisted.
Unfortunately, Himmler
has a copy of this.
He wants another investigation,
family records and so on.
Didn't you assure him about me?
Well, you know how
it is in the service.
Himmler and I have
our little rivalries,
and I'm afraid you're
caught in the middle.
Do we have any idea
who sent that letter?
It could be anybody; it's
just a way of getting at me.
But you're second in command.
Yes... but everybody's
weary of me.
You see, Erik...
I know all there is to
know about all of them,
from top to bottom.
What a bunch of thugs
and scum they really are.
A veritable rogues' gallery:
Göring, drug addict
and bribe-taker.
Rosenberg, I have his
letters to his Jewish mistress.
Goebbels, scandal after scandal.
Himmler, something
suspect on wife's side.
Not to mention Streicher
and Kaltenbrunner,
they're no better
than dog criminals.
I trust you I won't become
part of your rogues' gallery.
Why should you?
Assuming this letter's untrue.
He's laboring.
With 70, it's too many.
How long does it take?
Ten to 12 minutes.
Longer when the bus
is loaded so heavily.
It strains the engine.
The design will
have to be improved.
They weren't designed
for this sort of work.
What's it like inside the bus?
Lots of clawing and fighting.
And, sometimes,
you can hear them
pounding against the sides.
Not now... the motor's too loud.
Give me a hand.
This way.
Not bad.
A half hour trip from the camp.
But it's not what
we have in mind.
I'm inclined to agree.
If we use this method,
we'll be burning
our truck engines
all over Poland.
Laborious, slow.
We need permanent installations.
Yes, Blobel and I
and some of the others
talk about it quite frequently.
Oh, do you?
What else do you two talk about?
Many things.
Do you ever compose
anonymous letters?
Notes to Heydrich
and Himmler about
some of their staff? I have
no idea what you mean.
Don't you?
They're all dead, sir,
except for two children.
We had to shoot them.
Very well, that's all.
I don't like what I just saw.
Neither do I.
The mothers try to
protect their children,
and that's why there
were a few still alive.
I don't mean that.
Carbon monoxide is inefficient.
You'd think with all our
expert German chemists,
we could do better.
One left inside.
Germans?
No, Ukrainian militia.
Do we want them? They've killed
more of us than the Nazis have.
Fire!
Kill him! Kill him!
Oh! Oh!
Oh, please! No!
No!
No, please!
I said kill him.
Please! Damn you, Weiss!
If you don't, I will!
Kill him! SOLDIER:
Don't! Don't shoot!
If he gets back, he'll
bring the Germans!
No!
I... no!
Please!
He was just a kid.
Yuri says he's the kind
who murders Jews for pay.
Rudi, please.
I never killed anyone before.
I know.
You had to.
I thought I was so tough.
Blood all over his face.
I don't understand it.
Any of it.
My parents didn't either.
Sasha, maybe.
You want to live, Rudi.
That's all you
have to understand.
It's not enough.
When the killing's
over, if it ever is,
and we're still
alive, what then?
Then we will be a proper
Mr. and Mrs. Weiss,
and we will go to Palestine.
Me working on some melon farm?
You.
Oh, Rudi, we will
live to go there.
Orange groves, cedar trees,
little farming villages,
and the blue sea.
I guess I do owe you a trip
to your Zionist homeland.
Not a trip, Rudi.
A life for us,
where they cannot
jail us or beat us
or kill us.
Do you remember the first time
we made love in Prague?
Don't embarrass me.
It was beautiful.
The best thing I
ever knew in my life.
For me, too.
Now, each time we're together,
the wonder of it.
Two people knowing
each other so closely.
Not just the bodies...
the arms, the lips.
It's as if God or nature
or someone decided it had to be.
Rudi...
there's poet in you.
No.
Just more love for
you than I can describe.
I know, my darling.
I know.
That's why I know we won't die.
We will never die.
I want that Jew bitch
and her kids out!
No! They are my family!
Do you know where you're going?
Anyplace they can't find me.
Well, how will you live?
Here, take this.
It may help you.
Will you write to me and
tell me where you are?
Maybe.
Tell Mama not to worry about me.
Take care of her.
These Jews...
are going to have to disappear.
"Disappear"?
I can see through
that baby face.
You know what I mean.
No such plan is contemplated.
You'll ask me to do
your bloody work for you.
Well, don't be surprised if I
start without your permission.
She doesn't speak,
Doctor, she recognizes no one.
Since the incident? Yeah.
What can I do to help?
Well, is there no,
uh, special therapy
or, um... a sanitarium
that could help her?
Nurse? We have a
patient for Hadamar.
Phone them.
"It is with much regret
"that we must inform you
"of the death of your daughter,
"Frauline Anna Weiss.
"Although we did all
we could to help her,
"gave her every care,
"she refused to
take nourishment,
"did not respond to medication.
"And on June 3,
died of pneumonia
"and malnutrition.
"In view of the unsettled
conditions now prevailing,
"we have taken the liberty
"of cremating her remains
"and providing burial
near the sanitarium."
About two years ago,
the Italian ambassador
raised objections
to the Führer's Jewish policies.
Mussolini was offended, so on.
The Führer told
him that in 500 years
the name of Adolf Hitler
will be honored for one thing:
Having wiped the Jews
from the face of the earth.
One more week
of hacking at rocks
and he'll be another dead Jew.
My name is Helena Slomova.
It's been a long time
since I've held a girl's hand.
Too busy running.
Where will you go now?
I don't know.
I'm sorry.
That's all right.
I didn't mind.
Josef...
it is wrong of us to
dwell on our misfortunes.
Agreed.
I'll, uh, I'll speak
to them about
letting you teach school.
Me? Of course.
Wait till you see the
children of Warsaw.
Nothing in their
stomachs half the time,
but those kids give
concerts and plays...
Oh, Josef...
I have never loved you more.
Nor I you.
Oh, dear God.
I look at you and I see Anna.
♪ ♪
Hey!
Hey, you! Stop!
Some smuggler.
Aaron, you're late again.
Sorry, teacher.
I... had to clean the yard.
He was on the
Christian side again,
I bet, smuggling.
Smuggling! Smuggling! ♪
Stop that.
Aaron, come here.
You have been warned
not to sneak through the wall.
Your mother wouldn't
want you to grow up
to be a smuggler and a thief.
It's all right, ma'am.
I'll change when I'm older.
Here, want an egg?
No, thank you, Aaron.
You worked for it, you keep it.
All right, children.
Now, once again.
From the beginning.
We don't encourage
visitors at rehearsal.
Forgive me for interrupting.
Is Aaron Feldman here?
Aaron.
Josef...
is anything wrong?
Nothing serious.
Do you know me, Aaron?
Sure. Teacher's husband.
You're on the council.
You know me?
Who doesn't know the
famous Aaron Feldman?
The Sewer Rat, the
Prince of Smugglers.
I'm not a smuggler.
Oh, Aaron.
A ghetto policeman
saw you three times.
The next time he'll arrest you.
He won't. I gave him
an egg to shut him up.
You won't be able to give an
egg to the Nazis to shut them up.
They got to catch me first.
Aren't you afraid? Sure.
But I'll do it anyway.
You won't snitch
on me, will you?
No, of course not.
And you won't do it again.
I say concentrate on the
productive, the healthy.
I say concentrate
on feeding everybody.
For a while, the
smugglers helped feed us.
Now, the Germans
are shooting smugglers.
And they threaten to shoot
20 Jews for each
smuggler they catch.
Those boys that crawl
through the sewers
may be our salvation.
Nonsense!
They'll get us killed!
We will all be killed anyway.
I beg your pardon?
We will all be killed anyway.
How do you know?
It has begun already.
The Nazis in
Russia have started.
No more ghettos.
What are you saying?
Mass murders.
Firing squads.
They mean to kill
every Jew in Europe.
Ridiculous.
What is your name, young man?
Adam Levitz.
I tell this council we
should be smuggling
not only food, but
guns and grenades.
Such talk will
guarantee our deaths.
If this council is too cowardly
to give the order,
the Zionists will.
We don't intend to die
without a fight! Get out!
You'll all die here being
polite and tipping your caps.
You have no authority.
You represent no
one. Throw him out!
Why did you arrest
one of my nurses?
She was arrested
for good reason.
Sarah Ohlnick is a smuggler.
Sarah Ohlnick
went outside the wall
to buy food for the children.
She knew the
rules: no smuggling.
I want her released. Do you?
She's one of the best
nurses in the children's ward.
A bit of class snobbery?
Would you be as
eager to have her freed
if she were a
housewife or a beggar?
Of course.
Then you can
appeal for all eight.
Eight?
What the hell do you
think I am, a monster?
That little one, the
beggar girl, she is 16.
And her crime?
Like the others:
smuggling food for her baby.
Oh, good God.
You're a Jew.
I was a Jew.
I'm a convert.
That's why I have this job.
I intend to keep it and
obey orders and survive.
But... use your influence
with the Germans.
Who the hell are you to talk?
You and your brother Moses,
so high and mighty
on that lousy council.
What do you do but follow
orders from the Germans...
Hand in lists of names,
do their work for them?
You want to be a hero?
You try it, Doctor.
Just try it.
The Jewish Council made another
appeal to the Germans, but...
Berta, you didn't need to come.
I wanted to.
Aaron.
They just killed the beggar!
Sarah the nurse.
Oh, Josef, Josef, why
couldn't we have saved them?
It was hopeless, Berta.
God, I'd like to see some
of them covered in blood.
We'll leave now, Berta.
No.
No, it's the least we owe them.
To be witnesses.
Can you come with us?
My brother and I have
forgotten the prayers.
The prayers are no
help anymore, Weiss.
We're running short of ink.
I-I-I'm a chemist.
Get us chemicals
from the hospital.
We'll make our own...
Charcoal, linseed oil.
You're going to print
a resistance paper?
First issue on
the streets today.
But if I bring you chemicals to
make ink, then I'll be involved.
Better involved with
us than with the council.
The council members are alive.
Lawbreakers get shot.
I don't want to get shot.
You'll die anyway.
And better to die protesting.
Look, I am still not convinced
they intend to kill us all.
I mean, what good would
dead Jews be to them?
He can go; we don't need him.
The master craftsman at work.
But such equipment.
Phooey!
Look, look,
don't misunderstand me,
but logic says
that we are not...
Logic doesn't prove
anything anymore, Mr. Weiss.
"To the Jews of Warsaw:
"Let us have an end of apathy.
"No more submission
to the enemy.
"Apathy can cause
our moral collapse
"and root out of our hearts
our hatred for the invader.
It can destroy within
us the will to fight."
All right, I'm with you.
A blessing on you, Mr. Weiss.
We could use the doctor, too.
"It can undermine
our resolution.
"Because our position
is so bitterly desperate,
"our will to give up our lives
for a purpose more sublime
"than our daily existence
must be reinforced.
Our young people must
walk with head erect."
They're braver
than I am, Berta...
Whoever posted
that and printed it.
It's funny, I keep thinking
about our son Rudi.
What about him?
If Rudi were here, he'd...
he'd be in the thick of it...
Putting up posters,
refusing to give in.
I have a feeling he's safe.
I have faith in Rudi.
I, too, Josef.
I confiscated all
the film I could find.
Dreadful quality.
Who filmed it?
Blobel said it was
for battalion archives.
I had the feeling it was
for their own entertainment.
I suppose we
should keep a record.
Do you?
All our work should
be documented.
I wouldn't show this
stuff in newsreel theaters,
but I'd love to rub
Himmler's nose in it.
Maybe get the Führer
to attend a screening.
Look how casual it all is.
They don't even
seem to be crying.
It's quite incredible.
Almost a religious rite.
We'll unload the wagon
for a loaf of bread.
Go away! No
civilians around here.
Please, one loaf?
I said go away.
Don't you know this hotel is
German Army Headquarters?
Stupid idiots.
One loaf.
Hands off, you hear?!
I hope they blow your head off.
Everywhere.
Where was the Red Army, huh?
Where to now?
Come.
Rudi, I can't eat it.
My stomach is jumping.
Make believe it's
a potato pancake.
Nice and greasy.
Stop it, you monster.
Some thanks.
I go and get us dinner,
you only complain.
Wait till we're married.
I won't stand for it.
Hold it; don't move.
What is it?
SS.
I don't believe it.
What?
I know him.
You know him?
Continental Hotel!
The Russians blew it up!
Get back to battalion
headquarters!
They're sending engineers in!
What about Helms?
He's probably dead!
Helms.
Rudi Weiss?
How did you get here?
Never mind.
He's a relative.
Can you believe it?
His sister's married
to my brother Karl.
The last time I saw him
was at a soccer game.
That's before they
threw me off the team.
It wasn't my fault, Rudi.
I got nothing against you.
Water.
Water, please.
Helms, listen to me.
You've been back to Berlin?
You've seen your sister?
Six months ago.
My family, tell me about them.
My parents.
Yeah... your brother's
in Buchenwald.
My mother and father?
In Poland.
Inga heard from them.
They're... They're all right.
Where?
I don't... I don't remember.
Warsaw, maybe.
How the hell can I remember?
Lay off, Rudi.
What did I ever do to you?
Kristallnacht?
Three years ago?
You and that bum, Muller,
beating up my grandfather.
You got it wrong.
We let him go.
We let you go.
My sister Anna?
She's...
What?
She's dead.
What...?!
What happened?
I don't know.
Last year, a year
and a half ago,
I wasn't even in Berlin.
She got sick.
Pneumonia or something.
Inga went to see her.
She... She died in the hospital.
She was only 16, Helena.
I know, Rudi... I know.
And you loved her so.
I ought to kill him.
No.
No, Rudi... he could
be telling us the truth.
I am.
We took your mother and
Anna in, for God's sake.
They're all right.
The doctor and
Mrs. Weiss... Liar!
This uniform makes you as guilty
as if you arrested Karl
and killed Anna yourself!
I obey orders.
Listen.
Just get me out of here.
Get me out to the street
so I can get to an aid station.
Maybe I'll bury you under
a pile of plaster, huh?
The way they bury Jews alive.
I'll get you work passes.
I'll get you out of here.
It's not going to be
safe for Jews in Kiev.
Rudi, he's right.
I think we can trust him.
Yes, same damage here!
They've blown up half of Kiev!
Take cover!
I'm Helms, 22nd Division.
Who are they?
They're Jews.
Take them over to the truck!
Move them out
with the other Jews!
Come on, move! Lousy bastard.
We saved your neck.
What's going to happen to us?
I don't know.
I just want to live long enough
to get even with
that lousy Helms.
Didn't anyone know the
Russians had mines all over Kiev?!
What the devil are
you doing all day?
Drinking vodka and
chasing ballerinas?!
Russian sappers
have blown up Kiev.
Half the city is on fire.
We've lost several hundred men.
Apparently, our
counterintelligence failed.
Of course.
We're too busy shooting Jews.
What do we do now?
I can hear Himmler screaming
about counterespionage.
We'll blame it on the Jews.
You've seen those Kiev Jews.
Old women, old men
in beards, children.
They blew up Kiev?
If we say they did.
We absolve our intelligence
and give Heydrich what he wants:
a Jew-free Ukraine.
We've shot over 100,000 Jews.
Dorf, you're looking at the man
who cleaned out the ghettos
in Zhitomir, Berdichev, Uman.
Are you asking for more?
Remember, Colonel,
if you kill ten Jews,
it gets easier
to kill a hundred.
Easier to kill a thousand...
and easier still to kill 10,000.
♪ ♪
He says we are
going to a work camp.
Work camp.
I've heard that before.
All right, all
right, stay in line!
Keep it moving!
What do they call this place?
Babi Yar.
What does it mean?
Grandma's Ravine.
They don't march
very well, do they?
Hm.
Ukrainians.
What's that over there?
Jewish Cemetery of Kiev.
Appropriate, isn't it?
Of course, this remains
a resettlement operation.
Precisely what they were told
and precisely what they believe.
It's astonishing
how they cooperate.
Which proves they
don't deserve to live.
Ah.
There they come.
They expected
about 6,000 to turn up.
The men tell me
more than 30,000
Jews are down there.
Simply fantastic.
♪ ♪
Don't look.
Women.
The children.
Rudi...
hold me, please.
No one will believe any of this.
They'll say we lied.
Because nobody could
do this to other people.
Take Major Dorf to his quarters.
I'm in charge of
road construction
in the Ukraine.
This place has
got to be surveyed.
Not today. It's a security area.
You mean, I can't go through
because of the target practice?
Maybe next week.
Is there a problem?
This civilian wants
to get through.
He says he's the road engineer.
That's right, Major,
I'm under or...
Erik!
Uncle Kurt. Get in.
Thank you.
Dorf!
You might light to check
with me at headquarters later.
Final tally.
Tally?
Yes, it's, uh, some...
bureaucratic business.
Goodness me, Erik, look at you.
The fearsome major.
Yes.
About Babi Yar... what
were you doing there?
Executions.
Ah, yes, of course, that
would be your responsibility.
I suppose somebody has to.
Who were the, um... victims?
Oh, the usual scum: saboteurs...
People who blew up Kiev...
Criminals, black marketeers.
Jews?
Some.
They're active
in the resistance.
I've only been in the
Ukraine for a few weeks,
but I hear your fellows
are pretty thorough
in dealing with the Jews.
Only when necessary.
We're resettling them.
The road is crowded with them.
All going towards Babi Yar.
And other places.
For resettlement?
Most of them.
Criminals and spies
will be executed.
Cruel business.
Any war is.
But... all those civilians?
I can't wait to see my family.
Believe me, Uncle,
without them, without Marta,
without the children, I
wonder if I could go on.
You're still the best
pulse-taker in the world.
I've had a lot of practice.
You're old trick,
so that it won't be too cold.
Old GPs are full of old tricks.
What do you hear, Josef?
Mozart.
Ah, there we go...
You mustn't tease me.
Breathe deep, mouth open.
Again.
Hm! You sound better.
Are you feeling stronger today?
Yes. I want to go back
to school tomorrow.
If I miss school,
they... run away.
Now, darling, maybe we oughtn't
have the photographs here.
Josef, they...
fill me with hope.
When I hear the children
crying in the streets for bread,
and see the frozen bodies
and the starving old men,
I look at the pictures
and I think, maybe,
our sons are alive and happy.
I'm certain they are.
Karl has a skill;
he's a fine artist.
They'll make use of him.
You see how it is in
the Warsaw ghetto.
I'm a doctor; I can be used.
Anybody who can
contribute survives.
It's cruel, but it's true.
And we will not speak of Anna.
We can't bring her back.
I must stop this
idiotic weeping.
When I get out of bed
and I go back to school, I...
I promise I won't cry.
That's much better.
I'm a spoiled woman,
indulged in too
much by my parents,
you, the servants...
Not so, Berta.
You're as brave as anyone here.
Josef, the money we had
sewn in the coat when I left...
Mm-hmm. What about it?
Take it. Take it.
It can't help us.
For the children
in the hospital.
Oh, Berta.
We may need it for ourselves.
Hmm?
Come in.
Uh, Dr. Weiss,
your brother is back,
with the man from Vilna.
Thank you, Mr. Lowy.
I'll be right in.
Moses went to Vilna?
No. Just to the
railroad station.
This fellow had
to be sneaked in.
Someone wants to
sneak in to the ghetto?
Mm-mm, no, he's a courier.
He must go back tonight.
I'll be back.
High level conference
in the executive.
Don't believe anything
the Germans tell you
about ghettos or work camps.
We take what they
say with a grain of salt.
They mean to murder
every Jew in Europe.
Impossible.
Well, reprisals, yes;
we've had them here.
Not reprisals, mass murder...
The extermination of every Jew.
There were once 80,000
Jews in Vilna ghetto.
Today, there are
less than 20,000.
60,000...
Shot by the SS.
But you can't shoot
60,000 human beings.
I don't believe you, Kovel.
How was it done?
The SS took any
man who could work,
sent them out to the
countryside to dig ditches,
the Lithuanian police
circled the ghetto,
no one could get out, or in.
The Lithuanians went into
the homes, beating, whipping.
The Jews came out quickly,
a few tried to hide,
shot on the spot.
Taken in trucks to the
ditches, undressed, searched,
lined up in the ditches,
shot with machine guns.
They stood there, no tears...
no resistance.
Maybe Vilna was an exception.
Ghetto after ghetto
is being wiped out.
The German army,
they're decent officers.
They must object.
Open your eyes.
Warsaw has the largest
concentration of Jews in Poland.
Your turn will come.
They can't find enough ditches,
guns, bullets,
to kill all of us.
Oh, they're an energetic
and ingenious people;
perhaps they will.
Tell us what we must do, Kovel.
Resist.
You can start with this.
"To all Jews in the ghetto:
"Let us not go to our deaths
like lambs to the slaughter.
"Young Jews, I appeal to
you, do not believe those
"who wish to do you harm.
"It is Hitler's plan to
annihilate the Jews.
"We are the first.
"It's true we are
weak and alone,
"but the only answer worth
giving to the enemy is resistance.
"Brothers, rather die fighting
"than live by the
grace of a slaughter.
"Let us defend ourselves
to our last breath...
Vilna and the ghetto."
But how much good will it do?
You say they'll
be killed anyway.
"They," Dr. Kohn?
We!
Bare hands against
tanks and artillery?
Do you have any guns? - Not yet.
We'll teach the young
Zionists to obey orders
and become soldiers.
Then we'll get guns.
That sounds like Jews...
No guns but start an army.
The Germans can
be bribed, bought off.
They know the war
is finished for them.
They've lost Africa.
America will invade Europe soon.
And we will be dead
when they get here.
Berta, you shouldn't
be out of bed.
I listened, Josef.
Well, it's just,
just a lot of talk.
Nobody's really
certain what to do yet.
I tore the coat apart.
You must buy guns.
How many?
In the first two days,
more than 33,000.
We get rid of over 100,000
there before we're finished.
Have you improved security?
Yes, sir.
What about the clothing?
It's distributed to Ukrainians,
and they don't seem to mind.
They don't ask questions.
♪ O little town of Bethlehem ♪
♪ How still we see thee lie ♪
♪ Above thy deep
and dreamless sleep ♪
♪ The silent stars go by ♪
♪ Yet in thy dark
streets shineth ♪
♪ The everlasting light ♪
♪ The hopes and
fears of all the years ♪
♪ Are met in thee tonight. ♪
Daddy, can't we open presents?
Yeah, presents!
After the concert, children.
You know the rules:
Singing, then clearing
up, and then presents.
Rewards after duty.
It's the same in the army.
Your father got
this long vacation
only after his duties on
the Russian front were over.
And Mama received this
new piano for being so brave
while I was away.
It is magnificent.
One of those wonderful
old Bechsteins.
I was stunned when
the movers brought it in.
I couldn't believe it.
And it didn't cost a penny.
Really? ERIK: No, it was sitting
in the clinic around the corner.
No one played it; it
was gathering dust,
and so the physician who
ran the place offered it to me.
Offered it to you?
Yes, in the interests
of party unity.
Oh.
This piano needs tuning.
Ah, tuning a piano
is no problem.
Getting one is.
Well, it doesn't
seem to have been
very hard for you, nephew.
Whose was it?
I told you. The clinic's.
Oh, some Jewish people
lived there, but they went away.
Oh, I wonder where.
Let's have an intermission now.
Shall we open the presents?
A little less greed, children.
Marta, let them be.
It's only once a year.
Two white mice!
Mama, I wanted a mouse, also!
Oh, Dad, I love them.
I'll name one Siegfried
and the other Wotan.
Better change one name,
because the pet shop
assures me one
of them is female.
A boy and a girl?
They're going to live together
and make mice babies.
I can hardly wait! Babies!
I might give you the sick ones.
Peter!
Erik, the children are tired.
Why don't we all
sing, "Silent Night,"
and they can go to bed?
We can listen to Midnight
Mass on the radio.
Uncle Kurt, you see
how being married
to an administrator
has made her efficient.
I think it might be
the other way around.
Marta's efficiency
has rubbed off on you.
Come on, children,
come on... that's it.
Ready?
Okay.
♪ Silent night ♪
♪ Holy night... ♪
Something seems to
be muffling the keys.
Is one of the strings
broken? Hmm.
Ah!
Hmm.
These were lying on the strings.
Some old photographs.
Pictures! Let me see!
May I? Sure.
Who are they?
It's Dr. Weiss.
And their children, I imagine.
Do you know
where they are, Erik?
Not the faintest idea.
I think he was
deported years ago.
Laura, get rid of these.
We didn't finish
singing "Silent Night."
♪ Silent night ♪
♪ Holy night ♪
♪ All is calm ♪
♪ All is bright ♪
♪ Round yon virgin ♪
♪ Mother and child ♪
♪ Holy infant so
tender and mild ♪
♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪
♪ Sleep in heavenly peace. ♪
How is the Muller
family tree coming?
Lies on top of lies.
What whores they
make of us, Felscher.
It's how we survive.
He's got me painting
in Charlemagne
and Frederick the Great.
They're jealous because
we go back to Abraham.
Beautiful.
You won't forget
the two crusaders.
There and there.
Weiss, you and I will be friends
before this mess is over.
Who knows? With
America in the war,
I may need Jew friends to
say nice things about me.
Don't count on me.
After all I've done for you?
Your wife was here yesterday.
Your monthly letter.
Don't you want it?
You made her pay
the usual price?
It came postage due.
She had to pay a bit,
but then she can afford it.
Go on, Muller.
Get out of here.
I don't want her to
come here again.
She won't.
You're being transferred.
You and Felscher.
Request for a couple
of high-class artists.
Transferred...?
You've developed reputations.
Concentration camp geniuses.
You're going to Theresienstadt
in Czechoslovakia.
The Paradise Ghetto.
I'll, uh...
I'll miss playing
mailman for you.
Don't, Weiss.
Listen...
nothing is as it
should be anymore.
Read it.
Be tolerant of her.
"My beloved Karl,
dearest husband.
"I miss you more each day,
"and pray for the day
when we will be united.
"One can always hope.
"I keep going
to official people,
"but there seems to be no
way I can secure your release.
"We must hope that
your parents are well.
"Miraculously, a letter came
from Warsaw some months ago.
"Your father is
working in the hospital
"and your mother
is teaching school.
"I wish I had some news of Rudi,
"but he has vanished
from the earth.
"Oh, I love you, Karl,
and I want you so much.
"Please understand me, darling.
"I have had to do things
to get these letters to you,
"but my love for you is undying.
Your loving Inga."
Loving.
Cheer up, Weiss.
They say Theresienstadt
is not so bad.
I always wanted to
see Czechoslovakia.
Good morning, Heydrich; Dorf.
What a pair.
One of them part Jew,
the other a Berlin shyster.
We estimate
that there are 11
millions Jews in the world,
and the Final Solution
will deal with all them.
All?
The Führer has ordered
the physical extermination
of the Jews.
Language, Heydrich, language.
The policy regarding
the Jews is as follows.
They will be sent to
labor camps in Poland
where natural
attrition due to hunger,
fatigue and disease
will take its toll.
And any survivors will
be dealt with accordingly.
The "action commandos"
will be expanded?
And other methods.
May we know what they are?
The use of gas
is being examined.
Gas?
It's a possibility.
Now, General, you
know what happened
with the mercy killings
some years ago?
Sir?
I mean, the elimination
of cretins, morons.
Yes, but what do you mean?
Dorf, you know damned
well what I mean!
The Vatican and the
church has raised hell!
He backed down, and
the gassings ended.
Well? The same
thing will happen.
We can't get the
churches angry at us.
Heydrich...
this bloody business
is getting out of hand.
Look...
I represent the Civil
Branch of the Reich,
and I am damn worried!
These are only Jews
we'll be handling.
Yes, controlling the
foreign press, the banks,
whispering in Roosevelt's ear.
Nobody will lift a finger
to protect Jews.
And we'll be on
firm legal ground.
We'll be eliminating enemies
of the state, spies, terrorists.
What's the difference
if they're shot,
gassed or worked to death?
I don't like this.
Oh, damn it, I'm a lawyer,
too, and I want to be heard!
The conventional notion
of justice is dead, Frank.
Do you happened to
remember what the Fuhrer said
about your precious law?
I don't recall.
Dorf, you'd better tell him.
I believe the Führer said,
"Here I stand with my bayonets.
"There you stand with your law.
We'll see which prevails."
If it's extermination you want,
I'll oblige you.
Ah, some momentous
decisions were made today.
Inevitable decisions.
Fascinating.
You have second
thoughts? Of course not.
You and I are obeying
the law, the Führer's law.
Not some abstract notion.
The kind of thing that
Frank was babbling about.
Clear conscience?
I'm obeying orders.
Who am I to judge my superiors?
Why should they need judging?
Tell me, Dorf,
how is your, um...
your charming wife and
your beloved children?
Quite well.
I remember the day we
spent in the Prater in Vienna.
When was that?
Three years ago.
I came to you for guidance
at Heydrich's request.
Ah, yes.
The young innocent.
Your own family, Eichmann?
Splendid,
all things considered.
Wartime shortages and so on.
Our families, Eichmann...
The woman and the
children of Germany...
They give us
courage, determination.
No question.
Loving wife, happy children.
We owe them a better world.
Like the decisions
we made today.
A necessity to assure
the future of the race.
Precisely.
And later generations
will not have the will
or the strength to
finish these tasks.
I look at my children,
and I know I'm
doing the right thing.
Rudi...
I'm cold.
Come closer.
It doesn't help.
I don't think I'll
ever be warm again.
Give me your hand.
Rudi...
we cannot go on...
we cannot go on
running like this.
You think we should
have stayed in Prague?
I don't know, but
at least there...
I had my apartment.
We could get food.
I had friends.
Your friends are all in
concentration camps.
I... I think I am
a burden to you.
I cry too much.
Helena...
I want to cry also.
But I learned, when I
was a kid back in Berlin,
you never cry in a fight.
Never.
Even if it hurts.
Because there's
always the fellow
who wants to see you cry.
And if he does,
he'll murder you.
Nothing left.
Not even a turnip.
Rudi, what are we going to do?
You give me all this talk
about this Jewish nation
your-your Zionist friends want.
Out in some desert?
Surrounded by Arabs?
That fellow with the whiskers...
What was his name?
It's Herzl.
Don't you try to
make me laugh again.
I just want to knock some
sense into your head, that's all.
You think you're going to get
that place without a fight, huh?
Without killing or being killed?
But I'm cold.
I cannot think about
Herzl when I'm cold.
I'll get you something to eat.
Close your eyes...
I have a present.
Rudi, stop.
Come on, close them.
All right.
Now open your mouth.
What is it?
Raw potato.
Vitamins.
It's making me sick.
Then pretend it's a pastry.
Ah, brioche, fresh
from the bakery.
Will you stop it?
Mmm. You smell that coffee?
I'd like mine with cream.
You're awful.
Here we are, a Berlin family,
plenty of food...
but we'll never live in Berlin.
And we will never
live in Prague.
Where, then,
your nonexistent land of Israel?
I don't know.
But wherever we
go, I will be happy.
So will I.
Come on out with your
hands over your heads!
There's 50 of us
here! Partisans!
No, Rudi.
Rudi, that knife won't help.
There are too many of them.
Come on out, slowly!
One gun... I should
have gone for him.
Where are your 50 partisans?
They'll be here
when we need them.
Who are you?
We are Czechs.
We escaped to Kiev and
then we ran away from Kiev.
Why? RUDI: Does it matter?
You are Jews.
We are, too.
Shalom.
Shalom.
Shalom.
Jews with guns.
Very few guns.
The 50 partisans?
Uncle Sasha's imagination.
I am Sasha.
Commander of the partisan
brigade from Zhytomyr.
You know... you're
lucky we found you
instead of the
Ukrainian partisans.
They would have killed
you as soon as the Germans.
Do you have a gun for me? No.
At the moment, we have a
lot more Jews than weapons.
Come. Let's go to the camp.
You both look starved.
Straight ahead to the square.
No talking.
Weiss?
Is there a Karl Weiss?
And Felscher?
Weiss and Felscher?
Here.
Weiss and Felscher?
I'm Karl Weiss.
How did you know us?
Word gets around.
I'm Maria Kalova,
one of the
Theresienstadt artist.
You are to join us.
Stores?
The bank?
All a false front.
This camp is a fraud.
You can get a cup of
warm water in the cafe,
and buy your own valise
back from the leather shop.
But the bank?
It circulates useless currency.
Then it's all a game.
Nothing is a game
to the Germans.
Well, are you
treated well or...?
The barracks are packed
with the old and sick.
They carry the
dead out every day.
Where you came in,
that's a little fortress...
Torture, murder, executions.
Karl, this is no different
from Buchenwald
except in the externals.
What are they up to?
Theresienstadt is their
passport to respectability.
I can't believe it.
You will when the Red
Cross comes through
and decides the Nazis
are treating the
Jews with kindness.
The Swedes, the Swiss...
All the neutrals visit us.
"Ah, a bank...
"and a bakery.
"A cinema.
What are those Jews
complaining about?"
And they can get away with this?
People believe them?
Maybe they want to believe.
Come along.
You are pleased to be through
with Buchenwald, I guess.
This seems to be an improvement.
Don't be deceived
by surfaces, Weiss.
An artist should
see what lies below.
Yes, thank you.
Maria has told me.
This place is a pesthole.
You saw those old
folks on the train?
The ones with moth-eaten
furs and bowler hats?
Some of them are from
my hometown; from Berlin.
The last of the
Jewish bourgeoisie
turned over the last reichsmark
and artworks for
retirement here.
And they die of
hunger every day.
We are the lucky ones.
You and Felscher
keep your noses clean
and you might survive.
Does anyone ever escape?
Or are people ever freed?
Felscher, this is
no ordinary prison.
We are here for
a long, long time.
Your work?
You and your colleagues?
Everyone.
And you're proud of this?
Hm?
I saw no children
who looked like this.
Forgive me, please, Frey, I...
I am certainly no
tower of strength myself,
but I mean... "Ghetto
children at play."
"Sabbath meal
at Theresienstadt."
I mean, really.
Stand watch.
We are a rather eclectic group.
We use several styles.
Do you.
This might be called...
"Concentration Camp Gothic."
Your work?
Yes, but all of us do these.
They're coming.
Thanks.
In our orchestra.
As I said before,
let me show you
the artistic qualities
we bring out.
And how are my
artists today, hmm?
Quite well, Herr Commandant.
Good, good.
My guest is Herr Banson
of the Swedish
Inspection Commission.
He's heard about
our artistic program
and insisted on
seeing it for himself.
Quite an atelier, eh, Banson?
Hardly, um, a torture
chamber, hmm?
Uh, Frey,
show Herr Banson those portraits
of the Jewish children, please.
Charming.
Yet more evidence
how, with kindness,
we treat our Jews.
Whoever heard of a prison camp
with a fine art studio, huh?
Charming.
And now, gentlemen,
let me show you our orchestra.
We do, and as I say,
try to develop and bring out
the inherent
artistic qualities...
Lying sons of...
Easy, Weiss.
Who is he?
Sasha?
He is a doctor.
A doctor.
Where's his office?
Don't joke.
He still can sew a wound
or cut out an appendix.
And the man praying?
Samuel... he is a rabbi.
A rabbi with partisans?
That's my kind of rabbi.
He might even get me
back into the synagogue.
Hey, you kids,
it might not look like it,
but this is a synagogue.
Ha!
Hey, I'll deal with you later.
It's just like Berlin.
I was always getting chased
for playing ball on Saturday.
How did you all get here?
Uncle Sasha brought
us out of Koretz.
The Germans killed
his wife and daughters.
Over 2,000 Jews
shot in one afternoon.
My parents, my brother.
All of my family.
And one of Sasha's patients...
Ukrainian, a good man...
He let us out... 20 people.
Then others joined us
from Zhitomir, Berdichev,
all the places where
Jews were killed.
To this camp?
This is our fourth camp.
The Germans come looking for us.
We tell them we're
Ukrainian partisans.
Do you fight back?
We will when we get guns.
What are you waiting for?
It isn't easy.
There are women,
old people, children.
Uncle Sasha won't leave them.
He doesn't pray with the others?
He tore up his prayer shawl
when his wife was killed.
He tells everyone
who comes here,
"No more sheep
to the slaughter."
But you're just a handful.
Thousands of others
just went to their death.
They were overwhelmed.
No one believed it would happen.
Hey, Weiss, you're
on guard duty.
You know how to shoot?
Sure.
Will this thing fire?
If it doesn't, use it as a club.
Come, I'll show you.
What are you smiling about?
I was just thinking
my father's a doctor.
Oh? Where?
He had an office in Berlin.
He's been in Warsaw
now, a long time.
He once thought I
would be a doctor.
What, you can't stand blood?
No, just a bad student.
Uncle Sasha.
Uncle Sasha, may I go
on sentry duty with him?
Sure.
Matol will show you.
Thanks.
But stay awake.
And no romance either.
Uncle Sasha.
That fellow Samuel, your rabbi.
What about him?
Will he perform a wedding
after we come off sentry duty?
Why not?
You won't even have to pay him.
♪ ♪
"Beloved,
"come, the bride to meet,
"the Princess
Sabbath let us greet.
"Come to the Sabbath,
greetings bring,
"For it is blessing's
constant spring;
"Of old ordained,
divinely taught,
Last in creation,
first in thought."
"In distress I called
upon the Lord.
He answered me
with great deliverance."
May your years be blessed
with happiness and children.
And undying love
for one another.
In the faith of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, you are man and wife.
Mazel tov!
Kiss the bride.
I'm afraid to.
Now that we're married.
Bravo!
Nadya, thank you
for lending me the ring.
Keep it; it was my sister's.
Well, now, you've got
new responsibilities.
Family, house, insurance.
You better save your money.
You sound like my father.
He used to bawl me out
for spending my
allowance on soccer games.
Uncle Sasha! The Nazis!
There's a patrol
coming on the road.
A farmer told me...
He saw the truck.
Everyone, move!
Come on, break camp.
Quick, quick!
Hurry, hurry, let's go.
Rudi, Helena!
We go now, yes?
This way, Reichsführer.
Gentlemen!
Whose idea was this?
Colonel Nebe.
He's an idiot.
He felt the Reichsführer
should get a firsthand look.
I know Himmler
better than he does.
Attention!
Quickly! Put your
clothes in a pile.
Atten-hut!
How many people?
About a hundred, sir.
Normally, we
process larger groups.
We've already
handled 45,000 Jews
in the Minsk area
in five months.
Piker.
We handled 33,000
in two days at Babi Yar.
This way!
That tall young man, the second.
He looks like an Aryan.
Bring him over here.
Sergeant, bring
that tall fellow here.
Are both your parents Jews?
Yes.
Any ancestors who were not Jews?
No.
Pity I can't help you.
Send him back.
Whenever you're
ready, Reichsführer.
Ready?
Yes, yes, any
time, Colonel Nebe.
Fire!
It's the first
time, you realize.
It's a bit hard to take.
Miserable little chicken farmer.
We shoot them by the thousands.
Oh, my God, some
of them are still alive.
Sergeant!
I do think we must
find another way.
Gentlemen, I have never been
so proud of German soldiers.
Your consciences can be clear.
I will be responsible
before God and Hitler
for all your acts.
The men are
appreciative, Reichsführer.
Let's take a lesson from nature.
Combat is everywhere.
Primitive man understood
that a horse was good,
a bedbug was bad.
Now, you might argue that
bedbugs and rats and Jews
have a right to live, and
I might agree with you,
but man has a right to
defend himself against vermin.
Still, Heydrich, we must look
for more efficient methods, yes?
Well, Nebe, you
botched that one.
I'm Colonel Nebe
to you, Major Dorf.
You're lucky you're not a
sergeant, after that mess.
Who authorized you to
invite the Reichsführer
to that sloppy business?
Couldn't you find
gunners who'd kill them all
at the first volley?
Damn you, Dorf.
Don't you bark at me.
You're a disgrace.
Major Dorf, some of us
are sick of your interference.
Are you?
Well, for your
information, Blobel,
we aren't pleased with Babi Yar.
Heydrich wants the
corpses dug up and burnt.
Who the hell are you?
Get your fat behind back
- to the Ukraine.
- Major Dorf,
you have no right to
talk to us in this manner.
Oh, yes, he has.
Heydrich's pet.
You and that part-Jew.
Heydrich has no Jewish blood.
And anyone who spreads
such lies will answer for them.
Go to hell.
I need a drink.
Listen, Major,
I have some ideas on
what Himmler wants...
More efficient ways.
A lower cost for killing.
Dynamite, perhaps.
Injections, gas.
Let him go to hell!
Join us, Major?
Not him.
Keeps his head clear
so he can scheme.
Like a damn kike.
Might have to do something
about that little bastard.
Like what?
He's quick on his feet.
Just tell me you're with me.
You're leaving
for Poland tonight?
Yes, sir.
We're examining
alternative methods.
Before you go,
you better read this.
"Major Erik Dorf, of your staff,
"is a member of a
Communist youth group
"at the university.
"His father was a
Communist leader
"who took his life in a scandal.
"Dorf's mother's family...
possibility of Jewish blood."
It's not signed.
They never are.
How do you feel about it, Erik?
It's all lies, top to bottom.
Uh... oh, my father
was a sort of Socialist.
I never was a member
of the Communist Party.
I may have once attended
a meeting out of curiosity.
No Jewish chromosomes?
Absolutely not.
The usual check was run on
me in 1935, when I enlisted.
Unfortunately, Himmler
has a copy of this.
He wants another investigation,
family records and so on.
Didn't you assure him about me?
Well, you know how
it is in the service.
Himmler and I have
our little rivalries,
and I'm afraid you're
caught in the middle.
Do we have any idea
who sent that letter?
It could be anybody; it's
just a way of getting at me.
But you're second in command.
Yes... but everybody's
weary of me.
You see, Erik...
I know all there is to
know about all of them,
from top to bottom.
What a bunch of thugs
and scum they really are.
A veritable rogues' gallery:
Göring, drug addict
and bribe-taker.
Rosenberg, I have his
letters to his Jewish mistress.
Goebbels, scandal after scandal.
Himmler, something
suspect on wife's side.
Not to mention Streicher
and Kaltenbrunner,
they're no better
than dog criminals.
I trust you I won't become
part of your rogues' gallery.
Why should you?
Assuming this letter's untrue.
He's laboring.
With 70, it's too many.
How long does it take?
Ten to 12 minutes.
Longer when the bus
is loaded so heavily.
It strains the engine.
The design will
have to be improved.
They weren't designed
for this sort of work.
What's it like inside the bus?
Lots of clawing and fighting.
And, sometimes,
you can hear them
pounding against the sides.
Not now... the motor's too loud.
Give me a hand.
This way.
Not bad.
A half hour trip from the camp.
But it's not what
we have in mind.
I'm inclined to agree.
If we use this method,
we'll be burning
our truck engines
all over Poland.
Laborious, slow.
We need permanent installations.
Yes, Blobel and I
and some of the others
talk about it quite frequently.
Oh, do you?
What else do you two talk about?
Many things.
Do you ever compose
anonymous letters?
Notes to Heydrich
and Himmler about
some of their staff? I have
no idea what you mean.
Don't you?
They're all dead, sir,
except for two children.
We had to shoot them.
Very well, that's all.
I don't like what I just saw.
Neither do I.
The mothers try to
protect their children,
and that's why there
were a few still alive.
I don't mean that.
Carbon monoxide is inefficient.
You'd think with all our
expert German chemists,
we could do better.
One left inside.
Germans?
No, Ukrainian militia.
Do we want them? They've killed
more of us than the Nazis have.
Fire!
Kill him! Kill him!
Oh! Oh!
Oh, please! No!
No!
No, please!
I said kill him.
Please! Damn you, Weiss!
If you don't, I will!
Kill him! SOLDIER:
Don't! Don't shoot!
If he gets back, he'll
bring the Germans!
No!
I... no!
Please!
He was just a kid.
Yuri says he's the kind
who murders Jews for pay.
Rudi, please.
I never killed anyone before.
I know.
You had to.
I thought I was so tough.
Blood all over his face.
I don't understand it.
Any of it.
My parents didn't either.
Sasha, maybe.
You want to live, Rudi.
That's all you
have to understand.
It's not enough.
When the killing's
over, if it ever is,
and we're still
alive, what then?
Then we will be a proper
Mr. and Mrs. Weiss,
and we will go to Palestine.
Me working on some melon farm?
You.
Oh, Rudi, we will
live to go there.
Orange groves, cedar trees,
little farming villages,
and the blue sea.
I guess I do owe you a trip
to your Zionist homeland.
Not a trip, Rudi.
A life for us,
where they cannot
jail us or beat us
or kill us.
Do you remember the first time
we made love in Prague?
Don't embarrass me.
It was beautiful.
The best thing I
ever knew in my life.
For me, too.
Now, each time we're together,
the wonder of it.
Two people knowing
each other so closely.
Not just the bodies...
the arms, the lips.
It's as if God or nature
or someone decided it had to be.
Rudi...
there's poet in you.
No.
Just more love for
you than I can describe.
I know, my darling.
I know.
That's why I know we won't die.
We will never die.