Holocaust (1978): Season 1, Episode 5 - Part 5: The Liberation - full transcript
Sight along the barrel.
Now squeeze the
trigger slowly; don't jerk it.
Ready, aim, fire.
Now all we need is ammunition.
Treblinka, Belzec,
the other camps
aren't fulfilling their
job of resettlement.
Something on a grander
scale is envisioned.
Grander?
Toward the Final Solution
of the Jewish problem.
For massive disinfecting such
as you have in mind, Major,
we recommend this.
Zyklon B.
Has it been tested on, um...?
Humans?
Well, you know
the sort of thing...
Criminals, incurables.
You would know better
than I about that, Major.
Felscher, the
sketches we finished...
I can't find them.
That's right. I sold them.
Yes, I'll be there as
soon as I'm dressed.
What's happened?
They tried to
assassinate Heydrich.
He's not expected to live.
Oh, Karl!
Oh, Inga... Inga...
What did you find out?
The trains aren't
going to Russia.
Where are they going?
Treblinka.
Another Polish work camp?
It's a death camp.
Josef,
the boy with the briefcase...
He's one of my pupils.
You don't have to look, Berta.
Why not?
Bye!
Bye!
Good-bye!
Bye!
Tear up the floor!
And these drawings
mean a great deal to me.
You have a Christian wife.
Something may be worked out.
Karl!
Where are they taking you?!
Inga, stay back.
Just stay back.
I'll be all right.
No, no, no!
They won't hurt me!
Please, just stay back!
Let me go with him,
please! He's done nothing!
Inga, please, go
back! It'll be all right.
No...!
Karl!
No.
They broke my hands.
Mine, too.
It will be a long time
before we paint again.
Fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic.
Like a...
Like a scene from
Dante's Inferno.
And those sounds.
Almost like they're
really in a synagogue.
♪ ♪
You are hurting him.
Be quiet,
or I'll throw you
out, wife or no.
You will kill him
with your stupid raids!
Try to hang on.
It was worth it.
You must see what we got.
A machine gun,
grenades, magazines.
I don't give a damn
about your haul!
I want my husband.
He's bleeding again.
Give me another bandage.
Ah.
From a Mauser.
Something to show your children.
Have it gold-plated!
Would you stop it?!
I hate you! I hate all of you!
You joke as if this is a game!
My husband is almost dead,
and you joke about the
bullet that nearly killed him.
I hate this camp
and your useless war.
So you kill a German here
and a Ukrainian
there, and so what?!
We will all be dead
in another winter!
I don't want to be here anymore.
You did that almost
as well as my father.
I'm sorry I didn't know him.
I'll get something
to help you sleep.
Helena?
Rudi, you could have
died, and for what?
To show them that
we're not cowards.
They can't kill us
and get away with it.
But they are killing us.
They are killing millions,
and no one fights back?
No one cares.
Tell me that you love me.
I love you.
I love you.
But they will come
back one day, and...
you will...
You said once we'd never die.
I don't believe it anymore.
We'll live.
You'll meet my family.
They'll love you
as much as I do.
The next time that you go out
with Sasha and the men,
I want to go with you.
Not my wife.
I want to carry a gun, Rudi.
I want to be with you.
I'll talk to Sasha.
Let's go, Weiss.
Don't beat me again.
I'll die this time.
No beating.
You're going to Auschwitz.
Can I... Can I
please see my wife?
Half an hour.
No use looking for them.
Your friend Frey is dead.
I know. Felscher, too.
You're lucky you're still alive.
They set you free!
Oh, Karl!
Inga...
They've beaten you.
I'm alive.
Your hands!
They made sure that I would...
never draw again.
Inga...
you can't heal them.
They say you get used to it.
It's not true.
Please don't tell me anymore.
We shouted how
we would go to Italy
to see the museums
and the churches.
And stop to paint.
Frey was a Piero
Della Francesca man.
He wanted to see Arezzo.
We'll go to Arezzo for
Frey some day, Karl.
I will never see Italy.
My brief moment
of courage is over.
They're sending me to Auschwitz.
No, you won't go.
And if you go, I'll go with you.
But you can't, Inga.
You must tell Karl.
Tell me what?
Karl...
your child is in me.
My child.
Ours, yes.
You mustn't have it.
No, I will.
This is why Maria
says I must stay here.
Children have been
born in Theresienstadt.
I've seen them.
Cursed for the
rest of their lives.
It need not be that way.
The women will
protect Inga, Karl.
They'll be good to the baby.
Inga...
if you love me...
end its life before it ever
sees this wretched place.
I will not.
Karl, please...
I want your
blessing for our child.
I want no child.
The rabbis say that
every life is a sanctification.
A holy spark.
You must let Inga
have your child.
A child that I will never know.
You will.
I promise you.
Show him the drawings...
when he's old
enough to understand.
Bye.
I love you.
Good-bye, my darling.
Hold it!
Wait a minute.
It's all right, Officer,
we're not smugglers.
We're merchants.
Just be sure you are
back before curfew.
Oh, of course.
Go!
Hup!
Come on.
Four guns.
Four grenades.
Now, how are we supposed
to start a revolution with these?
It's a beginning.
How many of us are left in
the Warsaw ghetto, Moses?
I don't know... maybe 50,000.
300,000 taken away to
Treblinka and Auschwitz.
If we can kill a few of
them, get their rifles,
maybe a machine gun.
I'm not so sure they'd
be willing to oblige us.
You know, somehow, I don't
make a convincing cowboy.
Jews and guns, it's
a bad combination.
It's Zalman.
The SS has blocked the streets.
What, they suspect something?
You may have been followed.
They're searching buildings.
What are we looking for, anyway?
Some of the Poles have guns.
Go. Break the door.
As soon as they come in, shoot.
Hide.
Break the door.
Why don't you? You're afraid?
Afraid of Jews? Ha!
Medic! Medic! Help!
Eva, take the guns! The guns!
Hurry up!
There is a God after all.
Jews fighting back.
Take these.
Everyone out.
The tunnels.
Watch it. Stay low.
Careful.
That's really smart...
loading the guns!
We killed some of the bastards!
Look. It's begun.
Sooner than we
wanted, but it's begun.
You don't aim them.
You just point the
barrel and spray shots.
I want one, too.
Wait till you grow up.
They're here!
We'll meet them outside.
Zalman, Aaron, come with me.
We'll take these.
Move! Over here.
Move! Move! Move!
Be careful with snipers.
You three, come with
me in the first group.
Aaron.
Keep your eyes always open!
Over here!
All right, come on.
Come on this way.
Move. Watch out.
Go.
Retreat.
They die like anyone else.
I never doubted that.
It's just that we were
afraid to kill them.
I don't believe it.
They are going.
Land mines.
Now, who knows
anything about land mines?
From the Poles? A gift?
A purchase.
We paid for them generously.
Well, they're trying to fight.
We can't count on it.
My friends, there's
only ourselves.
Zalman, post guards.
We're at war.
We don't need these
to remind us who we are.
Aha!
Instructions on how to
assemble a land mine.
Now I wonder if the
Talmud has any advice for us
on the subject.
Where's Berta?
She's over there. Oh.
Berta?
Josef!
Oh! Oh, Josef!
Oh... oh...
But if they catch you
here, you will be punished.
It's all right, Lowy
forged a pass for me.
But you are
forbidden to be here.
I've become an adept liar.
How are you?
Mm...
I'm all right.
There's a rumor that we
are all to be given work
in the IG Farben
factory tomorrow.
Perhaps they need
a concert pianist.
Oh, Josef.
Berta, they've
consigned us to hell,
but we must defy them.
And we must try to live.
I thought about...
the boys and Inga.
Mm...
I, too.
Something tells
me they're alive.
If one of us should die here,
the other must try to find them
and, and stay with
them and love them.
Do you understand what I mean?
Oh, yes, Josef.
Not just because we're family,
but because we're Jews.
They want so
desperately to destroy us.
Surely we must be worthwhile.
But if we can teach
others something...
Move along!
There you go! Move!
Hey! No men allowed in here!
I'm leaving.
I'm leaving.
Find her a place.
She's crazy; can't talk.
What did you do to her?
Nothing.
She came in on
yesterday's train.
They took her parents
for the showers.
She watched them go in.
Showers.
We know.
See to it she
doesn't mess herself.
"Sofia Alatri. Milano, Italy."
It's hard to remember
we're all people...
Individual humans
with names, homes, families.
That's how they kill us.
They take away what we are.
And it's easier to
press us in the...
There's no such thing.
No such thing, what
you're talking about.
It's only for showers.
Poor child.
Just like my Anna.
How can people be so cruel?
An old story, my husband says.
When you don't know what
else to do, pick on Jews.
You can speak to me, Sofia.
I'm your friend.
Hmm?
Look...
Pictures of my children.
Wonderful young
people, just like you.
This is my Karl and Inga,
and this is Rudi.
You would like Rudi.
He's 24 now... so handsome.
And next to him is Anna.
She's a little older than you.
I'm as frightened as she is,
but I'm ashamed to show it.
There's nothing
to be ashamed of.
Maybe they will have
work for us tomorrow.
Poor child; you're cold.
Hmm?
Tell me about Italy.
Milano.
She can't remember.
Maybe she's better off.
You're a beautiful child.
Just like my Anna.
Everyone in this
barracks, fall out!
Why?
Do you have work for us?
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Hurry up.
We don't have all day.
It must be some kind
of work, Frau Weiss.
Don't you think so?
No, I'm afraid not.
Come on!
Just move.
Get up! Come on, get up!
Sit up.
That will not be necessary.
She's crazy.
She will come with me.
Move! Come on, Lowy.
I-I'm an expert cook.
They can use me in the kitchen.
Just move.
Where are you taking us?
No questions.
Move!
Come on, move! Move, move along.
Just like my Anna.
♪ ♪
Clothes off.
Take your clothes off.
You are going to the showers.
Move along.
Come on, move along.
Take your clothes off.
You are going to the showers.
You will be back in ten minutes.
You needn't lie to us.
I am Berta Weiss.
My husband is Dr. Josef Weiss.
He and this woman's
husband... Franz Lowy...
Are with the people
who are building the road.
Please tell them
what has happened.
Move on; come on.
Move on.
Come on.
Mothers with children,
hold them closely and
tell them to breathe deeply.
It's good for them.
The disinfecting
takes ten minutes.
Form a line.
Come this way.
Hold me tight.
I will protect you.
See, it is a shower room.
Good-bye, Josef.
I love you.
Are you all right, Doctor?
Yes.
Yes, yes. Just
a little bit dizzy.
You don't look so hot.
Maybe you should
go to the hospital.
I think not, Mr. Lowy.
As long as we work, we survive.
Well, that guy, that
civilian engineer,
he's different from the rest.
Why?
Because he's spared our
lives as long as we can work?
No.
He's sticking his neck out.
I heard the SS officers were
on his back to get rid of Jews.
He hid 300 of us here.
You're right, Mr. Lowy,
it was a mean
thought on my part.
He seems decent enough.
You're not well?
Oh, yes, yes, quite all right.
Better to work
than the alternative.
What's your name?
Josef Weiss.
Dr. Josef Weiss.
Medical doctor?
Yes.
I have a general
practice in Berlin.
Why don't you tend the fire?
Come on.
I'm very grateful to you.
How are you, Erik?
I'm well enough.
Let's see.
Christmas, Berlin, right?
That's right.
Marta and the children.
Good to see you, Erik.
And I'm delighted to
see you, Uncle Kurt.
I've got some
real coffee inside.
Come on.
Your roads are
most important to us,
as are sanitary precautions...
Prevention of contagion.
Great deal of
disease in Auschwitz.
As much among those who run it
as the prisoners, I imagine.
Disease of the spirit, perhaps,
or of the soul itself.
You've become even more, uh...
What shall I say? Righteously
indignant than ever.
What we do we
do out of necessity.
Stop it.
Save those lies for the
Jews you've been murdering.
Lying to them up
until the last moment.
Why do you have
to strip them naked?
Can't you at least,
in the name of God,
let them die with some dignity?
I've seen your SS louts
grinning at the naked women.
They are criminals and enemies,
and they are sent to the
processing plant naked
for sanitary reasons.
Jews in the Warsaw
ghetto are fighting back.
Think of that.
Those despised unarmed
people in Warsaw,
defying the "master race."
It almost restores one's
faith in Divine Providence.
I'm told you're using several
hundred Jews as laborers
when there are Russians
and Poles available.
What of it?
You're not supposed to.
Jews are marked
for special handling.
We'll send you a
Red Army detail...
Strong backs, dull brains.
No.
Do you curry favor with
enemies of the Reich?
The children of
those Jewish laborers
will rise to destroy Germany.
I should strangle you
as a favor to your father.
How many dead will satisfy you?
A million?
Two million?
We must keep on killing
them, don't you see?
If we stop, it's an
admission of guilt.
But if we go on, we
prove to the world
that we had total
dedication to our mission...
that what we did were moral
and historical necessities.
Try to understand that.
I understand too well.
Now get out of here!
They've gone.
You are not allowed in here.
Please...
My wife and Mrs.
Lowy... Are they working?
Don't blame me.
I just take orders...
like everyone here.
Oh... Damn them.
Damn them.
Why do they have
it all their way?
Why... Why doesn't somebody...
say no to them?
Thank... you.
Thank you.
It's Passover, Weiss.
April 19, 1943.
I haven't forgotten.
But I'm afraid you and
I shall have no Seder.
We could've attended the one
the SS invited us to last night.
Yes, I heard the
sound truck, too.
Anyone accept?
Not even Elijah the prophet.
I might've gone.
When I was a kid, my
brother always got to ask
the four questions.
Maybe last night, the SS
would have given me the honor.
Perhaps... before shooting you.
God knows how
he is, my brother...
He and Berta.
We could use a
doctor now, Weiss.
To treat the wounded?
Mm-hmm.
My inclination would
be to shoot our wounded.
That doesn't sound like you.
Well, I'm wiser than
I was a year ago.
Tell me, Zalman, how
many soldiers do we have?
Four hundred, armed.
And others?
A few hundred who'll support us.
The remaining
50,000... terrified.
So am I.
I wasn't cut out to shoot guns.
Who was?
Do you know that
tomorrow is Hitler's birthday?
Mm-hmm.
Did you also know that
Himmler promised us
as a birthday present?
Warsaw is to be cleaned of
Jews to celebrate the event.
Candles on his cake.
I never thought I'd
be resigned to dying.
I don't mind.
Provided it's with
a gun in my hands.
Put that light out.
I'm cleaning up for Passover.
Put out that light.
I'm not critical, mind you.
Just speechless.
They're on time, as ever.
A happy Passover
to our Jewish friends.
Come out in peace, and we
shall arrange a Seder meal for you.
Forget this foolish battle,
put down your guns.
Those who led you
into battle betrayed you.
A happy Passover
to our Jewish friends.
Come out in peace and we
shall arrange a Seder meal.
They're not leaving.
Just coming back in force.
Commence march!
Always our miserable
ghetto police first
and then the Lithuanians.
Save your fire for the Germans.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Someday. I'll be able to tell
a Lithuanian SS
man I saved his life.
Now.
Get back! Get back!
Back! Step it!
Cover our retreat!
All is lost! Run!
Get back, all of you! Run! Run!
Give 'em a parting blast.
Look at them run!
Zalman, for the
first time in my life,
I feel the blood of
King David in me!
Don't go overboard, Weiss.
Well, just a drop or two.
It's the last of the
Passover wine.
Share it with us.
Oh, no, no. It's yours.
Please. You need it.
Good yontif. Good yontif.
Good yontif. Good yontif.
L'chaim. L'chaim.
"Why is this night different
from all other nights?
"On any other night,
"we may eat either
leavened or unleavened bread
"but on this night
only unleavened bread.
"On any other night, we
may eat any kind of herbs,
"but this night,
only bitter herbs.
"On any other night,
we do not dip even once,
"but on this night, twice.
"On all other nights, we
eat either sitting or reclining,
but on this night,
we all recline..."
"It was that we were all
slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt,
"and the Eternal God
brought us forth from thence
with a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm."
They're back in force.
"Blessed be, he had not brought
forth our ancestors from Egypt,
"we and our children, and
children's children would still have...
"Blessed art Thou, Eternal God,
Sovereign of the universe..."
"this night to eat
unleavened cakes
and bitter herbs."
"seasons which approach us
"that they much rejoice
in the building of Thy city
"and exalt in Thy service,
"and that we may eat
there of the sacrificial
"Paschal Lambs whose
blood shall be sprinkled
"on the side of Thine altar..."
Stay close to the buildings!
Blessed art Thou, O Eternal,
who redeemest Israel..
Shut off the water!
Go ahead.
Fire!
Get 'em out! Tell 'em to hide!
Quickly, down the back stairs.
Get out!
We have got to get out!
We can't hold on any longer!
Will you cover us?
I will! Get out! Run.
We got 'em in a cross fire!
Stopped 'em again!
Eva, the banner!
I can't believe my eyes.
The whole damn SS is retreating.
How does it feel, Weiss?
We have smitten the
Philistines, hip and thigh.
I know Laka's in ruin, I
know, but try to find them.
Yes, we need food
and medicine also.
No, no surrender.
And, Steve, keep trying to
reach the Polish resistance
outside the wall.
They haven't helped us yet, I
know, but maybe they might.
How many days?
Today's May eighth.
Our battle with the
SS started on April 19.
That's 20 days so far,
and we're still fighting.
We never gave Hitler
his birthday present.
Oh, we did.
But not the one
Himmler promised him.
"Thousands of our
women and children
"are being burnt
alive in the houses.
"People enveloped in flames
leap like torches from windows,
"but we fight on.
"It is a struggle for
your and our freedom.
"We will avenge Auschwitz,
"Treblinka, Belzec and Majdanek.
"Long live freedom.
"Death to the murderers
and criminal Nazis.
"Long live the life
and death struggle
against the German barbarian."
See if you can get
through with these.
I'll go with you as
far as the entrance.
Right.
The last of our paper.
I've never been a brave man.
Nor I.
But I learned something.
We all die.
So why not make it worthwhile?
They shot him! He's dead!
They're all over! Outside!
Gas.
It's over.
The pills.
It's not enough for everyone.
Maybe some want to leave.
They're free to
take their chances...
with the rest.
I'm staying.
You wish to go outside?
It's a chance.
Some hope.
All right.
I'll lead you out.
Zalman...
Good-bye.
Good-bye, Weiss.
Sorry I didn't get
to know you better.
Some other time, perhaps.
Of course.
I have the right name,
but I'm afraid I can't lead
you to the Promised Land.
Follow me.
Aaron.
Come on!
Out! With your hands up!
Come on, hurry up!
Come on, come on.
You won't be harmed.
Raise your hands!
Move over to the wall!
Keep your hands in the air!
Line up! Face the wall!
Aaron, take my hand.
Everybody take hands!
Ready!
Aim!
Fire!
Oh, my God.
Something wrong?
This is dreadful.
Our street was bombed.
"Luckily, we were
all in a shelter,
"having been given warning,
so no one was injured.
"But I'm afraid there was
damage to the apartment,
including our beautiful piano."
So long as everyone was safe.
The piano can be replaced.
Any gossip from Berlin?
I'm no longer privy
to inside information,
now that Lichtenberg is dead.
Lichtenberg?
Oh, that priest at St. Hedwig's.
My wife says he died in Dachau.
You warned him yourself,
didn't you, Major?
Oh, how the stench
in those chimneys
get right into this room.
How can man enjoy his lunch?
It can't be helped.
Processing 12,000 a day.
I've got 46 ovens.
They never stop.
You think you've
got your problems?
I had to fight the
army yesterday.
They were complaining
because I was
commandeering their supply
trains to ship Jews out to you.
Hoess, what's the
policy on using Jews
on labor details?
Labor details?
Poles and Russians.
Jews are marked
for special handling.
I'm told there are Jews who
are still working the roads.
Shouldn't be. Jews are marked
for special handling.
A fellow from
Warsaw there, he said,
he said the Jews
fought for three weeks.
It took 7,000
Germans to suppress it.
Do they know any of our people?
No, no, he wasn't in the fight.
And that's... that's
why he's still alive.
Pull harder!
Pull! Pull!
By whose orders?
Kommandant.
For what reason?
Sir, you will have to ask him.
You mean, now,
this minute? Yes, sir.
Major Hoess says the
detail will be replaced.
Stop! Fall in!
Counts of two!
Where are we being taken?
Delousing.
It's over, Mr. Lowy.
You and I have had a
long journey, my friend.
Berlin, Warsaw, Auschwitz.
It wasn't any vacation.
No, no vacation.
You've been a good friend.
Yes, certainly, you were
always one of my best patients.
Always paid your bills on time.
March forward!
Why do we still obey them?
We're finished anyway.
Ah, to hell with them!
Forward march!
Give me your hand, Dr. Weiss.
I feel as nervous as a kid
going to school
for the first time.
Mr. Lowy, did you ever have
your gall bladder looked after?
I've been warning
you about it for years.
Since you first came
to my office in Berlin.
I may have it
done in the spring.
It's a hell of a
way for men to die.
Maybe it's just for delousing.
Yeah, yeah.
I've been a printer all my life.
Look, there's still printer's
ink under my fingernails.
Well... maybe those
pamphlets helped.
I know they did.
Hold it! Stop the truck!
I think they were
tipped off. Let's hit them.
No, scatter, hide.
We'll meet at the
camp. We can take them.
I said no!
Everyone move!
After them!
Stop or we'll shoot!
Over there!
Helena?
Helena?
Helen...
Helena.
I don't understand.
How much did you hear?
Sounds like you're
going to break out.
What's your name?
Rudi Weiss.
German?
Jew.
We are Red Army, 51st Division.
Weiss, if you are a
spy, we have to kill you.
I'm not a spy.
If there's going to be a
breakout, I want a gun.
I was a partisan for two years.
Whose unit?
Uncle Sasha, the
doctor from Koretz.
What actions were
you involved in?
Ambushed the Ukrainian
SS on the Zhytomyr Road.
We attacked the SS
headquarters in Krimitch.
We were caught trying
to shoot up a convoy.
My wife... was killed.
What is this place?
Sobibor, Eastern Poland.
They gas 2,000 Jews
a day, burn the bodies.
There is a field
of ashes outside.
The SS sleep on pillows
stuffed with Jewish hair.
I think I trust him.
He has got the
look of a partisan.
All the bodies have
been dug out of Babi Yar
and burned, Reichsführer.
33,000?
Over a hundred thousand.
The 33,000 was the harvest
of our two-day reprisal.
How long ago it seems.
Eichmann?
I'm insisting on
priorities for our trains.
The army can't be
allowed to divert them.
Hoess?
Auschwitz is functioning...
Overburdened but functioning.
In secrecy, I trust?
Insofar as is
possible, Reichsführer.
What about these
reports of rebellions?
Jews fighting back?
There's no resistance in Warsaw.
A few pockets,
but, by and large,
they've all been liquidated.
Of course, there have been
a few cases in the camps
but nothing major.
The Jews seem
intent on aiding us
in their annihilation.
Resettlement.
Oh, Major Dorf... our
expert in semantics.
We haven't heard much from you
since your
assignment in the east.
Has your enthusiasm diminished?
I'm more enthusiastic
than the day I took
the oath, Reichsführer.
Ah. Splendid, splendid.
Gentlemen, I would welcome
suggestions from all of you
on plans for the future
dismantling of the camps.
Oh, I'm not suggesting
that Germany will be
defeated, mind you...
Dismantling, Reichsführer?
Yes, our job will
soon be finished.
A Jew-free Europe.
So, perhaps the camps
and the machinery
could soon be obliterated.
Forgive me,
Reichsführer, but why?
Why?
Why erase the evidence?
Why was it necessary for
you to dig up 100,000 corpses
and burn them at Babi Yar?
Why dismantle Auschwitz?
Would it not be more
fitting to let them stand
as monuments to our
great service to mankind?
Major, you misunderstand me.
I did not...
The Führer himself said
that we were here "to complete
the work of Christianity...
Defending Western culture."
Oh, I agree, Major Dorf, but
others may misunderstand us.
The Jews will lie about us.
Not if we tell the
world the truth!
We must distribute film...
photographs, affidavits.
We must explain
logically and persuasively
why it was a moral
and a racial necessity
to do what we did.
We have committed no crimes.
We have merely followed
the logic of European history,
and eminent philosophers
and churchmen
can be called upon to defend us.
A case can be
made for Auschwitz.
I'm a lawyer, you know, I
understand these things.
No shame, gentlemen,
no apologies;
no maundering over dead Jews.
We must make
clear to the world...
that we stood
between civilization
and the Jewish plot
to dominate the world,
to destroy decency.
We alone...
we...
were courageous enough.
The major may have a point.
Let us be certain in our hearts
that we fulfilled this task
for the love of our own people
and that we have not
been damaged in character,
in our innermost souls.
We have remained
decent and loving men.
For that, we may be proud.
I know that man.
Karl.
Karl Weiss, the
artist from Berlin.
We worked in
Buchenwald, years ago.
The tailor shop, remember?
Then they sent you
to, um, Theresienstadt.
Don't you remember
the day we got into a fight
with a kapo over some bread?
You had a Christian wife.
She, uh... she used
to smuggle letters in
through a sergeant.
Inga. Yeah.
You were upset that she, um...
But it's all over now.
You're lucky you lived so long.
The Americans are
pushing through France.
The Russians were in
Czechoslovakia, in Budapest.
The Nazis are through.
My father is here.
There's a rumor they're
going to turn us all loose.
My father... my mother... here.
Oh, I'm sorry, Weiss.
God, what they
did to your hands.
Paper.
Pencil.
Best I can do.
Thank you.
I know you, Weinberg.
You were a friend.
That's what I felt like.
A long time.
Are my boots ready?
I said my boots!
Who's he?
Ooh!
We cannot get there!
Let me try.
We move east.
The Red Army
shouldn't be too far.
Coming with us, Weiss?
No. I have a family somewhere.
I want to find them.
The Germans will
catch you again.
Not if I'm careful.
Good-bye, Barski.
Thank you.
Vanya.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks!
I repeat: all prisoners
fall out of the barracks!
This is a general evacuation!
I repeat! All prisoners...
Weiss?
Fall out of the barracks.
This is a general evacuation.
Weiss?
All prisoners
fall out of the barracks! Oh...
We've come this far.
This is a general evacuation.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks.
You'll forgive me if I take it.
This is a general evacuation.
You won't be
needing this, either.
I repeat: this is a
general evacuation.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks!
I was merely a courier.
Heydrich gave me orders.
Kaltenbrunner.
A transmitter of orders, clerk.
A clerk?
Okay, tell me about
this photograph.
Executions.
The people you see
there were probably
saboteurs, guerillas.
Probably?
You know the nature of warfare.
It's sad, but some innocents
may also have been killed.
I have no knowledge
of such things.
What's this, Major?
I'm not certain.
Dead bodies, of course.
We've got sworn
testimony from 24 witnesses
that you helped supervise
gassing operations
at Auschwitz and other camps,
and were present when selections
and mass killings took place.
I may have been
present a few times
as Berlin's representative,
but I made no decisions.
These came from Berlin.
The Jews had to be dealt with.
Permitted to rise
to power again,
their money and influence
would destroy Germany,
and that is why we...
Unwillingly to be sure...
Why we had to
liquidate children.
The children...
We had to kill the
children, that's... they, uh...
The ch...
If I made the decisions, Dorf,
I'd put a bullet in
your head right now.
But since we do things
in a democratic way,
you'll be tried.
The Russians and the
Poles have dibs on you.
I beg your pardon?
A legal claim.
I'd like to hand you
over to the Jews.
Maybe the parents
of these kids...
if they're alive.
I'm not being treated fairly.
I'm a lawyer.
I know my rights.
Go through these.
If you want to tell me
anything, sound off.
I'll get a stenographer.
Hey, Eddie, we
need a stenographer...
Uh, this is Corporal Dennison
in Captain Cassidy's
office, down at headquarters.
Uh, the captain needs to
requisition a stenographer
to take down a statement...
Yeah, that statement
will be used as evidence...
Yeah, yeah, bilingual.
Okay, fine.
Um, tell, uh, Major Barinson
that, uh, we'll
return the favor.
Thanks a lot.
Hey, get a medic!
"Be assured, dear Frau Dorf,
"that your husband,
Major Erik Dorf, died a hero
"in the service of the Reich.
"We who are his comrades
"will honor his memory and keep
alive the great
tradition he personified."
It's unsigned.
It is also untrue.
Untrue?
Marta, Erik took his own life.
The Americans had him in custody
as a war criminal.
In all likelihood, he
would have been executed
or given a long term in prison.
You're lying!
You always hated Erik.
No, not always.
And I can no longer hate him.
I was too involved in his
dreadful business myself
to pass judgment.
You get out of here!
My father was a hero!
Peter, you must face the truth.
You, and your mother
and Laura... Shut up!
Your father was a murderer.
He and his colleagues,
those strutting men
in black uniforms
were mechanical killers.
Oh, a heroic career...
The shooting and gassing
and torture of innocents.
Mom, make him stop!
Kurt.
Leave us.
We never want to see you again.
How dare you defame Erik's name!
You should be
praying for his soul.
Somebody else will have
to furnish those prayers.
I watched and did nothing,
and believed the lies.
We've got to face up
to what we are and
what we've done.
I won't be silent.
Good-bye, Marta.
Good-bye, children.
Children...
we must light a
candle to your father.
Hey.
Hello.
Rudi?
Rudi!
Rudi!
Inga!
Inga.
Oh.
Karl's son.
I named him Josef,
after your father.
Oh...
People who knew Karl
say he looks just like him.
He looks more like Churchill.
The same Rudi.
My God, how long has it been?
Seven years.
I remember the
day you left Berlin.
Alone in the night.
Hey, Josef, smile.
This is your Uncle Rudi.
Rudi.
I went through Auschwitz
after it was liberated.
They told me about Karl.
He'd been tortured
here, hadn't he?
About some drawings, they said.
I'll show them to you.
Rudi, you've learned about
your mother and father?
Yes.
The murder of people like
that and millions of others.
You can hate me, if you wish,
for being one of them.
No, Inga,
I don't hate you.
I'm a kind of blank.
No hate, no love...
like the walking dead
I saw in the camps.
No, not you, Rudi... never.
I was married when I
was with the partisans.
A Czech girl.
She's dead.
We had to leave her
body in the Ukraine.
I won't go back
and look for her.
What really does matter is
what we had when we were alive
for a little while.
Rudi, I am sorry.
What are you going to do?
Now, I go back to
Germany with him.
But I won't stay there.
Teach him... not to be afraid.
I never saw Karl draw like this.
Your brother was
a talented artist.
We're giving the drawings
to the museum in Prague.
A permanent record
of what happened.
And they killed him for these.
If you could have
seen him, Rudi,
with his hands smashed.
His lovely hands.
And this?
His last picture.
A man named Weinberg
who knew Karl in Buchenwald
and Auschwitz sent it to me.
With his hands broken.
Weinberg said that he begged
for something to draw with
right up to the end.
I used to defend
him in the street.
He was skinny.
Scared of tough kids.
I guess we both let Papa down.
No, Rudi.
Your father loved
you both very much.
Maybe love is what
got us in trouble.
Trusting, hanging
onto each other.
You must never believe that.
Where will you go now?
I don't know.
I'm nobody.
No papers, no
family, no country.
Good-bye, little brother.
Good-bye, Inga.
Maria.
Good-bye, Churchill.
Some of those kids aren't bad.
Greek Jews.
Their families were
massacred in Salonika.
Parting gift before the
Germans pulled out.
You're Rudi Weiss, aren't you?
How did you know that?
No secrets in the liberated
camps, especially among Jews.
My name's Levin...
I'm from a Jewish
Agency for Palestine.
I know quite a few
things about you.
Like what?
Oh, you were a partisan.
They say you
escaped from Sobibor.
What else do you know?
Your family and brother
were killed in Auschwitz.
Your wife in the Ukraine.
You know a lot.
Say, Weiss, uh, you want a job?
You know so much about me,
you must know I
never finished school.
For this job, you're qualified.
We need a shepherd.
A shepherd?
We've got 40 of those
Greek kids and no parents.
We need someone to
smuggle them into Palestine.
You interested?
I don't speak any
Greek. Or Hebrew.
I'm not sure I'm much of a Jew.
You'll do.
It won't be as dangerous
as the partisans,
but it won't be a
Purim festival either.
We'll get you a passport, eh?
Hey!
That's no way to pass!
Hey.
Another game, huh?
You're in my side... yeah.
Get back.
Hey.
Over here! Throw me the ball!
Come on, get it...!
Let's see who can grab the ball.
That's it.
Round one!
Now squeeze the
trigger slowly; don't jerk it.
Ready, aim, fire.
Now all we need is ammunition.
Treblinka, Belzec,
the other camps
aren't fulfilling their
job of resettlement.
Something on a grander
scale is envisioned.
Grander?
Toward the Final Solution
of the Jewish problem.
For massive disinfecting such
as you have in mind, Major,
we recommend this.
Zyklon B.
Has it been tested on, um...?
Humans?
Well, you know
the sort of thing...
Criminals, incurables.
You would know better
than I about that, Major.
Felscher, the
sketches we finished...
I can't find them.
That's right. I sold them.
Yes, I'll be there as
soon as I'm dressed.
What's happened?
They tried to
assassinate Heydrich.
He's not expected to live.
Oh, Karl!
Oh, Inga... Inga...
What did you find out?
The trains aren't
going to Russia.
Where are they going?
Treblinka.
Another Polish work camp?
It's a death camp.
Josef,
the boy with the briefcase...
He's one of my pupils.
You don't have to look, Berta.
Why not?
Bye!
Bye!
Good-bye!
Bye!
Tear up the floor!
And these drawings
mean a great deal to me.
You have a Christian wife.
Something may be worked out.
Karl!
Where are they taking you?!
Inga, stay back.
Just stay back.
I'll be all right.
No, no, no!
They won't hurt me!
Please, just stay back!
Let me go with him,
please! He's done nothing!
Inga, please, go
back! It'll be all right.
No...!
Karl!
No.
They broke my hands.
Mine, too.
It will be a long time
before we paint again.
Fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic.
Like a...
Like a scene from
Dante's Inferno.
And those sounds.
Almost like they're
really in a synagogue.
♪ ♪
You are hurting him.
Be quiet,
or I'll throw you
out, wife or no.
You will kill him
with your stupid raids!
Try to hang on.
It was worth it.
You must see what we got.
A machine gun,
grenades, magazines.
I don't give a damn
about your haul!
I want my husband.
He's bleeding again.
Give me another bandage.
Ah.
From a Mauser.
Something to show your children.
Have it gold-plated!
Would you stop it?!
I hate you! I hate all of you!
You joke as if this is a game!
My husband is almost dead,
and you joke about the
bullet that nearly killed him.
I hate this camp
and your useless war.
So you kill a German here
and a Ukrainian
there, and so what?!
We will all be dead
in another winter!
I don't want to be here anymore.
You did that almost
as well as my father.
I'm sorry I didn't know him.
I'll get something
to help you sleep.
Helena?
Rudi, you could have
died, and for what?
To show them that
we're not cowards.
They can't kill us
and get away with it.
But they are killing us.
They are killing millions,
and no one fights back?
No one cares.
Tell me that you love me.
I love you.
I love you.
But they will come
back one day, and...
you will...
You said once we'd never die.
I don't believe it anymore.
We'll live.
You'll meet my family.
They'll love you
as much as I do.
The next time that you go out
with Sasha and the men,
I want to go with you.
Not my wife.
I want to carry a gun, Rudi.
I want to be with you.
I'll talk to Sasha.
Let's go, Weiss.
Don't beat me again.
I'll die this time.
No beating.
You're going to Auschwitz.
Can I... Can I
please see my wife?
Half an hour.
No use looking for them.
Your friend Frey is dead.
I know. Felscher, too.
You're lucky you're still alive.
They set you free!
Oh, Karl!
Inga...
They've beaten you.
I'm alive.
Your hands!
They made sure that I would...
never draw again.
Inga...
you can't heal them.
They say you get used to it.
It's not true.
Please don't tell me anymore.
We shouted how
we would go to Italy
to see the museums
and the churches.
And stop to paint.
Frey was a Piero
Della Francesca man.
He wanted to see Arezzo.
We'll go to Arezzo for
Frey some day, Karl.
I will never see Italy.
My brief moment
of courage is over.
They're sending me to Auschwitz.
No, you won't go.
And if you go, I'll go with you.
But you can't, Inga.
You must tell Karl.
Tell me what?
Karl...
your child is in me.
My child.
Ours, yes.
You mustn't have it.
No, I will.
This is why Maria
says I must stay here.
Children have been
born in Theresienstadt.
I've seen them.
Cursed for the
rest of their lives.
It need not be that way.
The women will
protect Inga, Karl.
They'll be good to the baby.
Inga...
if you love me...
end its life before it ever
sees this wretched place.
I will not.
Karl, please...
I want your
blessing for our child.
I want no child.
The rabbis say that
every life is a sanctification.
A holy spark.
You must let Inga
have your child.
A child that I will never know.
You will.
I promise you.
Show him the drawings...
when he's old
enough to understand.
Bye.
I love you.
Good-bye, my darling.
Hold it!
Wait a minute.
It's all right, Officer,
we're not smugglers.
We're merchants.
Just be sure you are
back before curfew.
Oh, of course.
Go!
Hup!
Come on.
Four guns.
Four grenades.
Now, how are we supposed
to start a revolution with these?
It's a beginning.
How many of us are left in
the Warsaw ghetto, Moses?
I don't know... maybe 50,000.
300,000 taken away to
Treblinka and Auschwitz.
If we can kill a few of
them, get their rifles,
maybe a machine gun.
I'm not so sure they'd
be willing to oblige us.
You know, somehow, I don't
make a convincing cowboy.
Jews and guns, it's
a bad combination.
It's Zalman.
The SS has blocked the streets.
What, they suspect something?
You may have been followed.
They're searching buildings.
What are we looking for, anyway?
Some of the Poles have guns.
Go. Break the door.
As soon as they come in, shoot.
Hide.
Break the door.
Why don't you? You're afraid?
Afraid of Jews? Ha!
Medic! Medic! Help!
Eva, take the guns! The guns!
Hurry up!
There is a God after all.
Jews fighting back.
Take these.
Everyone out.
The tunnels.
Watch it. Stay low.
Careful.
That's really smart...
loading the guns!
We killed some of the bastards!
Look. It's begun.
Sooner than we
wanted, but it's begun.
You don't aim them.
You just point the
barrel and spray shots.
I want one, too.
Wait till you grow up.
They're here!
We'll meet them outside.
Zalman, Aaron, come with me.
We'll take these.
Move! Over here.
Move! Move! Move!
Be careful with snipers.
You three, come with
me in the first group.
Aaron.
Keep your eyes always open!
Over here!
All right, come on.
Come on this way.
Move. Watch out.
Go.
Retreat.
They die like anyone else.
I never doubted that.
It's just that we were
afraid to kill them.
I don't believe it.
They are going.
Land mines.
Now, who knows
anything about land mines?
From the Poles? A gift?
A purchase.
We paid for them generously.
Well, they're trying to fight.
We can't count on it.
My friends, there's
only ourselves.
Zalman, post guards.
We're at war.
We don't need these
to remind us who we are.
Aha!
Instructions on how to
assemble a land mine.
Now I wonder if the
Talmud has any advice for us
on the subject.
Where's Berta?
She's over there. Oh.
Berta?
Josef!
Oh! Oh, Josef!
Oh... oh...
But if they catch you
here, you will be punished.
It's all right, Lowy
forged a pass for me.
But you are
forbidden to be here.
I've become an adept liar.
How are you?
Mm...
I'm all right.
There's a rumor that we
are all to be given work
in the IG Farben
factory tomorrow.
Perhaps they need
a concert pianist.
Oh, Josef.
Berta, they've
consigned us to hell,
but we must defy them.
And we must try to live.
I thought about...
the boys and Inga.
Mm...
I, too.
Something tells
me they're alive.
If one of us should die here,
the other must try to find them
and, and stay with
them and love them.
Do you understand what I mean?
Oh, yes, Josef.
Not just because we're family,
but because we're Jews.
They want so
desperately to destroy us.
Surely we must be worthwhile.
But if we can teach
others something...
Move along!
There you go! Move!
Hey! No men allowed in here!
I'm leaving.
I'm leaving.
Find her a place.
She's crazy; can't talk.
What did you do to her?
Nothing.
She came in on
yesterday's train.
They took her parents
for the showers.
She watched them go in.
Showers.
We know.
See to it she
doesn't mess herself.
"Sofia Alatri. Milano, Italy."
It's hard to remember
we're all people...
Individual humans
with names, homes, families.
That's how they kill us.
They take away what we are.
And it's easier to
press us in the...
There's no such thing.
No such thing, what
you're talking about.
It's only for showers.
Poor child.
Just like my Anna.
How can people be so cruel?
An old story, my husband says.
When you don't know what
else to do, pick on Jews.
You can speak to me, Sofia.
I'm your friend.
Hmm?
Look...
Pictures of my children.
Wonderful young
people, just like you.
This is my Karl and Inga,
and this is Rudi.
You would like Rudi.
He's 24 now... so handsome.
And next to him is Anna.
She's a little older than you.
I'm as frightened as she is,
but I'm ashamed to show it.
There's nothing
to be ashamed of.
Maybe they will have
work for us tomorrow.
Poor child; you're cold.
Hmm?
Tell me about Italy.
Milano.
She can't remember.
Maybe she's better off.
You're a beautiful child.
Just like my Anna.
Everyone in this
barracks, fall out!
Why?
Do you have work for us?
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Hurry up.
We don't have all day.
It must be some kind
of work, Frau Weiss.
Don't you think so?
No, I'm afraid not.
Come on!
Just move.
Get up! Come on, get up!
Sit up.
That will not be necessary.
She's crazy.
She will come with me.
Move! Come on, Lowy.
I-I'm an expert cook.
They can use me in the kitchen.
Just move.
Where are you taking us?
No questions.
Move!
Come on, move! Move, move along.
Just like my Anna.
♪ ♪
Clothes off.
Take your clothes off.
You are going to the showers.
Move along.
Come on, move along.
Take your clothes off.
You are going to the showers.
You will be back in ten minutes.
You needn't lie to us.
I am Berta Weiss.
My husband is Dr. Josef Weiss.
He and this woman's
husband... Franz Lowy...
Are with the people
who are building the road.
Please tell them
what has happened.
Move on; come on.
Move on.
Come on.
Mothers with children,
hold them closely and
tell them to breathe deeply.
It's good for them.
The disinfecting
takes ten minutes.
Form a line.
Come this way.
Hold me tight.
I will protect you.
See, it is a shower room.
Good-bye, Josef.
I love you.
Are you all right, Doctor?
Yes.
Yes, yes. Just
a little bit dizzy.
You don't look so hot.
Maybe you should
go to the hospital.
I think not, Mr. Lowy.
As long as we work, we survive.
Well, that guy, that
civilian engineer,
he's different from the rest.
Why?
Because he's spared our
lives as long as we can work?
No.
He's sticking his neck out.
I heard the SS officers were
on his back to get rid of Jews.
He hid 300 of us here.
You're right, Mr. Lowy,
it was a mean
thought on my part.
He seems decent enough.
You're not well?
Oh, yes, yes, quite all right.
Better to work
than the alternative.
What's your name?
Josef Weiss.
Dr. Josef Weiss.
Medical doctor?
Yes.
I have a general
practice in Berlin.
Why don't you tend the fire?
Come on.
I'm very grateful to you.
How are you, Erik?
I'm well enough.
Let's see.
Christmas, Berlin, right?
That's right.
Marta and the children.
Good to see you, Erik.
And I'm delighted to
see you, Uncle Kurt.
I've got some
real coffee inside.
Come on.
Your roads are
most important to us,
as are sanitary precautions...
Prevention of contagion.
Great deal of
disease in Auschwitz.
As much among those who run it
as the prisoners, I imagine.
Disease of the spirit, perhaps,
or of the soul itself.
You've become even more, uh...
What shall I say? Righteously
indignant than ever.
What we do we
do out of necessity.
Stop it.
Save those lies for the
Jews you've been murdering.
Lying to them up
until the last moment.
Why do you have
to strip them naked?
Can't you at least,
in the name of God,
let them die with some dignity?
I've seen your SS louts
grinning at the naked women.
They are criminals and enemies,
and they are sent to the
processing plant naked
for sanitary reasons.
Jews in the Warsaw
ghetto are fighting back.
Think of that.
Those despised unarmed
people in Warsaw,
defying the "master race."
It almost restores one's
faith in Divine Providence.
I'm told you're using several
hundred Jews as laborers
when there are Russians
and Poles available.
What of it?
You're not supposed to.
Jews are marked
for special handling.
We'll send you a
Red Army detail...
Strong backs, dull brains.
No.
Do you curry favor with
enemies of the Reich?
The children of
those Jewish laborers
will rise to destroy Germany.
I should strangle you
as a favor to your father.
How many dead will satisfy you?
A million?
Two million?
We must keep on killing
them, don't you see?
If we stop, it's an
admission of guilt.
But if we go on, we
prove to the world
that we had total
dedication to our mission...
that what we did were moral
and historical necessities.
Try to understand that.
I understand too well.
Now get out of here!
They've gone.
You are not allowed in here.
Please...
My wife and Mrs.
Lowy... Are they working?
Don't blame me.
I just take orders...
like everyone here.
Oh... Damn them.
Damn them.
Why do they have
it all their way?
Why... Why doesn't somebody...
say no to them?
Thank... you.
Thank you.
It's Passover, Weiss.
April 19, 1943.
I haven't forgotten.
But I'm afraid you and
I shall have no Seder.
We could've attended the one
the SS invited us to last night.
Yes, I heard the
sound truck, too.
Anyone accept?
Not even Elijah the prophet.
I might've gone.
When I was a kid, my
brother always got to ask
the four questions.
Maybe last night, the SS
would have given me the honor.
Perhaps... before shooting you.
God knows how
he is, my brother...
He and Berta.
We could use a
doctor now, Weiss.
To treat the wounded?
Mm-hmm.
My inclination would
be to shoot our wounded.
That doesn't sound like you.
Well, I'm wiser than
I was a year ago.
Tell me, Zalman, how
many soldiers do we have?
Four hundred, armed.
And others?
A few hundred who'll support us.
The remaining
50,000... terrified.
So am I.
I wasn't cut out to shoot guns.
Who was?
Do you know that
tomorrow is Hitler's birthday?
Mm-hmm.
Did you also know that
Himmler promised us
as a birthday present?
Warsaw is to be cleaned of
Jews to celebrate the event.
Candles on his cake.
I never thought I'd
be resigned to dying.
I don't mind.
Provided it's with
a gun in my hands.
Put that light out.
I'm cleaning up for Passover.
Put out that light.
I'm not critical, mind you.
Just speechless.
They're on time, as ever.
A happy Passover
to our Jewish friends.
Come out in peace, and we
shall arrange a Seder meal for you.
Forget this foolish battle,
put down your guns.
Those who led you
into battle betrayed you.
A happy Passover
to our Jewish friends.
Come out in peace and we
shall arrange a Seder meal.
They're not leaving.
Just coming back in force.
Commence march!
Always our miserable
ghetto police first
and then the Lithuanians.
Save your fire for the Germans.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
Someday. I'll be able to tell
a Lithuanian SS
man I saved his life.
Now.
Get back! Get back!
Back! Step it!
Cover our retreat!
All is lost! Run!
Get back, all of you! Run! Run!
Give 'em a parting blast.
Look at them run!
Zalman, for the
first time in my life,
I feel the blood of
King David in me!
Don't go overboard, Weiss.
Well, just a drop or two.
It's the last of the
Passover wine.
Share it with us.
Oh, no, no. It's yours.
Please. You need it.
Good yontif. Good yontif.
Good yontif. Good yontif.
L'chaim. L'chaim.
"Why is this night different
from all other nights?
"On any other night,
"we may eat either
leavened or unleavened bread
"but on this night
only unleavened bread.
"On any other night, we
may eat any kind of herbs,
"but this night,
only bitter herbs.
"On any other night,
we do not dip even once,
"but on this night, twice.
"On all other nights, we
eat either sitting or reclining,
but on this night,
we all recline..."
"It was that we were all
slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt,
"and the Eternal God
brought us forth from thence
with a mighty hand and
an outstretched arm."
They're back in force.
"Blessed be, he had not brought
forth our ancestors from Egypt,
"we and our children, and
children's children would still have...
"Blessed art Thou, Eternal God,
Sovereign of the universe..."
"this night to eat
unleavened cakes
and bitter herbs."
"seasons which approach us
"that they much rejoice
in the building of Thy city
"and exalt in Thy service,
"and that we may eat
there of the sacrificial
"Paschal Lambs whose
blood shall be sprinkled
"on the side of Thine altar..."
Stay close to the buildings!
Blessed art Thou, O Eternal,
who redeemest Israel..
Shut off the water!
Go ahead.
Fire!
Get 'em out! Tell 'em to hide!
Quickly, down the back stairs.
Get out!
We have got to get out!
We can't hold on any longer!
Will you cover us?
I will! Get out! Run.
We got 'em in a cross fire!
Stopped 'em again!
Eva, the banner!
I can't believe my eyes.
The whole damn SS is retreating.
How does it feel, Weiss?
We have smitten the
Philistines, hip and thigh.
I know Laka's in ruin, I
know, but try to find them.
Yes, we need food
and medicine also.
No, no surrender.
And, Steve, keep trying to
reach the Polish resistance
outside the wall.
They haven't helped us yet, I
know, but maybe they might.
How many days?
Today's May eighth.
Our battle with the
SS started on April 19.
That's 20 days so far,
and we're still fighting.
We never gave Hitler
his birthday present.
Oh, we did.
But not the one
Himmler promised him.
"Thousands of our
women and children
"are being burnt
alive in the houses.
"People enveloped in flames
leap like torches from windows,
"but we fight on.
"It is a struggle for
your and our freedom.
"We will avenge Auschwitz,
"Treblinka, Belzec and Majdanek.
"Long live freedom.
"Death to the murderers
and criminal Nazis.
"Long live the life
and death struggle
against the German barbarian."
See if you can get
through with these.
I'll go with you as
far as the entrance.
Right.
The last of our paper.
I've never been a brave man.
Nor I.
But I learned something.
We all die.
So why not make it worthwhile?
They shot him! He's dead!
They're all over! Outside!
Gas.
It's over.
The pills.
It's not enough for everyone.
Maybe some want to leave.
They're free to
take their chances...
with the rest.
I'm staying.
You wish to go outside?
It's a chance.
Some hope.
All right.
I'll lead you out.
Zalman...
Good-bye.
Good-bye, Weiss.
Sorry I didn't get
to know you better.
Some other time, perhaps.
Of course.
I have the right name,
but I'm afraid I can't lead
you to the Promised Land.
Follow me.
Aaron.
Come on!
Out! With your hands up!
Come on, hurry up!
Come on, come on.
You won't be harmed.
Raise your hands!
Move over to the wall!
Keep your hands in the air!
Line up! Face the wall!
Aaron, take my hand.
Everybody take hands!
Ready!
Aim!
Fire!
Oh, my God.
Something wrong?
This is dreadful.
Our street was bombed.
"Luckily, we were
all in a shelter,
"having been given warning,
so no one was injured.
"But I'm afraid there was
damage to the apartment,
including our beautiful piano."
So long as everyone was safe.
The piano can be replaced.
Any gossip from Berlin?
I'm no longer privy
to inside information,
now that Lichtenberg is dead.
Lichtenberg?
Oh, that priest at St. Hedwig's.
My wife says he died in Dachau.
You warned him yourself,
didn't you, Major?
Oh, how the stench
in those chimneys
get right into this room.
How can man enjoy his lunch?
It can't be helped.
Processing 12,000 a day.
I've got 46 ovens.
They never stop.
You think you've
got your problems?
I had to fight the
army yesterday.
They were complaining
because I was
commandeering their supply
trains to ship Jews out to you.
Hoess, what's the
policy on using Jews
on labor details?
Labor details?
Poles and Russians.
Jews are marked
for special handling.
I'm told there are Jews who
are still working the roads.
Shouldn't be. Jews are marked
for special handling.
A fellow from
Warsaw there, he said,
he said the Jews
fought for three weeks.
It took 7,000
Germans to suppress it.
Do they know any of our people?
No, no, he wasn't in the fight.
And that's... that's
why he's still alive.
Pull harder!
Pull! Pull!
By whose orders?
Kommandant.
For what reason?
Sir, you will have to ask him.
You mean, now,
this minute? Yes, sir.
Major Hoess says the
detail will be replaced.
Stop! Fall in!
Counts of two!
Where are we being taken?
Delousing.
It's over, Mr. Lowy.
You and I have had a
long journey, my friend.
Berlin, Warsaw, Auschwitz.
It wasn't any vacation.
No, no vacation.
You've been a good friend.
Yes, certainly, you were
always one of my best patients.
Always paid your bills on time.
March forward!
Why do we still obey them?
We're finished anyway.
Ah, to hell with them!
Forward march!
Give me your hand, Dr. Weiss.
I feel as nervous as a kid
going to school
for the first time.
Mr. Lowy, did you ever have
your gall bladder looked after?
I've been warning
you about it for years.
Since you first came
to my office in Berlin.
I may have it
done in the spring.
It's a hell of a
way for men to die.
Maybe it's just for delousing.
Yeah, yeah.
I've been a printer all my life.
Look, there's still printer's
ink under my fingernails.
Well... maybe those
pamphlets helped.
I know they did.
Hold it! Stop the truck!
I think they were
tipped off. Let's hit them.
No, scatter, hide.
We'll meet at the
camp. We can take them.
I said no!
Everyone move!
After them!
Stop or we'll shoot!
Over there!
Helena?
Helena?
Helen...
Helena.
I don't understand.
How much did you hear?
Sounds like you're
going to break out.
What's your name?
Rudi Weiss.
German?
Jew.
We are Red Army, 51st Division.
Weiss, if you are a
spy, we have to kill you.
I'm not a spy.
If there's going to be a
breakout, I want a gun.
I was a partisan for two years.
Whose unit?
Uncle Sasha, the
doctor from Koretz.
What actions were
you involved in?
Ambushed the Ukrainian
SS on the Zhytomyr Road.
We attacked the SS
headquarters in Krimitch.
We were caught trying
to shoot up a convoy.
My wife... was killed.
What is this place?
Sobibor, Eastern Poland.
They gas 2,000 Jews
a day, burn the bodies.
There is a field
of ashes outside.
The SS sleep on pillows
stuffed with Jewish hair.
I think I trust him.
He has got the
look of a partisan.
All the bodies have
been dug out of Babi Yar
and burned, Reichsführer.
33,000?
Over a hundred thousand.
The 33,000 was the harvest
of our two-day reprisal.
How long ago it seems.
Eichmann?
I'm insisting on
priorities for our trains.
The army can't be
allowed to divert them.
Hoess?
Auschwitz is functioning...
Overburdened but functioning.
In secrecy, I trust?
Insofar as is
possible, Reichsführer.
What about these
reports of rebellions?
Jews fighting back?
There's no resistance in Warsaw.
A few pockets,
but, by and large,
they've all been liquidated.
Of course, there have been
a few cases in the camps
but nothing major.
The Jews seem
intent on aiding us
in their annihilation.
Resettlement.
Oh, Major Dorf... our
expert in semantics.
We haven't heard much from you
since your
assignment in the east.
Has your enthusiasm diminished?
I'm more enthusiastic
than the day I took
the oath, Reichsführer.
Ah. Splendid, splendid.
Gentlemen, I would welcome
suggestions from all of you
on plans for the future
dismantling of the camps.
Oh, I'm not suggesting
that Germany will be
defeated, mind you...
Dismantling, Reichsführer?
Yes, our job will
soon be finished.
A Jew-free Europe.
So, perhaps the camps
and the machinery
could soon be obliterated.
Forgive me,
Reichsführer, but why?
Why?
Why erase the evidence?
Why was it necessary for
you to dig up 100,000 corpses
and burn them at Babi Yar?
Why dismantle Auschwitz?
Would it not be more
fitting to let them stand
as monuments to our
great service to mankind?
Major, you misunderstand me.
I did not...
The Führer himself said
that we were here "to complete
the work of Christianity...
Defending Western culture."
Oh, I agree, Major Dorf, but
others may misunderstand us.
The Jews will lie about us.
Not if we tell the
world the truth!
We must distribute film...
photographs, affidavits.
We must explain
logically and persuasively
why it was a moral
and a racial necessity
to do what we did.
We have committed no crimes.
We have merely followed
the logic of European history,
and eminent philosophers
and churchmen
can be called upon to defend us.
A case can be
made for Auschwitz.
I'm a lawyer, you know, I
understand these things.
No shame, gentlemen,
no apologies;
no maundering over dead Jews.
We must make
clear to the world...
that we stood
between civilization
and the Jewish plot
to dominate the world,
to destroy decency.
We alone...
we...
were courageous enough.
The major may have a point.
Let us be certain in our hearts
that we fulfilled this task
for the love of our own people
and that we have not
been damaged in character,
in our innermost souls.
We have remained
decent and loving men.
For that, we may be proud.
I know that man.
Karl.
Karl Weiss, the
artist from Berlin.
We worked in
Buchenwald, years ago.
The tailor shop, remember?
Then they sent you
to, um, Theresienstadt.
Don't you remember
the day we got into a fight
with a kapo over some bread?
You had a Christian wife.
She, uh... she used
to smuggle letters in
through a sergeant.
Inga. Yeah.
You were upset that she, um...
But it's all over now.
You're lucky you lived so long.
The Americans are
pushing through France.
The Russians were in
Czechoslovakia, in Budapest.
The Nazis are through.
My father is here.
There's a rumor they're
going to turn us all loose.
My father... my mother... here.
Oh, I'm sorry, Weiss.
God, what they
did to your hands.
Paper.
Pencil.
Best I can do.
Thank you.
I know you, Weinberg.
You were a friend.
That's what I felt like.
A long time.
Are my boots ready?
I said my boots!
Who's he?
Ooh!
We cannot get there!
Let me try.
We move east.
The Red Army
shouldn't be too far.
Coming with us, Weiss?
No. I have a family somewhere.
I want to find them.
The Germans will
catch you again.
Not if I'm careful.
Good-bye, Barski.
Thank you.
Vanya.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks!
I repeat: all prisoners
fall out of the barracks!
This is a general evacuation!
I repeat! All prisoners...
Weiss?
Fall out of the barracks.
This is a general evacuation.
Weiss?
All prisoners
fall out of the barracks! Oh...
We've come this far.
This is a general evacuation.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks.
You'll forgive me if I take it.
This is a general evacuation.
You won't be
needing this, either.
I repeat: this is a
general evacuation.
All prisoners fall
out of the barracks!
I was merely a courier.
Heydrich gave me orders.
Kaltenbrunner.
A transmitter of orders, clerk.
A clerk?
Okay, tell me about
this photograph.
Executions.
The people you see
there were probably
saboteurs, guerillas.
Probably?
You know the nature of warfare.
It's sad, but some innocents
may also have been killed.
I have no knowledge
of such things.
What's this, Major?
I'm not certain.
Dead bodies, of course.
We've got sworn
testimony from 24 witnesses
that you helped supervise
gassing operations
at Auschwitz and other camps,
and were present when selections
and mass killings took place.
I may have been
present a few times
as Berlin's representative,
but I made no decisions.
These came from Berlin.
The Jews had to be dealt with.
Permitted to rise
to power again,
their money and influence
would destroy Germany,
and that is why we...
Unwillingly to be sure...
Why we had to
liquidate children.
The children...
We had to kill the
children, that's... they, uh...
The ch...
If I made the decisions, Dorf,
I'd put a bullet in
your head right now.
But since we do things
in a democratic way,
you'll be tried.
The Russians and the
Poles have dibs on you.
I beg your pardon?
A legal claim.
I'd like to hand you
over to the Jews.
Maybe the parents
of these kids...
if they're alive.
I'm not being treated fairly.
I'm a lawyer.
I know my rights.
Go through these.
If you want to tell me
anything, sound off.
I'll get a stenographer.
Hey, Eddie, we
need a stenographer...
Uh, this is Corporal Dennison
in Captain Cassidy's
office, down at headquarters.
Uh, the captain needs to
requisition a stenographer
to take down a statement...
Yeah, that statement
will be used as evidence...
Yeah, yeah, bilingual.
Okay, fine.
Um, tell, uh, Major Barinson
that, uh, we'll
return the favor.
Thanks a lot.
Hey, get a medic!
"Be assured, dear Frau Dorf,
"that your husband,
Major Erik Dorf, died a hero
"in the service of the Reich.
"We who are his comrades
"will honor his memory and keep
alive the great
tradition he personified."
It's unsigned.
It is also untrue.
Untrue?
Marta, Erik took his own life.
The Americans had him in custody
as a war criminal.
In all likelihood, he
would have been executed
or given a long term in prison.
You're lying!
You always hated Erik.
No, not always.
And I can no longer hate him.
I was too involved in his
dreadful business myself
to pass judgment.
You get out of here!
My father was a hero!
Peter, you must face the truth.
You, and your mother
and Laura... Shut up!
Your father was a murderer.
He and his colleagues,
those strutting men
in black uniforms
were mechanical killers.
Oh, a heroic career...
The shooting and gassing
and torture of innocents.
Mom, make him stop!
Kurt.
Leave us.
We never want to see you again.
How dare you defame Erik's name!
You should be
praying for his soul.
Somebody else will have
to furnish those prayers.
I watched and did nothing,
and believed the lies.
We've got to face up
to what we are and
what we've done.
I won't be silent.
Good-bye, Marta.
Good-bye, children.
Children...
we must light a
candle to your father.
Hey.
Hello.
Rudi?
Rudi!
Rudi!
Inga!
Inga.
Oh.
Karl's son.
I named him Josef,
after your father.
Oh...
People who knew Karl
say he looks just like him.
He looks more like Churchill.
The same Rudi.
My God, how long has it been?
Seven years.
I remember the
day you left Berlin.
Alone in the night.
Hey, Josef, smile.
This is your Uncle Rudi.
Rudi.
I went through Auschwitz
after it was liberated.
They told me about Karl.
He'd been tortured
here, hadn't he?
About some drawings, they said.
I'll show them to you.
Rudi, you've learned about
your mother and father?
Yes.
The murder of people like
that and millions of others.
You can hate me, if you wish,
for being one of them.
No, Inga,
I don't hate you.
I'm a kind of blank.
No hate, no love...
like the walking dead
I saw in the camps.
No, not you, Rudi... never.
I was married when I
was with the partisans.
A Czech girl.
She's dead.
We had to leave her
body in the Ukraine.
I won't go back
and look for her.
What really does matter is
what we had when we were alive
for a little while.
Rudi, I am sorry.
What are you going to do?
Now, I go back to
Germany with him.
But I won't stay there.
Teach him... not to be afraid.
I never saw Karl draw like this.
Your brother was
a talented artist.
We're giving the drawings
to the museum in Prague.
A permanent record
of what happened.
And they killed him for these.
If you could have
seen him, Rudi,
with his hands smashed.
His lovely hands.
And this?
His last picture.
A man named Weinberg
who knew Karl in Buchenwald
and Auschwitz sent it to me.
With his hands broken.
Weinberg said that he begged
for something to draw with
right up to the end.
I used to defend
him in the street.
He was skinny.
Scared of tough kids.
I guess we both let Papa down.
No, Rudi.
Your father loved
you both very much.
Maybe love is what
got us in trouble.
Trusting, hanging
onto each other.
You must never believe that.
Where will you go now?
I don't know.
I'm nobody.
No papers, no
family, no country.
Good-bye, little brother.
Good-bye, Inga.
Maria.
Good-bye, Churchill.
Some of those kids aren't bad.
Greek Jews.
Their families were
massacred in Salonika.
Parting gift before the
Germans pulled out.
You're Rudi Weiss, aren't you?
How did you know that?
No secrets in the liberated
camps, especially among Jews.
My name's Levin...
I'm from a Jewish
Agency for Palestine.
I know quite a few
things about you.
Like what?
Oh, you were a partisan.
They say you
escaped from Sobibor.
What else do you know?
Your family and brother
were killed in Auschwitz.
Your wife in the Ukraine.
You know a lot.
Say, Weiss, uh, you want a job?
You know so much about me,
you must know I
never finished school.
For this job, you're qualified.
We need a shepherd.
A shepherd?
We've got 40 of those
Greek kids and no parents.
We need someone to
smuggle them into Palestine.
You interested?
I don't speak any
Greek. Or Hebrew.
I'm not sure I'm much of a Jew.
You'll do.
It won't be as dangerous
as the partisans,
but it won't be a
Purim festival either.
We'll get you a passport, eh?
Hey!
That's no way to pass!
Hey.
Another game, huh?
You're in my side... yeah.
Get back.
Hey.
Over here! Throw me the ball!
Come on, get it...!
Let's see who can grab the ball.
That's it.
Round one!