Original subtitles

[music playing]

Downloaded from YTS.MX

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[soft music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[shouting and dog growling]

[speaking german]

Stop!

Stop it!

Stop it!

We've got to do something!

[laughter]

We've got to stop them!

You want to come too?

We're going for a nice ride in the country.

We're going to a spa.

No one will help you, Miss America.

Not even your own country.

They don't care.

No one in the world cares!

[german]

[german]

[bell ringing]

RUTH GRUBER [VOICEOVER]: It was the same dream as always,

a memory, really, of a time when I could only

stand by and watch, when the whole world

just stood by and watched.

I promised myself never to let that happen again.

[music playing]

PAPER BOY: Get it here!

Today's news!

D-Day invasion!

US troops take beaches at Normandy!

- Here you go, sir. - Oh, thanks.

Kind of chilly, isn't it?

Yeah.

Get it here!

Today's news!

D-Day invasion!

US troops take beaches at Normandy!

Excuse me.

BUSINESSMAN: See this morning's paper?

BUSINESSMAN: Um-hm.

BUSINESSMAN: 1,000 Jewish war refugees coming over courtesy

of the US government.

Ha.

Roosevelt's soft on Jews.

Always has been.

It's not the New Deal.

It's the Jew deal.

[chuckling]

Morning.

[chatter]

Morning.

He's very busy this morning, Ruth.

He's about to get a lot busier.

HELEN: Ruth!

I wondered how long it would take for you to get here.

Have you seen this?

I don't have to.

I got this late last night.

Nobody told me anything.

HAROLD ICKES: "This nation is appalled

by the systematic persecution by the Nazis

of helpless minority groups."

Why doesn't he just say Jews?

HAROLD ICKES: "And this nation is prepared to act."

Signed Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

By bringing 1,000 Jewish refugees over.

Gee, how will we ever make room for so many?

Roosevelt is a humanitarian, Ruth.

Believe that.

But he is also a politician first, last, and always.

Believe that too.

OK, it's a start.

So we have to make sure it's handled the right way

with the press and the public.

We're the Department of the Interior, Ruth.

That's the War Refugee Board's responsibility.

Did you have an appointment, by the way?

Of course not.

HAROLD ICKES: Remind me to fire Helen.

She lets anyone in here.

Sir, you know what's going on over there.

We've been hearing about the concentration

camps for nearly two years, and we've done nothing.

What are you looking for?

My glasses.

Ah.

I never remember where I put these things.

Drives me nuts.

Mr. Ickes, I want you to send me there.

Where?

To Europe.

To meet the refugees.

I want to bring them here.

Ruth, please.

You're my special assistant, not a diplomat.

Those people have been through hell.

They have no idea what kind of country they're coming to.

I speak their languages.

I know their cultures.

It's too far.

RUTH GRUBER: It's too far?

I've been to the Arctic. I've been to--

HAROLD ICKES: I know where you've been, Ruth.

But this is different.

This is war.

It's too dangerous.

I can't send you there.

Besides, you're too valuable to me here.

And if you think that's easy to admit--

Well, someone needs to be with them.

Someone they can trust, someone--

Jewish?

Yes.

The men, you may have noticed, have all gone to war.

There are tumbleweeds in my bedroom.

Yeah.

So much for all these wartime romances you hear about.

Oh.

So that's why Ruthie wants to go to Europe.

FRIEND: Forget Europe.

Stop trying to save the world.

Find a man, get married, have kids.

You've been talking to my mother?

Anyway, you don't have a hope.

You're Interior.

State couldn't care less about Interior.

Not to mention the obvious.

They won't give you this job, Ruthie.

Washington is full of smart women

who get told to get the coffee.

The self-satisfied-looking one is Jackson Connolly.

Next to him is Arlen Lloyd.

Don't sit too close or you'll get a chill.

Mr. Coffee over there is Willard Miller.

They're all part of the War Refugee Board,

but each one would kill the other

if it was a good career move.

Charming.

Yeah.

Just remember, they can smell fear.

Then open a window, quick.

In the name of humanity.

That's what FDR says this mission is all about.

He created this board to rescue the Jews in Europe.

And that's why we must make sure that this group of refugees

are handled the right way, so that the American people will

see how important it is to rescue

the hundreds of thousands of others who are still at risk.

Miss Gruber, we appreciate your enthusiasm.

But we have to wonder whether you have the experience to--

My sex has nothing to do with it.

I should hope not.

HAROLD ICKES: Knock it off.

She's not an office ornament like you're used to, Willard.

She could run circles around you or anyone in your staff.

Let's cut the bull.

She speaks German, Russian, Polish, and Yiddish.

She's traveled around the world more

than any of us put together.

She understands these people.

Does she understand the risk, Harold?

She's flying into a war zone.

We can't protect her.

Excuse me?

I'm here in the room with you.

It's OK to talk to me directly.

OK.

Are you willing to risk your life, Miss Gruber?

My brother is fighting in Europe, Mr. Connolly.

No one ever asked him that question.

Gentlemen, please.

I have less than two weeks to get there.

[street sounds]

Sarah, do you have to use my best scotch?

What should I marinate my prunes in, water?

There's a war on, you know.

[non-english speech]

What's the matter, Ruthie?

You're a million miles away.

I-- I have something to tell you.

Oh.

You met someone?

Great.

When do we meet him?

I'm going to Europe.

Is this a joke?

It's not funny.

No.

It's my job.

What, are you crazy?

David, do you hear this?

It's not bad enough I have a son in the war,

fighting on the beaches or in some small village

with tall houses and Nazis in all the windows?

Now you too?

Forget it.

I have to go.

I'll be all right.

David, say something to your daughter.

Ruthie--

What's so important you have to go?

I can't talk about it.

Oh.

Now she's a spy.

My daughter, the secret agent.

Well, forget it.

You're not going.

You forgot the gravy.

And that's that.

[soft music playing]

[sighing] I miss sitting here with you.

Mm.

Me too, Pop.

Your mother worries, you know that.

I'm not a child.

No, but someday you'll have one,

and you'll understand how we feel.

Can you tell me about this job?

It's top secret, Pop.

Sorry.

[chuckling] Oh, my amazing daughter.

Mm.

Well, Miss Top Secret.

You come home in one piece, you hear me?

JACKSON CONNOLLY: She's a woman, she's young,

and not terribly experienced.

She's going to try to get the American people

all stirred up, demand that we bring in more Jews.

She'll be completely ineffectual, which is why she

has my enthusiastic approval.

1,000 Jews is 1,000 too many.

Pretty girl.

RUTH GRUBER: I feel like a pincushion.

Typhus, tetanus, smallpox, plague.

Ruth--

In the arms, backside, stomach.

Did I mention backside?

Yes, Ruth--

I can't believe in three hours and I'll

be on a plane for Europe.

Ruth, your mother's here.

What?

Where?

In with Mr. Ickes.

[sighing]

[laughing]

So she calls from the University of Wisconsin.

Yeah.

She says she's got big news.

So big she can only say it in person.

I say to my husband, she's pregnant.

Instead, she tells me she is going to Germany to study.

I say, I wish you were pregnant.

Mother, what are you doing here?

What kind of a girl goes running all over the world?

And now this, going to Europe, to a war zone.

What's the matter with her?

What's the matter with you, Mr. Harold?

Ma, stop it!

And it's Mr. Ickes.

Mr. Ickes, Mr. Harold.

She's not going.

I'm sorry, Mr. Ickes.

I don't know what's wrong with your daughter.

But I sure don't know what's wrong with me.

It's a question I ask myself often.

Well, when you get the answer, you let me know.

Well, it's the same with my kids.

You can't tell them anything.

They know it all.

Yeah.

In one ear and out the other.

See?

He knows.

HAROLD ICKES: Don't worry.

Ruth is doing important work.

I wouldn't have approved it otherwise.

But I'll tell you what.

I'll make her what we call a simulated general.

That way if she's captured--

I doubt she will be--

her rank and the Geneva Convention

will keep her from harm.

The Nazis.

They know about the Geneva Convention?

RUTH GRUBER: Mama?

Mama, the last time I was in Germany,

Beata had just left one step ahead of the Nazis.

And I don't know where she is or if she's still alive.

Where are they, Mama?

Papa Stern?

My friend Henry?

Our own family in Poland?

Maybe they're all dead.

Mama, this is maybe the most important

thing I'll ever do in my life.

I've got to go.

Do you think they won't shoot you because you're

some kind of a general?

Do you think they won't shoot you because you're American?

They'll shoot you because you're a Jew!

Here, you'll need this.

They won't feed you right where you're going.

[music playing]

We're going to have one heck of a fun flight.

Little singing, a little dancing.

You want to show us your Betty Grable legs, sweetheart?

General Gruber?

I'm General Gruber.

OFFICER: You got to be a general.

Who else gets to eat like that?

The general has a mother.

I hope they don't leave a building standing.

OFFICER: Damn right!

Bomb the hell out of Germany!

Blitzkrieg!

Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt!

OFFICER: Level it!

[inaudible] [chuckling]

PA ANNOUNCER: [speaking german]

- Oh. - Oh.

I'm so sorry.

[speaking german]

[speaking german]

[speaking german]

Taxi!

Ruth Gruber.

Hello.

Beata Stern.

Pleased to me you.

And this is my father.

Welcome, welcome.

And this is Henry.

He is also a student living with us.

Oh.

You are here to study hard and to behave

yourself as a young lady, yes?

[explosions]

OFFICER: Oh!

All right, let's-- all right, take it easy,

everybody, just relax.

[explosions]

All right, take it easy.

[explosions and engine noise]

[groaning] Whoo!

How are we all doing back here?

All right.

That was a little bit of boogie-woogie evasive action.

Whoo!

Nothing to worry about.

We're about to land, General.

[somber music playing]

RUTH GRUBER: Can you hurry?

The boat leaves in two hours.

Hold it.

Hold it.

SOLDIER: Fire in the hole!

Lousy krauts.

They got his whole damn town booby-trapped with bombs.

All right, go ahead. Go ahead.

Move it out.

Watch your step, ma'am.

[loud chatter]

[loudspeaker announcements]

WOMAN: Help me!

Help me.

Please!

[loud chatter]

[somber music playing]

[crowd shouting]

Rejected!

[non-english speech]

No.

[non-english speech]

No!

No!

OK, OK, that's it!

Let's move them out here.

Move them out!

[sobbing]

Ruth Gruber?

Sergeant Driscoll.

[crowd shouting]

Back, back, get back!

That's it!

No more.

Why did you reject them?

No pregnant women, no men of military age, no communists

or potential fifth columnists.

It wasn't me rejecting them.

It was the US government. - Please!

Please! [non-english]

Stay back!

Back!

[crowd shouting]

RUTH GRUBER: There are so many.

I never imagined.

Now preference was given to families and survivors

of Hitler's camps.

I had to pick 1,000 out of 36,000.

I'm fed up playing God.

I can imagine.

SERGEANT DRISCOLL: What's going to happen to the thousands

more on the other side of the Alps that didn't make it here?

You know what Hitler's doing?

He's diverting troops from the front to round

up Jews to send to the camps.

You better go.

That boat leaves with or without you.

OK, let's get her out of here.

Move them out! SOLDIER: All right, let's go!

- Take care. - You too.

SOLDIER: Move it!

Everybody out of the truck.

Come on, come on!

[loudspeaker announcements]

We're going to the front truck.

Come on!

Some more.

[loudspeaker announcements]

Soldier?

You're forgetting this one.

Who the hell says?

General Gruber, that's who the hell says.

Yes, sir.

Come on!

Move it!

Up!

SOLDIER [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: The quota has been filled.

You must disperse.

The quota has been filled.

You must disperse.

[music playing]

SOLDIER: Steady.

Move that ladder.

We're going to need a pair of pants down here.

Pronto!

Coming aboard!

[whistling]

It is Eleanor Roosevelt.

Thanks.

That was quite an entrance, Mrs. Roosevelt.

Ruth Gruber, Department of the Interior.

I'm here to escort the refugees.

So am I. Lawrence Dickson, State Department.

Oh.

Nobody told me.

Really?

Huh, I'm not surprised.

We're a long way from Washington.

Anyway, here we are babysitting our 982 refugees.

982?

But there were supposed to be 1,000.

That's the number I heard.

1,000 refugees.

That was the quota.

Where's the captain?

We have to go back.

I won't leave a single one behind.

[ship horn blowing]

I think we just did.

Huh.

[cheering and shouting]

NARRATOR: Men, women, and children

run in a desperate attempt to evade capture by the Nazis who,

while desperate battles were raging at Anzio and Cassino,

obey their Fuhrer's command to round up civilians.

[music playing]

CAPTAIN LESTER: Forward hold, refugees.

Soldiers, including the wounded, in the stern.

They're not to have any contact with each other.

Why is that?

I'm not accustomed to having my orders questioned, miss.

No fraternization.

You should know that the soldiers in the stern

are veterans of Anzio and Cassino.

And to make space for the Jews, we had to leave

behind 1,000 wounded soldiers.

The men on the ship are not happy about that.

Why did they send you?

State Department is here to help, Miss Gruber.

Oh, and we supersede Interior while we're underway.

[chatter]

Hello.

[german] So If I could have your attention.

My name is Ruth Gruber, and I'm the special assistant to

the Secretary of the Interior.

You're police?

No.

Nein.

Whoever you are, I am not happy.

I was told there would be privacy.

[laughter]

EVA: Where does she thinks she's from, Vienna?

I am from Vienna.

Pfft.

RUTH GRUBER: We're going to do everything

we can to make you comfortable, but this is a troop ship.

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: First call, dinner in the mess.

First call, dinner in the mess.

[speaking german] In the mess hall.

[chatter]

SAILOR: We want single file lines-- hey, whoa!

Whoa!

Whoa!

[shouting]

[grunting]

RUTH GRUBER: Please be careful!

There's enough for everyone!

Stop!

Someone could get hurt!

Stop!

[shouting]

[non-english]

[shouting]

It took my men two hours to clean up that mess.

They think the food's going to run out.

Some of them are half starved.

I have not had the pleasure of transporting refugees before,

Miss Gruber.

I wasn't crazy about the idea, and now I can see why.

I suggest that you two bureaucrats

see to it that those people behave themselves.

Ship's rules.

Enforce them.

Sure.

You read them the rules, Miss Gruber.

You speak their language.

"Dear Mr. Sacaberry.

I raid the broad married gama--"

"Dear Mr. Secretary, I write to you

from aboard the Henry Gibbins.

Despite the terrible conditions the war refugees

have just come from, they are adapting well

to their new surroundings."

You know, I was wondering who you were.

Fancy lady coming on board straight from Washington.

You're the one figured it'd be OK to leave

1,000 wounded soldiers lying on the docks

so we could ferry Jews.

Just send it.

No, I would die.

I would just die if he weren't available.

Jimmy Stewart?

I think I read somewhere he was waiting for you.

There, you see?

Oh.

What about hats?

Are they still wearing those fancy little cocktail

hats with the veil looking down over them?

Oh! - Ta-da!

Ruthie, you sure know how to dress up for a war.

They said I might be captured by the Germans.

So you go and leave a nice Washington job,

and you've risked your life flying over the Atlantic?

You should have stayed home.

Why did you leave home?

Oh, Peach woke up one morning and found

that half the male population had shipped out of Georgia.

Would you stop with that rumor, please?

It's true.

What about you?

You sure you didn't come over here to meet up with some boy?

So he's at home then?

The boy that gave you that ring?

[speaking german]

JOHAN RITTER: "Noble let man be, helpful and good."

I love Goethe.

Me too.

Everything German.

I love everything American.

The music, the movies, the cowboys.

You met any?

Cowboys?

No, Americans.

Well, I am hoping to meet one now.

Ruth Gruber.

Johan Ritter.

Nice to meet you.

So you like Goethe and [german].

What about schnitzel?

And Rhine wine?

And long walks by the river?

At dusk.

At dusk, yes, yes.

And you travel the world and you win scholarships?

And you're going to be a PhD?

What haven't you done?

Made my mother happy.

Well, I, on the other hand, make my mother very happy.

I-- I live at home, and I'm going to be

a teacher like my late father.

I noticed your ring.

It's very unusual.

It's-- it's an ancient family crest.

It's very interesting, the story.

It concerns a legend about a German boy, very good

looking and very unique who one day

meets this beautiful American girl from Brooklyn.

I got you there.

No, you didn't.

Yes.

RUTH GRUBER [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Good morning.

Guten morgen. [non-english] Guten morgen.

I hope you slept well.

The Henry Gibbins has nearly 2,000

on board, refugees, sailors, and soldiers.

And we're all shipmates.

Shipmates obey ship's rules.

So here they are.

You are required to keep your bunks clean.

[german] You are asked to volunteer

to clean latrines and showers.

[german] You are required to be out on deck

by 9:00 every morning for inspection,

followed by an air raid drill.

[german]

You are not allowed on deck after dark.

[german] But you are allowed on deck at all other times.

[german] Especially for daily English classes, starting now.

Good morning.

Can you repeat that?

[german] Good morning?

Good morning

Very good.

Excellent.

Again.

Good morning.

OK. That's great.

So let's--

English classes?

We're giving them temporary shelter, right?

Not citizenship.

The Department of the Interior held a closed-door meeting

in my cabin last night and voted unanimously

in favor of English classes.

State didn't get a vote.

[airplane engines approaching]

[shouting and screaming]

They are our planes!

Could you please tell them?

They are friendly.

[speaking german]

CAPTAIN LESTER: They are our planes.

Those are US planes.

Those planes are ours.

[speaking german]

[shouting and screaming]

CAPTAIN LESTER: Those are American!

RUTH GRUBER: Our planes!

[music playing]

Hey.

It's good to see our boys.

Oh, well.

They're not all our boys.

See that ship over there?

Full of POWs.

Germans?

I believe they call themselves Nazis.

You don't want to hear what I call them.

It's something, you know.

They kill our boys and then we send them to America,

all expenses paid.

Got to be thousands of them in that ship.

Thousands.

Yeah.

[explosions]

Good lord!

Where's my life jacket?

Oh, take mine.

I'm staying in bed.

Might as well die sleeping in place.

Ruthie, where are you going?

RUTH GRUBER: I've got to check on the refugees.

[explosions and screaming]

Is everyone all right?

Must we die after all we did to survive?

It'll be OK.

It'll be all right.

Get them!

Get the Nazis!

Ha, ha!

You OK?

[german]

[gunfire and screaming]

Everyone OK?

[german] Is he all right?

OK.

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Will the corps managers report

to [inaudible] on the double?

- What happened? - German planes.

We got one of them.

Listen, you better get yourself back down below, OK,

in case they come back.

It's going to be this way till we

get out of the Mediterranean. Let's go.

Lady! It's them!

It's them! - Hey, soldier.

Stand down, soldier! - Who are the krauts aiming at?

The Jews!

SAILOR: Help me out with this guy!

Come on! SOLDIER: You brought them here!

SAILOR: Get him back down!

SOLDIER: The Jews on this damn ship!

SAILOR: Get him down below! Let's go, let's go!

SOLDIER: You hear me? The Jews!

On this damn ship!

The Jews!

Let me go!

Let me go!

SAILOR: All right.

Let it go!

It's over!

SOLDIER: All right!

OK, I'm finished.

The Jews, Jimmy.

The Jews on this ship.

That's who the krauts are shooting at.

They started this war.

The yids.

No one wants them.

Not over here, and sure as hell not back home!

[angry shouting]

Throw them overboard!

SOLDIER: Throw them overboard!

SOLDIER: We're targets.

We're sitting ducks here!

[angry shouting]

NARRATOR: Anzio.

Courage and extraordinary bravery as our boys

fight through the hell of Anzio, wresting Italy from the fists

of the Nazi forces.

RUTH GRUBER: They're saying it's all the fault of the Jews.

It's intolerable.

It's got to stop.

And what do you propose, Miss Gruber,

that we ban free speech?

It's not free speech.

It's ignorance and hatred.

You can't force people to like Jews.

That's not the point and you know it.

The refugees are your responsibility.

Mine are to get this ship into US waters

before we are blown to kingdom come!

[catcalls and whistling]

SOLDIER: Hey, beautiful, where you been all my life?

[laughter]

SOLDIER: How's it going?

I heard what some of you said about the Jews on this ship.

Do we have to listen to this?

Have you seen them?

They haven't had a decent meal in years.

Or slept in a bed.

Or known anything except pain and fear.

War is hell.

That's right, war is hell.

And what's the point?

We fight the enemy, but the enemy is us.

Right here.

If we can't feel an ounce of humanity--

SOLDIER: Nice speech, lady.

Nice speech.

SOLDIER: I just want to know one thing.

What lying, thieving hebe took my accordion?

[laughter]

SOLDIER: Probably gonna sell it on you, buddy!

[catcalls]

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Now hear this.

Now hear this.

Ensign Gray, report to the bridge.

Ensign Gray, please report to the bridge.

Hey, what are you doing?

You're not allowed on deck.

You're not allowed on deck after dark.

Do you understand?

[german] You understand English?

No.

Not below.

You cannot, I beg you.

Shh.

Say nothing.

You have not seen me.

[SINGING] You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Great.

[applause]

Miss, miss.

I have heard so much about Empire State Building.

I want to see the Statue of Liberty.

You'll see her, and when you do,

she'll be saying, "Give us your tired, your poor--

[VOICEOVER] --the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

These words were written by a young Jewish woman

named Emma Lazarus.

And they say everything about my country.

Chicago.

Al Capone!

[mimicking machine gun]

[laughter]

Well, he's inspired some great movies,

but let's say he's an exception.

You Americans are a mongrel nation.

That is the word, yes?

We Germans know who we are.

We have not been corrupted by the lesser races.

Define lesser races.

Belgians, they eat Brussels sprouts.

That's reason enough.

Let's see, who else? The Scots?

Their kilts are definitely the choice of lesser races.

GERMAN: Gruber.

It is a Jewish name, yes?

Yes, I'm Jewish.

The genius of the--

the genius of the United States of America

is that it opened its doors to the world.

Sometimes it's a crazy patchwork.

But we're all American, and proud of it.

Miss Grub-- Ruth.

These people, they are nothing.

Nazis.

They have a name and a silly way to salute and nothing else.

Ordinary Germans are not like that.

I should go.

It's late.

Ruth, I--

I offend you?

Do I offend you?

No.

It is because I am Christian, huh?

Imagine a Jew and a Christian walking together.

What is the world coming to, mein Gott?

What is the world coming to?

So you are Jewish.

And I cannot say that I know everything about you,

but I think that you see the world as I do and say,

this is right, this is wrong.

And what could be more simple than to see

that, after the differences, we are human?

Capable of the most terrible things

but also of poetry and beauty and love and--

and you and I. Could we be more alike?

[camera clicking]

Wait, wait.

Not at my best.

Ah.

[camera clicking]

Great.

Why you take photos?

Because I want Americans to know you.

To understand what you've been through.

To know your stories.

Why you want our stories?

REFUGEE: I will tell you, Miss Gruber.

A story of deprivation.

What I lost.

My magnificent home.

My beautiful gowns.

My porcelains.

My silver.

Shut up.

Losing things.

That isn't suffering.

Some of the people on this ship--

[soft music playing]

[camera clicking]

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: This is a drill.

Please stop it. No!

You've got to get down there. Come on!

Please!

Hey, can't you leave him here?

It's only a drill.

Ship's rules.

Come on, let's go. Move it.

I don't want to hurt you.

Come on. - Please!

Please! - Get him moved.

Get him moved here. MORDECHAI: Don't!

Don't!

SAILOR: Come on.

Go on through.

MORDECHAI: No, no, no!

REFUGEE: Shh.

RUTH GRUBER: It won't be much longer.

It's only a drill.

What are you afraid of?

What is it?

They marched us into the forest.

They made us dig a ditch.

They looked at my father.

He knew what this meant.

They began shooting the boys and the men one by one.

I fell into the trench.

I felt blood on my hands and face.

It was the blood of others.

I heard the cries as they died.

And my father died calling for me.

And the earth falling down on us as we were buried.

The dead and the dying!

And me, alive.

Alive!

Under the earth.

[choking]

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: All clear.

All clear.

All clear.

All clear.

REFUGEE: Did you like the story, Miss Gruber?

Will it help Americans like the Jews?

Huh?

All right.

Who stole my accordion?

How about you?

Hey!

Hey!

Don't touch me.

OK, OK.

Leave her alone.

Shut up, Jew.

You take it?

Knock it off!

Come on, you sucking pig!

Take him back to the hole where he belongs!

BREUER: Don't touch her! SOLDIER: Get off me!

BREUER: Don't touch her!

She is nothing to you!

[soft music playing]

The soldiers and sailors on this ship

are no better, no worse than the Americans you'll

meet in the United States.

They don't hate you.

How can you hate people you don't know?

It's easy.

I love my country.

It's not perfect.

But I believe that, once Americans know who you are,

they'll open their hearts to you.

But I need you to help me.

I need you to tell them what you've lived through.

Hm?

REFUGEE: I had a fight with my mother.

I ran into the woods near our house.

I heard shots, screams.

When I went back, they were all dead.

They burned them all in the synagogue.

First they shot my four-year-old

grandson in front of my eyes.

Then my six-year-old grandson.

They hung him with the other children.

Their bodies were too light so they choked slowly.

We were one step ahead of the Nazis.

Hundreds running from the city.

I lost them.

My wife.

My daughter.

[sobbing]

I gave birth in a field.

They took him from me.

The Nazis.

[sobbing] My sweet boy!

I asked them for a gun so I could shoot myself.

RUTH GRUBER: "Mr. Secretary--

[machine tapping]

--as I listened to their stories, I wanted to run.

I wanted to feel rain on my face and watch children

playing in Central Park.

I wanted to listen to beautiful music.

I wanted to talk to God.

No. Not talk.

Shout.

We knew terrible things were happening.

And what did we do?

[signal beeping]

We're being stalked by a sub.

You better get below deck.

U-boat in the area.

Emergency full ahead.

Commence zigzag, pattern 1.

Hard left rudder.

SAILOR: Zigzag, pattern 1.

Hard left rudder.

[siren wailing]

[chatter]

There is a submarine following us.

We are not a battleship.

We have no defenses.

That's why we're escorted by destroyers.

Please, stay calm.

Don't panic.

[italian]

[screaming]

She's having a baby?

How did she hide it?

Pregnant women weren't allowed.

She lied.

[siren wailing]

REFUGEE: [screaming]

Good girl.

Just-- don't push.

Don't push. That's it.

Just breathe.

[groaning]

[explosions]

We're dropping depth charges.

[groaning]

[non-english speech]

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Push, push.

[groaning]

[explosions and gunfire]

[wailing]

[non-english speech]

Good girl.

Fire!

[explosions]

[cheering]

NURSE: That's it.

That's it.

Here she comes.

Here she comes.

Oh!

Here he comes!

[screaming]

[baby crying]

Oh, shh.

[baby crying]

One more refugee, Mr. Dickson.

Oh, yes.

That's very clever of the mother,

lying her way aboard ship, thinking she could give

birth to an American citizen.

In point of fact, though, the child is stateless.

Well, I'm sure that gives you comfort.

Hey, it's my job to consider these matters, Miss Gruber.

And you know what?

Our president wasn't voted into office

so he could open the door to all of Eastern Europe.

Well, he didn't.

By the way.

The refugee Breuer.

He'll have to apologize to that soldier.

For what?

Being Jewish?

He can phrase his apology in any way he likes.

[accordion music playing]

[laughter and chatter]

So you-- you like our German beer, Miss Gruber?

I guess.

[laughter]

Bitte.

[german]

Bitte schon.

Danke.

Bitte, to the United States of America, hm?

United States of America.

To Germany.

Two great nations.

Two great nations.

And And down with the Jews, hm?

Eh.

You don't toast with me, Miss--

Miss Gruber.

Gruber.

RUTH GRUBER: Jews?

No, I couldn't agree with you more.

They've got all the money, don't they?

And where do they get that money?

Ruth.

They run the finest restaurants.

They have the best shops.

They own the biggest banks. It's a scandal.

They make the rest of us look bad.

Let's get rid of them.

Let's get rid of the Jews, and then maybe mediocre Germans

can rise to the top.

[WHISPERING] Apologize.

I don't apologize for being Jewish.

[WHISPERING] You are a guest in our country.

Apologize now.

GERMAN: You-- um-- have a taste for Jewish flesh?

Johan!

Are you crazy?

Stop!

Oh!

Stop!

No!

Whoa! Ho, no!

Uh?

Kommen Sie hier. Kommen.

Kommen.

Henry, do something!

[gasping]

Heil Hitler.

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler!

I'm not like them.

I will never be like them.

[chatter]

REFUGEE: I will be fine.

Um-hm.

Ja.

Thank you.

We fought, Miss Gruber, in the Resistance.

It's not always easy for me to control.

I regret if I have cast the others in a bad light

due to my actions.

The fight with the soldier, I am not sorry.

The girl Manya, if he touches her again, I will kill him.

Manya.

Come with me.

Come on.

There's enough food here for 2,500 people.

What's left over each day gets thrown overboard.

And a lot gets thrown overboard.

Manya, you can eat whatever you want whenever you want.

Do you understand?

We had chickens behind our house.

My little sister, her duty it was to collect them.

The eggs.

She was 14.

We celebrated her birthday with an egg.

One stolen egg in that Nazi camp.

She was caught.

They nailed her in a box.

She stayed there till she died.

NARRATOR: It's a day of celebration

for the people of San Vincenzo as the Army takes over.

US Army, that is.

Goodbye to the forces of oppression

as the people show their gratitude.

[music playing]

Excuse me.

I'm sorry.

I-- I saw it on a shelf.

I thought it would be OK for me to borrow it.

I can play it.

Do you want to hear me play?

You touch this thing one more time, you're a dead man.

REFUGEE: Don't do that!

[non-english] No, no, don't do that!

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

Don't touch him like that!

Don't you touch him like that!

[non-english]

BRUNO: Josef, please.

[shouting]

What's going on?

He called that boy a polacco.

No, he was running.

The boy could have hurt himself.

You insulted the boy, you insulted me.

In my language, "polacco" means slow down.

I was trying to get him to slow down!

What you don't understand, Miss Gruber, is that Nathan

is a Yugoslav, Josef is a Pole.

But you're both Jewish.

The distinction is--

Poles are peasants!

And Yugoslavs are pigs!

Which is why Germans usually don't

associate with either of them!

There is no living with them.

I demand that we be segregated.

JOSEF: And I agree with him there!

NATHAN: And once in America--

1,000 miles will be too close.

BRUNO: Nathan, please, please.

Nathan was-- he was a famous tenor

with the Belgrade State Opera.

Since the Gestapo tortured him, now the voice is gone.

Josef, he's a pharmacist.

He'd just taken over his father's

pharmacy in Lodz, Poland.

But now-- [sighing]

And you?

Song and dance man, Berlin.

I was a modest success.

I'd like to see you perform sometime.

I don't do that anymore.

Josie.

I feel so alone.

Won't you ever forgive me?

Could you hold this for me?

Thanks.

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Second call, lunch in the mess.

Make way.

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: --lunch in the mess.

Look who's coming in. Uh-oh.

Whoo.

[whistling]

Was that for me?

Huh?

Hey.

Was that for me?

You like me?

Come on, show me, big boy.

Come on.

Dance with me, huh?

SOLDIER: He doesn't want to dance.

Oh.

Do you want to dance with me, then?

Come on.

Oh.

[cheering and catcalling]

I'm not that desperate.

EVA: He's too shy.

Come on.

Come on.

[cheering and catcalling]

Who's next?

Come on.

I want to dance with all of you.

Come on, boys!

Aw, you're a dance soldier.

Come on, I can't hear you, boys!

Come on.

All right.

SOLDIER: Oh, yeah!

Hey, hey!

SOLDIER: Hey, leave him alone!

Hey, come on.

Hey!

Get off me!

Come on.

Come on!

You want to dance now, Jew boy?

Sieg heil!

Sieg heil!

Sieg heil!

[SINGING] When the Fuhrer says we is the master race, we heil

[farting] heil [farting] right in the Fuhrer's face.

Not to love the Fuhrer is a great disgrace.

So we heil [farting] heil [farting]

right in the Fuhrer's face.

When Herr Goebbels says we own the world in space,

we heil [farting] heil [farting] right in Herr Goebbels' face.

When Herr Goring says they'll never bomb this place,

we heil [farting] heil [farting] right in Herr Goring's face.

Ah, we love the superman, I am pure, superman.

Ja, we is the superman, super-duper superman.

HITLER: [speaking german]

[cheering]

[speaking german]

RUTH GRUBER: Papa Stern, you've got to leave Germany.

The way Hitler speaks about the Jews, you've got to get out.

For five generations we have been Germans.

You're a Jew, Papa Stern.

That's all that matters now.

Call the US Consulate.

Apply for visas now.

We have tried, Ruth.

They tell us to start again.

Always, there is something wrong with the papers.

Beata, I'll go to the consulate with you.

PAPA STERN: It's no use.

Ruthie!

America has a high fence.

They don't want us to climb over.

JOHAN RITTER: Don't pay attention to Hitler.

He's all talk.

This is what he wants, for all Jews to leave.

You saw him.

You heard what he said.

But Germany is their home as much as it is mine.

If the Jews abandon it, that pathetic,

posturing little man has won. - Enough!

Get out of my house.

Papa Stern.

Get out!

He's my friend.

I don't know what he is.

Johan!

Johan.

He doesn't know what he's saying.

He doesn't know you.

He's afraid. - Are you?

Well, not of you.

You don't know me.

I'm one of them.

I could turn in an instant.

That is what he's thinking.

That is what you are thinking.

How could I?

I thought we had a future.

What we felt for each other.

That we could overcome all the differences.

But we can!

No, Ruth.

No!

BRUNO: [SINGING] Ja, this Nazi land is good.

We would leave it if we could.

We bring the world to order.

Heil Hitler's world to order.

Everyone a fallen race, we love the Fuhrer's face.

When we bring to the world this order, when the Fuhrer says

we is the master race, we heil [farting] heil [farting]

right in the Fuhrer's face.

To love the Fuhrer is a great disgrace.

[cheering and clapping]

We heil [farting] heil [farting] right in the Fuhrer's face.

Bah!

[cheering and clapping]

NARRATOR: Cherbourg, on the Normandy coast.

American forces advance.

Inch by inch, the German firestorm forces them back.

But not for long.

The Allied invasion of France is a reclamation project.

It sends a powerful message to Hitler.

Cherbourg!

We went and took Cherbourg!

[cheering]

Cherbourg!

[inaudible]

[cheering]

What do you think?

Berlin next?

Not so fast.

You know how many casualties we had taking

that little chunk of beach?

Could take months, years maybe.

You ever take penmanship in school?

I failed.

You know, I read some of those stories

you wrote up from the Jews.

I never knew.

Never thought.

Well--

RUTH GRUBER [VOICEOVER]: "Dear Mr. Ickes, I

can't wait for the American people to meet the refugees

and hear their stories.

To that end, I propose a press conference as soon as we dock.

I eagerly await your response.

Best wishes, Ruth."

I appreciate what you did.

Think how big you could be in New York

if you were a modest success in Berlin.

In Berlin, they lined up around the block for me.

Everybody knew Bruno.

Even the camp commandant.

Imagine his delight when he discovered me climbing

down from the cattle car.

I was forced to sing and dance for him.

There also had to be others in my show.

So I would wait for the railway tracks when the trains came in.

I spotted those I knew--

musicians, singers.

I auditioned others who might be promising.

Those I couldn't use were taken away for disposal.

Forgive me.

I-- I should not have said anything.

SOPHIE: [sobbing]

MANYA HARTMEYER-BREUER: Ruth.

Come quickly.

Sophie's little girl.

She's sick.

What does the doctor say?

It's very bad.

When she was born, we had such dreams for her.

And all the time when we ran, when we starved,

I would say to her, America.

One day we will be free in America.

[sobbing]

MANYA HARTMEYER-BREUER: [SINGING] You are

my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

[sobbing] No!

No, no!

No!

Oh, God, why are you doing this to me?

Why have you taken everyone from me?

[sobbing]

JACKSON CONNOLLY: "They caught my sister

and nailed her shut in a box."

"Took my newborn--" "--buried alive with the bodies

of the men in my village." - I told you.

Didn't I tell you?

We should have never let her go.

A press conference is just what she's looking for.

Lurid stories that will only exacerbate Jewish demands.

In that case--

Make sure it doesn't happen.

[knocking]

Come in.

SAILOR [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Seaman Malletson,

report to the ship's corps.

Oh, hi, Cody.

Looks like we're home.

Almost.

I just wanted to make sure I had a chance to say goodbye.

You sure didn't like me when you first laid eyes on me.

I still don't.

You never gave me my pants back.

Your pants?

When you first came on board, who

do you think it was threw you down a pair of pants

you could climb up in?

I didn't know it was you.

Uh-- uh--

I shouldn't be telling you this, but you know that press

conference you've got going?

Uh-huh.

Well, Dickson got a message from Washington

saying that it's been canceled.

Thanks.

Look!

I see her!

I see her!

[laughing and cheering]

NARRATOR: Reporters await the arrival of the Henry Gibbins.

Aboard, 982 refugees, America's first glimpse

of the innocent victims of Hitler's devastation.

But it's our boys that are getting all the attention.

1,000 of our men, soldiers wounded at Anzio and Cassino,

every one of them a hero.

[chatter]

Hey.

Hey!

Play this thing good?

I can't play it to save my life.

Belonged to my little brother.

Died at Anzio.

I want you to have it.

Thank you.

SOLDIERS: Whoo!

[chatter]

[train whistle blowing]

You have your tickets.

Say goodbye to Henry for me.

And Johan?

Well, if you see him.

You haven't.

He knows it's better, better this way.

I'll be back.

No, Ruth.

Don't come back.

Don't ever come back.

[german] for the trip.

German chocolates.

You know the Swiss.

They say they make the best.

But for me, eh--

As soon as I'm home, I'm going to pull every string I

can to get your visas in order.

PAPA STERN: Be well.

I'll see you in Brooklyn.

Ja, ja, in Brooklyn.

[train whistle blowing]

JOHAN RITTER: Ruth?

I couldn't stay away.

You did.

JOHAN RITTER: I--

You used to believe that no one could stop us.

Even your people, Ruth.

Even they are against us.

You always said that people need

courage to love each other.

You ran away from me because you think I'll lose faith in us?

You think I can't defend you the way you defended me?

I wanted to protect you.

Even from me.

[sighing] Ich liebe dich.

Ich liebe dich.

LAWRENCE DICKSON: Miss Gruber?

Miss Gruber.

There's something you should know.

The press conference has been canceled.

It's a question of national security.

Some of the refugees will need to be debriefed.

They may have information useful to the war effort so--

I know the real reason.

You want to protect the refugees.

They've been through so much and they're so fragile.

And we all know what the press is like, a pack of wild dogs.

So I thank you for your sensitivity and compassion.

You did the State Department proud.

Well--

But it's back on.

The refugees are more than willing to tell

the American people what they lived through.

So I sent a cable to some friends

at the "New York Herald Tribune."

Did you know I used to be a feature writer there?

[music playing]

[chatter]

Can you tell us about it?

Who had the worst experience?

[chatter]

Whose got the worst experience?

REPORTER: We got to get the story out.

Killing people.

Are people being burned to death?

This is Mordechai.

Maybe someone else should speak.

We got to shut this down.

Just tell them your story, just like you told me.

REPORTER: Come on.

Give us something.

Work us!

My name is Mordechai.

I am from Hamburg. - Speak up.

I can't hear you. We can't hear you.

Can we get somebody else? - I was in Dachau.

It's a camp, concentration camp for Jews.

We have no time for this. No time for this.

Who are you?

I'm in charge of transporting these refugees.

Well, I'm General Gruber, and this conference

goes ahead as planned.

Uh-- make that a simulated general, Miss Gruber.

That may play in enemy hands, but not here.

You have your orders.

OK, that's it.

Let's get these people out now!

We want to get the story here. [interposing voices]

Let her talk.

I have reports of atrocities, men and women

separated from each other.

And their children brutalized and beaten.

Reports that thousands have been killed.

These people you see here lost their families,

everything they own.

Let's move these reporters out now, please.

The reports of hundreds of thousands

who need a safe haven.

We can do-- tell the story, that's right.

We can--

[shouting]

We can save thousands.

[shouting]

This could be the greatest humanitarian rescue that--

[shouting]

OFFICER: Come on, folks, let's go.

Come on, come on, keep it moving.

[soft music playing]

Come on, folks. Right on board.

Let's go, come on.

Manya, listen to me.

Listen to me.

You'll be OK.

All right?

I'll be with you.

You have to trust me.

You'll be fine.

What does this mean?

RUTH GRUBER: It means that you are a very important person.

It's temporary.

An Army base where you'll be housed

until all the necessary arrangements can be made.

What sort of arrangements?

They wouldn't let me speak to my cousin.

No.

I saw him, my brother, on the dock.

They would not let me speak to him.

RUTH GRUBER: You'll all be fine.

Everything will be fine.

You're in America now.

[music playing]

[soldiers directing refugees]

[ominous music playing]

[screaming]

[dog barking]

SOLDIER [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: You are

now under US government cover.

You will enter the camp double file.

You will not speak to the guards.

You will not speak to each other.

You will enter in a calm, mild manner.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

[dog barking and growling]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hey, don't torture her!

Don't move!

[shrieking]

It's going to be all right.

Put her down, put her down.

What are you doing?

This is not a concentration camp.

Please stay calm.

What are you doing?

Put down that gun!

Sergeant, what's taking so long?

He doesn't take orders from you, he takes them from me.

The refugees are now Interior's responsibility.

And I'm ordering you to put down the gun

and turn off the searchlights.

They're not prisoners of war.

This is an Army base.

It's a temporary shelter.

No harm will come to you.

You've gotta trust me.

You're safe.

You're in America.

OK?

BROADCASTER [ON RADIO]: In southern France,

the US Seventh Army continues the assault.

Giant naval rifles of the Allied fleet

pound the Nazis' inland defenses while hundreds

of transports steam boldly across the French coast.

The reaction from Adolf Hitler was predictable.

ADOLF HITLER: [speaking german]

[cheering and glass shattering]

[speaking german]

[knocking]

Come in.

I didn't know.

I wasn't sure you'd come back.

RUTH GRUBER: I had to see you again.

It's not safe for you.

I know.

Everyone's preparing for war.

I know.

I missed you.

Oh, my god, how I missed you.

[chatter]

I lost her, my baby.

She's gone.

Eva, it's OK.

You're alive, Eva.

Everything is OK.

It's OK, whatever.

Eva.

- It's my family. - Yeah, Mordechai.

What's happening? - Why won't they let us out?

He thought I was [inaudible].

Saw my name in the newspaper.

Why did they lock the gate?

The The refugees are under quarantine.

30 days by order of the government.

I'm not sick.

I feel good.

My brother Saul is alive and so am I.

Why can't we go?

My cousin can take us. She wants to help us.

REFUGEE: My uncle.

He promised I could go to school.

I know, I know.

LAWRENCE DICKSON: I'll make the announcement.

So how come we aren't in quarantine?

You tried to stop the press conference.

Now you think you can keep them locked up

in here so that Americans will forget them.

Well, don't count on it.

Look at that.

Miss Gruber, you can come and go as you please.

I guess you're not a dirty Jew like the rest of us.

RUTH GRUBER: They were herded onto trains like cattle.

And when they arrived in Fort Ontario,

they were greeted with armed guards and searchlights.

I don't blame them for thinking they

were back in the Third Reich.

Miss Gruber, could you brief us on what

you learned from the refugees?

Yes, sir.

They confirmed that what we've been

hearing about the Nazi death camps is true.

Anecdotal evidence.

RUTH GRUBER: Sir, their stories prove that the Nazis

are murdering Jews.

The president has issued a threat of retribution

for all war crimes.

Believe me, when the war is over,

the Nazis will be held accountable.

Well, that's cold comfort to the dead

and to the millions who are still at risk.

Senator, these people will die if the War

Refugee Board doesn't act.

We could set up havens in every state.

I am of the opinion that the Oswego emergency refugee

shelter is nothing more than the opening

wedge for illegal immigrants.

Senator, we're working to facilitate the flow

of refugees out of Europe.

We're currently setting up safe havens in the Mediterranean.

The president had no legal or moral

justification for circumventing American immigration laws.

The president has a moral justification

for saving Jewish lives.

There is evidence that some of your Oswego refugees

are subversives.

RUTH GRUBER: Subversives?

SENATOR FRICKER: I see here that the Oswego group includes quite

a few able-bodied men, despite restriction

on men of military age.

RUTH GRUBER: Sir, those men are physically

and emotionally broken.

They were all thoroughly screened by Army intelligence.

Gentlemen, let's agree that the quarantine

will give the refugees time to regain their health.

Once the 30 days are up, I propose that those who

have family living in the US--

and more than a third of them do--

that they be allowed to reside with their families.

JACKSON CONNOLLY: I disagree.

We can't just bend the rules.

You mean they can't leave the camp even after the quarantine.

They do not leave the camp until the war

is over, at which time they return

to their country of origin.

Now they signed a document agreeing to this

prior to leaving Europe.

They would have signed anything to escape.

They didn't agree to being incarcerated

for the entire war.

A lot has changed since you left for Europe.

Did you read Westbrook Pegler's column in the paper

this morning?

Hm-um.

He said that FDR's motives for letting in the Jews

is a plot to let in all the communists of Europe.

Communists, please.

Ruth, Ruth, I'm telling you.

If the refugees are allowed to live outside the camp,

FDR's enemies will move in for the kill.

The refugees are not nor were they

ever meant to be immigrants.

That's politics.

Of course it's politics.

This is Washington.

It's a game.

It's people's lives!

I know how much this means to you.

I do.

We'll get them day passes.

That's a good start.

But as for getting them out of there--

That's a different game.

I'm afraid so.

PAPA GRUBER: "--go on against weak opposition

from the German troops.

There were casualties on both sides and--"

Ruthie!

Mama.

Oh, my god.

Papa!

Ruthie.

Oh.

Oh.

For me, a peck on the cheek.

For her father, look at this.

36 hours I was in labor.

He smoked a cigar.

[laughter]

So Miss Ruth Gruber, whose face is in all the papers.

You should hear the neighbors.

Even the Chinaman that burned your father's best shirt

asking, when is Ruthie coming home?

She's home now.

Ha, ha, ha.

Oh.

MAMA GRUBER: Doris Levine.

Married while you were away.

Doris Levine.

Voted the least likely to get married in high school.

She's got a good heart, but that face.

And she's pregnant now too.

And just like that.

Well, why not?

She's still young.

And who did I see at the wedding?

Sam, your old boyfriend.

He was never my boyfriend.

Well, he could have been.

He had eyes for you.

Well, he's missing one now.

Lost in the war.

And an arm too.

Minus an arm and an eye.

But single.

Ma, don't start.

What am I saying?

You already started.

OK, so how about you stop?

Stop what?

You know what I mean.

It's your business if one day you wake up still single

and all the boys are home from the war married

to funny-looking girls because you

were too busy saving the world.

Enough, enough.

Come, Ruthie, help me set the table.

Come.

[chatter]

Going somewhere?

What?

I'm enjoying the night air.

I can do that in America.

It's a free country, or so they say.

You're following me.

I'm trying to keep you out of trouble, which is possibly too

late given you are not allowed out of the camp and soldiers

patrol the streets of America.

[chatter, then silence]

Table for two?

Yeah, sure.

Manya.

Mysterious Manya.

For a long time, I didn't know you could speak.

What are we doing here with no money?

We have money.

Money.

PHIL: Here we go.

Eat up.

These steaks got more fat on them than the two of you

put together.

Nah.

It's on the house.

It's on me.

It's free.

Thank you.

I-- I never met a war refugee before.

I-- uh-- war is hell.

Ain't it the truth?

Yeah, I missed the first one.

I was too young, and then I was too old for the second. one.

My bad luck, huh?

Yeah.

Bad luck.

Well, eat up.

I hear you're getting married.

I heard it too.

To Sam.

Nice fellow.

Your mother loves you.

Well, why won't she just accept

that what I do matters to me?

She wants you to be happy.

Are you?

Sometimes.

Ruthie, since you were a little girl,

you've always solved other people's problems.

Maybe it's time you solved your own.

Everything is big in America.

Steak, Texas.

Texas is very big.

Niagara Falls is big.

It's bigger in Canada.

I was very good in geography.

When I was a little boy, my father--

we talked about many things.

I remember how he would tell me about women.

What is love, what isn't.

How it can be good and when it isn't.

But much better when it is.

If your father were here, I would say to him,

may I have the permission, sir, to call

on your beautiful, beautiful daughter?

He isn't here, my father.

And me.

Don't waste your time on me.

MYLES BILLINGSLEY: This community

petitioned the government to keep

the fort open because the Army is good business for Oswego.

CITIZEN: Those boys sure know how to spend.

[laughter]

MYLES BILLINGSLEY: But, you know,

instead, we've got refugees, and they can't leave the fort

and they have no money.

It's our taxes that pay to feed them.

CITIZEN: I hear they're eating steak

while our food is rationed.

CITIZEN: They deserve good food, after what

they've been through.

[applause]

CITIZEN: What do we know about them anyway?

They could be communists.

I met a couple of them and they're OK.

CITIZEN: What were they doing at your place?

They might be contagious or something.

Excuse me.

My name's Ruth Gruber.

I'm with the Department of the Interior.

And I'm happy to answer all your questions

and to reassure you that the refugees--

CITIZEN: You tell me why they're here instead

of where they come from.

CITIZEN: If there was a war here, we wouldn't run.

Hey, they're refugees, not soldiers.

They're here because our president

is a friend of the Jews.

I don't care what they are.

I don't want my tax dollars supporting them.

They'd rather work than take charity.

Not if it means taking our jobs.

[applause]

I've been noting your comments.

And with your approval, I will forward

them to our state senator.

And now, we all know and respect the Billingsley family.

And we know that they have a very painful farewell

to say today to one so dear to them who leaves today

to fight democracy's foes.

And here he is, Oswego's own Private Myles Billingsley, Jr.

[applause and cheering]

[SINGING] God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her and guide her through the night

with the light from above.

From the mountains to the prairies

to the oceans white with foam.

God bless America, my home sweet home.

NARRATOR: Victory in Toulon as the US Seventh Army storms

eight miles into Toulon against weak German opposition,

while thousands of sky-borne troops

strike deep inland to throw a solid block

across the path of enemy reserves,

moving down on the beachheads.

Among the casualties?

These Jewish families gunned down

by the retreating Nazi forces.

They're Jews!

Jews!

Knock it off.

[angry shouting]

Danke schon!

Heil Hitler!

[angry shouting]

Oh, schweinhund!

I'm not gonna tell you one more time, you kraut!

Now knock it off!

[angry shouting]

The government has ruled that you must remain in the camp

even after the quarantine is lifted

until the end of the war.

[protesting]

What crime did we commit that we must stay here prisoners?

Even the Nazis couldn't keep me in a camp.

We will write to your president.

We'll tell him we're confused.

I am not confused! I am angry!

I am angry!

Do they think we are criminals?

I understand how you feel.

You bring us here and then you put us in a prison.

We had more freedom running from the Nazis.

[BELL RINGING, TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]

[announcements in german]

[speaking german]

RUTH GRUBER: Beata!

Papa Stern!

Anybody!

Ruth!

Henry?

What happened?

Beata managed to get out before they

came, but Papa Stern.

They took him away.

I don't know where.

But the visas never came through?

I went to Washington.

They assured me.

What are you doing here?

Why are you back from America?

Johan.

Are you crazy?

I love him.

[inaudible] in your life.

Ruth.

It's the end.

It's the end of everything.

Thank you.

Oh, you're leaving us, Lawrence?

LAWRENCE DICKSON: Um-hm.

Now that you've dealt with the refugees by locking them up.

[chuckling] Miss Gruber, did your mother never

tell you that you catch more flies

with honey than with vinegar?

You haven't met my mother.

True.

She speaks her mind, just like Eleanor Roosevelt.

In fact, speaking of the first lady, I'm sure

she'd like to know that the government is

keeping children incarcerated without the benefit

of an education.

On the other hand, maybe they should be kept behind bars.

They could have communist tendencies.

In fact, I think "Life" magazine might want to do an expose.

The government has never objected to their receiving

an education.

Oh, good.

May I?

Thank you.

CITIZEN: You've heard about war refugees coming to our town.

Well, now some of them are joining us in this school.

Let's meet one of them.

David.

Why don't you tell us how you came to be here?

We were told--

the Nazis told us, my family, they must be out of the house

by noon.

All the Jews in my village.

Let's get out of here.

DAVID: They would move us.

We did not know where.

My father resisted.

So they shot him.

They shot my mother, my two sisters.

I saw them fall.

I saw my mother's eyes.

She was staring at me.

And she said, run.

BRUNO: The American pilgrims arrived here

wearing black suits and hats.

Here, give it to me.

You want customers in here, you show what side you're on.

The refugees invite one and all to give thanks

in friendship and harmony.

Thanks but no thanks.

You don't belong here.

Tough guy, tough guy.

You ever kill a man?

I have.

Then I smoked a cigarette.

[bell ringing]

Come on. Let's go.

Let's go.

Opening night and nobody comes.

My worst nightmare, apart from Adolf Hitler.

You put up all the posters.

Ja.

They definitely went up.

[car horn blowing]

Welcome!

Welcome!

Thank you.

How kind of you to come.

Thanks for coming.

You're welcome.

You're a brave man.

My father came to this country from Germany with nothing.

Henry Ford gave him a job.

Everyone in America is from somewhere.

Some of us have just forgotten that.

So how did you manage to get the kids out of the camp

and into school?

I got approval to give them an education.

I just didn't say where.

GIRL: David!

BRUNO: If I understand the story of the pilgrims,

they were fleeing persecution in another land.

At great risk, they came to this new world

where they discovered new food and ate it in great quantities.

Persecution and eating of food.

It's a very Jewish story.

So in celebration with our American friends, l'chaim!

L'chaim!

[accordion music playing]

[non-english singing]

That's mine.

It's yours until the mice find it.

You know he likes you, Ernst.

He likes skinny girls.

He likes a skinny girl who won't change her shirt.

It is my father's.

My mother died in the camps.

My sister, my brother.

But Papa, we escaped.

We were crossing the Alps, climbing so high to get

to Italy and the Allies.

And I was cold.

And Papa, he gave me his shirt.

And then we heard, so close, we heard shots.

And we heard, halt!

And Papa went back.

He went back so they would get him.

Get him and not me.

And I have his shirt.

My papa said to me once that you must keep your memories

but you can't live in the past.

JOSEF: [non-english singing]

That's fantastic.

Forgive me.

We have just learned that the American

100th Battalion is cleaning Germans

out of the Vosges Mountains.

They are surrendering by the thousands!

[cheering]

[accordion music playing]

If my father were here and if you still

wanted to ask him if you could see his daughter,

he would say yes.

[soft music playing]

My god.

[soft music playing]

You are so beautiful.

[soft music playing]

I've heard it too many times.

Jews desperate to leave Europe before the war.

The documents mysteriously disappear at US consulates.

Having to apply all over again.

Their visas delayed or effectively denied.

And your question is?

Why is it that anytime Jews are denied entry

into this country, it's the State Department

that's made the decision?

That's pretty inflammatory, even for you.

I intend to prove it.

To what end, Miss Gruber?

Before the war, were there protests

from the American people to change

immigration quotas, to let in all the Jews

Hitler didn't want?

And now, do you hear protests demanding we rescue more Jews?

I don't.

HAROLD ICKES: As you know, Attorney General Biddle

has turned down our request for camp leave for the refugees.

There are mitigating circumstances, however,

which, with all due respect, the attorney general

might not have been aware of.

Gentlemen, keeping the refugees in the camp

is expensive.

And that won't go unnoticed by those critics who'll

say, with some justification, that they're

a drain on the taxpayers.

HAROLD ICKES: Already there's been a criticism

from many citizens of Oswego who say the refugees

should earn their keep.

So to avoid criticism, we suggest putting them to work.

A local manufacturing plant needs 100 workers.

The Birds Eye plant is hiring.

You think they'll hire the refugees?

RUTH GRUBER: They're already using German POWs.

Of course, the refugees would have to leave the camp.

[music playing]

They better not have sticky fingers.

Hey, hey, hey.

No.

No.

Don't touch anything.

Has my fabric come in?

Uh-uh.

I can't believe they're out here walking the streets.

Miss Terri, how nice to see you again.

MOTHER: Again?

Ben.

Terri, you were there?

What's so wrong about being nice to them?

Just who exactly are you being nice to?

I just think we should do what we can to help them.

Why not?

I saw the way you were looking at him.

Him?

You mean David?

This has nothing to do with him.

You know what?

If you want to be with David, you go right ahead

and be with David.

Oh, no.

No.

[sobbing]

My son, my son.

NARRATOR: Victory over Germany.

Not today, not tomorrow, but soon.

Witness the destruction of its cities.

Here's one for you, Adolf!

And another one!

And another one!

[music - "joy to the world"]

[SINGING] --to the world, the Lord is come.

Let Earth receive her king.

It's cold.

The pipes at the camp are frozen.

Mr. Billingsley, I've come to offer

to you my deepest sympathies for your terrible loss.

If ever you need someone to talk to, I also have lost my son.

Ja, well, you know where to find me.

You know, the United States should

never have entered this war.

The Pacific war, but not Europe.

It was your mess, you people.

Fighting people we've never even heard of.

And he had to go over there.

He had to-- he had to go over there and--

and why do you get to live?

My son's dead.

You people are here.

You're safe.

All you can do is complain.

Perfect.

Hi.

Hi.

I got a phone call from Washington.

They won't let you get married.

The government says it's not allowed for refugees.

Oy.

I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen.

It's just going to take a little time.

ERNST: OK.

You know, Ruthala.

I think that in life there is one moment,

one moment when you are happy.

And the rest of your life is spent remembering.

JOHAN RITTER: You told them, your parents, that you

were coming back to me?

My mother screamed and said I'd stabbed her in the heart.

They don't want you marrying a Nazi.

It was so easy when we first met.

Just you and me and long walks by the river at night.

When I was young, I knew I was Jewish, but so what?

People are always hating someone.

If it wasn't me, it was the Italian kid down the block.

I thought I could be just me.

But I can't anymore.

Not anymore.

NARRATOR: The Nazi triumph in the Battle of the Bulge

is celebrated in all of Germany.

[knocking]

Who is it?

It's Ernst.

What's wrong?

Manya, is she here?

No.

It's my fault. I was so cruel.

I wouldn't speak to her.

What happened?

She's gone.

[somber music playing]

OFFICER: There is nothing I can do.

These people are not allowed out of the camp after dark.

There's a woman out there who could die!

I will go look with my deputy.

Two or three-- we are hundreds!

We're going.

What are you going to do, shoot us?

Excuse me.

All right, everybody out!

I didn't know which was your bedroom.

I took a guess.

What is it?

It's Manya.

She's missing.

And we need help.

What in the name of heaven is going on?

I want you to remember who you are.

Now we have a position in this town,

and people look to our family for guidance.

Then show guidance, Mother.

Stop encouraging everyone in town

to reject them just because they're Jews.

You will treat your mother with respect, young lady.

I don't respect you, Mother.

[shouting]

Mrs. Billingsley, I'm so sorry.

Ben.

Dad.

Dad, there's a search party.

A woman from the camp.

She's missing.

I need the truck.

No.

Dad, she could die.

Is this why Myles died?

I told him not to bother.

I told him you'd say no.

Why are we responsible for their troubles?

They brought it on themselves.

Now they expect us to pay for their troubles

with our children's lives.

Manya!

Manya!

Manya!

Manya!

David. We want to help.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Manya!

Manya!

Manya!

I should have known what this would do to her.

Wanting to marry.

It was the first time she believed in the future.

[music playing]

Thank you for coming, Mr. Billingsley.

Manya!

Well, ladies, the searchers will be

wanting sandwiches and coffee.

Lots of coffee.

The kitchen.

[shouting]

[soft music playing]

There are people looking for you.

They think you're dead.

You should be.

As dead as I am.

Get Josef.

Hold on, we get Josef.

Manya! Manya!

Ernst!

Manya!

Ernst!

[non-english] Ah.

Ah.

Oh, Eva.

She never forgave herself for her baby dying in the camp.

And I never forgave her for giving herself to a Nazi

so that I could live.

I never forgave her.

And I never let her forget.

[sobbing] Oh, god.

[sobbing] I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Hello.

Hello.

Thank you.

Josef.

And this is where it will be.

The war memorial to all our sons.

You know, I've been thinking for the inscription

of something carved in stone.

But I don't-- I don't know.

Maybe not stone.

Maybe something not so cold.

Bronze.

Bronze would be fitting.

My son loved bronze.

Metals. Fascinated.

He knew all about them.

What was he like?

Had a distracted air.

Thick glasses, always sliding on his nose.

And singing.

Always singing.

And always metals.

Papa, did you know tungsten has a higher

melting point than steel?

And platinum can resist the highest temperatures.

They shot him in front of me, my son.

He was not strong like metal.

Only flesh and blood, only a boy.

JACKSON CONNOLLY: This is very impressive, Miss Gruber.

And heartwarming.

I think I know what you want to ask me.

When are we bringing in more refugees?

When are we bringing in more refugees?

Unfortunately, the Congress is opposed,

the support of the people of Oswego notwithstanding.

[phone ringing]

Excuse me.

JACKSON CONNOLLY: It's politics.

You think I'm stupid, Mr. Connolly?

The State Department suppresses information,

and the board whose stated purpose is to rescue Jewish war

refugees does nothing?

That's not politics, Mr. Connolly.

That's anti-Semitism.

HAROLD ICKES: Ruth, your family's trying to reach you.

It's your father.

[WHISPERING] Papa.

You rest, Papa.

And when you wake, it'll be like nothing happened.

And you'll be sitting in the kitchen

trying to read the newspaper.

And Mama will be telling me how I'm missing out on my life.

And you and me will sit on the stoop.

And you'll be so wise.

And-- Papa.

Papa.

PAPA GRUBER: Ruth.

Papa.

Ruthie, such sad eyes.

I lose everyone I love.

There's your mama.

She loves you, though sometimes it's hard to tell.

You're still thinking of that boy.

I wish I could let it go.

It's not good to have regrets.

Is it?

How am I ever going to live without you?

My Ruth.

My amazing daughter who never ceases to amaze me.

Find Ernst.

You're getting married.

Don't worry.

It'll be all right.

Miss Gruber, they won't give us a marriage license.

License?

Washington says no.

Just answer the questions truthfully.

It'll be OK.

A wedding license, please.

Are you residents of the state of New York?

Yeah, sure.

OK.

Just fill in the blanks.

Washington's a long way from upstate New York.

MAMA GRUBER: And I want fresh, white towels every morning.

Make sure they're clean.

And I want a little fan in my room.

You know, maybe two if we need it.

Mama?

What are you doing here?

Is something wrong?

Of course something's wrong.

There's a war on.

And your father's dead.

And I'm a widow.

So I thought I'd come and visit my daughter.

Give me a hug, will you, real quick?

RUTH GRUBER: Any letters from Irving?

Not a word.

You'd think the US Army would let a son write to his mother.

If something was wrong, they'd let us know.

I have to go to Washington tomorrow.

I have a meeting with the president.

Oh, give him my regards.

You sure you won't be bored?

There isn't much to do here.

Well, what's to be bored?

There's a wedding to be arranged.

That's right up my alley.

You do Manya's hair for two hours before the wedding,

one hour for the hair and one hour for her

to get nervous and ask for another hairdo.

We want music through dinner, something easy on the ears,

please.

The wedding cake.

Now, the happy couple gets to cut it together.

If they cut it, they will make a mess.

But it's tradition, American tradition.

Ladies, be sure that the children eat separately.

Otherwise, that buffet table will look like a bomb hit it.

Goodbye, darling.

I'm busy.

Ruthala, your mama.

She's like a second mother to me.

You'll regret it.

[music - "taps"]

NARRATOR: April 12, 1945.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died

suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage,

will leave a historic legacy.

From his New Deal for the people of America to his leadership

through the Second World War, the great man

has left the people bereft.

Oh, no thanks.

Take it.

It'll make you feel better.

It'll take more than one glass.

That can be arranged.

It's all up to Truman now.

Do we know his position?

HAROLD ICKES: I doubt he knows his position.

Truman is not going to reverse a dead president.

When the war is over-- which could be any day now--

they're going to be sent back.

Congress has spoken.

Sent back to what?

People who wanted them dead?

HAROLD ICKES: Ruth, you've done more for the refugees

than anyone could have imagined.

Be proud of that.

Now it's time to lose.

It's that simple.

You fought the good fight.

It's over.

Fanny, enough with the curls.

Two rolls.

Two upswept rolls, Fanny.

Let's make sure she's stylish.

I want to look like myself.

MAMA GRUBER: You're the bride.

You've got nothing to say about this.

[chuckling] Better.

Oh, Mama!

You are beautiful, Manya.

She looks like a magazine.

Mm.

And that wedding dress.

Finally getting an airing.

You can always let it out again.

Since my papa is not here to give me away,

Ruthala, Mama Gruber, would you?

Would you both?

Of course.

[music playing]

Are you nervous?

[exhaling]

You should be.

You're getting married, did you know?

[laughter]

Before we begin, I want everyone to remember this.

We must never believe the things the Nazis say about us.

That we brought evil upon the Earth.

We did not.

Wherever we wandered, we brought the blessings of the Torah.

The countries that have tried to destroy us

have brought evil upon themselves.

[cheering and music playing]

JOHAN RITTER: I will replace it with a wedding ring.

Will I have to give this one back?

We can't marry, Johan.

Your parents?

It's not just them.

Everything has changed.

My friends are gone.

The city I loved is gone.

I could be taken away at any time just for being--

Henry's right.

I'm crazy.

We both are for believing that we had a chance.

We still have a chance.

We could go away.

We could start over somewhere.

It's nothing.

It means nothing.

Everyone has to-- has to join.

I-- I joined the day I--

I discovered I would not be able to teach again.

The day I discovered I would not be

able to-- to care for my own mother or keep our home.

I did it for us.

I did what I had to to survive.

I-- I had no choice!

I had no choice.

I had no choice!

[shouting and loud chatter]

[screaming]

[dogs barking and growling]

[speaking german]

Stop!

Somebody help!

[screaming and shouting]

[speaking german]

Was?

Was?

[speaking german]

Stop them!

Do something!

Heil Hitler.

Heil Hitler!

[german]

JOHAN RITTER: Ruth!

Ruth!

Get away from me!

What?

I'm trying to save your life!

[german] I love you.

I always will.

[train whistle blowing]

You still think of him.

Well, Papa isn't here to say this, so I will.

Someday you'll find happiness.

Just don't wait too long.

You're no spring chicken.

Papa wouldn't have said that.

The part about the spring chicken.

I miss him.

I miss him too.

BRUNO: Ruth! Ruth!

The war!

It's over!

The war is over!

It's finally over!

Irving will be home again.

It's over!

Oh!

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

Hey, all of you over here!

It's over.

Manya, it's over!

[cheering and shouting]

NARRATOR: The war is over in Europe.

But for thousands, millions of war refugees,

there is no peace.

Towns and villages are in ruins.

Entire populations are threatened with starvation.

And everywhere the violence continues.

Here, a murderous attack on Jews as they arrived home in Poland.

JACKSON CONNOLLY: The Oswego refugees

are not now nor have they ever been accepted as immigrants.

They were brought into this country

as guests of the US government and offered a temporary haven.

FDR was very clear.

They would return home after the war.

What kind of homes are they going back to?

Have any of you seen the newsreels?

Congress has voted to send the Oswego refugees back home.

RUTH GRUBER: I can't believe it. - Gentlemen.

We let in close to 400,000 Nazi prisoners of war,

and we rescue less than 1,000 Jews?

Congratulations.

Well done.

BEN BILLINGSLEY: A war was fought in Europe.

My brother fought there, and he died there.

But he did not die in vain.

I didn't know you.

I didn't want to know you.

But because of you, I learned what was wrong in me.

I learned that hating you made me less human.

So today-- today we celebrate.

We celebrate what we have learned in our town,

in our school, and in our hearts.

And if there is any justice at all--

Congress, are you listening?-- the family that we have become

will not be torn apart.

[applause and cheering]

[chatter]

[gasping] Oh, Lili!

Oh, it's spectacular.

That's a business I would have if I could stay in America.

ERNST: Ladies and gentlemen, unlike our dear Bruno,

master of all our ceremonies, I will

be-- how you call them-- brief.

[laughter]

On behalf of all of us here in the camp,

I say a big congratulations to all of our graduates.

Very good.

[applause]

Congratulations.

In America, I learned about Thanksgiving.

And today, I would like to give thanks to America

for fighting to end this terrible war,

for your great leader Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

who rescued us from--

from our suffering.

For my beautiful wife, Manya, for believing in love.

And to all of you here tonight, Americans,

thank you for becoming a family to us,

us who have lost our own.

We are one very big family now.

Thank you very much.

[applause]

[accordion music playing]

[chatter]

What are you doing?

In the summer of 1942, a German industrialist

visiting Switzerland reported that the Nazis

were murdering Jews.

The report was cabled to our State Department,

but the cable was suppressed.

Soon after came another cable, cable 482.

It revealed a Nazi plan called Vernichtung.

Annihilation.

ARLEN LLOYD: The total annihilation

of the Jews of Europe.

This cable was also suppressed.

Why?

ARLEN LLOYD: Back in the '30s, before the war,

the State Department had advised all US embassies of Europe

to delay and effectively prevent the Jews from obtaining visas.

By 1941, Jewish immigration to the United States

was virtually shut down.

Why are you telling me this?

You wanted the truth.

And you deserve the truth.

I was with the Treasury Department

when the World Jewish Congress raised

money to bribe foreign officials to get

the Jews out of Nazi hands.

Treasury approved a currency license within 24 hours.

But the State Department sat on it.

Thousands of Jewish lives could have been saved.

My department wrote a report entitled

"The Acquiescence of This Government

in the Murder of the Jews."

But again, that report was never made public.

Why would our government go to such lengths?

No one wants the Jews.

Of course, I'll deny that we ever had this conversation.

[music playing and cheering]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided that I

will not fight going back.

I will go willingly home to Yugoslavia.

I will take my chances that it is safe there now for the Jew.

Sing.

Sing!

With me.

[music - "we'll meet again"]

[SINGING] We'll meet again, don't

know where, don't know when.

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

Keep smiling through just like you

always do till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

And won't you please say hello to the folks that I know.

Tell them I won't be long.

They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go,

I was singing this song.

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when.

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

[applause]

I used to envy your father, the way

you two would sit out here, telling each other secrets.

Ruthie, you look troubled.

I believed the government, Mama, when it

promised to save Jewish lives.

But it was all a lie.

And now they want to send the few

we did save back to countries that don't want them.

I failed them, Mama.

And my country failed me.

Ruthie, I want you to listen to me now because you

need to remember this.

My family, your family, fled the pogroms of Poland

to find safety here in America.

This country gave us security and freedom.

This country allowed us to be Jewish.

So what are you going to do?

Wait for somebody to warm your milk?

If there's one thing we Americans know,

it's how to fight for what we want.

I want to save the ones we can.

So talk to the man at the top.

His name is Truman.

Your father used to call you his amazing daughter.

It was so easy for him to tell you he loved you.

Me?

I say it by making you crazy.

But I hope you know how much I do love you

and how proud I am of you.

I loved being here in this country.

It is where I fell in love with you.

It is where I thought our child would be born.

Manya.

I'm pregnant.

Where will he be born, Ernst?

Where will our child be born?

I don't know.

I don't know.

OFFICER [ON LOUDSPEAKER]: Please join the line that corresponds

to the first letter of your last name

and have your papers ready.

Do you have your papers?

Place of birth and citizenship.

It is the place that my neighbors

turned me into the Gestapo so they could take my house.

They laughed.

They applauded when I was taken away as my son

was sent to Buchenwald.

That You think this is somewhere I want to go back?

Where were you born?

It is letter from Harvard University, which has accepted

me as a student in medicine.

You'll have to apply in the country

from which you originated.

It'll make a nice souvenir.

Your last country of residence is France.

And you are a Hungarian citizen.

You're not going to separate us.

We are married.

She's pregnant.

What-- what are you talking about?

It's a US government decision, not mine.

That's the certificate!

Next.

MYLES BILLINGSLEY: What is taking so long?

I was next.

My name is Billingsley, Myles Billingsley.

That's an English name, as in the Old Country,

so I guess you'll have to send me back.

Excuse me.

My name is Eleanor Morrow Sayles.

My family is from Ireland.

Send me back.

Bill Lafontaine, originally from France.

Send me back.

Marie Manucci.

The name says it all--

Italy.

Better send me back too.

I don't see any Billingsley.

What does this have to do with anything?

What's your name?

- My name? - Yeah.

Lipchinski.

That doesn't sound American to me.

It's Ukrainian. So what?

MYLES BILLINGSLEY: Well, I'll tell you so what.

If you don't want them, you don't want me.

Everybody in this country comes from someplace, including you.

So if you send them back, you've got to send us all back.

You're delaying the inevitable.

Ma'am.

Ruth Gruber.

Sign here.

He's running late.

We're going to have to reschedule.

But they're being shipped out.

I'm sorry.

Are you?

If I can't plead their case with him now,

right now, any chance they have is gone.

I saw your photos of them in the magazine.

Thank you.

Mr. President.

[train horn blowing]

Manya.

Thank you.

Bye.

You are a very impatient young lady, Miss Gruber.

Yes, sir.

Yes, Mr. President.

You're here about Oswego?

Yes, sir, I am.

HARRY TRUMAN: Well?

When I first saw the refugees, they--

they looked like ghosts.

And now they look like Americans.

This country is their home now.

They've suffered so much.

I beg you, sir, to grant them permanent haven.

Turn around, Miss Gruber.

This is the first film taken by the Army

of Nazi concentration camps.

This one is called Buchenwald.

[soft music playing]

There is a crisis in Europe.

And the world must address the problem of the many

who have been displaced by war.

In the circumstances, it would be

inhumane to require the Oswego refugees to return

to Europe merely for the purpose of applying

there for emigration visas.

I'm therefore directing the secretary

of state and the attorney general

to adjust the immigration status of those members of this group

who may wish to stay here in strict accordance with the

existing laws and requisitions.

On a personal note, I wish to welcome our newest citizens

and hope that they will live in peace and good health.

[music playing]