All language subtitles for The.Confession.1970.Criterion.1080p.BluRay.x264-OFT_eng

The Confession

Based on the account
by Lise and Artur London

Are they there again?

Is it one of your cars?

Not my department.

I don't deal with VIPs.

But you're being followed.

By his department?

But why?
There must be an explanation.

They're not being discreet either.

What do you want with me?

It's started again.

- How long?
- Three days.

- Are you sure?
- They're there now.

Coming!

Why do you think it's Security?

If it isn't,
I have a right to some protection.

Here are the registration numbers.

Get Pavel.

It's not just me, you know.

They're after all of us
International Brigade veterans.

I'm fed up.

Why not confront me with Noel Field?

I know he's in prison in Hungary.

Who's behind all this?

It's aimed
at Spanish Civil War veterans

and those in France or London
during the occupation.

You too.

Even if you are with Security.

Loebl, Pavlik and Feigl
held major posts, too,

and they're in prison now.

He's undersecretary of the Interior
and he's sent back to party school.

Otto has been dismissed too.

Today it's my turn.

And tomorrow?

Whose turn will it be?

Are they Security cars?

Then you'd better find out who's
giving the orders in your department.

If it's who I think,
it could be dangerous.

Don't they know?
- Better not.

Why? It concerns them too, doesn't it?

You came together?
- We met by chance.

Some chance,

when all Spanish Civil War veterans
are being watched.

It's going to look like a meeting.

You and your surveillance.
Things are difficult,

but nobody's watching me.

You lost your job. Šling's in prison.

I've been sent to the party school

for a course on the dialectics of
the class struggle in socialist construction.

The undersecretary is being followed
without the head of security's knowledge.

Shoemakers are always the worst shod.

Why not resign?

Leave your job, confess your errors.

They won't let me, yet they cut me out.

Type this for the departmental meeting.

It was this morning.

What's going on?

The minister said
your presence wasn't necessary.

And you all believed him?

I don't believe, these days.

I just wonder where it will all end.

The party decides.

All misunderstandings
can be resolved by the party.

Unless it's higher up.

I thought it was about the Field affair,
but Bedrich says it isn't.

The Field affair is settled.

The party secretary.

This meeting is pointless.

It's me again.

Gérard insists.
He thinks it's very important.

He's very busy. He'll call you.

For the party, the matter is settled.

But you know what Security is like,
refusing to let go.

Still, you have friends there.
The head of Security, for instance.

And he's pretty embarrassed,

as he knew Field too.

We'll have our own Rajk trial soon.

No, the circumstances were different.

They're just the same.

Here, too, we are discovering
spies, traitors, Titoists.

You spoke to my successor?

His new minister.
- He seems to believe it all.

Your dossier is growing fast.
We haven't heard the end of this yet.

It has ramifications everywhere:
Poland, Germany.

It's him you ought to see.

Let's go. They won't believe we met
to chat over old days in Spain.

Starting to feel guilty already, eh?

Don't forget.

"Both donkey and master
are safest when furthest away."

They're still there.
I'll ask the minister to see you.

Gérard wants to talk to you.
He's very concerned.

I'll see him tomorrow morning.

Tell him the Field affair
hasn't done him any good.

Dozens of comrades had contact
with Noel Field during the occupation --

We haven't found the enemy
in our ranks.

We knew that death and betrayal
were inseparable from revolution.

It's our turn to experience
betrayal and death...

so that the revolution may continue.

That's what's important --
that it continue,

even if we are destroyed.

Go and see him tomorrow.

What else should I do?

Nothing. Have faith in the party.

Who is it?

You the Frenchwoman?
Someday your husband will hang.

Who was that?

Nothing. A wrong number.

Who are you? What do you want?

Let go of me!

Who are you?

Shut up!

The handcuffs.

I demand to see a party representative.

Shut up.
You're not demanding anything.

Who are you?

I want to see --
- Shut up!

Undress him.

Put it on.

Bills, various papers.

Cuff links, pen.

Take 'em off!

350 crowns.

Two party cards.

Family photographs.

Here's the Frenchwoman.
- Inform my family.

She'll think you've run off.

Darex vouchers.

Worth 1,200 crowns.

He uses the foreign diplomats' store.

Everyone makes sacrifices
for socialism,

but he lives like a bourgeois.

Leave those alone!

Your number is 3225.

Don't forget it.

Start walking!

No sitting or standing still.
Keep walking!

The party's always right.

There must be a misunderstanding.
The truth will come out,

but you must submit to the rules,
even if it's hard.

At least to show good faith.

You'll get the same whenever you stop!

Walk!

Walk!

Food!

No food for him.

Walk.

Did you see Gérard this afternoon?

He didn't come by?

Did you see Gérard this afternoon?

He didn't come by?

Is Zavodsky there?

Excuse me.

- Police search.
- What's the matter?

What's the matter?

My children are asleep up there.
What's the meaning of this?

We have orders to search the place.

I have a direct line to the Central Committee.
I'll inform the secretary.

We'll see what he has to say.

Have you got a warrant?
- We don't need one.

I told you. We have orders to search.

And I tell you, not without a warrant.

Go up to bed, Mother.

You stay here, madam.

My eldest son.

He was born in prison. In France.

At La Roquette.

A prison in Paris.

Why were you there?

Because that's what the Germans did
to communists in 1942.

Being pregnant, I escaped execution.

- Were you in prison long?
- No, I was deported to Ravensbrück.

My son was the youngest
political prisoner in France.

My husband was sent to Mauthausen.

"Night and Fog."
Do you know what that means?

Those are photos of my husband
in the Spanish Civil War

and the French Resistance.

Put that away. It's only my daughter.

Evening, honey.

- Isn't Daddy here?
- He'll be here soon.

They're colleagues of his.

Did you have a nice time at your party?

Go to bed quickly and see
that the little ones are asleep.

Some coffee?

Police search!

You're behaving like the Nazis!

I didn't see the warrant.

Go to work as usual.
Not a word about this.

- May I speak to the minister?
- At 5:00 a.m.?

After the school, we'll go to the Ministry.

They took nothing important.
Letters, papers, photos.

Fifteen years of life together.

Souvenirs of Spain, prison letters.

Gérard never kept
official papers at home.

We'll take care of it.
Call me anytime on the direct line.

He missed an appointment.

He needs weekly treatment
for his lung problem.

We'll take care of it.
He is merely in isolation.

Nothing's changed
for you and your family.

The Ministry car and chauffeur
are at your disposal, as usual.

Did you see the minister?

Yes, Gérard hasn't been arrested.

He's simply in isolation

until certain problems
have been cleared up.

They need his help.

It's a serious, confidential party matter.

So long as he has a chance to explain.
I feared the worst.

Let me know if I can help.

He told me nothing had changed.

I'll be looking after you from now on.
Here is your car.

Let's hear you!

What are your requests
and complaints?

I want to see a party official.

Identify yourself!

Undersecretary of --

You're nobody! What's your number?

Number!

You're 3225.
We'll be back when you know that.

Walk!

Put these back on.

Don't stand still! Keep walking!

You're here to confess your crimes.
You must confess.

Confess what?
Who are you?

Date -- February 1.
Confess. Admit who you are.

I'm the undersecretary of Foreign --

You're a number. What is it?

Your number?
- 3225.

What am I accused of?

You know very well.
There's a name for men like you.

What's your name?
- The party knows my --

Don't invoke the party.

Never invoke the party.
You're here to confess, and you will.

I want to see an official --
Confess what?

- Confess!
- Be specific.

- You'll confess.
- I want to see an official.

I'll make you confess.

At first we tried to aid the party,
to help it see things clearly.

To understand ourselves
and the mistakes that had brought us there.

We were prepared
to admit that our mistakes

may have harmed the party.

The years of discipline,
our whole education, led us to believe

that the party was never wrong,
that the USSR was always right.

We aren't acting alone.
We have advisers!

In all humility, we felt it better
to err with the party

than be right as individuals.

You must confess!

Confess what?
Ask me specific questions.

Eat!

Enough eating. Walk!

That's enough. Start walking!

Walk!

Stand up!

You will not maintain this hostility.
You will obey!

Please, is it day or night?

You're here for a very serious reason.

The party ordered your arrest.

We are entrusted
with your interrogation

concerning international espionage
and treason

against the Soviet Union
and our country.

Your duty is to help us
establish the truth.

You are not the only one involved.

Other important people
are implicated in this affair.

You alone can help yourself.

You have been in the party a long time.

I appeal to you to help
the Soviet Union and our party.

Anything to say?

I have constantly demanded
a hearing by the party.

Ask me anything.

Very well, we shall draw up a report.

Tuesday, February 4.

I declare --

When did you establish contact
with American intelligence?

How were you recruited
by the American spy Noel Field?

Have you collaborated with American spies
in addition to Noel Field?

Never! No one!

Silence!

Answer the questions!

Heads will roll.
We have all the proof we need.

We have methods
you never dreamed of.

You will confess.

Your choice is either
to try to redeem yourself

by making a full confession

or to remain an enemy unto death
of the Soviet Union and our party.

So answer the questions.

Enough! Hand over the bowl!

Enough!

Keep walking!

You can sleep now.

On your back, regulation position.

Arms straight.

Stand up! Your number?

You can sleep now.

Stand up!

Your number?

3225.

You can sleep now.

Get up!

Your number?

You must obey orders.

You and your filthy race,
you're all alike.

We'll finish
what the gas chambers started.

You say that,
wearing the party insignia?

Don't moralize to me, you traitor!

You thought you controlled the party,
but you've all been expelled.

You're lying! That's impossible.
It's against the rules of the party.

What's this bourgeois conception
of democracy?

The Central Committee
can assume emergency powers.

Look at these cards. You, Vales,

Zavodsky, who was head of Security.

We know about your criminal
activities in Spain and France

thanks to our advisers.

We'll track down the others
and expel them too.

You're not the Central Committee.

We're above the Central Committee.

Our task is to unmask traitors,
even within the Committee.

We represent the power
of the proletariat.

Your friends who protected you
have talked.

You will talk too.

You will answer
these comrades' questions.

Like Zavodsky,
who has made a full confession.

As head of Security, he knew
it was the only way to save himself.

Zavodsky?

Confess?

But confess what?

You recently attended
a clandestine meeting.

Why?

You called the meeting!

You led this Trotskyist group
from the International Brigades.

What decisions did you make?

You expressed your Trotskyist opinions
in Spain? What did you do?

Sectarian sabotage?

You met Rajk in Spain? Was he your contact
with American intelligence?

Rajk was executed as a spy in Hungary.
You know what to expect.

The Polish traitors Rwal and Winkler?

Why did you protect
the Titoist Dapchevich in Spain?

Your only chance to save yourself

is to confess even more fully
than the others.

You are the leader.

Here we uproot weeds
before they spread.

You knew Rajk in Spain.

So he put you in contact
with the Americans.

You were with Bartos in Spain.
What do you know of him?

We know he deserted.

Jares was in your unit.
Do you remember?

This report describes him
as a suspect Trotskyist element.

Like all your friends,
here and abroad.

My connections were with the French
and Italian communist parties.

Who said all this?

We have everything
fully documented in this matter.

Thanks to our Soviet advisers,

we have full details
of your espionage network.

Zavodsky's confession.

He describes in detail the criminal activities
of your Trotskyist group.

It's not true. Zavodsky couldn't have.

Isn't that his signature?
Each page is signed!

It isn't possible. Not at Marseille.

Yes, it is. "My activity
for the Americans in Marseille."

I presume you recognize his writing?

Zavodsky and the rest
pulled the wool over your eyes.

To show good faith and help the party,

you must confess everything.

Confess what? That I was a spy?

Your view of things is too subjective.

Zavodsky was arrested after you.
He confessed immediately.

He knows it's the only way out.

But it's all untrue.

The French Communist Party
and the Resistance can bear me out.

It's no use. We have other confessions
saying the same thing.

Here everyone confesses, believe me.

You were their leader.
It's your only chance.

Think of what might happen
to your family.

Listen. "I spied for the Americans
in order to overthrow the regime.

In this criminal activity,
I was directed by" --

Look. Your name, in black and white.

What can you do against that?

Thirsty?

A man confesses to serious crimes
committed on your command.

In court, what will be believed?

Your denials

or his self-incrimination?

He's still talking too.
- Lies.

It's the confession that counts.

Why is he risking his life
by making these confessions?

To save his life, do you understand?

I want to help the party,
but I can't --

I forbid you to speak of the party.

And I forbid you to give this traitor
anything to drink.

Abandoned by the party, comrades,
no one would doubt my guilt.

I myself never doubted
the Moscow and Rajk trials.

How could any communist believe
that the infallible party

was capable of making
the innocent confess?

Confess what, why?

We will use any method
to uncover your treason.

Zavodsky says he knew
of your American activities,

but remained silent because you
knew of his Gestapo connections.

Your friend Vales admits to having
collaborated with the British police.

Though Jewish, you survived
the concentration camps. Why?

Because you collaborated.

The Americans recruited you
through captured Gestapo files.

Walk!

The party is informed
of cooperative attitudes in prisoners.

3225. Present.

Louder!

What did you do?
Why are you here?

I don't know.

They won't let me sleep.
And it stinks.

Nothing to eat or drink.

I'm innocent.

Wait.

We've had orders about you.
You're a special case.

Don't tell anyone, or I'll be punished.

I want to see a party official.
You're committing a crime.

For 10 days I haven't slept,
eaten or drunk.

I want to be questioned officially,
with my answers recorded.

You haven't slept or eaten?

I'll see about that.

The guards tend to do as they like.

We've got Holdos now.

All you veterans of Spain
are in the bag.

Here -- in Hungary, Poland, Germany.

All the International Brigades
are implicated in this affair.

Rajk was asked exactly
the same questions at his trial.

His case seems to interest you.

But, of course, his confessions
brought you closer to discovery.

You approved of his trial
to conceal yourselves.

We shall act as the Hungarians did
in liquidating Rajk and his gang.

I propose a resolution

condemning the spy and traitor
László Rajk,

unmasked by our Hungarian comrades.

All in favor, raise their hands.

Many veterans of Spain are implicated.

There weren't only us good guys in Spain.

Can't see the forest for the trees.

To sum up then.

"I have committed
certain errors in my work

through my negligence.

I have had dealings with Kohnová,

Vasela, Pavlik and Feigl,

already convicted
for their dealings with Field."

Vasela wasn't convicted.

She killed herself during the trial.

Not Vasela then.

"I accepted
American imperialist money

for my underground party work."

Sign it.

Isn't it better this way?

You can sleep now.

I retract. I only signed
under physical coercion.

- What?
- Yes, physical coercion.

So you think this is a confession?
We haven't even begun.

You'll sign much more than that.

Let's start again.

He'll speak, or we'll finish
the matter by finishing him.

Come on, start with your life.

Walk.

Tell me your story
from the beginning.

Date of birth?

February 1, 1915, at Ostrava.

My father was a railroad man.

Why aren't you called
by your real name?

Gérard was my name
in the French Resistance.

French Resistance -- how odd.

You are a communist and a Jew,
yet you survived the Gestapo.

Bizarre.

Carry on.
- My son was born in prison.

His mother named him Gérard,
not knowing if we'd ever meet again.

Don't try to make me cry.

Carry on.

My father was the fifth of eight children,

son of a railroad man in Moravia
under Austro-Hungarian rule.

Then he went to Switzerland

and in about 1900
emigrated to America.

He learned English very quickly.

He could recite
Whitman's poems by heart

and pages of Paine and Jefferson.

In New York he met my mother,
also an émigré.

They came back home together.

In the First World War,
he was a stretcher-bearer.

Through contact
with Russian prisoners,

he learned about Bolshevism.

From him I first heard
of Rosa Luxemburg,

the Spartacists, Lenin,
the Commune of Canton.

It was he who made me read
Heinrich Heine.

He pointed my way
into the Communist Youth.

In 1930 we wanted to blow up
the Ostrava prefecture.

Well, did you blow it up or not?

Last night, you told
my colleague you did.

No, we were only 15.

We merely dreamed
of doing a daring deed.

Dreamed? This morning,
you told me the opposite.

So you have three different versions
of that story?

Start again from the beginning.
Let's see if you have a fourth.

I'm listening.

I was born in Ostrava --

You say your friend Wagner
disappeared in Moscow in 1935.

Yesterday you didn't know
what had become of him. Which is it?

Start again.

I met Wagner in Moscow when --

No, from the beginning.
Date of birth?

Carry on.

You said your father made you read
"Enrich N." What next?

Heinrich Heine.

He pointed my way
into the Communist Youth.

He was incensed
by the Sacco and Vanzetti case.

We demonstrated together.

He respected
Bakunin's physical courage

and admired Kropotkin,
all of whose writing he knew.

But he did not share
the basic anarchist ideology.

An old member of the socialist left,

he became a founding member of
the communist party in his hometown.

Outcast by polite society
and by the Jewish community

who thought him a traitor

because he was an atheist

and supporter
of antireligious organizations,

he found it hard to get work.

His family didn't help.

Except my uncle Zigmund,
who never tired of lecturing him.

I saw my father for the last time
in Moscow in the summer of 1935.

He had aged considerably.

In order to visit us,

he arranged to come on a trip --
on an organized trip with...

other people who were with him.

He wanted to meet my wife.

Everything interested him.

Sometimes he asked questions
which I had difficulty answering.

...which I had difficulty answering.

He disliked some things in Moscow.

There were things
he didn't understand.

But he had fulfilled his dream...

of seeing the Red Square
and Lenin in his mausoleum.

When he left, he was sad.

He wondered
when we would meet again.

I never saw him again.

Nor my mother,
my brother Jean

or my sister Juliette.

They died in concentration camps.

We are in a 200-foot-square office

with a gray-green cabinet.

A typewriter.

An empty beer glass,
a cup of coffee.

Filthy traitor!

Get out, you!

You'll account for this.

Let's finish this.

You filthy Trotskyist bandit.

You had already begun
your activities in Moscow.

Go on!

They're going to hang me.

Kill him if he won't talk!

I'll disappear like Wagner in Moscow.

They confiscated my card.
They say I'm a Trotskyist!

They'll say my conscience
drove me to suicide.

Suicide. He didn't have
the courage to confess.

You're in luck,
but you'll hang anyway,

and our people will be avenged.

If it's who I think, it's dangerous.

Our advisers want you alive for the trial.

They want us to grant
diplomatic status to Soviet advisers.

But they're policemen.

We benefit from their experience
of the Moscow trials.

The presence of these advisers
seemed to us

a natural consequence
of Soviet aid to socialist countries.

I have five months
to make you confess.

Radek held out for three.

That's the record,
so I have time to spare.

Each night someone goes missing.
They're preparing a major trial.

Confess, or you'll be tried secretly.

You'll be hanged.

Finally, they found a discrepancy
in my various biographical accounts.

Admit you're a Trotskyist!

Admit it!

You were in touch with Trotskyist spies
in Moscow in 1936.

To avoid discovery,
you went to Spain.

Wagner worked
for the Comintern for years.

He came to see me
in my Moscow hotel.

Because of this lapse,
they took away everything --

my party card, my job, my room.

Stalin can't possibly know.

Stalin can't possibly know.

Look, he's starting to break.

Look at this beautiful phrase.

...starting to break.

A quotation haunted me.

"The individual becomes guilty
not because he is guilty,

but because he may be thought so."

Look at this beautiful phrase.

"This is what I have to say
about the Trotskyist group

of International Brigade volunteers."

Now we can really get to work.

Your friend, Tonda.

All misunderstandings
can be resolved by the party.

Your friend's talking
about a Trotskyist group.

Three weeks --
no sleep, practically no food.

He's confessed everything.

- It's not signed.
- it's the carbon.

That's fine, but what our friends want...

is "Trotskyist espionage organization."

Get him to sign that.

You'll be signing, too,
since you're their leader.

Our party comrades will stop you.

Did you help us?

It's unthinkable that the party --

He's raving.

Stalin knows what he's doing.

What should I do?

- Confess!
- What? That I spied?

Stalin knows what he's doing.

What should I do?

He's had it.

Stalin says
the most precious capital is man.

If he's drowning,
he must be helped.

Eat.

I heard Smola say,
"Leave him for a moment."

Lying there,
I had a wonderful vision

of myself on a Monte Carlo beach
where I'd never been.

When I arrived in France,
the first thing I did was come here.

The doctor advised it for my lungs.

- Tell it all.
- What?

The whole story.

- Who to?
- Write a book.

I know some publishers.

- Who for?
- For us.

Communists aren't ready
for this kind of truth.

They'll say that dirty linen
should be washed in private.

Or that there's no smoke without fire,

that I didn't have the true party spirit.

It's too soon... objectively.

Write it anyway.

They're still in power.

They wouldn't let it be published.

Publish in France.

No, there first. Such a book should
spring from changing circumstances.

So you'll say nothing?

I have no personal grudges.
It's a general problem.

Precisely.

Who will speak for the dead?

Who spoke up for us
at the trial in 1952?

Did you?

Do you remember what you said?

That we were mad dogs, Titoist spies,

Trotskyist bandits.

You all knew about
my activities in France.

But no one spoke.

Did you?

No.

- Why?
- I'd have been expelled.

That's too easy.
Did you think they were guilty?

We didn't have enough information
until 1956, the 20th Congress.

The bourgeois press, as you call it,

could have told you it was trumped up.

But you were living
in a closed world

with the party as God.

Apart from details,
your story tells me nothing new.

The existence
of this hellish mechanism was known.

One politician said that hell,

as the Prague trials remind us,
has its own logic.

He also had a nice turn of phrase
to justify the wars in Indochina

and Algeria, with their million dead.

Anyway, all this explains how
but not why.

Stalin eliminated the best,
the most brilliant.

Stalin, who wasn't alone,
was once a seminarian.

Public confession,
humiliation of the sinner.

Also, he was infallible.

During the cold war, there were rifts
between the People's Democracies.

They had been born
not of true revolution,

but of Soviet military successes.

There were serious economic
and societal problems.

Stalin did not like
independent socialist powers.

Tito would not blindly copy
Russian-style socialism.

Tito was declared an agent
of imperialism.

"Titoist" became a synonym for "spy."

Just as Trotskyist had previously.

So?

So, after the Rajk trial,
the party agreed to Soviet advisers.

I consider this a proof of trust.

You will work as a group under
the direction of our comrade advisers.

You will be answerable only to them,

the president of the Republic
and the secretary of the party.

The party has no power
to interfere with this activity.

At the end of February,
I was again transferred.

No, these cars are too modern.

In 1951, it was the Tatraplan
with the rear fin.

Being in an ordinary prison again
gave me hope.

You can lie down.

You'd take fright
if you could see yourself.

Today's March 6.

For 35 days,
you have refused to cooperate.

Your negative attitude
is reported to the party every day.

Right.
We'll start at the beginning again.

On condition that --

Conditions? Your life is at stake!

Your only chance
is to confess everything.

Take him away.

Prepare yourself for interrogation.

You have four hours' sleep.

Remove your jacket.
Regulation position.

You must confess your guilt.

As an obedient member of the party,
you must submit.

If I am not a good communist,
but a Trotskyist spy,

why appeal to my loyalty?

If I'm a good communist,
why am I here?

Telephone, sir.

Keep an eye on him.

It's him in the corridor.

How weary he must be.

His fate's sealed.

And what about mine?

A few years in a state farm
till this blows over.

Zavodsky was executed in 1954,
after the others.

We've received a letter from your wife.

"It isn't easy to support a family,
of course,

but with the help of the party,
I'll manage."

She has the right spirit.
She has repudiated you.

Why so surprised?
It isn't the first time.

One of your friends has confessed
that she was his mistress.

You bastard!

It's all in here!

Imbecile!

They're a fine lot,
your Trotskyist friends!

I know she's French, but him!

They were caught in his office.

She was leaning against his shoulder.

"In that case, you had
intimate relations with her?"

Answer:
"Not intimate, just very friendly."

Question:
"Was she leaning against your shoulder?"

Answer: "Yes."

"According to the dictionary,
that means you were intimate."

Answer: "All right, intimate then."
He confessed she was his mistress.

Who dreamed all that up?

Guess! What concerns us...

is that she has repudiated you
and placed herself in the party's hands.

- Is there new information?
- Every day.

Send me all documents about Gérard.
I want to see them first.

What's happening to my husband?

You write too many letters.

Our comrades have
better things to do than read them.

However, I was instructed to see you.
What do you want?

To know what's happened.
It's been two months.

He seems to be deeply implicated.
All this is about him.

But is he under arrest or not?

I have a right to know,
as his wife and a party member.

He has not been charged,

but there are matters to clear up.

I've shared his life for 16 years.
It's an open book.

A man may seem open,
then one day secrets emerge.

- Not him.
- Because you love him.

There have always been traitors,
agents provocateurs,

cops in the workers' movement.

The wives never unmask them.

In 1941, in your party,

you had to execute
the national organizer.

Gitton, you mean.

He'd been a police informer for years.

The national organizer.

Hasn't he been acting strange lately?

Leaving you alone, coming home late?

Was he arrested --
put in isolation for his private life?

I've already said
he hasn't been charged.

You should go back to France
with your family.

You mean I should be the first
to condemn him?

I won't believe he's guilty
until he tells me so.

Life will be difficult for you.

I regret to say you can't go on
working for the radio now.

Why?

They said I'm the best reporter
in the French service.

You'll have to work in a factory
instead of in public service.

Is the factory a punishment?

How sad for the workers
in a workers' state.

That is how things are managed
in the Soviet Union.

They're taking our things.
I couldn't stop them.

What are you doing?

Here's your paper, Father.

What's going on?

The minister's orders.
The villa is needed.

We're moving you.
- Where to?

Here it is.

It could have been worse.

You could put the children here.

Who's that lady?

A friend.

Her brother's with Daddy.
We'll be working together.

Is her brother in prison, like Daddy?

- Who told you that?
- Everyone at school says so.

You are Londonova?

Yes. You know my husband?

I've heard of him through friends.

Well, I need a job rather urgently.

I've no skills.

No matter. We'll teach you.

And you?
- I've found a job at Autorenova.

That's right next door.
You'll be neighbors.

You can start
at the end of the month, if you like.

I'd like that. Thank you.

- We'd like to be together.
- If possible.

I'll try to arrange it.

Come over here!

- I frightened them off.
- No, you didn't.

Yes, I did. I'm used to it now.

Did you see they've arrested
the party secretary?

How far will they go?

I wrote to him about Gérard,
but he refused to see me.

Well, it's over now.
This arrest makes everything clear.

How?

At my paper, they say
he's responsible for all the arrests.

It's a purge against those
who criticized his economic policy.

Even I had my share of persecution.

Gérard will be freed soon. You'll see.

He was the party newspaper editor.
Soon he was arrested too.

He confessed,
became one of the 14 accused

and was executed.

Here he is.

I wish you much joy.

Sit down.

In six months, you've worn out
around a dozen interrogators.

You even made the commandant
lose his patience.

But never mind, it doesn't matter.

We'll start from the beginning,
all over again.

We have plenty of interrogators...
and lots of time.

You'll confess,
even if it takes a year or more.

I have five months.

So I'm in no hurry.

You have no idea what awaits you.

Put these on.

Get up, please.

Walk.

Later I learned that during
the Nazi occupation, and before,

Kohoutek had been in charge of
police anticommunist work.

"I had dealings with Noel Field
in Geneva in 1947."

Sign it, please.

But the party knows that.

So much the better. Sign.

The party knows about this.

"For these dealings,

Noel Field paid me the sum of" --

How much?

Not "for these dealings"
but "during these dealings."

It was to pay my sanatorium expenses.
The party knew.

Who said it didn't?
So he gave you money?

- Yes.
- How much?

I don't remember.
It was five years ago.

Walk.

It wasn't for any dealings.

I had contracted tuberculosis
in the concentration camp.

The party knew of Field's
welfare service for deportees.

Go on.

How much did Field give you?
300 Swiss francs? More? Less?

- More.
- How much?

Double, or more.

Face the wall. 800 francs, say?

Now we're getting the facts.
That's what I want.

"In 1947" --

Come closer.

"Noel Field paid me the sum
of 800 Swiss francs."

Sign, please.

- But the party knows.
- Go ahead.

Szöny, condemned to death
in the Rajk trial, got only 300 francs.

But mine --

Were for the sanatorium.
No one denies that.

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings
with the American spy, Noel Field."

Sign it.

No. In 1947,
I didn't know Field was a spy.

Is Noel Field an American spy?

Didn't the Rajk trial establish
that Field was an American spy?

This resolution voted by the party
condemns the traitor Rajk.

Did you sign the resolution?

- As a cover --
- No!

Did the Rajk trial establish
that Field was a spy in 1947?

Yes. But in 1947,
we didn't know he was a spy.

Let's say that in 1947
you had dealings

with a spy unmasked in 1949?

Say it then.

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings
with the American spy, Noel Field."

Yes, but in 1947 I couldn't know
what would be discovered in 1949.

No one could foresee in 1947
that Field was a spy.

Very good.

Let us now consider
each fact objectively.

Later we shall consider
the subjective aspect.

Noel Field was an American spy.
You had dealings with him.

I did, because --

- What dealings?
- I did, because --

Espionage. Espionage dealings.

- Certainly not.
- Admit it.

No. I was ill and penniless,

so I got in touch
with Field's welfare service.

I am not a social worker.

How did you establish
espionage contact with Field?

It wasn't espionage.

You signed these statements.

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings
with the American spy, Noel Field."

"In 1947, Noel Field paid me
the sum of 800 Swiss francs."

Reconcile these facts.

Why should an American spy
pay a communist official's expenses?

We are simply considering the facts.

As I said, the subjective aspects...

will be dealt with at a later stage.

"In 1947,
I had dealings with Noel Field.

As he is an American spy" --

I've put it as favorably as I can --

"and I had dealings with him,
I am objectively guilty of espionage.

During this time,
Field paid me 800 Swiss francs."

Sign, please.

As you see, I have eliminated
subjective conditions.

Oh, excuse me.

The carbon too.

That one is for translation.

For our comrade advisers.

I was forgetting.

Here's a letter from your wife.

Then you can sleep a while.

Regulation position.

Sit down.

There's a little additional
signature required.

"The International Brigade volunteers

are self-confessed Trotskyists
and traitors.

Objectively, therefore,
as their leader, so am I."

Sign, please.

After signing,
you may write to your family.

"In the Communist Youth, I had
already worked under Smirkovsky,

whose Trotskyist past is well known."

I never said that.

About working with him?

About him being a Trotskyist.

He said that himself.

Recognize his hand?

It's his all right. You're merely
confirming his confession.

We and our advisers believe
you were a Trotskyist before Spain.

Why should you?

Type this.

In 1936, you gave shelter
in your Moscow hotel

to a man called Wagner,
a Trotskyist expelled from the party.

You expressed doubts
about the Moscow trials.

I must insert something about this.

Come here.

"In Moscow, I lived in a hotel
where Trotskyists had been arrested."

The president and the secretary
of the party will be pleased.

They lived there too.

Exactly. The secretary of the --

The ex-secretary of the party...

is here.

Don't start raising your hopes.
That won't exonerate you.

On the contrary, it proves
that you all got important posts

to seize power
on behalf of American imperialism.

So you say.

No, so he has started saying,
and you will confirm what he says.

I won't sign.

You will... like the rest.

Do you think this arrest
was made lightly?

The secretary corresponded
with the Englishman Zilliacus

by diplomatic pouch
through your office.

How often?

- It concerned the peace movement.
- Zilliacus was a spy.

Add this.
"I received and transmitted" --

How many letters? Four? Five?

No, two.

"Five letters."

I'll have this translated.
You can sign after.

Put them on.

And keep walking.

It's been translated.
Now you can sign.

Then you can sleep.

What the --

It isn't the same. Let me read it.

Read the copy.

It's not the same.

It is. You're tired.

- There was no carbon.
- There was.

- No.
- Sleep now.

From certain testimonies --
yours and others --

you evidently betrayed the clandestine
Central Committee to the Gestapo,

indirectly occasioning
the execution of Fucik.

Testimonies?
What's all this filthy nonsense?

We must synthesize all this material.

You said, "I organized Klecan's
repatriation from France."

He was in your Trotskyist group in Spain.

And you were the leader
of these Trotskyists.

- I had instructions --
- Sit down.

I had instructions.
Klecan was interned in France.

We got him out and supplied him
with papers to go home.

And Klecan betrayed Fucik
and the Central Committee.

Under torture.

Were you there?

- Hearsay.
- Unproven.

Members of your group overheard you
order Klecan to betray the Committee.

- Klecan --
- We have their testimonies.

Forget the Central Committee.

Reicin has signed
a statement about that.

Change them.

"In Spain, I admired
the anarchist leaders...

more than the party's."

I won't sign that. I admired leaders
like La Pasionaria, Durruti --

Walk.

You were told to walk!

We've wasted several days
on this affair.

I've put off my departure
to clear things up.

Given your anarchist activities
as a youth --

- I had none.
- You wanted to blow up a building.

I was 15.

The formative age.

It's only a formality. Handcuffs.

Not grounds for indictment.

These are merely
administrative reports.

The party can be severe or lenient,
irrespective of testimony.

Trust in the party.
It's your only chance.

I'll have earned my leave anyway.

"In Spain,
I knew the Titoist Dapchevich."

You admitted that.

I said I knew him, but also
Luigi Longo, Pajetta, André Marty --

Face the wall.

We're not concerned with them yet.

I never mentioned the word Titoist.

It's not a word. It's a political concept
defining our enemies.

But in Spain, in 1937, they were
Yugoslav communists, not Titoists.

An ex-undersecretary too.
You don't know the ABC's of dialectics.

The past must be judged in the light
of truths established today.

Do you know what Titoism is?

Say it.

I approved the denunciation of Titoism.

Then don't go back on it!

As Tito's minister,
Dapchevich is a Titoist.

There'll be no sleep for you
until you sign this.

How was your leave?
- I'm back on form.

Good. The way things are going --

Always splitting hairs.
Easy to see he's a Jew.

How sensible of you to advise
your wife to return to France.

It's best for her.

Have you seen her?

Why? Didn't you write to her?

Sit down.

The party requires a report
synthesizing all of this

and reflecting
your activities as a whole.

To save time, our comrade advisers
have worked on this project.

- So I'm doomed.
- Not at all.

The report is for internal use,
not for the courts.

Look, your fellow accused
have already signed,

and theirs are more serious.

"In 1947, in Geneva,
I had espionage dealings

with the known American spy, Field.

In return for information given,
he paid me 800 Swiss francs."

In return for information given?

But that's impossible.

The party approved the formulation.

Do likewise.
Show you're a good communist.

And say I'm a Trotskyist spy?

Because you are still a communist,
you have been able to confess.

Confession is the highest form
of self-criticism.

And self-criticism is
the principal virtue of a communist.

They want corrections.

It's your friend Hajdu.
Put "Zionist" instead of "Trotskyist."

He's a Jew, not a Zionist.

In a People's Democracy,
"Jew" is an insult. We'll say Zionist.

Zionist is a political concept.

"Jew" is forbidden in Russia.
They say "Hebrew."

Say "Hebrew" then.
"Zionist" isn't the same.

"Hebrew" doesn't sound as good.

Anyhow, the order is to say "Zionist."

Right. Let us continue.

No, wait. This is the report
for the prosecution.

Afterwards, you can dictate one
for the defense.

There never was any dossier
for the defense.

Through repetition, words like
Trotskyist or Titoist lose all meaning.

I'd have signed a statement saying
"my one-year-old Trotskyist son."

The only solution was suicide.

I tried twice.

And yet you're still a communist.
I don't understand.

No, I do. It's faith.

You are believers
who dislike the church.

Which one?

There are several. And God is dead,
so one can be a communist.

What happened to Field?

He reappeared in Hungary in 1955,
released and rehabilitated.

He doesn't want to return to the West.

What was he? An American agent
or a Russian agent?

Wait for his memoirs.

But why him?

After the Spanish war,
he ran an American aid service

for refugees in Marseille and Geneva.

It was there that
he helped dozens of communists.

He also had contact with Allen Dulles's
American intelligence service in Switzerland.

America and Russia
were allies against Hitler.

Then came the cold war.

The Americans got rid of Field
for knowing communists.

The Russians passed him off
as an American agent.

You were saying,
after 20 months in prison --

You must learn
questions and answers by heart.

Take him away.

Put the blindfold on.

"Question: Have you told all about
your conspiracy against the state?"

"Yes, I have held nothing back.

I confess my participation
in the conspiracy."

Say your lines when he stops talking,
just as we rehearsed.

- There you are.
- He knows his lines.

Take that off.

You don't look well.
How often do you exercise outside?

Never in 21 months.

Never? Luckily it's almost over now.

It hasn't always been easy.
Put that back on.

You are going to see your leader
and accomplices.

The party requires a report
on this confrontation.

Remove the blindfold.

Sit down.

Zilliacus made frequent trips
to the People's Democracies.

He was in contact with me here,
with Gomulka in Poland,

with Tito and his Fascist clique
in Yugoslavia,

with Rajk in Hungary,
with Kostov in Bulgaria.

So we eventually found ourselves
in the same trap.

The party secretary
who had ordered the arrests

and the minister of Security

who planned the proceedings
with the Soviet advisers.

I created the center of conspiracy
against the state.

I learned later that the secretary
had tried to commit suicide.

Padded walls prevented him
from battering his head again.

Next time he was alone, he shut
the door and tried to hang himself.

The man who found him just in time
was later decorated.

For official posts, I appointed men
who had lived in the West

such as Bedrich Geminder,

Josef Pavel, Karel Šváb and
the undersecretary of Foreign Affairs.

Why retract here? No one will know.

The party requires a report
on this confrontation.

Retraction means no hearing.

Survive to speak at the trial.

You've signed all this.

I was part of the conspiracy against
the state led by the party secretary.

I headed the Trotskyist group
at the Foreign Office --

Stick to your lines like that

and you'll be able
to appear at the public trial.

Slánský claims his role was limited
to ideological leadership.

So did Bukharin in Moscow,
but it cost him his life.

Learn all that now.

He'll help you out.

Prosecutor:
"How many espionage letters

did you forward to Zilliacus?"

Answer.

Two, maybe five.
I deliberately kept no records.

Prosecutor: "Be more precise.
Mention's been made of 10 letters."

Answer.

There may have been 10.

Your injection.

It's calcium.

That warms you up, doesn't it?

You're as white as chalk.
We'll have to fix that.

Guided by my bourgeois instinct,
to further my career --

Guided by my bourgeois instinct
and to further --

No. "Selfish."
Bourgeois and selfish.

Guided by my bourgeois and selfish
instinct, to further my career,

I became a cosmopolitan
while in the West

and defected to the bourgeois camp.

That's very good.

No, it's not good at all.

The text is all right.

But you'll never convince anybody
you're guilty like that.

Learn these 15 pages by Thursday.

You'll have to put in
some more sincerity.

You're lucky to be in this trial.

You aren't the main defendant now.

For the injection?
- Yes, only five more.

That'll give him a bit of color.

Take that off.

Dr. Novak,
president of the State Tribunal.

Have you any previous convictions?

Two. In 1931 -1933
and in Paris in 1942.

For what reasons?

The first was for communist activity.

The second was for anti-Nazi activity.

Don't note that.

Have you a lawyer?

I don't want one.

It's the law.
The state will appoint one.

Dr. Ruzick, your lawyer.

Despite the seriousness
of your position,

I see that the state is spoiling you.

Stuffing me, you mean, like a goose.

- Pardon me?
- My position is serious?

You risk the death penalty.

That is the punishment
you have earned by law.

Your only hope of a lighter sentence

is to plead guilty
and behave well in court.

What was your role
in the conspiracy?

I confess that I furthered
espionage relations

between the party secretary
and the British agent, Zilliacus,

by using the diplomatic pouch.

I myself maintained espionage relations
with the American agent, Field.

I've just spoken to the prosecutor.

In his opinion,
your case is the least serious.

A maximum of 15 years.

I told you,
you're lucky to be in this trial.

But you must behave well,
or your family will suffer.

The minister of Security
wants to see you.

I appeal to you in the name
of the party and the president.

Stick to your statement in court.

You will do the party a great service.

The situation is serious, war threatens.

The party expects you
to be guided by its interests.

It'll be held in your favor.

Your family will not suffer
the consequences of this trial.

The evening before the trial, they
brought me a new suit from home.

Don't forget the tie.

- These ones?
- Yes.

- Will he be freed soon?
- I don't know, madam.

Is he coming home?

They fetched my brother's things too.
Maybe they'll be home tonight.

Off to school, children.

SAVE SACCO AND VANZETTI

We later learned that,
since conditions were icy,

the ashes of the executed men

were simply scattered on the roads.

The driver had his little joke.

Fourteen people in one car!

Us and the 11 in the sacks!

The court is in session.

Accused, has the delay
stipulated by law

to precede your appearance
been respected?

I advise the accused to follow
the indictment and proceedings closely.

I ask them to benefit
from their right to express opinions.

I remind them of their right
to defend themselves as they see fit.

The public prosecutor.

The inquiry conducted
by the minister of Security

has established that,
after the Second World War,

in an attempt
to secure world domination,

the American imperialists organized
a conspiracy against peace.

They created clandestine centers
in the People's Democracies

composed of corrupt elements.

I accuse them as traitors,

Trotskyists, Titoists, Zionists
and enemies of the people

of conspiring in the service
of the American imperialists

and under the leadership
of Western intelligence agencies

to break our alliance
with the Soviet Union,

to overthrow the regime

and to restore capitalism
by impeding socialist construction.

But although the conspirators
and their leader

succeeded in occupying important
posts in both party and state,

they did not manage,
unlike Tito in Yugoslavia,

to usurp power
and attain their criminal ends.

Thanks to our people's loyalty
to the Soviet Union,

the conspiracy was broken.

On the basis of these facts,
the accused:

Former secretary of the party,
of Jewish origin.

Former head of Department
of International Relations,

of Jewish origin.

Former head of Economic Department,
of Jewish origin.

Former assistant secretary, Czech.

Former minister of Foreign Affairs,
Slovak.

Former undersecretary of National Defense,
of Jewish origin.

Former undersecretary of Security,
Czech.

Of Jewish origin --

Of Jewish origin, both former
undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs.

Of Jewish origin --

Of Jewish origin, both former
undersecretaries of Foreign Trade.

Of Jewish origin,
former secretary of Finance.

Of Jewish origin, former secretary
of the Regional Committee.

Of Jewish origin, former editor
of the party newspaper.

All these I accuse of having --

For three hours, absolute silence
reigned as the indictment was read.

We were being filmed,

soon to be displayed in cinemas.

The court will adjourn.

Sit down.

Cigarette?

Coffee?

Are you okay?

- Vitamins.
- Sit down.

Is it going well?

Drink that.

It's a political expedient.

Open your mouth, these are vitamins.

Do you need anything?

The president hopes
you will acquit yourselves well.

Did you give him some coffee?

All right?

I've been making inquiries.

There will be no death sentences.

What the party needs is not heads
but a top-level political trial.

Any death sentences
will be purely for the sake of form.

If anyone retracts in court,

the microphone will be cut off

and the 20 prosecution witnesses
will testify.

It's mine.

The court is in session.

We are resuming live transmission
of the conspiracy trial.

You are about to hear the testimony

of the former
undersecretary of Security.

The American spy, Noel Field,
unmasked during the Rajk trial,

testified that he had formed
an espionage network in our country.

How did you conceal
what you knew of this?

When we realized
we could not suppress his evidence,

I ordered a formal inquiry to be made.

I warned those involved
to prepare their defense.

There's a slight change in the text
to be learned.

You're next. Let's hear
the beginning of your statement.

- I know it perfectly.
- Question:

What led you to become
an active enemy of the state?

I was raised in a bourgeois milieu,
estranged from --

Do you want an interpreter?

Do you understand the questions
and can you reply?

What school were you at?

The German school in Ostrava.

- What is your first language?
- German.

Do you know German really well?

I haven't spoken it for a long time.

So you know no language well.

You are a typical cosmopolitan.

What was your attitude to the workers?

I was indifferent.

Did you understand the question?

What was your attitude
to the workers?

I was indifferent to the interests
of the workers.

I was indifferent to the interests
of the workers.

I never felt affinity with them.

Their national interests
were alien to me.

Your turn soon.

Remember, everything depends
on your attitude.

I was raised in a bourgeois milieu,

estranged from the workers.

Guided by my bourgeois instinct --

bourgeois and selfish,

to further my career, I was changed
by 11 years in the West.

I became a cosmopolitan
and defected to the bourgeois camp.

I confess I have been guilty
of actively participating,

from 1948 to the day of my arrest,

in the conspiracy against the state.

I acknowledge my guilt
in having furthered --

That man on the radio
isn't my father, is he?

I told them at school he wasn't.

You go to bed too.

...espionage relations
with the British agent, Zilliacus,

by using the diplomatic pouch
at the Foreign Office.

I myself also maintained
espionage relations

with the American agent,
Noel Field,

supplying him
with espionage information.

My wife decided to write
of her despair and confusion

to the president, whom she knew.

We shall read you the letter
sent to the president by Londonova,

wife of one of the traitors on trial.

"President Gottwald.
After my husband's arrest,

knowing what I did of his life
and his activities,

I thought him the victim of traitors

using him to shield
their own criminal activities.

Unfortunately, after hearing
the indictment and his confession,

my hopes crumbled.

My husband was no victim,
but a traitor to our party

and a traitor to his country.

My grief is great, naturally.

But as a communist,

I must be thankful
for this unmasking

and join all sincere comrades

in demanding just punishment
for these traitors."

As ex-factory director,
I can leave early.

Because of me.

You should never have hired me.

No, I'm not of working-class origin

and I was in the West during the war.

I don't blame you at all.
I know you are sincere.

But you were wrong to write that letter.

I wrote it to the president
and not for public broadcasting.

But you heard him plead guilty.

I heard a great deal too much,
and all of it rings false.

They're reciting lessons.

I don't believe in this trial.

Why would the party hold it
if it weren't true?

- There have been precedents.
- Precisely.

The whole thing
smacks of anti-Semitism.

It's intolerable.

Yesterday's heroes
becoming spies and traitors --

I can't accept it.

I'm handing in my party card.

You realize what that means?

But why should he confess,
a man like him?

Well, he --

I hope he'll tell us one day.

When I heard the indictment,

I analyzed once more Reicin's
activities during the occupation

and concluded that he must
have betrayed to the Gestapo

Julius Fucik and the clandestine
Central Committee.

Forget the Central Committee.

That's all in Reicin's statement,
already signed.

I would like to recall Fucik's last words.

"Whoever has lived for the future

and fallen for its beauty
is a figure hewn in stone.

But he who, with the dust of the past,

tries to build a dam against revolution,
is but a puppet,

even though wearing epaulettes of gold.

Men, whom I loved so, be vigilant."

The testimony of Fucikova,
widow of the Resistance hero,

made an indelible impression
on the judges.

The leader of the conspiracy said,

"Our conspiracy against the state
comprised hundreds of members."

A big task lies ahead for the judges.

- Coming?
- Yes.

I'll continue.

These three benches tremble under
the weight of crimes committed.

This leader should be seen by all.

His red hair, his Judas eyebrows,
his furtive eyes

crushed under the huge weight
of his crimes.

A dead man.
A dog should die a dog's death.

The court is in session.

In 1939, I established
espionage contacts in London.

With whom?

With the American agent
Emanuel Voska

to whom I gave information

concerning communist cells
in England.

Carry on.

I also had dealings
with the intelligence agent Hamson,

who summoned me
in December, 1944,

to a meeting
at the Ministry of Information.

...at the British Ministry of Information,

concerning my subversive activities

in our country --

in our country after it was liberated.

Return to your place.

Court adjourned.

In ridiculing justice, you confirm
your activity as an imperialist lackey.

It will cost you your life.

Traitor.

Don't leave him.

He gambled his life away.

He did it on purpose.

He'll pay for making
a mockery of the trial.

The court is in session.

Rise to receive sentence.

From November 20 to 27, 1952,
the State Tribunal has heard

the proceedings concerning the leaders
of the conspiracy against the state.

In the name of the Republic,

sentence of death --

sentence of death --

sentence of death --

In the name of the Republic,

sentence of life imprisonment --

life imprisonment --

life imprisonment.

The accused are granted time

to consult their lawyers

as to whether
to accept these sentences.

Likewise,
the court reserves its rights.

Court adjourned.

Where's my interrogator?

Where are our interrogators?

Where's my interrogator?

I want to see my interrogator.
Go get him.

Where have our interrogators gone?

Where are the interrogators?

I'll appeal.

I want to appeal too.

Me too.

- So do I.
- We must.

Here are your lawyers.

There are truckloads of resolutions
demanding death for all of you.

The international situation is deteriorating.
World war is looming.

With Eisenhower elected,
the party needs you.

If you appeal,
then so will the court.

And that means hanging.

Comrade countries
are demanding your death.

If you accept the court's decision,
you will be pardoned.

The party needs a trial,
not your heads.

The court is in session.

Accused, do you accept your sentences?

I accept
and renounce my right to appeal.

I accept
and renounce my right to appeal.

I accept

and renounce my right to appeal.

Criminally, we had all been
rehabilitated by 1963.

Politically, some of us
remain unrehabilitated.

Why did no one retract at the trial
in front of the journalists?

Because only triumphant adversaries
of communism would have believed us.

You were freed
and rehabilitated in 1963?

No, I was freed in 1956,
but it's more complicated.

A year after Stalin's death,
the minister of Security, Beria,

and certain advisers
were executed in Russia.

In 1955, a commission
began to investigate the trials.

Kohoutek's gang were imprisoned.

We survivors remained in prison.

Two years later,
Kohoutek was pardoned,

whereas many of his victims

lingered on in prison
for two or three years.

Don't you remember me?

What happened to us?

Do you understand it at all?

You know, when you were freed
in 1956, I was in prison!

Those who gave the orders then
are still in power.

I followed orders.

I expect I was under surveillance too.

May I offer you a drink?

How's your wife? All right?

I know she did a lot for you,
here and in France,

after realizing you were innocent.

How's your health?

You must take care of yourself.

I've found a nice, quiet job.

They won't catch me again.

I'm happy for you.

April 1968

Do you want to keep
this Kohoutek story?

"What happened to us?
Do you understand it at all?"

August 20, 1968

I read it all night.

Is he really going to publish?

Not me,
the Union of Czechoslovak Writers.

They're awaiting the manuscript.

The situation is still troubled, you know.

The imperialist forces are mounting.

You may bring grist --
- To the enemy's mill. I know!

You'll at least take me to the airport?

I'm not alone now.

The party wants the truth told,
despite certain difficulties.

- I hope we won't regret it.
- Good-bye, my dear.

Of course, they'll say,
"I wouldn't have confessed."

They'll wonder why I'm still alive.

But at least I'm not alone now.
The party and I speak together.

In January, 1968,

the reactionary forces
were removed from the party.

A new era began in Czechoslovakia.

The people found their voices again

after years of silence, passivity,
indifference or scorn.

This was the proof that socialism
lies in the liberty of the masses.

But the day I arrived in Prague,

I had to witness my country
invaded by 600,000 men

and 6,000 tanks
of the Warsaw Pact powers.

USSR - YOURS
CSR - OURS

WAKE UP, LENIN!
BREZHNEV'S GONE MAD!

ARISE, LENIN!
THEY'VE GONE MAD!