Original subtitles

My dear parents, I pray that by the time you receive this letter, I shall have

attained my last dream.

To cross beyond the watchtower and wall outside my window to the life enjoyed by

the majority of people in the world.

A life in which one can choose where and how to live.

And though it hurts me to know that I may never see you again,

A faith that I know you share.

I ask you to forgive me and understand that I must be with my children in the

West.

Poland. Why Poland?

Because you can go there legally.

No one will recognize you. You go with your own IDs.

You go on vacation, you want to visit the museum, whatever, no problem.

And then you join them.

In two days, as the rest of Germany can travel as I please, I decide to take a

vacation. I meet you in Gdansk, give you the false papers and IDs, and you...

Bought the ship that takes you to Hamburg the brain What is it?

It seems not so possible

I'm frightened if Marina goes no, sorry

Think positive.

Yeah positive When Hans asked me to go with you I jumped at a chance It's a

plan

Hans, you and Marina have a life to live, a free life.

And I?

My boys are there and I'm here.

My God.

I'll never see them again unless we try this.

It's our only chance.

Oh, yeah.

like a turkey.

See you tomorrow in Poland.

let me go

look

foreign foreign

Hello. Hi.

Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Wisniewski informs you that we have started our

descent towards... Remember, you have nothing to do with...

And say nothing about us. Nothing.

The temperature imbalance is... Thank you.

Can I help you, sir?

No, thank you.

What? Quiet. I don't need that audio.

This is Berlin U .S. Military Airport.

Flight 165, we have been advised by Universal Airport in Berlin of your

emergency. Do you confirm?

That's confirmed.

Ring up the crash control. We have a radar on a possible hijack. We call for

emergency diversion.

Lot 165, check wheels down, wind 250.

0F5, cleared to land, rolling.

Feel free.

On 165, this is transit control.

Hold your position. Shut down your engine.

Open the hatch.

Ask him again.

Did he hear anything or did he see anything?

What about the woman?

Sigrid Radke and her daughter were traveling with her. You mean to tell me

didn't know what was going on?

She has nothing to do with it. I told you before.

I did it by myself. I did it for myself.

Don't be a fool, Gunther.

This is what I always wanted for you.

Mama, how can I stay here?

When you was here for Jake.

Oh, no, no.

You don't worry about me.

Take care of your family.

I can't talk, Ma.

West Berlin, Saturday, with 63 passengers and eight crew members

peacefully when the armed air pirate Helmut Thiel, an East German waiter,

surrendered to American authorities at Temple House, the United States military

airfield here.

The hijacker, who was disarmed by U .S. Air Force personnel, was taken into

American custody along with a woman and a child in his company.

U .S. officials said eight other passengers, all East Germans, asked for

and were turned over to West Berlin refugees.

We are so lucky.

I am able to express

my feelings now without fear.

First me was happiness.

I pray that you will see this letter and smile for me.

I'm sorry to interrupt you. It just looks like you're having so much fun.

we enjoyed the new present very much. Thank you for coming out. I thought it

might be kind of a pain this way if you learned some English.

How are you today, Marina?

Good morning. Good morning.

More books?

No, no books today, but I did bring you some chocolate.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

It's all right, dear. I have something for you, too.

Oh, you brought me some books.

A short statement when prepared.

A formality. A release.

I can't believe it.

Why now, after so long?

Sigrid, we trust you. We believe you.

Mr. Leufer will be taking you to a West Berlin refugee center.

They'll give you identification papers, money.

They'll help you find a job, a place to live.

What's about Helmut?

Well, not yet.

With Helmut, it's a little bit more complicated.

On behalf of my daughter, Marina Ratzke...

I hereby release and forever discharge the United States government.

We are all signatories to the international accord against hijacking,

West Germany, for God's sake. And that agreement requires prosecution or

extradition back to the East to face prosecution there. And it's political

suicide for the West Germans to do either.

What the hell are they putting their coffee around here?

So Bonn wants out.

You bet they want out. We are in one hell of a bind.

We have to prosecute.

State has a mess, and justice must clean it up.

Courtroom. Yes.

And Bond is paying for every nail.

I mean, they're paying us to prosecute the case for them.

But, uh, what we need is a reliable judge.

As, uh, director of foreign litigation, maybe you could help us find one.

According to this report, there was a judge.

Yeah, well, he bailed out.

Left us holding the bag with three defendants in the bag.

They've been in custody for months. Now the East is demanding either their heads

or their bodies. And we have to deliver something if we want them to protect our

civil aviation from other such excursions. To Cuba, for instance. Yeah,

yeah. You said reliable.

You know what I mean, Bruno, huh? A tough, no -nonsense judge, possibly a

prosecutor. Look, we need this thing over with, one, two, three.

Does anybody spring to mind?

Morning, Jack.

Bruno, welcome aboard.

Can you take your shoes off?

I remembered.

I'll be right with you.

Born on the 4th of July.

I've got a Yankee Doodle sleeper.

She is my Yankee Doodle pal.

Yankee Doodle went to London just to ride the pony. I am that Yankee Doodle

I'm a Yankee Doodle man.

Oh,

my. Marshall would love this. I didn't realize the Justice Department had a

service. Thank you, Bruno.

It would appear, esteemed judge, that you're the one who's been cleaning up

mayors and... Eight.

Well, who's counting?

What is it, a couple of state secretaries, two state treasurers?

Extortion, bribery, fraud.

You should have had a sign over your door. Abandon hope, all who litigate

You're not such a bad prosecutor. Do you miss it?

What do you think?

They've been in the custody of the United States that long without a trial

hearing? The man still is. The woman and the child were released due to lack of

evidence to find the city of West Berlin.

The city of what?

History.

You know, since the Iron Curtain, no one has ever stood trial for escaping from

the East.

But hijacking is different.

Now we're talking about international treaty agreements, which, by the way, we

have just signed, and all of the international attention, so no one wants

day in court.

We certainly don't, and we occupy West Berlin.

The West Germans don't want it.

So it's heads we lose, tails you win.

So why don't they do that? Just toss a coin?

They did. We won. We did?

The Chancellery has had a very persuasive influence on the White House.

This will be the first such United States court for Berlin. All the

will be American.

That's for the lawyers and the judge.

And you call that winning the toss?

Of course, esteemed judge. We have you.

You've become an Article II judge with full diplomatic passport.

This could mean a better shot at the Supreme Court.

How much time, you figure?

No time at all.

Case is open and shut. This man, Helmut Thielez, his name, confessed to

everything. He's quite candid in his statement, held back nothing. He's proud

it. Glad to be locked up.

Are our prisons so much better than their street?

I want to discuss it with Marsha before I agree, but there'll be no plea

bargaining. You know how I feel about that.

Do I know how you stand on that? Wait, you'll fall. This is all we've heard in

law school.

How does it go?

Accept plea.

Only if the scope of the punishment afforded under the plea is adequate to

the nature of the crime.

Never mind a drug and an event.

What did Bruno say?

He said he sorry he missed you.

That's very sweet.

What did the man say?

It's an open and shut case. Shouldn't take any time at all. Could be like a

second honeymoon for us, love. He said the weather in Berlin is beautiful this

time of the year. I think it's very beautiful right here in New Jersey. Ah,

do you know?

You've already made your mind up, haven't you?

Yes, I have.

Why?

If it's an open and shut case, where's the challenge?

This could mean a lot to me, Marsha. Oh, Herbert, Herbert, your ambition is

shown.

Good God, you're 42 years old and a federal judge. What more do you want?

It's good enough for me.

You think I don't know that?

Well, I don't believe it.

A Jewish judge in Berlin.

Oh, what's that got to do with it? God, Herbert, we don't have a single relative

left alive in Europe. We don't even have a grave to visit.

How can you be impartial? Maybe that's the challenge, Marsha.

Can I be a fair judge anywhere, under any circumstances, here, on the moon, or

in Germany?

There's no other way.

drive a taxi?

Yeah, a taxi.

I don't understand why

you bring me here in such a way.

See, I brought you here because I have to share some information with you.

I'm sorry.

I had a very interesting visit this morning from a Maria Schuster.

Ex -wife of a certain Hans Schuster.

She says her husband is being held captive in East Germany because of

woman.

You.

Now I understand it all.

You've kept silent these last three months so as not to jeopardize Hans

Schuster's position.

Siegfried, you cannot protect him.

Nor can your silence help him.

He is in jail in East Germany and there's nothing we can do about it.

Cigarette? Russian?

No, French.

Foreign ministry.

Yuri Davidovich Andreev.

Assistant to the First Secretary for Security.

International Department of the Party Central Committee.

I'm flattered.

Ladies, gentlemen, comrades.

Must think me very important to run to the long apron strings of Mother Russia.

These forgeries are remarkable.

Are you in the business of arranging defections?

My name is Hans Schuster.

I'm an electrical engineer employed by a construction firm that does business on

both sides of the wall.

I met Sigrid Radke in February of 1977.

We fell in love.

The fact that we lived in two different worlds was an inconvenience I thought to

overcome. I was the secure for Sigrid and her daughter.

counterfeit West German ID passes, rendezvous with them in Poland, where,

to the false IDs, we would all board a ship bound for Rome and the free world.

Obviously, my plan failed.

And Helmut Thiele?

A waiter.

A friend of Siegfried's.

He has children in the West, I believe.

You do that very well.

This week, I've practiced the payoff.

Mother Russia believes you. Then I don't understand.

Why the waiting?

Try me.

Try me for the crimes to which I confess.

Get it over with. I would like that.

I believe you had nothing to do with the hijacking.

What hijacking? The Polish airliner. The one they forced to take them to West

Berlin. My God.

They are free?

Your friends are not free.

At this moment, they are in prison like you, waiting to go on trial.

That can't be true.

No one has ever been tried in the West for escaping from the East.

Correct. The Americans will do it for us. The Americans? They will be the

That's impossible.

Oh, no.

In all fairness to the free world, we shall let the American court establish

your sentence and their trial.

We shall be watching very carefully.

The war, Herr Schuster.

It's four meters high and 160 kilometers long.

You are in the construction business. You know how... You know how expensive

that can be.

Now, one of my duties is to make sure all that money doesn't go to waste.

In that sense, I too am in the construction business.

But if you are, in fact, in the profession of engineering escapes, then

stay here will be indefinite.

Please believe, there's nothing personal in what I tell you.

And I know what a man will do for love.

But the laws belong.

I think Marsha was right.

About what?

A Jewish judge in Berlin.

Somehow it doesn't sit well. The legacy's all wrong.

Legacy, shmagacy.

Judges are judges and judge, Poe Berlin.

That's it.

I don't envy the defense here.

How can any lawyer defend a skyjacking?

Do you have a list of the players?

Do the best for the man.

Well, you'd be especially interested in the choice of the woman's counselor.

Bernie Hillary?

Six weeks they had Rotke and the girl.

Six weeks with Heller working on them day in and day out every day. And he got

nothing. Yet the moment Rotke is released, she comes bouncing back, eager

turn herself in with a carbon copy of Cheely's Confession on her lips, right?

Right. And we're supposed to believe it, right?

Why? Because she confessed.

Oh, shit.

This is not a free -flowing confession. It's too hard. It's too constructive.

There's got to have been more said.

Questions, answers, comments, small talk, something, anything.

Now, what about the other passengers? Did they say anything? Hear anything?

No, nothing.

And even if they had, they wouldn't say anything to help us. I mean, they only

have relatives in the East.

Frau Becker, do you think you could get hold of a copy of the full

transcript of Sigurd's interview with Heller?

I'll see what I can do.

Good girl. Thank you.

All rise.

God save the United States and this honorable court.

You may be seated.

May I, Your Honor, for the record, introduce the counsellors for both

Representing the prosecution is the United States Attorney for Berlin, Mr.

Palmer, Mr. Alan Sherman, the Special Prosecutor for the United States Court

Berlin.

Representing the defendant, Mr.

Elmer Thiele, Mr.

Judah Best.

Representing Ms. Sigrid Radke, Mr. Bernard Hellring, and German counsel for

defendants, Ms. Kim Beckett.

Thank you, Mr. Ristow.

I want to emphasize that the purpose of this preliminary hearing is not to

determine the guilt or innocence of either accused, but solely to determine

the United States, which has been called upon to exercise jurisdiction in

connection with this matter, can find probable cause to believe that one or

of the defendants has committed a crime, in which case the accused will be held

over for a full trial. Is that clear?

Now then, Mr. Sherman, I understand a complaint has been filed against each of

these defendants. That is correct, Your Honor. Would you please inform the court

of the charges?

Your Honor, the defendants Helmut Thiele and Sigrid Radke have been charged with

the following four counts in violation of the West German Penal Code.

First, hijacking an airplane.

Second, taking a hostage to wit the lot stewardess. Third, depriving the

passengers of that plane of their liberty. And fourth, doing bodily harm

another to wit the stewardess.

Besides that, Your Honor, defendant Thiele has been charged with the fifth

count, possession of a firearm without a license.

Are you prepared to demonstrate there is probable cause to hold the defendants

on these charges? I am, Your Honor. Very well. You may call your first witness.

Colonel Patrick Heller.

Colonel Heller, can you tell us what your investigation has shown regarding

happened on the plane before it landed? The airplane was located approximately

15 minutes from Schoenerville Airport in East Berlin, when, according to his

confession, Helmut Thiel made his way to the galley, grasped the hair of the

stewardess, Beata Lavendowska, placed the pistol to her head, and forced her

the floor of the aircraft.

He then told the crew that if they did not land in Temple of Airport, he would

shoot the stewardess.

Colonel Heller, isn't it true that from August the 30th to September the 10th,

1978, Sigrid Rottke was held against her will and without benefit of counsel...

Object, Your Honor. That is the material to the statement made on November 28th,

when she came in voluntarily to set the record straight.

Sustained. Mr. Hellring, you will please confine your questioning to the

statement of November 28th.

Now, isn't it true, Colonel, that the only shred of evidence you have against

Mrs. Rottke is her own statement, since none of the passengers on the airplane

actually saw her doing it? Object, Your Honor.

Mr. Hellring is leading the witness. Your Honor, every single passenger on

plane was interrogated. I think the question demands an answer. I agree.

Overruled. Please continue, Mr. Hover. Thank you, sir.

I'll repeat the question.

Isn't it true that the only evidence you have against Mrs. Rotke is her own

statement?

Yes, I would say that. And isn't it also true that Mrs. Rotke told you that she

had begged Mr. Teeley not to go through with the hijacking and that actually she

attempted to prevent it?

Objection, Your Honor.

Overruled. The witness will please answer that question.

She did say that.

Your Honor, what Sigrid Radke may or may not have said to Thiele on that plane

doesn't matter.

The point is she did use her own daughter to smuggle a gun on board, and

hand that gun to Thiele. And then she did nothing whatsoever to warn the

captain, the crew, or the passengers that a hijacking, a hijacking was about

take place.

I'm inclined to agree with you, Mr. Sherman, but whether or not Mrs. Radke

attempted to withdraw from the scheme is a matter to be decided at a trial, not

at this preliminary hearing.

Anything further, Mr. Elring?

No, Your Honor.

Nothing further.

Does the government wish to re -examine?

Not at this time, Your Honor. Very well. The witness may step down.

Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, the court rules that there is probable

cause... Excuse me, Your Honor.

Mr. Best?

Yes, Your Honor.

I've been advised by my colleague, Frau Becker, that... There is here in Berlin

a perfectly valid constitution, very similar to our own, similar in its

protection of individual rights, but it doesn't provide for the specific

elements of due process as we understand them, in particular the right to a

trial by jury.

My client would like to know at this time if he will have a trial before his

peers, citizens of Berlin, as guaranteed by the American Constitution.

Mr. Best, I can only assure you as a federal judge that your alarm... Your

Honor, excuse me. I believe Mr.

Palmer would like to respond to that now. Mr. Palmer.

May I approach the bench, Your Honor? You may.

Mr. Best.

I'm sure Your Honor will appreciate the reluctance with which we approach this

complex. question at this time but i do not believe that we are actually bound

by law to extend those rights mr

united states attorney it is the farthest thing from my mind to embarrass

your client but all of us not just in defense but all of us the council the

court the people are entitled to know the limits of this court's authority

honor excuse me mr palmer Is it the government's position that the

of the United States applies here fully or something less?

We are not prepared to give a definitive position on that issue, sir. And we

would argue in American court... Gentlemen, we are not having argument on

today. Be seated, please.

We will next...

Proceed to arraign the defendants and reconvene here next Monday morning to

a firm date for trial.

Adjourned.

Open and shut gates.

It's a cake.

Shouldn't take any time at all.

Right, Bruno?

I'll provide the entertainment from here on.

Hey, that's my thing.

Greatest legs.

Second greatest legs in the world.

I don't hear anything.

Oh, from continent to continent, some things never change.

Hello.

Yeah, Bruno, what's up?

What the hell do you mean, no jury trial?

The United States authority in Berlin is derived from rights of conquest, not

the consent of the governed. So, in other words, the citizens of West Berlin

have no rights at all.

The United States court for Berlin is an instrument of the occupation policy of

the United States. The decision whether to grant a jury trial is a political and

not a judicial question.

Don't look at me, Judge. I didn't write it. So who did write it? Adolf Hitler?

The decision whether to grant a jury trial is a political...

and not a judicial question.

This, as I understand it, Your Honor, is the position of these prosecutors for

the United States of America.

I have been able to find only one legal precedent for their position, Your

Honor. It is the case called Cat vs.

Mouse from a foreign jurisdiction from the casebook.

called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

A cat named Fury said to a mouse that he met in the house, let us both go to

law. I will prosecute you.

Come, I'll take no denial. We must have the trial, for really this morning I

have nothing to do.

Said the mouse to the cur, such a trial, dear sir, with no jury or judge would

be wasting our breath. I'll be the judge.

I'll be the jury, said the cunning old fury. I'll try the whole cause and

condemn you to death.

What a shame that I should even have to rise to

respond to such a position on behalf of our country.

A position written by people somewhere in some foggy bottom with some pretty

foggy heads.

I ask the court to rule, Your Honor, not just for our clients, but for the honor

of our country, that these fugitives from another social system be at least

entitled to due process of the law in this American court.

We do not understand the confusion on the part of the defense over this

Your Honor. Well, this court is a little confused, too, Mr. Palmer.

This court... This court... sits in conquered territory.

It is an occupational court.

Therefore, it stands to reason that it is an instrument of American foreign

policy. It cannot, by definition, independently decide anything.

So, in other words, this court must follow the directives of the U .S.

of State. In other words, my job here is to simply obey. I have nothing to

decide. Not on the question of the jury trial, no.

Are you telling me that the Constitution of the United States does not apply in

this court?

It is our position that we're not restricted by the United States

in these proceedings. That is correct.

Have you ever heard anyone say that to any judge in an American courtroom

anywhere? I have not.

Two U .S. government prosecutors, one a black and the other a Jew, and they

sound like a couple of goddamn Nazis.

Do they really expect me to do the same thing that Nuremberg prosecuted all

those German judges for doing here 45 years ago? You heard him, Bruno.

They want me to be a good little boy and follow the Führer's orders and rule

that defendants in my court are no more than a mere extension of foreign policy.

They want me to become a goddamn Nazi judge.

Well, they can go to hell first. You know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to do what those German judges should have done in 1934.

I'm going to resign. They can get somebody else to do their dirty work.

Herb, listen.

If a jury of Berliners has brought in a judge case in which the United States is

a litigant, then the conquered are judging the conquerors.

And our status as an occupying power is at an end.

And Berlin is a free city.

And then the yogurt hits the fan.

Because the Russians will be here the next day.

Now, all I am saying is that this is not good guys and bad guys. This is the

state.

And Mrs. Palmer and Sherman are in the very unenviable position of representing

the state in what seems to be an inhumane policy.

You work for the state, Bruno. How do you stand?

In this instance, I support the decision of the court.

And that decision is mine alone.

Some honeymoon.

Weather in Berlin is beautiful this time of year.

I'm sorry. I'm just trying to understand what drives me.

What the hell is it?

Look at this.

My God, that actually happened.

You know, 70 people have been killed and more than 3 ,000 arrested trying to

cross that God -forsaken wall.

And now I have to sit and judge around two that made it.

How the hell can I do that?

Especially with the State Department breathing down my neck, telling me

no right to a jury trial.

Herbert, you have made your point.

This case isn't just a challenge anymore. It has gone so far beyond that,

I'm getting scared now.

Why don't you let somebody else finish it and resign?

Don't think I'm not seriously considering resigning, but I have to

What would have happened if Earl Warren had stopped defending the Constitution

before schools in the South were integrated?

And what if judges like Frank Johnson of Alabama and Bob Mirage of Virginia

hadn't fought for equal rights? They even firebombed Mirage's house, and he's

still held firm.

Who the hell am I to walk away when the Constitution's in jeopardy? Oh, come off

it, Don Quixote. Those guys were fighting for civil rights.

You're risking our entire future here for a couple of Germans.

So that's it.

You want me to take out the Holocaust on them? Bullshit. That is not the point

at all. Yes, ma 'am. That is not the point. Yes, that is the point, Marsha.

You want me to bury these people to make up for all our graveless relatives.

Well, let me tell you something.

My sole responsibility here is to uphold my oath to the Constitution and not to

any government policies or personal causes.

Please approach the bench.

Sir, this court rejects out of hand any notion that these defendants have no

rights here, and unless and until a different United States judge for Berlin

presides here, the Constitution will remain in full force in effect.

I'm calling your bluff, Mr. Palmer.

If the occupational authorities do not bring a jury of Berliners into this

courtroom, I'm going to be forced to set these people free.

You know, I always thought it would be different here in the West, but Hans was

always optimistic.

It is different here.

It's not perfect, but at least we can try to make our system work.

Countries don't care who they're hurt.

What is the difference between one system and the other when we have

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I know you.

You're really... Very good, Manny. You're trying to do everything for

me. Please, Sigrid, let me do it. Let me show how you were tricked into making

your confession.

No.

Don't you see that these Russians are here? They're in court. They see

everything. They listen, they watch, they see.

There's no hope for Hans if they know how he helped us. Look, it's bound to

out sooner or later.

Okay, but not through me.

It's our only defense, Sigrid.

Then I have no defense.

Don't you see that I'd rather go to jail for four or five or some more years

than to hurt him? I please you, respect that. Don't know that it's four or five

years. We could be looking at a sentence of 15 years.

It doesn't matter. Oh, for God's sake.

Save me from stupid self -sacrifice.

Tell me something secret.

Will your sense of honor and virtue feed your daughter? Will it put a roof over

her head? Will it keep her company for 15 years?

Will Hans want you to do that?

How accurate are they?

Surprisingly accurate, I'd say.

Especially regarding this particular trial.

So I can believe that Ikrit has not so far brought up my name.

That silence may be an attempt to protect me.

That's an act of love I can't accept.

She must tell them. And you think that set you free?

No. I'm worried for her.

I'm worried for the child.

But you wouldn't understand that, I think.

Really? You are too pragmatic, you people.

From each according to his ability to each according to his need.

Sounds so simple.

Beautiful.

But where in that capital does it speak of love?

I'm not sure what Karl Marx had in mind, but I know this isn't what God

intended.

God talks to you?

No.

I just feel with him.

Perhaps we have more in common than you know.

Then help me.

I have written a letter for her.

You can read it if you wish.

It asked her to tell the truth.

To save herself.

Nothing more.

I cannot do that, Herr Schuster.

I'll tell you who supplied me.

With the passport, the papers, the forgeries, everything.

Herr Schuster, how do you think we found you?

Now, Mr. Hellring.

I understand that you wish to have the statement of November 28th suppressed.

Is this true?

Yes, it is, Your Honor. Very well. I will hear your argument, sir, but I hope

is possible for you to accommodate the sensibilities of this court, or perhaps

more accurately, this judge.

Your Honor, you will forgive me if I don't quite comprehend your meaning?

shall be even and direct, sir. I hope there will be no more long and flowery

speeches, Mr. Elring, just simple declarative sentences, okay?

Your Honor, I will attempt, with the greatest difficulty, to control my use

the language that I love. A language that embellishes the law with great

Let us get on with it, please.

I'll try, Your Honor. Thank you, Mr. Helring. Now then, why do you wish to

the statement suppressed?

Your Honor, I have in this hand a statement, a confession.

And in the other hand... And in the other hand...

I have a transcript of that same confession, but including the leading

coercive questions concocted by the interrogators. Please remember your

to the court, Mr. Hellring.

Now then, are you telling me that that statement was not freely given, that

Radka did not come in voluntarily to clear the air, as Mr. Sherman assured

court? Take note, Your Honor, of how simple and declarative I can be.

Yes.

Objection, Your Honor.

Overruled, Mr. Sherman. How dare Mr. Hellring... Mr. Sherman, you are

Please sit down.

Who presided over this interrogation? Colonel Patrick J. Heller, Your Honor.

Hellring, that transcript must be produced and marked into evidence.

Oh, but... Your Honor, I'm afraid I cannot.

My client... Mr. Hellring. No, Your Honor, I think it would be

Mr. Hellring, I order you to show me that transcript now.

No, but... Excuse me for a moment, Your Honor.

Secret. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. The judge has ordered me.

Madam, I'm compelled to inform you, regretfully, of course, that even if you

continue to sacrifice yourself, there can be no guarantee that the information

contained in this transcript will not be revealed during Mr. Tila's part of the

trial. Do you clearly understand this?

Yes.

Very well.

Mr. Hellring, you may re -examine the witness.

Now, when Mrs. Votke was in custody, did she correspond with the outside world?

Yes, I believe she wrote some letters.

You believe?

In fact, you had copies made of each and every one of them. Isn't that true?

Objection, Your Honor. If your objection is valid, Mr. Palmer, you have nothing

to fear from this question. Please answer it, Colonel. Yes, I did. You had

copies made of her letters?

Yes, sir. With her approval?

She knew I was going to be reading her mail. She didn't know I'd be making

copies. On whose orders?

I was instructed by Mr. Palmer to review all her mail.

Why? We were afraid she would reveal her location.

You mean she was not permitted to tell anybody where she was being kept? We

her location a secret for her own security, sir. You mean you felt she was

danger here in Tempelhof, a U .S. military base?

Yes, sir. Danger from whom? From the East Germans, sir.

Please continue, Mr. Hellring. I have here a page from the transcript of your

November the 28th interrogation of Mrs. Rotke. What page is that, Mr. Hellring?

Page 13, Your Honor. Thank you.

This is you speaking.

We understand what you went through when the papers did not come. You thought

that Hans had been arrested and the hijacking.

The hijacking is not such a bad thing.

Now, when you said this, were you trying to persuade her or induce her to

confess? My motive was to instruct her as to what information we had about Mr.

Schuster. Excuse me, Colonel.

Mrs. Bauer, I want that last question repeated, please. Now, Colonel, I want

to listen very carefully to that question before you answer again.

When you made this statement, were you trying to persuade her or induce her to

confess? Colonel, do you now, under oath, read those words as an inducement?

I'm afraid I can't hear you, Colonel. Would you mind speaking up? I said yes.

Yes, I do.

I shouldn't have used those words. It was a poor choice of words on my part.

And do you now find this sort of inducement consistent with the duties of

officer of the U .S. Department of Defense?

No.

No more questions, Your Honor.

Thank you, Colonel. You may step down.

I find it to be a fact that the United States held a defendant, Mrs. Radko,

because they suspected that she was in league with a defendant, Mr. Tila.

And I find that without enough evidence to formally charge her, they nonetheless

continue to hold her and her child in illegal custody.

This court also finds that defendant Mrs.

Radka was unlawfully and unconstitutionally induced by Colonel

give statements that she explicitly did not wish to give.

Accordingly, the court rules that the statement given on November 28, 1973 may

not be used in evidence against the defendant.

and that it must be suppressed.

If the prosecution can make a case against Mrs. Radka without her

it do so.

If not, the case against her will be dismissed and all restraints upon her

freedom will be discharged.

Your Honor.

Yes, Mr. Palmer, what is your pleasure?

While the United States occupation authorities believe that the court's

and opinion regarding the defendant's constitutional right to a trial by jury

are not correct as a matter of law, they nevertheless want to move these

proceedings to a resolution, and they will therefore endeavor to give effect

the court's order.

Responding with one simple word, Mr. Palmer, do these defendants get a trial

jury?

pretty self -satisfied, aren't you?

Yep.

A little smug, maybe?

Yep.

You went all along, didn't you?

Nope.

Can you say anything but yep or nope?

Nope. Yep.

Terrific. I married to Gary Cooper.

Nope.

Spencer Tracy.

We are reconvened to hear a pretrial motion to dismiss the case against Mrs.

Radka.

Your Honor, at this time, the United States wishes to dismiss its case

Sigrid Radka.

Mr. Palmer, I think she needs much more than that, sir.

Are you prepared to use your occupational authority to forbid the

from pressing any further charges against her?

Yes. Then the motion is granted.

Mr. Hellring. Yes.

Case against your client is dismissed.

Thank you, sir.

An update on the Kempelhoff hijack trial.

Following the acquittal of Sigrid Radka, her attorney, Bernard Hellring, has

announced he'll stay on his T -list defense.

We Russians have no heritage of common law with its hapist corpus, nor

historical traditions of.

Public political debate.

Power is power, quite simply.

And a trial is nothing more than anarchy.

This judge, this man Stern, why is he so ungovernable?

This judge has a distorted sense of what serves the best interests of the United

States, sir. Not just the United States. My government is worried, Mr. Wilde.

Worried enough to have put me on a plane. And before I embark once again, I

expect to have found a solution that will dissuade others from hijacking

or other subjects of terrorism.

Thiele must be sentenced to a time in jail. That's very important. The record

must show his crime was indeed a crime. Even if I were to agree with you, Mr.

Andreev, there is nothing I can do to force the decision of a jury.

What in the name of God is happening here?

You said you wanted 500 prospective jurors, Judge.

Yes, this is them.

These are Russian soldiers, I think. They sure are. What are they doing here?

Waiting for us to strangle in our own contradictions. Steve, what the hell are

these Russian soldiers doing here?

They're here to intimidate the jurists, I imagine. Well, can't you do anything

about that? No, sir. Why not?

Because if we continue to believe that we have the right to cross into East

Berlin any time we want, then I can't stop them from coming.

Now, you want more cops here? No, for God's sakes, no more bodies. Just get

everybody inside.

All right, everyone in. Let's go.

Is this working? Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the United States Court for Berlin.

Meine Damen und Herren, herzlich willkommen im Gerichtshof der

Staaten von Amerika in Berlin.

Under our system of justice, a jury and a jury alone has the power to decide

what has been proven and what has not been proven in a court of law. Only

people who are chosen jurors, the 12 men and women randomly selected from the

community, will have the right to decide the facts of this case.

And based upon those facts, determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here so that you can determine the

guilt or innocence of a man.

Now, is this a man with criminal intent?

Is this a man who could steal?

Who would kill?

Now, what kind of a man is Helmut Alexander Thiele?

You realize the Polish crew, the pilots, stewardess, they'll all testify.

Yes, it's good.

They will tell the truth.

I didn't come to West Berlin to give the kind of false confession they take in

the East.

I want to try the judge that I could have.

I want to be judged by my own people.

He was standing over her.

The stewardess, you mean?

Yes, Beata Lewandowska.

He was holding her by the hair with one hand, and in his other hand he was

holding a pistol at her head.

And what did he do then? He demanded that we land in West Berlin. If his

are not fulfilled, he will shoot Beata Lewandowska. Captain, can you in this

courtroom see the man who held the pistol to Beata Lewandowska's head?

He is there.

Let the record show, Your Honor, that the witness has identified Helmut

Very well.

Go on, Captain. What did you do then?

First, I began to analyze the situation.

Then I decided to fulfill the request.

The demand to land at Tempelhof.

And, Captain, why didn't you land at Schönefeld anyway, as you were scheduled

do?

Nobody gave me, nor can give me, neither a moral right nor a written law.

authorizing me to risk the health and life of passengers entrusted to me. Of

course, Captain.

At the moment, I felt a sharp jerk.

Somebody pulled me by the hair.

I felt something, some hard object being pressed very firmly to the back of my

head, so I couldn't move.

And what did you hear?

I heard the man demand that we fly to West Berlin.

He said also that I shouldn't move. If I move, he will kill me. And unless the

crew does as he says, he will kill me too. And where was the gun?

Pointed at the back of my head the whole time until we landed.

And this gun that was pointed at the back of your head for those interminable

moments, do you know what gun it was? What sort of gun it was?

I don't know.

I couldn't see the gun. He was holding it to the back of my head.

And tell me, how did that make you feel?

I was... I was terrified.

Miss Lewandowsky, you said that Mr. Thiele held you by the hair while he

gun pressed against your head.

Now, was this the whole time?

Yes, it was the whole time. Until you landed at Tempelhof, right?

Yes, that is right. And where was Mr. Thiele standing?

He was standing behind me.

Behind you? Behind me.

Mr. Best, would you mind, please? Thank you very much. Your Honor, if it would

not offend the court, may I... Yes, of course, Mr. Allen. Thank you, sir.

Like this?

Is this the way he held you?

Yes, it was like this. Yes, and during this time, were you smoking a cigarette?

Yes, I did.

Yes, whose cigarette?

Mr. Thiele's cigarette. He didn't allow us to smoke our own. Yes, and was

anybody else smoking?

Yes, Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Gavlik and Mr. Thiele, he smoked too. He did?

Yes, he did.

Oh, and his cigarettes, where did he keep them?

In the pocket.

In his coat pocket.

Did somebody else take them out for him?

Yes, it was a steward, Mr. Gavlik.

He took the cigarettes out of the pocket.

And who lit Mr.

Thiele's cigarette?

I did.

Mr. Thiele was still behind you, holding your hair in one hand and the gun in

the other, and you lit his cigarette?

That's right.

Is it true that when Mr. Thiele was asked why he was hijacking the plane, he

said he was doing it for his family? Is that true? Did he say that?

Yes, that is true.

Now, when he said this, did he also show any pictures of his family?

Would you like the question repeated?

No.

He couldn't show us the picture because he was holding me the whole time.

He asked Mr. Gavlik to look for the pictures in his wallet. Excuse me, Mr.

Hellring. Madam, maybe I'm not hearing this correctly.

You say he was standing behind you, holding your hair in one hand, and he

gun in the other. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Then can you explain how he managed to pass the cigarettes around and give this

other man his wallet? Did he have more than two hands at the time?

I do not know how he did it.

I have my back to him.

The one who seemed to make the police crew so full of discomfort.

Yes. A lifetime's of snooping.

Mr. Gavlik, you testified that Mr. Thiele entered the galley of the

brandishing a gun and yelling that he was going to shoot Miss Beata

Is that right?

Yes, that's correct. And where were you at the time?

In the galley. And where was Miss Lewandowska?

She was in the galley, too.

You seem a little nervous, Mr.

Gavlik. Is there somebody in the public gallery that you know?

No. You sure?

Yes.

Uh -huh.

Do you know a man by the name of Roland Alexandrovich?

I know him only by name.

Uh -huh. And do you know him to be the prosecutor general from Warsaw?

Yes.

Well, is he in this court?

I don't know.

You don't know.

Right.

Will Mr. Roland Alexandrovich please rise?

Objection, Your Honor. Who may or may not be in the gallery has little bearing

on these proceedings.

Overruled. Go on, Mr. Elroy.

Will Mr.

Alexandrovich stand, please?

Now, is this the man you know to be Roland Alexandrovich?

Yes. Well, just a moment, sir.

Have you ever discussed your testimony with him?

No. Never?

No. Anywhere?

No, sir.

You claim to know him only by name.

Do you deny coming to the court with him today? Do you deny that he brought you

here from Poland and will take you back again?

Object. I have no more use for this witness, Your Honor. His credibility

for itself.

You gotta hand it to Barney and Judah. They're kicking the government's ass.

You've booted some butt yourself, Your Honor.

I only mean a choice.

Oh, they make it hard to resist.

Can you blame me?

What's the defense?

It's good to be.

That Tila was justified in the hijacking because he was going to be illegally

arrested and landed in the East?

That's a good question, Bruno, but the real problem for the defense is whether

or not to put Helmut Tila on the stand.

Don't they have to? How can they have a defense if he doesn't testify? Keep your

eye on that woman.

I have known him for many years.

And I also knew that he desperately wanted to go to West Berlin to see his

little boys.

His wife Maria, she was Polish, and she had left him two years before and had

taken the two boys with her to West Berlin.

So Helmut felt miserable without them.

And Mrs. Thiele never brought the boys back to see their father?

No, never.

Will you now tell the court and the jury exactly how Helmut Thiele...

became involved with the escape?

My friend from Hamburg had the plan that first I would go alone.

But I was terrified. I had my child with me, and it's so dangerous.

So with a friend, I would feel safer.

I asked Helmut, and he said yes.

So you both went to Gdansk together, and that is where your friend with the

forged papers failed to show up. Yes.

We... knew something terrible must have happened.

He said, he's been in prison, he's arrested.

They caught him, now we are finished. The same thing will happen to us, too.

that's when the plan was hatched? I'm sorry, I don't know what hatch means.

And that's when you made the hijacking plan?

Yes.

We are very frightened.

We don't know what to do.

We walk, we argue.

We are at the flea market when I recognized that my...

Daughter has left, so I see her staring onto something, and the sand is behind

us. Then she says, Mama, and I went back to her, and I see a gun.

She points at it. I see a gun, a toy gun.

Suddenly, Helmut had the plan that we should buy the gun, sneak it on the

and use it then to divert the plane to West Berlin.

I say, it's crazy. We don't have any money, so how can we buy the gun?

If we have the money, how can we get the gun on the plane? And if we have it on

the plane, how to hijack a plane with a toy? That's crazy.

But he says, for money, we shall sell all the clothes we don't need at the

market.

So soon we have enough.

And he buys a bear for Marina, and I see the gun closed up for the first time.

It's so small, it was...

It was absolutely crazy.

I tell him we can't do it, but he says not to worry, it will work.

How did you expect to get the gun through the customs?

Oh, that's my fear.

The cruelty card brought us to the private rooms where we are searched.

And that's when the gun was found?

Yes.

The woman found it.

My heart was ready to burst, but she gave it back to Marina and...

Tell her to be careful with her toy.

Faradke, you've stated this gun doesn't look real to you.

Is that correct?

Yes. Then why did it look real, the same gun, to Beate Lewandowska when Tila

held it to her head? I don't know. Why did this same gun look real to the pilot

as he tried to land a plane on a runway he'd never seen before? Your Honor, it

doesn't matter, in fact, whether this gun looked real or not.

Gentlemen,

please.

There's been an objection that I've not had a chance to rule on, Mr. Elring. It

has already been well established, Your Honor, that Mrs.

Radke did not set foot in the cockpit, so how could she know what anyone was

thinking?

Objection sustained.

The witness will not answer the question. The jury were disregarded.

Please continue, Mr. Sherman.

Mrs. Radke, in whose clothing was the gun hidden?

In my daughter Marina's coat.

Why?

Why, Mrs. Rodkey, why did you use your own child?

I didn't use my own child. I had to go through the customs to fool the customs

people. Besides that, it was just a little toy. It doesn't look real.

What is wrong with a child with a toy?

Whose idea was it to use the seven -year -old child?

It was Helmut's idea.

And one last question.

The defense is... established in the court as ruled that you had nothing to

with his hijacking, that in fact you never even set foot in the cockpit.

Yet you did hand Teela the gun, and you did know what he was going to do.

The desperate act of a desperate man.

And you knew there was danger for the passengers, for the crew, for your own

daughter.

Why did you do nothing to stop him?

Because it was not possible.

At the courtroom, when you have to believe me, I didn't want to put you

Please, you had to say the truth. This is okay. This is good.

But I was so confused.

They all told different stories, the pilot, the stewardess. At the end, I

know what's true and what's not true. As you say, you couldn't leave.

Oh, my boy.

You remember on the plane when I told you to give me a run?

Yeah. This was the moment I said to myself, He says, he says, now go to the

front of the plane.

They better ride it to land at Schönefeld.

So I point the gun at the girl and say, take me to West Berlin or I will shoot

her. So it's true he put it?

No, no. I didn't hurt her. I didn't hurt anybody. I can't. I was totally

nervous.

Believe me.

You must do something.

Good, Gunther.

Do what you must do, but try to keep our name out of it.

Mr. Kelley?

Yes? Who are you?

I was on the airplane with Herr Mathilde.

Our last witness, Your Honor, is a refugee from East Germany.

You may proceed.

Now, sir.

On August the 31st, 1978, you and your wife and child were passengers

on lot flight 165. Is that correct?

Yeah. Yeah. And when the plane landed at Tempelhof, you both took advantage of

the moment to defect.

Yeah. But you were leaving your family, everything behind you, your family, your

friends, possessions, your work.

And how were you employed?

I worked as a typesetter in the day, and at

night I was a student, but I was expelled.

Why?

I studied the German romanticists, Heine, Schiller, and then the

French existentialists, Camus and Sartre.

And then I write a term paper was critical of the party line.

Had you ever before had the impulse to defect?

Oh, yeah.

I was one of two children.

Myself, my older brother Peter, and we grew up in East Berlin, very close to

the war.

We always hated the war.

dream of going over and one night

about eight years ago we decide

to escape and we say goodbye to our mother we are praying that

we will be together again our family again and at night

The blood was pounding in my head.

And on one yacht we ran, yeah? And we were running, and my brother was

faster than I, and he got to the wall, and I fall

very hard, and I twisted my ankle, and then I

hear shots, and I look up.

And there is a bang, bang, bang, and a

long, tortured scream.

It's my brother screaming and falling.

And then the dogs, I hear these dogs, and they're

growling, making horrible noises.

It's nothing.

Silence.

What can I do? Nothing.

For this, I was arrested.

How old were you?

17.

And you were imprisoned for how long?

Oh, one year and three months.

You told me that if you had been successful in escaping to the West, you

your brother would have bought your mother's freedom.

Have you done that?

No. I said that she would possibly be allowed to join

us when she became 65.

Yes. Objection, Your Honor.

Would Mr. Hellring please get to the point? Your Honor, I am merely trying to

define the character and credibility of this witness. Objection sustained. Will

you please get to the point, Mr. Hellring?

Will you tell us now, please, to the best of your recollection, exactly what

happened on that airplane?

Uh... Okay.

Uh... When we are about to land in Schoenfeld, I'm in the restroom and I

come out. So I am very close to the cockpit and I can hear inside

a very strange conversation.

A man's voice says, this is

a toy, this gun.

Why do you do something crazy like this?

And another man's voice says, my children are in the bed and such is

must be.

And then he says, I have of my children pictures.

Would they like to see them? And I think they say yes. And then,

oh yes, someone says, do

you have a light?

And I think they are smoking cigarettes together.

I sense that they are in sympathy with this man and are

considering to play act with him

in this hijacking.

And that we are on the ground here at Temple House. And this man comes out. He

says, you are free.

And I look at my wife.

I'm thinking all these things that I have told you

and of my brother and my mother and my wife. She is thinking the same.

So we are decided.

Is there anything else you wish to add?

Don't know how to say all that should be said.

I want to thank so much Mr. Thier for what he has done for us.

He was able, he had the courage to do what we all have sought to

do.

This is all I have to say.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have obviously realized that this is

a unique trial.

The court is American, yet we are here in Germany, in Berlin,

and the defendant, Helmut Tieder, is a German.

Now you are Germans, I'm a German.

And we Germans do not need any additional evidence as of how many

leave the East or why those people want to leave.

I don't have to tell you why.

They want to be free. But what is freedom? What does it mean?

Can you see freedom?

Can you hear freedom?

I say yes.

Yes!

I say that each and every one of us has the right, the duty, to reach out and

grab it if we can.

Does it really matter what motives Mr. Teeler might have had?

We are told from the defense about Mr. Teeler's sons in the West. Yes, we all

have sons. We all have families.

Yet did Mr. Teeler for one moment think about the 68 innocent people whose lives

he was putting in jeopardy? Did he think about their children?

The fact of the matter is that as human beings, we care what happens to another

human being.

And we care above and beyond our moral beliefs because we're

required to care.

Let us feel sympathy.

Let us feel compassion.

Let us show understanding for all of this.

But in the midst of all our sympathy, compassion, and understanding, let's not

forget that Helmut Thiele hijacked an airplane.

And if the defense weren't brandishing the word freedom whenever possible,

another word might come to mind.

Terrorism. A deliberate attack on the safety of civil aviation.

And nowhere in the world, nowhere, is the protection of civil aviation as

important as it is here in West Berlin, especially after the airlift.

So for that reason and all the other reasons we've shown, you can have but

verdict.

Hijacking. Guilty.

Taking a hostage.

Guilty. Deprivation of liberty.

Guilty. Assault.

Guilty. Illegal possession of a firearm.

Guilty.

Foreman, please rise.

Will the defendant please rise?

Madam Foreman, has the jury agreed upon a verdict?

Yes, we have.

What is the verdict of the jury with respect to count one, hijacking, guilty

not guilty?

Not guilty.

Count two, depriving persons of liberty, guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty.

Count three, doing bodily injury, guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty.

Count four, illegal possession of a firearm, guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty.

Count five, taking a hostage.

Guilty or not guilty?

Guilty.

Schuldig.

Ja, schuldig.

Thank you,

Mr. Bristow.

Madam Foreman, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have done all that's been

asked of you, and your work is now completed.

I appreciate the sacrifice, the personal sacrifice that each one of you has had

to make in order to serve here.

You are dismissed now with the gratitude of the court and with my own personal

gratitude as well.

Sentencing will be Monday morning.

All rise.

Herb? Yeah, it's me.

Sorry if I woke you. I wasn't asleep.

Are you okay? Yeah.

Our daughter called.

Everything all right at home?

Mm -hmm.

She just wanted to know when we're getting back.

What did you tell her?

I said a few days, I hope.

Guess what else?

What?

She said they discussed you in the Adnesio case in her government class the

other day. Really?

And she was very proud.

Well, I hope she'll be as proud when I sentence this poor son of a bitch next

Monday morning.

The court, please. Your Honor,

the prosecution would find that a term of four years is more than acceptable,

and that is our recommendation.

You're asking me to give you this man for four years? Well, not to me, Your

Honor. To your client?

Yes, Your Honor, to the United States government.

I see.

Thank you, Mr. Sherman.

This has been the most extraordinary case I've ever been involved in.

Not only have we had to balance the safety of civil aviation against

human rights, not to mention complex international treaties.

But most extraordinary because we have had the judgment of the people closest

the situation, the free citizens of West Berlin.

And now it is my duty to honor and enforce their judgment.

Immediately after I was appointed here, the prosecution filed a brief arguing

that basic constitutional rights did not apply in this court, specifically the

guaranteed right of due process.

They tried to tell this judge how he must rule.

They placed themselves above the law.

and tried to turn this court into a charade.

I ruled that such a thing was not possible in any court where that flag

And now, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Palmer, I'm left to wonder who would be here to

protect Mr. Tila's rights if I did give him to you for four years, because I

believe you really mean it when you say he has no rights and there is no limit

to your power.

I am also left to wonder if this city needs another judge who follows orders.

Therefore, gentlemen, no.

I will not give this man to you under these circumstances.

Will the defendant please rise?

Mr. Tila, I sentence you to time served.

You are a free man, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, these proceedings are concluded.