Original subtitles

FIGHTER

AUTHOR AND DIRECTOR GUSTAV WANGENHEIM

MERELY ONE OF MANY PROVOCATIONS WAS THE NOTORIOUS PROVOCATION

OF THE REICHSTAG ARSON, 27.02.1933, IN BERLIN.

FEW DAYS BEFORE 27 FEBRUARY, HANS LEMKE, INCONVENIENT WITNESS, WAS MURDERED.

HE WAS A WORKER AT SP�RKE LTD, PERFUMES, (CLANDESTINE WAR CHEMICAL MANUFACTURER).

Your brother.

What?

Come here.

So it happened.

Did they get him?

- Dead, apparently. - Come on!

- Who? - Suicide, they claim.

They'll have to tell the truth, Mother.

- To whom, lad? - To me!

You, we don't know anything--

He threw himself out the window.

- Where? - From Sp�rke's office.

Sp�rke's a bastard!

Wow!

He's going to smash Sp�rke's face in.

No big loss. Fritz Lemke is a tough chap.

He plays football.

- His politics? - He's a wild card.

Not affiliated. Unlike his brother.

Why isn't he with us?

Sturmf�hrer Eickhoff, report to the gau office at once!

Call back the guy from Hamburg.

A chap like Fritz Lemke fits the bill, doesn't he, Director Sp�rke?

Otto Otto?

So, in the hostel you overheard

that left-wing elements plan to burn down the Sp�rke factory?

Just let 'em! We'd finally get our hands on them!

Quite right, Eickhoff.

You could contribute towards the national cause with this.

How much?

How much?

Hell, a chap like you should join first.

Hell! A chap like me should be Sturmf�hrer, Sturmf�hrer.

But it'll happen sooner rather than later.

- You studied? - Civil engineering.

- We're colleagues? - Nearly.

Here's the sad result.

Well...

Things will be different now.

Oh yeah?

Do you know

Fritz Lemke?

From the dole office.

Thanks for the great advice.

But leave me alone.

- Fritz! - Let it go, Mother.

Anna, stay.

You're guilty too!

Forget it. Tomorrow.

What are you doing anyway? Assemblies?

Blah blah blah. All you do is talk!

I won't find work that way. For that you're risking your head!

What do you want?

It's all right, mum. It's only Otto.

I know something.

What?

The culprit.

That's Sp�rke.

He should be sued.

Well...

I got a better idea.

A better idea?

Right, my lad, now let's have a drink.

I have a better idea.

Mother!

Where's she gone?

So, Fritz?

Deal?

Deal.

It's about to kick off here.

That's the only true policy.

At half past five.

At the building site.

Yeah...

- Wiesner? - Wiesner.

Karl Wiesner! He's with your lot!

Not with yours!

- What? - Whoa, whoa.

The Bachmann brothers.

Morning.

There'll be consequences.

Sure.

What's the matter? You can speak freely. He's with us now.

- What's up? - Hillstedt's here.

- Examining? - Yes, for Lemke's death certificate.

Idiots! Why didn't you call me? I should be in there.

Hello, Dr Hillstedt.

Hello.

Doctor?

- What should I do? - Oh, a trifle.

Certify it as suicide.

You can't make me certify. You're a civilian.

Civilian?

So, they want to burn down the factory.

We have to talk to Fritz. Right now.

No. We'll shed some light on the whole gang.

Know any sparkies from the factory? Come on.

PERFUME WORKS SP�RKE LTD.

Listen here, chaps. Tall Otto brought in Fritz Lemke, the moron.

He'll start a small fire downstairs, has no idea we're here.

We'll go big upstairs. On my command, enter through the boiler room.

Light it and go. They'll nab Lemke.

And? Well, they'll blame the commune.

Nearly there.

So, look out.

Now.

Go!

Look, there.

See, up there? A whole bunch. Swell comrades.

ALARM BELL

That Otto! How could you believe him? Come on.

Leave me alone!

Don't let them provoke you!

That's what they want. Come on.

They've nabbed Otto.

Otto? Damn mess.

Oh, here we have the arsonist.

Yes, Sturmf�hrer.

Holy moly.

Heil!

Heil!

Engineer?

Sturmf�hrer.

Where is Magistrate Sieber?

Nobody's here.

Well, that was a mess. The whole town's up in arms.

The fire's already out.

Turn off that damn racket box.

A new era of history is about to begin, gentleman.

But the thing with Hans Lemke...

What?

My dear Eickhoff, you can't possibly force me to sign.

We can, Doctor, we can.

Cheers!

You have to be humane despite it all.

You can't be humane, you have to be political.

Hello, Magistrate.

Hello! Obertruppf�hrer Rabenkampf!

You'll all have to join us. Come on!

I'll be--

You'll be aligned now!

Come on, lads!

Heil!

Hey, make sure you leave room for Magistrate Sieber.

Yeah, the old heap of brick nearly burned down,

before you delivered the new building to Sp�rke, Engineer.

Yes, things aren't moving at all.

But I'll have words with my company's HQ in Berlin.

Call themselves construction company, but doesn't construct.

The devil knows what's behind it.

- Subversive shopkeeper-mentality! - Right!

But now we're cleaning up!

Now order will reign! And truth!

REICHSTAG FIRE 27 FEBRUARY 1933

In the dark building, a police officer spotted people holding burning torches.

One of the perpetrators was successfully apprehended.

Van der Lubbe, a 24-year-old bricklayer from Leiden, in Holland,

was in possession of a valid Dutch passport.

And who gets the blame?

Us. That's who.

Well...

Close all windows!

It all needs to go, everything!

FIGHT HITLER'S FASCISTS' BLOOD TERROR VOTE COMMUNIST

Keep walking!

- Back off! - Get going!

- Keep walking! Go! - Shut the windows!

Disperse them, Rabenkampf!

First results of the Reichstag election!

Heil!

51 % IN FAVOUR OF THE "NATIONAL GOVERNMENT"

National Socialists: 21 million votes.

Heil!

Now they licked us with the damned Reichstag fire.

But what could we do without them, Magistrate?

Sharpish, that's the thing!

Chin up, we're soldiers of the Brown Army!

- Heil! - Heil!

Dear sir!

To Director Sp�rke!

Higher!

CONCENTRATION CAMP

Higher yet.

BERLIN 9 MARCH 1933

DIMITROFF'S ARREST UNDER THE NAME OF DR HEDIGER

PROFESSOR ROVELLI A FRIEND OF DIMITROFF'S

- May I? - Go ahead.

Where's Dimitroff?

Why mention the name?

Nobody knows it.

He's always on time. To the minute.

I might meet him soon. Wait here.

I can be reached later, at 2487, at Klebersbusch's.

The conductor?

Yep. And later on at the opera house.

In Klebersbusch's box.

Yes, hello?

What?

Unwell?

Thank you.

Hello?

Unfortunately Karl can't make it.

Unwell.

Arrested?

For the Reichstag fire?

That's impossible.

For being Van der Lubbe's accomplice.

Who's Van der Lubbe anyway?

FILM REPORT ABOUT THE REICHSTAG FIRE VAN DER LUBBE

He mustn't see us. Or come up here.

- Who? - Him.

The workers sic the children onto that crook whenever he shows up.

Count yourself lucky. Nobody knows about you.

I don't want to either.

What about our Hans?

Everything's broken.

Mother.

Maybe I'll get a job.

For the Nazis?

Who finds a job now?

Lad!

I can't stay here any longer.

So what?

Wheels need to be greased.

Go as a witness for the Reichstag fire trial.

I swear, Sturmf�hrer, President,

the workers were preparing an uprising on the day before the Reichstag fire.

I saw them myself, armed with iron bars.

I can swear to that. It's the unadulterated truth.

Now I just need the fare.

Go ask Martens.

The main thing is that we did it.

Martens!

Yuck!

Politics corrupts character.

Not mine.

- If anyone saw him-- - Comes in through the basement.

Stupid of us to let him go.

It's going to trial anyway.

Yeah?

Magistrate Siebert told me.

That old pedant and his legalese nonsense.

Right, Rabenkampf. You'll run the torchlight parade.

As always, Kaiser Street, Bismarck Square,

Steel Helmets at the tail end. What else?

The construction job for Fritz Lemke.

- Ask my deputy. I'm off to Berlin. - Permanently?

- Apparently. - And the trial?

I'll be there. I'll be my company's commissar at HQ in Berlin.

Just got a telegram.

Commissar?

Congratulations.

Thanks.

Down with the Reichstag's arsonists!

Where are the subhumans?

In the cellar!

Down!

So?

I wanted... regarding my brother... the cause of death...

Well, it's on the death certificate.

Was it Director Sp�rke?

Sp�rke? Nonsense!

- What is it you want? - The culprit!

Don't talk nonsense! What if someone listens?

My dear Lemke. I know you're a very decent person.

It'll have to suffice.

Please don't involve me in your ruminations.

A communal psychosis has broken out since the Reichstag fire.

- Yes, doctor. - I'm sorry, that's all I can say.

He didn't say anything.

The doctor's afraid too.

I don't care. I want to know the truth.

You alone?

An individual is powerless against them.

The Bulgarian is causing a huge fuss.

This doesn't suit him nor that, and the demands he makes!

Knows the prison regulations by heart.

Chap's a veritable prosecutor, he is.

Quite a fellow.

"Written statement, dated 20 March 1933."

Isn't he Hediger, a Swiss national?

Nonsense. He's Bulgarian, called Dimitroff.

The stuff he's asking for!

Dietrich Sch�fer, German history, Goethe, Byron,

Shakespeare, Bismarck, Thoughts and Memories, 80, 85.

What's he like?

Some kind of professor. Burned down the Reichstag, supposedly.

He's a composer, eh?

Curly hair, must be a musician.

He won't be making any music for much longer.

They got him.

What's the matter?

Nothing.

Then leave me alone!

There, it's all right.

Here you go.

What is it now?

The picture. There, I suspected it.

Arrested, a whole month ago.

What?

A travel acquaintance, Doctor Hediger.

"Dimitroff, Tanev Popov."

It's not him at all.

It is him.

Yeah, it's possible. Carry on, please, carry on.

- We'll have to inform the police! - Rubbish! Don't bother me!

"Don't bother me!" It's a question of life!

Nonsense. I'm a musician.

Looks like they don't have Rovelli yet.

- It's not necessarily true. - What?

I don't think Dr Hediger, that is, Dimitroff, has it in him.

Burning down the Reichstag.

I do think he's got it in him. And Rovelli too.

Nonsense.

- Marie. - Madam?

Clear the table. And take this thing away!

Dear Marie, what can we do? She wants to inform the police.

Mother's about to go touring abroad, she'll be away for a while.

That's right.

You'll have to warn Rovelli, no matter what.

But how do I find him?

This is from him.

"Fritz K�nig, flower shop, Bellevue train station."

He must live there. You'll have to wait at the station.

Perhaps all day. He'll show up at some point.

FLOWERS FRITZ K�NIG

Hello!

Hello, Professor.

Hello.

At last, Professor.

Please, you mustn't come to our place now.

Why?

My mother wants to report you to the police.

Me?

Yeah, we read in the paper Dr Hediger is Dimitroff--

Nonsense!

Let's go over there.

What's he doing now?

Without his music.

Dear child, he has different worries.

But he does love music.

Immensely.

In Sofia, he once said,

"My prison orchestra

are the sparrows."

Well, and in Berlin?

There're sparrows here too, you see?

And someone like that

was allowed to roam freely here in Berlin.

Read, Steinschneider.

Those are assumptions. His actual identity is unknown.

Director, where do you want the desk?

If you would, Commissar.

Further back.

His identity remains to be seen.

But certain is, it was he who set fire to the Reichstag.

DRAMATIC WORKS

Rabenkampf, what are you doing?

HEINRICH HEINE WORKS

It's scientific, Sturmf�hrer.

And a Heine quote will be the motto on our leaflet.

And we'll have to elect a representative for an investigative committee abroad.

We'll get hold of the Brow Book, The Truth about the Reichstag Fire.

- We have to help-- - No!

- It won't work. - Why not?

If everyone here, fights--

- Do you know this chap? - Yeah!

- Does he really want to fight? - Yeah.

Well, then he's like anyone of us, and we'll have to elect him.

Right?

In favour?

BUILDING SITE SP�RKE RUN BY CONCRETE & STEINSCHNEIDER LTD.

- Hello. - Hello.

- It goes right to the damn bone. - What does?

- I'm just rusty. - But you're playing football.

- It ain't the same at all. - I see.

Take a bunch of them.

Leaflets. The truth about the Reichstag fire's in there.

- I don't want to know. - You might learn something.

Don't be so rough with her.

Damn mess!

Again! Holy crap!

"Freedom for the innocently accused!"

I'll catch those chaps one day! They've got something coming!

Pick them up, all of them!

You must be crazy--

And you!

- What do you reckon? - Not a thing.

We won't learn the truth, we're too weak.

I'll just play football.

1 MAY AND I'M STUCK IN MOABIT PRISON

IT'S TERRIBLE AND SAD!

BUT "DANTON, DON'T WEAKEN!"

Cheese package. Is he allowed it?

Nope.

He can sign his thousands of letters.

Georgi Dimitroff...

But not one single protocol.

The investigation ended on 1 June.

But the bailiff isn't done. It's his revenge.

"Handcuffs are to be tightened. 17 June."

INITIATION OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS?

Hi, Anna.

Don't we look pretty?

We need to take over the entire football club.

Willy.

Take Fritz Lemke under your wings.

He has to join us today.

He just has to join us today!

Rabenkampf has his eyes on Fritz.

- We've got to take him away. - Dance with him.

Go on.

Hello! What are you doing here, Anna?

Me? I crave human company.

What about you?

I also crave human company.

And beat the timpani.

Lazy bunch, you, keep playing. We want to dance.

Join our table later, Anna.

I want nothing to do with them.

What?

So, Fritz? What about Anna?

Never mind. I have other worries.

23.07.33 - A SUMMER SPENT IN PRISON - WORSE THAN DEATH!

THE CASE OF VON DER LUBBE AND COMRADES

THE CASE OF VON DER LUBBE AND COMRADES

BROWN BOOK REICHSTAG FIRE AND HITLER TERROR

- Ready? - Yeah, it's finished.

This will show the world the truth.

It'll show the world the truth.

What's that then, Mum?

Nothing.

Holy moly.

Swell job.

CULTURAL HISTORY OF GERMANY

Well, and now I'm back in Berlin.

Old fellow, I don't trust you.

But, Sturmf�hrer, for you I'd walk through fire.

None of that cheek!

We do have other means.

- What do I testify in the trial? - Which one?

No, not the Reichstag one. I know about that.

The date's set, says Lemke.

When?

22 August.

The day after tomorrow? Damn, I nearly forgot.

I have a summons after all.

Right, you'll testify...

as previously agreed.

I was attacked.

The fire--

I won't even mention the fire.

All right.

Am I done?

It's not in our interest to get you into trouble.

And I thank you kindly, Sturmf�hrer.

Hello, Mother Lemke. Your post.

Can Heini stay a while? I have to go to work.

It's the summons.

- The summons is here. - What?

- Tomorrow, to the trial. - After all?

You'll have to say,

"You bludgeoned my Hans to death because of Sp�rke's poison gas."

Because he knew the kind of perfume they're producing.

"You killed Hans just for the sake of war."

Mother!

For the sake of war.

So that's why Eickhoff flew in from Berlin by plane today.

To commit perjury,

tomorrow.

Yes, of course, Prosecutor!

Of course.

Dr Hillstedt will swear to it too.

He can do it with a clear conscience.

Whether Professor Weber saw Hans Lemke, but not Peters is of little consequence,

or whether Director Sp�rke saw Peters, but not Hans Lemke,

or whether I saw Hans Lemke, but not Peters...

It needs to be orchestrated.

But since the Reichstag fire everyone knows these subhumans,

and that they always plot crimes!

Set fire, blow up, conspire, kill, this or that!

Whether they're called Dimitroff, Popov, Taliev,

or Hans Lemke, Peters and so on.

- Bunch of cowards! - What?

Behind closed doors!

Dirty lies!

I emphasize again,

if the defendants don't remain calm, they will be removed from the room.

Witness Dr Eickhoff, M. Eng.

If you'd please.

I swear before God, the All mighty...

- I swear before God, the All mighty... - To speak the truth...

the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Commissar, unfortunately it was unavoidable,

pulling you off your official duties in Berlin.

Therefore, Witness, please comment on the assault in question,

from 23 February 1933.

I can merely repeat Mr Rabenkampf's statement from before.

Subhumans had plotted an uprising here, the same as all over Germany.

As early as 23 February...

Listen, we'll all chant, "Who killed Hans Lemke?"

Pass it on, "Who killed Hans Lemke?"

Who killed Hans Lemke?

Pass it on.

Then I received a terrible blow on the head.

It was there.

With one of these iron bars.

That's all I know.

Was it dark?

- Was it dark? - Absolutely dark.

How can he claim he recognised the bar two days later in that case?

This question is be rejected because it's redundant.

Why was the witness arrested?

By mistake.

- Yes, accidentally. - I want--

You don't have the floor. Sit!

Witness...

Fritz Lemke.

I'd like to question--

I'd like to question you again.

You might help us get closer to the truth now.

The truth is, the other accused are just as innocent as my brother.

Be careful. Maybe you yourself are involved.

That's all I know.

Your brother Hans Lemke threw himself out of a window on 25 February, 11 am.

I don't know.

As per formal, medical certificate.

As you're well aware, your late brother Hans Lemke,

- and Konski, Leider, Wartsch, Lehmann� - Who killed Hans Lemke?

...and the fugitive Peters were charged with attempted murder.

Who killed Hans Lemke?

Comrade!

Comrade. We're gathered here today,

to talk about the fire at the Reichstag,

to talk about Comrade Dimitroff.

We're well aware that the Reich's government

has justified and postponed the trial

for as long as they could.

Public scrutiny was avoided for this matter.

And now we learn

that the trial will commence on 21 September.

This decision, comrades,

was imposed by world public opinion!

The accused have been in chains for a month...

they have been handcuffed.

The whole world is protesting against these undignified methods.

It's an outrage that these men are handcuffed!

The handcuffs have to go!

Oh, to have to experienced that...

In Paris, a committee of the world's most famous lawyers is meeting.

The truth?

Do you know the truth?

Shall I tell you who set fire to the Reichstag?

The Reichstag was lit--

Will you tell the truth, you swine?

Did you subhumans plot the uprising on 27 February?

No.

You set the Reichstag on fire!

No.

Nobody knows anything here.

It's like being in prison.

A friend invited me for a few weeks in Leipzig with her.

Leipzig? How interesting.

I'd go with you if I had the time.

It's this trial...

Right, no changes. Tomorrow you're going to Leipzig as a witness.

Yeah, you're such a swine, Otto Otto.

Then why am I boozing with you?

Because all of us are humans.

Witness!

Witness, what do you know?

I know...

You'd better not know too much!

I'm still standing upright.

General Director Steinschneider,

I don't give a fuck for your booze!

Otto, you'd better not know too much!

Too much is dangerous.

You can never know too much, said my friend.

And he knows the bailiff personally, the magistrate.

- The bailiff? - He has a bright future.

They have big plans for him!

He'll show them yet!

All over the world.

They will talk about it for a thousand years!

They'll talk about it much later.

Otto Otto.

A thousand years.

21 SEPT TO 23 DEC 1933 REICHSTAG FIRE TRIAL IN LEIPZIG

Attention, attention.

We are at the court of the Reich in Leipzig.

Tremendous tension reigns in the hall where world history is being made.

Led by police officers, the defendants enter the Reich's courtroom.

Taking the point, Marinus van der Lubbe.

Come, Dimitroff.

So I'll ask the third question.

Did van der Lubbe discuss the preparation

and implementation of the Reichstag fire with anyone?

Objection. The question is unnecessary!

Why did van der Lubbe commit this monstrous crime

against the German workers, and who with?

I won't allow these questions! I forbid you to ask more questions!

This is a political trial.

So I have to ask political questions.

My question is directed at the count.

Did he notice anything related to a workers' uprising

in connection with the Reichstag fire?

No.

This is very important.

Due to the utmost importance of this question for the trial,

I request Mr Stellmann be called as a witness.

There you go! I lost them!

- Who? - The Nazis.

- Peters? - Hasn't arrived yet.

Did you hear Dimitroff?

Fritz gets to hear the truth.

Should I make more coffee?

Take him.

- Anna, give me a hand with Fritz. - But how?

Well, you're a woman after all.

- I'm just his mum. - I got enough trouble.

- But you like him. - No!

- I do. - You see?

But it's politics I like.

Politics, man!

You heard Dimitroff.

It should all form one unit, a whole person.

I don't want him to join us on my account.

Join us?

Well...

AND SP�RKE'S FACTORY DID BURN AFTER ALL!

So now the factory is on fire.

Why?

You'd have to ask Sp�rke, the owner.

- Sp�rke! - He's celebrating.

- The start of the trial. - Trial?

About of the Reichstag fire.

- I see. - He's insured alright.

It could also be job creation. Bunch of murdering bandits!

First they tried it differently.

Let it go.

- Where're you off to, Mother? - Out.

- Let me. - You're going to Peters'.

- Dunno where he's at. - You do!

- No! - To him! The police will find you!

- No! - With him!

Better than murderers and arsonists!

- What can I do? - You should be ashamed above all!

Before Peters! You should have done like Dimitroff at the trial!

I wasn't the accused!

The accused? We all are!

- You should-- - I should croak!

Do you really think I'm not afraid...

for you?

You are mine!

Yes, Mother.

And him too.

And him?

And him?

And him?

They're all mine.

It's no one's fault that he was born a slave.

But...

Girl!

Go up to him. I told him, he should be ashamed of Dimitroff.

Go up right now.

Come in.

Oh, it's you, Anna. Are you looking for Mother?

Yes.

For her too.

Why should I be ashamed?

I can't be like Dimitroff.

Man, but...

Now, listen.

- The truth? Where from? - Peters.

Read about Dimitroff.

"I'm a proletarian fighter.

That's precisely why I'm no terrorist, no adventurer...

and no putschist.

The Reichstag fire is a consequence of political provocation

and political madness."

The Bulgarian Dimitroff spews vapid slogans again.

He paints himself a star.

Dimitroff employs a clown's mask

to conceal his true nature, a criminal terrorist and arsonist.

The commentator is a bastard! What's he saying about Dimitroff?

He really makes me want to...

Burn things?

Differently.

Differently.

And you just stand there and guard Dimitroff.

Why aren't you like him?

Give my regards to Dimitroff tomorrow.

Let's write him a postcard.

Coward.

"Mr Dimitroff...

Don't let Berlin get you down.

Regards."

Without signature.

- Hello, Mum. - Hello, child.

- What's up? - Nothing special. Hello, Dad.

Back already?

A meeting about a job. But I'm heading back to Leipzig.

To my girlfriend's.

Be quiet! "Be quiet", says the chairman.

Dimitroff, "I am not..."

"I am not merely Dimitroff, the defendant,

but also defense attorney for the defendant Dimitroff."

"Dimitroff, I expel you for this impudence!"

What a guy, this Dimitroff!

But he shouldn't attack that way.

- Then how? - Well, like this.

"Well, like this"?

But then he wouldn't be... Dimitroff.

He'll lose his head over this.

It's a shame.

Too political.

He should just defend himself as a human being.

What do you mean, as a human being?

He does have an alibi from Munich.

Above all, he has a political alibi.

How come?

People of his ideology would never do that.

It looks like you've learned a lot from the trial.

It is incomprehensible, unbelievable, unfair

that my accusers hold the Brown Book,

while I, the defendant, don't know this book.

I demand that the Brown Book is handed to me.

Our Group of Five decides,

by 1 November everybody is to get hold of two Brown Books.

We'll send them to Dimitroff!

Bravo!

- Alright, so until 1 November. - Yeah.

No harm done.

Now he is with us.

The boat's gone. As I said, we have to swim back.

- But you got grazed. - I'd rather swim than run.

There must be guards on the bridge.

We should check, as agreed. Wait, I'll have a look.

I'll get going. Peters is waiting. He'll be glad we got the Brown Books.

Peters? Take it easy, he says. Give me the Brown Books.

No! Let me.

Nobody's here, nobody saw us.

Feeling better?

- Hey, Fritz. - Yes?

Thank you.

You'd have pulled me out too.

- Dimitroff. - No, you.

Same difference.

There! Pretending they're lovers!

We've seen it all before, Fritz Lemke and Anna!

So it's true!

You bastards!

Peters and company!

What's this then?

Take a look at this!

The Brown Book.

- A whole bunch of them. - Let's go!

Quite a catch!

I've always wanted to read it.

Let's go! Go!

Swimmers? Let's go!

Aha!

Stomach in! On the double!

Back, on the double!

CONCENTRATION CAMP OF STORM TROOP 16/35

Stupid bastards! Subhumans! Dismissed!

Back, on the double!

Again!

Only work can save us!

I'll show you, Fritz.

Well, how's your football going?

Man, Dimitroff spoiled the fun of that.

He tells you the truth.

And how! I want to be like him. I'd have the guts for it.

Guts ain't enough.

Toe the line, dear chap.

They're doing a beginners' course.

Attention!

Room 6, occupancy: 37 man. A man in the hole, three on sickbay!

Bunch of bastards!

You swine!

If anyone here complains, I'll put them against the wall!

It's war on my watch!

In case you still didn't know!

You subhumans!

Let's go.

Whipped, right in the face.

Quiet, old boy.

- We'll be the judges. - We'll...

I know. The chairman...

Attention!

This is the anti-fascist broadcaster!

To all comrades, here you'll hear the truth

about the Reichstag fire and other fascist lies and crimes.

In the name of working people around the world,

Georgi Dimitroff...

- That's him. - Who?

The Chairman.

...has brought charges against the Reichstag arsonists,

against the murderers of Ernst Busch.

- Fritz Rau! - Hans Otto!

- Sawdust coffin! - Hermann Kessler!

- ? - Isolde!

- Fritz Marquardt! - Hans Lemke!

Long live Dimitroff!

Dimitroff!

DIMITROFF EXCLUDED AGAIN!

IN THE CORRIDORS OF THE REICH'S COURT AFTER DIMITROFF EXPOSED THE PERJURERS.

- Good morning, Judge. - Morning!

- What's the matter? - Dimitroff's excluded again.

He said, he might not come back if things don't change.

The entire trial is falling apart.

Should he give his testimony at all?

- Ask the judge. - He's completely lost.

Nobody can ask him anything now.

"I question!"

But, gentlemen...

That Dimitroff is quite a guy.

He's the chairman here now.

So what?

We shan't need witnesses like you now.

Look, Dimitroff drew this and presented it to the court today.

And he said, "From Nazis

to psychopaths and thieves, the circle of witnesses is closed!"

So for you the trial is a failure.

- For us. - What?

Not my fault you're out of a job.

- We shall-- - But we haven't yet.

Beg your pardon?

Better watch out. You'll end up a sucker too.

Stuff your wisdom. Nobody's listening.

You're covering up the Hans Lemke affair!

Stop!

The three main Nazi witnesses appeared together in the Reichstag.

I'm asking, how could Mr Karwahne only see Van der Lube with certainty,

but not Torgler?

Mr Frey saw Torgler, but isn't sure about Lubbe.

Mr Kreyer saw Lubbe, but isn't sure about Torgler.

But, gentlemen...

How is it possible?

Get back to work.

Obviously, the witnesses play allocated roles.

I congratulate the prosecution for such witnesses--

Nothing about the trial should be broadcast, nothing!

That Dimitroff!

Sign here, please.

Damn! I'm commissar of the German revolution,

not your employee!

That's not a great contradiction, my dear.

By the way, you've been relieved of all that.

How come?

An order has been issued,

"All company commissars are to be recalled."

Correct. Goodbye.

Goodbye.

FREE DIMITROFF

All that remains is disgust.

Loathing. Hatred.

Too right, old chap.

Politics corrupts character.

It's just no good.

What?

My character?

Or perhaps my politics?

I admit it, I use sharp and harsh language.

But my struggle and my life have also always been sharp and harsh.

Heath and bog are everywhere...

Go!

...No birdsong to cheer us up

Oaks are standing gaunt and bare...

Back, on the double!

...We are the peat bog soldiers Marching with our spades to the moor...

So you want to help, eh?

Back, on the double!

Work!

...We are the peat bog soldiers...

Every word I speak here is blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh.

I'm not asking for mercy or sympathy here.

I'm defending my life's meaning and content.

Everybody fall out, on the double!

Well, so you're back.

Eight days, tied up.

Never mind.

Dimitroff, five months, and yet he's victorious.

Listen, I discussed it with two comrades.

We'll read the trial. We've got the minutes.

Go stand guard.

Alright, let's go.

We'll read it again for you.

Here comes the dramatic scene from the Leipzig trial.

I'll read Chairman B�nger.

I'll read Comrade Dimitroff.

And I'll read...

Fried.

They must be up to something again in 6.

I'll show you lot!

- Dimitroff! - Did the court know?

I'll tell you what the German people know--

You should shout it.

The German people know that you're rude, that you burned down the Reichstag!

In my opinion, you're a crook. You should be hanged!

Dimitroff! I strictly forbid you using propaganda!

You're only to ask purely objective questions!

Boy, oh boy!

I'm very pleased with other witnesses.

I don't care whether you are pleased or not.

I'm cutting you off now.

You must fear my questions, Witness.

How dare you! You crook! Take him away!

Just wait until we get you outside the jurisdiction of the court!

Attention!

Camp 3, room 6, 42 people!

Disciplinary cell, 3 people. Infirmary, 9!

You crooks!

Who's grumbling?

Who is grumbling?

Who speaks up?

Everybody here is to shut up!

I take the liberty, in this context,

to quote a poem by the great German poet Goethe.

"Learn in good time to be wiser.

On the mighty scales of Fortune the tongue is seldom at rest.

You must rise or you must fall,

You must win and be a master or you must lose and be a slave.

You must suffer or triumph.

Be the anvil or the hammer."

Yes, if you don't want to be the anvil, you have to be the hammer.

Unfortunately, the German working class has not yet wholly grasped this truth.

Now it'll probably want to learn to understand it.

So, you all here want to be Dimitroff?

Yes, commandant!

Line up!

Get drilling, on the double!

I am of the opinion that van der Lubbe didn't act alone

when he set fire to the Reichstag.

Van der Lubbe is an unfortunate, abused tool of the enemies of workers.

This is how a hidden alliance

between political provocation and political folly

caused the Reichstag's fire.

And here now sits the pathetic Faust of the Reichstag fire.

Mephistopheles, however, has vanished.

Of course, I and my like-minded friends have nothing in common with the tool.

Dimitroff!

FREE TH�LMANN

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1934 AFTER THE TRIAL...

"Dimitroff acquitted."

Dimitroff acquitted.

Dimitroff acquitted.

Dimitroff.

Don't let them hurt him.

Oh well.

We've been told to release Dimitroff.

Rabenkampf told the gauf�hrer.

Yeah, I know.

Steinschneider & Co, management.

Yeah, alright.

- Sp�rke? - Well...

Guys will be guys. Look.

Marches all over the world. Paris, America, Spain.

This thing's a washout.

But you didn't hear it from me.

There's trouble about the wage cuts at the site.

It's out of my hands.

Now they're reducing the workforce. Hits my Willi too.

That's the thanks.

Your Dimitroff is right after all. All lies and fraud.

Of course, he's right. The whole world knows it.

Look, marches everywhere. We'll get him out yet.

Many of us say we need fighters like him.

You'll only find them in our ranks.

Who says that? Who exactly?

On the building site, Karl and Ewald.

And the engineer, Eickhoff. He's wavering too.

The newspapers are his.

His?

Because he is no longer a commissar.

He's into "national community". He's turning into a punchbag.

Angry workers, wages too low. Sp�rke angry, wages too high.

And the gauf�hrer's angry with Eickhoff because everyone is.

He's wavering, Eickhoff is.

And you?

No longer, Mother Lemke.

Be careful. The Eickhoff thing will end badly.

Nonsense. It didn't start well either.

My Hans...

I know the Eickhoff type. They tend to be the most vicious.

Out of weakness.

Dr Hillstedt will determine why our colleague passed out.

- He's famished! - Pay cut!

I'm sorry, but the Reich's work trustees ratified the company's wage cuts.

We're not getting anywhere like this.

Hermann, you're sensible. Explain it to your colleagues.

It can't be explained.

What?

- Our company-- - No! Steinschneider's company!

- Sp�rke's company! - In which we croak!

Director Sp�rke sends word,

you usually have a knack to find agreements with folk...

- Some agreement! - It's what counts.

Let's have some quiet, shall we?

Schr�der's one of them! Have you lost it, bastard?

Schr�der?

He can't explain it either.

But Obertruppf�hrer Rabenkampf...

You need to be handled very differently!

Let's go! Go!

Malnutrition.

There, Dimitroff. Indeed. Holy moly!

A human being. The likes of us are bloody alone after all.

Not him.

Dimitroff, citizen of the Soviet Union since 15 February.

Ain't that's swell?

Why do you keep shooting magazines with pictures?

I'll shoot any head off, anybody you like.

What do you think?

Just pick one.

I'll shoot.

Let me have a go.

With the greatest pleasure.

It was an accident, old chap!

I won't say anything!

- Soon as I get out? - Soon as you get out.

- Why do they let you go? - Who the hell knows?

I head straight to the B�ckler farm? And Mother?

Does she know you're out?

- No. - Then to B�ckler first.

- Nobody must see you arrive. - Or leave.

Then you report everything to Herrmann.

Everything! The conditions here.

And tell them outside the camp stands up like this.

Like Dimitroff!

Like Dimitroff!

- So, goodbye. - Bye.

Take care.

But for us there is no complaining winter will in time be passed

One day we will cry rejoicing Homeland, dear, you're mine at last

Then will the peat bog soldiers March no more with their spades

to the bog

Then will the peat bog soldiers March no more with their spades

to the bog

Herrmann should be back soon.

It takes a while for him to find people. Because of Anna.

Anna, well... She's not free, but I am.

Dimitroff isn't free, nor Peters and many others.

But I'm free.

Oh, man, Peasant B�ckler! How I'm looking forward to Mother!

She'll make coffee for me, coffee!

Hermann's back, and he's not alone.

What about Anna?

- What? - He's one of us now.

- And he knows. About Anna. - What?

It's high time, she needs help.

- Where is she? - A camp, Lichtenhain, sickbed.

They beat her?

- They'll move her out of the sickbed-- - Who?

Could be anybody. They all have passes.

- Your sturmf�hrer too? - Sure.

Take the pass and get her out!

- Alone? - I'll help you.

- You? - Look.

Get me this stuff!

Give Mother my love if it fails, Herrmann.

No doctor for eight weeks.

- Take her to Hillstedt. - Hillstedt? Alright, to Hillstedt.

Alarm!

Did you see a motorbike with sidecar?

Yes!

Fetch Rabenkampf! The rest to the gauf�hrer!

Those bastards!

Thanks for the medicine, Doctor.

I should have told you the truth back then.

Forget small truths. We have to fight for the big one.

You've learned a lot.

We all have a lot to learn. Take Dimitroff, he's a bright hero.

He's a just worker like myself. Doctor, I have to devour all of this!

Then I'll be just as smart as you. Bloody hell!

You're beginning to frighten me.

Frightened? Some should be afraid of us.

But you're a decent chap, Doctor. You're our friend.

What's the idea?

Hands up!

Unheard of! What a mess! What were you thinking, Sturmf�hrer Eickhoff?

- Who was it? - Fritz Lemke.

A scandalous mess! Scandalous! Go!

Dimitroff left?

Just now. In a car.

At seven in the morning? Let's hope nothing happens to him.

What type of cars?

- What do you want? - Shut it!

Nobody leaves the room!

Hey, did anyone come this way?

- Nope. - What?

- So? - No.

Those idiots think they can tell us the meaning of patriotism!

- But we'll tell them. - Yeah!

Why don't you tidy up?

Well...

We'll do it together,

the whole house, the whole street.

Damn! I'll shut you up!

- Eickhoff's coming! - What?

You damn swine! I'll show you yet!

Don't provoke him. Later he might--

- Later? You used to be his accomplice! - Mother Lemke--

- Mother Lemke? Aren't you ashamed? - It's only because of Fritz.

Would Fritz do this at your home to your mother?

We're waiting for Fritz here.

Here?

- Is he out? - Yes.

Free!

Everyone will be free.

Dimitroff is out.

- Dimitroff is out? - Yes.

Quick, let's print a leaflet.

Dimitroff is out.

I know.

And so are you.

I nearly forgot.

And I'm free too.

And you too.

It's all the same.

It's not my fault.

Mother Lemke.

I'm not your mother!

This is Hans Lemke, my son. Is he your brother?

Then what did you do to your brother?

Now there'll be another torch march.

That whip there, Sturmf�hrer, and the torches.

And then a little war,

that's your life.

Has your mother ever hit you?

No. My mother says not to hit people.

And children are little people.

But there are those who...

hit big people.

They're bastards, says my mother.

They kill the best people.

Your mother is a good comrade.

But those who know that their comrades are bastards...

You used to stand very upright, Sturmf�hrer.

Rabenkampf!

Put her on the wagon!

Come on!

We have better comrades!

Dimitroff!

Dimitroff!

Dimitroff!

Dimitroff!

Dimitroff!

KG SUBS BY TIM COOPER