Original subtitles

Central Film Studio of Children's and Youth Films

named after M. GORKY

By commission of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR

on Television and Radio Broadcasting

SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING

PART 8

Starring

Stierlitz - Vyacheslav TIKHONOV

Holthoff - Konstantin ZHELDIN

Müller - Leonid BRONEVOY

Kät - Ekaterina GRADOVA

Barbara - Olga SOSHNIKOVA

Pastor Schlag - Rostislav PLYATT

Allen Dulles - Vyacheslav SHALEVICH

Gäwernitz - Valentin GAFT

Güsmann - Aleksey EYBOZHENKO

General Wolff - Vasiliy LANOVOY

Dollmann - Yan YANAKIYEV

Scholz - Lavrenti MASOHA

Narrator Yefim KOPELYAN

Don't turn on the light.

How did you get in here, and why can't I turn on the light?

-And who are you afraid of? -Not you.

Then let's feel our way through.

Watch out, there's an armchair.

I'm already making myself at home. Nice and quiet place you've got.

Especially during air raids. Sit down.

My back's killing me. Must've caught a draft somewhere.

I need to take an aspirin.

But I might grab a laxative instead of aspirin in the dark.

Let's draw the curtains, they're thick, and light the fire.

I tried to draw your curtains. They've got some kind of trick to them.

Come on now, there's no secret.

What's the matter, old pal?

Who are you so afraid of?

Müller.

-Your boss? -Right.

What happened in those two days while I was gone?

Did God descend to Earth? Did Kaltenbrunner marry a Jew?

Almost.

I said not to turn on the light, didn't I?

I pulled the fuses out.

It's quite possible you've got bugs and cameras in here.

Planted by whom?

By us.

Why?

That's exactly why I'm here.

If you're afraid you'll be photographed,

make yourself comfortable in the corner. No one will see you there.

I'll go take an aspirin.

-Took your aspirin? -Yeah, I did.

Get the fire going and sit down. We're short on time.

We need to go over a lot of urgent matters.

Why's it whistling?

-Why's it whistling? -It always does.

Once it warms up, it'll stop whistling.

-Strange fire. -Very strange.

So, what've you got, pal?

Me? Nothing.

And what are you planning to do?

-In general? -In general too.

Honestly, I just wanted a hot bath and to hit the sack.

I'm soaked to the bone and dead tired.

I came to you as a friend.

Come on.

Why're you beating around the bush? What are you, Monte Cristo?

Care for a drink?

Yeah, I do.

Good brandy.

-Another glass? -With pleasure.

Stierlitz, I've spent all week working on your case.

I don't get it.

Müller asked me to double-check your physicists' case off the record.

You're talking in riddles, Holthoff.

I don't follow.

Either explain in detail

how the arrested physicist is connected to me,

or make me understand why you checked my case unofficially,

and why Müller's looking for evidence against me.

I can't explain it, because I don't have a clue myself.

But I know you're under surveillance.

Me?

No, that's absurd.

Maybe our bosses have lost their minds in all this chaos...

Stierlitz, weren't you the one who taught me to keep cool and analyse?

You expect me to stay cool after what you've just told me?

Yes, I'm worried.

I'm furious, and I'll go see Müller this minute.

He's asleep. Don't rush to confront him yet.

Hear me out first.

I'll tell you what I've found regarding the physicists' case.

I haven't reported it to Müller yet.

I waited to tell you first.

Okay, shoot.

I called in three experts

from the new Armaments Development Department.

I called them back then too, when you had Runge picked up.

Right, we had Runge locked up.

But why run a check on Runge through military intelligence?

-You don't get it? -No, I don't.

Runge went to college in France and in the States.

Can't you see that his contacts there

are far more valuable than he is here?

We lack the courage to see the problem in perspective.

That's our weakness.

We can't afford to let our imagination run free.

From here to here, not a step aside - that's our biggest mistake.

Well, I agree with you.

As for lacking daring, I won't argue with that.

But I can argue about some of the details.

Runge insisted we should keep studying how to extract plutonium

from radioactive elements. That's what his opponents accused him of.

That's why they wrote the letter denouncing him.

So...

it was them who sent the denunciation letter.

And I made them confess to it.

I never doubted it.

Never doubted what?

That they were the ones who denounced him.

Then why did you investigate the case so long,

and Runge still ended up being dismissed from his job?

I had to find out if Runge was pretending...

and if he was, who it served - us or our enemies.

And you figured it was the enemy who'd profit from his ideas?

You've read the case, haven't you?

I have.

And now...

our people in London report

that Runge was right.

The Americans and the British followed his lead,

while we kept him in the Gestapo.

You left him in Gestapo custody.

You, Holthoff.

You arrested him, not us.

It wasn't us who opened the case - it was you, Müller and Kaltenbrunner.

And neither you nor I nor Schumann's grandmother is a Jew - but he is.

He hid it.

Even if his grandfather was three times a Jew!

Gypsy or not, Jew or not - what's the big deal?

It doesn't matter who his father was, as long as he served us...

and like a fanatic.

You bought what those bastards said.

Bastards.

Old Party loyalists.

Certified Aryans.

Physicists decorated by the Führer himself.

All right, all right.

That's true.

You're right. Pour me another brandy, will you?

Have you gotten rid of it yet?

Stierlitz, you're holding the cork with your left hand.

I'm asking you about the fuses.

They're in the small table by the mirror.

Looks like I've started drinking.

What do you think, Stierlitz, what will Kaltenbrunner do

if I report my findings to him?

You must first report the results to Müller.

He's the one who ordered Runge's arrest.

And you were on Runge's case.

Yes, I was. You're absolutely right.

I was merely carrying out an order from my superiors.

If you released him now, we could make a breakthrough

in developing the retaliatory weapon.

-Can you prove it? -I already have.

-Do all the physicists share your view? -Most of them do.

Most of those I summoned for discussion.

-So you're in for... -Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The results can only be proven in practice.

-And where's your proof? -In my pocket.

Really?

Really.

Just got word from London - latest news.

A death sentence -

for you.

What are you getting at, Holthoff?

You're hinting at something, but I don't get your drift.

I'm ready to say it again.

Deliberately or not, you - and no one else -

killed the retaliatory weapons project.

Deliberately or not, you -

and no one else - instead of questioning a hundred physicists,

limited the number to ten,

and on the strength of their reports,

men who stood to gain from keeping Runge isolated,

you helped make sure his ideas

were branded harmful and without promise.

So you want me not to trust

the Führer's true soldiers,

the men Keitel and Göring personally trust,

and instead trust the man backing the American nuclear line?

Is that what you called me for?

You want me to believe Runge,

who was arrested by the Gestapo.

And the Gestapo never arrests anyone without solid evidence.

And not to trust the people who helped expose him.

It all sounds very logical, Stierlitz.

I've always envied

how you line up your words to drive one clear point home.

You're hitting Müller,

who gave the order to arrest Runge,

you're hitting me, who's defending a Jew in the third generation,

and you make yourself a monument to loyalty - built on our bones.

All right.

It's all been well thought out.

But that's not why I came to you.

You were rather farsighted, and Runge,

though in a concentration camp, lives in a cottage in the SS compound

and can keep working on theoretical physics.

Now we're getting to the point.

I've gotten myself into serious trouble.

If I report the results of my investigation to Müller,

he'll realize that, even though you're under close surveillance

and several people are cross‑checking your work

you'll still end up holding a weapon against him.

You're right.

It was he who gave the order to arrest Runge.

If I report that your findings go against you,

it'll indirectly put him in danger too.

As for me, funny as it sounds,

I'll catch it from both sides.

Both you and Müller will go after me.

He will - because my arguments have to be verified and rechecked,

and you...

You've already hinted

at how you're going to strike me.

What's a Gestapo officer like me supposed to do?

Give me a clue.

You're with intelligence, right?

Thinking of quitting the game?

What about you? Would you?

I can't answer that now, Holthoff,

not until I hear you say "yes" or "no."

All right, say the impossible happens - and I say yes?

If we're talking about the impossible,

you've come to the wrong man.

Ask the astrologers, not me.

Do you know of any gaps along the border?

Probably.

If the three of us fled to a neutral country?

The three of us?

Runge, you, and me.

We'd be saving a great physicist for the world.

I've kept him safe here - you've planned his getaway.

How?

And remember - it's you, not me, who's under surveillance.

You know damn well what it means to be under Müller's eye.

Well?

I'm waiting for your answer.

Want a drink?

Yeah.

Holthoff lied when he said Müller was asleep.

Müller wasn't asleep - he was waiting for Holthoff.

He'd just gotten a report from the decoding center

about operations tied to the Gestapo's secret Bern address.

The original code came from

Professor Pleischner, a courier for the Soviet intelligence agent.

It matched the code used by radio operator Kathrin Kinn.

By comparing the two codes, he made a surprising

and extremely significant discovery.

His head was spinning with excitement.

The cipher of the Russian radio operator

was completely identical to the courier's from Bern.

Scholz, can you explain what's wrong with this drawer?

-Do you have a spare key? -No, I don't.

Call the duty officer in the morning.

Now bring me a magnifier. Mine's in this drawer.

Müller speaking.

Yes, sir.

Right.

Okay, sir.

By all means.

Yes.

Definitely.

Sure.

When Holthoff arrives, send him to me.

Sure.

No, we have something.

Yes.

I've received a report from the decoding center.

And here's the situation.

The code of the Russian radio operator

is identical to the one their courier brought to Bern.

Yes, it's Professor Pleischner.

That means the resident in Berlin is seeking new contacts.

Yes. I'll be here for a while.

Good night, sir.

Yes, maybe you're right. More like "good morning," actually.

What's that supposed to mean? Have you lost your mind, Stierlitz?

I'm perfectly sane.

But he... he's either lost it, or...

decided to quit the game.

What?

Bring him some water.

I want you to explain clearly what's going on.

Permission, Gruppenführer - let him explain first.

I'd better write it down properly.

Okay.

Go to your room and write down

everything you think is necessary.

How much time do you need?

Short version - ten minutes. The full story? Tomorrow.

Why wait until tomorrow?

I have urgent business today.

And he won't show up any sooner himself.

Alright. Tomorrow at 9 a.m.

-May I go? -Go!

Remove his bracelets. Bandage his wound.

Take him home. That's all.

Müller was rarely wrong,

both when serving the Weimar Republic,

beating up Nazi demonstrators,

and after joining the Nazis,

jailing Weimar leaders,

and carrying out all of Himmler's orders.

Later, when drawn to Kaltenbrunner,

his instincts never failed him.

Kaltenbrunner had barely forgotten the task he assigned to Müller -

to check Stierlitz's dossier.

It meant something had happened.

And clearly, at the top level.

And Martin Bormann was Kaltenbrunner's top authority.

So Müller told Holthoff to approach Stierlitz

and put on an act.

If Stierlitz had come to him tomorrow

and reported Holthoff's behavior,

He could've buried the case and slept easy,

considering it closed.

If Stierlitz had agreed to Holthoff's offer,

He could have gone to Kaltenbrunner with an open hand,

backing his report with his man's data.

And it wasn't some fantasy with physics formulas.

But today's events weren't on his agenda -

they fit neither scenario.

More out of habit to settle unfinished business

than from suspicion of Stierlitz,

Müller sent for Scholz.

At your service, Gruppenführer.

Look here, Scholz.

Lift the prints

off this glass.

If I'm asleep, don't wake me.

I don't think...

it's urgent.

15 Mar 1945 7:22 a.m.

Any news?

No, Standartenführer.

How's our Russian girlfriend?

We're spending most of our time in lively ideological debates.

I'm sure you always win.

Keep winning - and don't let our pretty Russian

think she's a worthy opponent.

If you can, bring me some coffee, please.

Our coffee's just a poor substitute. But we've got excellent tea.

Obersturmbannführer Kuhn brought very good tea - probably seized.

Then make it strong.

Helmuth, boil some water, please.

Okay.

Keep monitoring for any messages from Moscow,

dear Frau Kinn.

I'll be back in a day or two, and then

your fate will be fully decided.

No need to worry -

everything's been cleared with my superiors.

Barbara, I have very little time.

Armies of the 3rd Byelorussian Front,

engaged today, March 15,

fierce battles with the enemy

southwest of Königsberg.

Armies of the 3rd Ukrainian Front successfully completed

the Balaton defensive operation launched on March 6.

In the course of fierce defensive battles and counterattacks

Soviet troops repelled the enemy's attempt

to defeat Soviet forces in Hungary

and to lift the blockade of the Budapest Army Group.

A key role

in breaking up the enemy offensive

was played by the aircraft of the 17th Air Army.

All this created favorable conditions

for the Soviet offensive on Vienna.

BERN

BERN Residence of the U.S. Special Service

Excuse me, Mr. Dulles - a call for you.

All right.

I have to leave you.

Please continue the discussion. Tomorrow evening we'll meet again.

Today's talk was useful - it laid the groundwork for more.

And now, General, the last point

I'd like to clarify.

Tell me...

Who do you see as Chancellor of the future Germany?

Kesselring.

Kesselring, and no one else.

He's popular with the common people - young, daring.

Minister of Foreign Affairs?

Von Neurath.

-The former Governor of Czechia and Moravia? -Yes.

Was he an SS-Obergruppenführer?

Like all of us.

I understand.

So, von Neurath.

And who'll be Finance Minister?

The only one who can be Finance Minister in future Germany is

Hjalmar Schacht.

True - though he's as sly as a fox.

Relying on a mere financier would doom the whole thing.

Right - he bankrolled Hitler.

Back then, Hitler was still Schicklgruber.

Back then, Hitler was already Hitler.

And the Minister of the Interior?

Who's going to run Germany?

Wolff?

General Karl Wolff.

SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff.

The sooner you forget the SS

and all the ranks in the hierarchy,

the better - not just for us, believe me,

but for you too.

General, how do you see the future of your immediate superior?

You mean Kaltenbrunner?

No.

Himmler.

That will be the next stage of our talks.

For now, I can promise everything will be handled legally.

We want to forget ranks

and deal only with names.

And then...

What's the key issue now?

Stopping the Bolsheviks, keeping them out of Europe -

that's my duty as I see it.

No other way.

15 Mar 1945 5:50 p.m.

No, it's...

It's a total lack of morals.

I don't blame her - I just...

listen and can't help thinking of Handel and Bach.

Apparently, in the old days

people of art were more self-critical.

They lived in Faith.

They set themselves great tasks

and were like lighthouses.

And this?

This is common talk in marketplaces.

This singer will outlive her time.

She'll be remembered long after she's gone.

That's indulgence talking in you.

It's love for Paris talking in me...

and for quite a while yet, Pastor

Stierlitz was in France several months

before its occupation by the fascists.

And he remembered forever

how those who chose to keep fighting outside France were withdrawing.

In two hours we'll be at the border.

Now, tell me again

what you're supposed to do in Bern.

I've got a good memory.

The Bible teaches not just kindness

but how to keep your memory sharp too.

Still,

go over it once more, please - from the top.

All right. I'm to stop at the Savoy Hotel.

That same day...

I admit, you have a remarkable memory,

especially for your age and under these unusual circumstances.

I think the plan will work. He'll have things moving soon.

Now, about Kät.

In case something unforeseen happens...

And it could, though it shouldn't...

If she talks, if she breaks under torture...

the pastor will set things in motion, and Pleischner will take my place.

And neither of them knows what part they've played in my operation.

Our people will keep an eye on the pastor in Bern,

after a signal from Pleischner.

Everything ought to go smoothly.

Those talks will never happen. I won't let Himmler pull them off.

No way. Not anymore.

Never.

Keep your appointments in the pink hall, not the blue.

You see...

a good memory is fine, but it never hurts to review.

Strange - I thought you weren't listening at all.

No, I'm listening very carefully.

Go on, please.

Today the pastor's in Switzerland. Tomorrow he'll start my operation.

Our business - that's more accurate.

If the pastor leaves and everything's fine, I'll get Kät out of there.

Then I can risk it all.

They're closing in, and even Bormann can't help me now.

If I sense the game's almost over, I'll get her out through my "gap."

Right?

Right.

And it's good you noticed that.

Always take the second cab - never the first.

And no hitchhiking.

And I really hope

that our friends from the monastery

I told you about - they'll take good care of you.

Let me stress this again:

something could happen to you.

Anything, Pastor.

If you make even one mistake,

you'll end up in Müller's basement before you know it.

If that happens,

you must remember this:

If you so much as whisper my name,

in delirium or under torture,

it will mean my death.

And along with my death -

your sister and nephews will die as well.

They're held as my hostages by those who let me bring you abroad.

Nothing will save your family if you give them my name.

Understand me - this isn't a threat.

This is reality, and you need to understand that.

And always remember it.

I understand you.

All right, then.

I don't want there to be any misunderstanding about this.

All right, get dressed.

Wait, my hands are shaking. I need a moment.

Speak in a normal voice.

Nobody can hear us here.

Get in the car now.

Say the address where you'll be writing to our friends.

I remember it.

My size!

Please, say the address.

Bert Johansson, Sveavägen 7,

Stockholm, Sweden.

Right.

Say the text of the telegram you'll send,

if the talks between Himmler and Dulles have already started.

I'll send a wire saying, "Aunt Elsa...!

Oh, a little snag here...

Let me help you... let me...

Then I...

"Aunt Elsa stayed with us in Bern and Lausanne.

"She feels fine, but misses her family.

Every week she writes letters home. Gustav."

Correct?

And if there are no negotiations?

If... then I'll write...

Thank you, please.

Then I'll write:

"Don't believe anyone who says the weather's bad in Switzerland.

It's bright and sunny here."

Right, fine. Let's go.

I hate high-flown words, Pastor.

But Germany's future depends on what you're going to uncover

and on the telegrams you send...

And not only Germany's.

Good luck, Pastor.

Head toward the power plant - the hotel's close by.

It's two kilometers, not more.

Alright, God bless you.

Stierlitz felt a sharp jolt in his chest.

He realized the pastor couldn't ski at all.

He hadn't held ski poles for at least ten years.

"That's okay," he reassured himself.

"The hotel's close - easy enough to reach."

He'll manage. Everything will be fine."

Now he has to do the last thing.

Now Kät comes before everything.

15 Mar 1945 11:30 p.m.

No, I won't ask for anything here,

my dear Schellenberg.

I'll ask for it there.

Yes, I'll need your help first in Sweden,

and then, probably, in Switzerland.

No - once two people know, everyone knows.

Thanks, my friend. You've always backed me up -

and I truly care about you.

So, what have we got?

Gruppenführer, on the glass, on the Russian agent's suitcase,

and on the hotline receiver were the prints of the same man -

SS-Standartenführer Stierlitz.

I asked you to get me Swedish blades. Where? Where...

-Who ran the examination? -The 5th lab unit.

Come to me, now.

Send Rolf to me, immediately.

Send a car for him. He's going to see the Russian "pianist."

Seal off all roads.

Send a team to Stierlitz's place.

If he's home, don't arrest him,

just tell him to come to me.

Dispatch a coded message to all borders.

That's it.

Erich, round the corner. You come with me. Stay here.

Hans.

-Smoking again? -I'm not smoking.

I smell it. Quit smoking.

Let me look at it again.

Ten minutes ago, Stierlitz pulled over.

He felt he was about to fall asleep right at the wheel.

He hadn't slept a wink for almost two days.

He decided he needed to sleep for at least half an hour,

or he'd never make it to Berlin.

Half an hour.

Ten minutes had already passed.

He slept deeply and peacefully.

But in exactly 20 minutes he would wake up.

It was another habit he had trained into himself over the years.

He'd wake up and head to Berlin.