Original subtitles

THE SERIES IS INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

DOPPELGÄNGER:

DOUBLE-WALKER, EVIL TWIN, DARK SPIRIT OF A LIVING PERSON.

IT RUINS THE VICTIM'S LIFE BY DOING EVIL ON THEIR BEHALF.

TO SEE ONE'S DOUBLE HERALDS IMMINENT DEATH.

GRUDZIĄDZ, FEBRUARY 1946

Helga!

Open up!

Open up!

We have to go!

Open the door!

Mommy will come back.

I promise.

Helga!

DOPPELGÄNGER

EPISODE 1 "MOTHER"

GERMANY–POLAND BORDER, OCTOBER 1977

Papers, please.

- Anything to declare? - No.

Get out!

Whose is this?

Mine.

Thank you.

STRASBOURG

Hans?

Yes.

It's me, Helmut!

Uncle Helmut.

Nice to finally meet you.

Give me the suitcase.

And how was your trip?

Excellent.

Thanks.

- Welcome to the free world. - Yes.

Come on, they're waiting.

My son...

Is that you?

Mum?

Hans.

You're finally back.

We speak German in this house.

Because of Helmut, our diehard Prussian.

Look at her! She could have married a frogeater.

I'm joking.

Without you I'd be the saddest man in Alsace.

- Dear sister? - No, thanks.

Goethe's language is more beautiful than Molière's.

Logical, yet incredibly subtle.

However, my boy,

we're no longer Germans.

Nor are we French. We're Alsatians.

Dad, please.

Alsace has changed hands for centuries.

After the Treaty of Versailles it was French. Only until 1940.

Now it's French again.

To be precise, since November 23, 1944, when general Leclerc took over Strasbourg.

You're very well-versed.

And your German is outstanding.

Thank you.

I had a good teacher.

Father or mother?

Helmut!

It's all right.

My adoptive father was a professor of German Studies

and he gave me the love of literature.

Very interesting.

"And you wait, await the one thing

that will enhance your life infinitely.

The mighty, breathtaking,

the stones' awakening.

Open depths at your feet.

Bravo!

When did you learn that you're not their son?

After my mother's death.

There were adoption papers in her stuff.

I found the orphanage in Grudziądz and your last name.

And then through the Red Cross.

Excuse me.

This is too much.

I should go.

Why don't you stay the night?

Will you wash my carpet?

You know I have to walk Rex.

- I'll call a cab. - Yes, please.

Good night.

AGE: 70 YEARS. REST IN PEACE.

Though you lived in terrible times

and faced the greatest evil mankind has experienced,

you taught me, Mum, what is important in life.

Most important.

Thank you for your love and wisdom

that we'll try to pass on to your beloved grandchildren.

GDAŃSK, OCTOBER 1977

And then she went to Inowrocław, remember?

That was good.

Remember the Party Congress when she went up the stands

and socked it to the comrades?

What, Boguś?

That we shed our blood for a free Poland

and they're denying it all, harassing us.

Calling us dwarfs of reaction.

To think they didn't put her in jail.

They feared her.

Let's toast!

Thank you, Uncle.

May the earth be light on her.

Amen.

How are you?

Will you manage?

What's this going to be?

Zawisza Czarny .

Not the one in the port, but the first one,

on which grandpa Stefan sailed before the war as a scout.

What happened?

- To grandpa or the ship? - Dad!

After the war they sank it in the bay.

It was useless.

From grandma's room?

Great-grandfather Witold.

He built the port of Gdynia.

- Who's this? - His brother, Wojciech.

Uncle Henio.

He died in Auschwitz.

- Grandma Zosia was there too. - Yes, sweetie.

How did she survive?

I don't know. She was lucky.

Give me a kiss.

Find your sister.

MARCH 7, 1947

Have fun!

- Thanks. - Don't spend too much.

- Let's go. - We'll try.

Hans?

Jeans for you.

What do you think?

I can't accept the gift.

Why?

In Poland they're worth a month's salary.

- Really? - Yes.

Try them on.

Come on. It's a pleasure for us.

You're in Strasbourg. You have to shine.

Try them on.

This, too.

Poland must be a land of poverty.

Occupied!

Come closer, please.

Do you have the envelope?

- I do. - Slide it under the door.

For me? I'm not sure.

Beautiful scarf.

Not too big?

No, it's fine.

Not bad!

You look terrific, Hans.

Another story.

I'm standing in line to the meat shop before Easter.

A woman begins to squeeze through.

People shout at her to stand at the end.

She keeps on trying, they insult her.

Finally, she says: "Fine, I don't have to open up".

"I don't have to open up".

Unbelievable!

I'll tell a story from a trip to Switzerland.

No! Not again.

Listen. First, at the border we spent an hour looking for a passport.

And then, half an hour later...

I'm home.

Yeah.

Are you okay, Mum?

Yes, it's all right.

Maybe...

you want me to stay?

We could talk.

I'm not ready yet.

I understand.

I know you're waiting.

You want to know why I abandoned you.

I don't expect forgiveness.

But you could at least understand me.

Yes, Mum.

- Yes? - Yes.

Hans?

- I wanted to get you back. - I know, Mum.

That's why you have the scar.

I've been wondering my whole life how I got it.

- Good night, Mum. - Good night.

Hurry up! Fish stalls close at nine.

We'll pick your mother up on the way.

- Quiet, Nina's still asleep. - Right.

Final exams in two years.

We want Nina to study law, but you know how she is.

Uncle, my visa is running out.

I was active in the opposition in Poland.

Nothing big, but...

I'm afraid that when I return...

Do you even want to?

Actually, no.

Then stay here.

But how?

Apply for asylum and citizenship.

I'll help.

With work and everything.

Until you get on your feet, live with us.

- You mean it? - Of course.

What job would you like?

I don't know. In Poland, I worked at a university.

It won't be easy.

Don't worry.

We'll find something.

Damn. We'll be late.

No idea.

Don't come out.

Stay!

Helga?

Helga?

Helga!

Don't go in.

Hans?

- Yeah? - Eat something.

No, thanks.

The doctor called.

Heart attack.

GDAŃSK SHIPYARD

HUMAN RESOURCES

Come in!

Mrs. Hania?

Mr. Engineer!

Good morning.

I have to leave tomorrow.

For two days. Family matters.

Will you pass it higher up?

I have some things to sort out after my mother's death. Okay?

Of course.

Mr. Janek?

Everything will be all right.

Yeah. Thank you.

You're welcome.

STATE ORPHANAGE IN GRUDZIĄDZ

Mr. Bitner, please.

- How is it possible? - I've only worked here for two years.

The registry is also missing a page.

- Are you sure? - Of what?

That it's not a mistake.

- Goodbye. - Wait.

I'll give you the address of Mrs. Ziarko.

She's recently retired.

Perhaps she will help.

Thank you.

When was that again?

- March 1947. - Jesus!

Do you know that of all the employees from that time,

I'm the only one left?

Do you remember them?

No, I don't.

But the kid, yes.

His mother's last name was Wolf, but her maiden name was...

Steiner.

Her husband was sent to the front.

Russkies came. You know what they did to German women.

She saved herself by sleeping with a Russian officer.

He set off to Berlin, leaving her pregnant.

After the war, her Fritz came back from captivity.

He saw the Russian bastard, put him in the orphanage

and took her to Germany.

She wrote to us later, from Strasbourg, I think.

She was looking for the boy.

But we figured...

since he had found a home here,

it was better that way.

Here you go.

How do you remember? There were many kids after war.

That one I'll never forget.

They left the kid like a dog. And on top of that,

with a wound.

Burn. It festered.

I dressed it for two months.

Go ahead, eat.

What was his name?

Hans, I think.

Why?

Are you related?

STRASBOURG, MAY 1978

Good morning.

Immigration Department.

Good morning. I'd like to talk to Hans Steiner.

Speaking.

The delivery has just arrived.

Understood.

WELCOME

Subtitles: Anna Wolska