Original subtitles

THE CHAMPION

Name and occupation?

Name and occupation?

Name and occupation?

Attention! Caps off!

Let's go.

You're the first to arrive to a German concentration camp.

Tomorrow you will start renoVating the barracks.

The young ones will go to the joinery.

If there are Jews here'

they cannot Iive Ionger than two weeks.

Priests - one month'

the rest - three months.

For such enemies of the Third Reich Iike you,

there will be no faVours

and no mercy.

There is no other way out than through the crematorium chimney.

Forget about your wives, your children

and your families.

You are no Ionger human beings for us.

CiVe it to me.

Only half of them during the night.

We'il steal civilian clothes from the dePot.

Then we'II dismantle the fence.

I ran away three times from the Boisheviks.

Germans shouldn't be harder.

First, we'II come...

Back to work!

Stand up!

To work!

Out' dogs!

I know you.

You were in Legia club.

They called you "Teddy"' iike an American boxer.

I'Ve seen your fight for the Poiish championship.

What else have you seen?

You should haVe won for points.

For points? I didn't Iose because of Points...

You were the best in warsaw.

Look around.

There's no Legia and no warsaw here.

No one is best here.

I'd guard my food better if I were you.

The roof oVer attic wiil be a sewing workshop.

Find two able girls.

Rudi, my Iove.

My dear' to Iive and to die here.

Put it here.

Don't get anything dirty, you Pole.

Number ?7 reporting.

AIbrecht D0rer.

"Angel with a key to the abyss."

You still don't understand? It was for you.

Eat.

Attention!

You thought I will allow for a theft?

- Take them. - Yes, sir!

- Out, dogs! - Faster!

CIean up!

Next!

- Faster! - Forward!

Come on!

Apple on your head.

Apple.

"He is not afraid of the mountains among which he has grown..."

"...should Iast a year at our cabin door."

Wiliiam Tell by Schilier.

Where did you Iearn this?

We read it at home.

Twenty fiVe Iashes each.

They need to feel the power of Cerman poetry.

Then to penal comPany.

Sir,

I'Ve already filled out fiVe death reports, not four.

You!

Yes' you.

Your cap.

Bring it.

Help him.

You got their numbers?

Yes.

FiVe bodies 5 marks each.

That is 25 marks aitogether.

Write it down.

Escape attempt.

That will be 55 marks.

Yes, sir!

You count.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

SeVen.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

EIeven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

Sixteen.

SeVenteen.

Undress.

Put the ciothes beside you.

You wiil get them back after a bath.

Then you will get a warm meal.

Move!

Where are we going to?

Drown out the noise.

Get to work!

Hold the barrow.

Stand up!

Punch him the hardest you can.

If he goes down, the sausage is yours.

Now your turn.

BraVo!

Not so fast.

This is the first round.

Who's next?

This one.

Punch.

What the hell?

Wait!

I will try.

You got fat.

- Thief! - wait a moment.

If he Ioses' he's yours.

If he wins, he'II get the bread.

- Airight? - OK.

Until first blood.

Here.

The ring is free!

Fucking work!

Fight him now.

- No! - Give him bread.

At Iast, someone who can fight.

Where did you fight?

In warsaw.

Hamburg. Championship in 1 938.

And then he ducked' and punched.

It was terribie. I thought it's over for him.

Eat.

I need more food.

And medicine.

You need to earn them.

Number ?7...

...reporting.

HaVe you seen that?

Just iike I said.

He's Iike a fog.

We'II give him more food and he'il fight the best boxers.

The guys will Iove it.

Nickname: Teddy.

Aiso known as a gentleman boxer.

The king of dodging from warsaw.

AImost 1 00 fights in bantam and feather weight.

Fought twice for the Poiish championship.

First time

the fight didn't take PIace.

Second time he Iost.

You don't Iook much Iike a champ.

He Iooks more iike a small chicken that has been plucked from feathers.

He won't Iast a few minutes.

We can make bets

how Iong wili he iast.

Gentlemen,

this is no secret,

that iast Sunday six our guys got drunk

and made a brawl in a nearby viliage.

Maybe we should organize some entertainment

instead of waiting for them to get completely drunk again.

We can try.

Find someone who won't prolong his agony.

Centlemen, capo Max or prisoner ?7?

HaVe you PIaced your bets?

Yes, go ahead...

Gentlemen!

First round! The ring is free!

- Ready? - Yes.

Ready?

Box!

StoP! To your corners.

You'II work here from now on.

It's a Iight job.

And you'II get food.

What about medicine?

Co to the SS ambulatory.

I"i tell them you're expected.

They'II put you on your Iegs again.

Oon't move.

If I don't fix it' there's gonna be problems.

This is Helcia.

Say hi to Mr. Boxer.

Her mother and father are dead.

She helps me keep order here.

You really beat that guard up.

The whole camP heard about it.

Finished.

Thank you.

I need medicine.

For pneumonia.

This should help.

You'il help too.

Give this to Mordechai. From hosPital.

He'II need it more.

Hey' boxer!

What if he was catholic?

Our Rabbi said:

if you can, go pray on meadows and fields.

If you can, go pray on meadows and fields.

We are all Iike blades of grass, born of the same soii.

They don't iook Iike they can go somewhere.

Because they can't.

Congratuiations.

We've only got aspirin

and some bandages.

You could help out.

I'm supposed to carry medicine for you?

I can't risk it now.

The boy will Iast a week or two on the construction site.

We can transfer him to sister Maria, to the SS ambulatory.

She will take care of him.

Dad?

Dad!

Yes?

Can I show you something?

Why did the Uhlan of Rhine iose with the biack American?

- It's easy, his coach was a Jew. - Gerhard...

He Iooks Iike he doesn't want to win.

That was a consPiracy.

You haVe to understand that.

Boxing is a peasant sport.

Next week you'Ve got horse riding iessons.

I've read that boxing is Iike chess,

only one hundred times faster.

Rudi, go to bed.

What are you doing here?

You don't Iook sick.

Maybe you'd Iike to move to the netherworld?

I know people Iike you.

You cling to Iife with ali your might.

They can think you want to fight.

That you want to win the war with your fists.

But you won't fool me.

You want to IiVe.

Live...

Take it.

You didn't have to.

I wanted to make sure you don't Iose in the first round.

What about other fights?

How to win them?

First, find out the opponent's weak sPots.

Then fight out a PIace in the middle of the ring.

But most of ali, conserve your strength for a difficult moment.

What if he fights unfair?

Long time ago,

in ancient OIymPia'

on a third fuil moon after the summer solstice,

Zeus established the olympic games.

AII participants had to swear a Vow under his statue

that they will sleep on bare ground,

wear only animai skins

and bathe in coid waters of a stream.

But the most imPortant thing

was to fight according to the rule of equal rights'

respect the opponent

and respect oneseif.

Only then you can truly win.

Here you are.

Thoroughbred Engiish.

We'Ve got a beautiful sentence over the camp's entrance.

You wiil also make one for the entrance to the stables.

On the back of a horse iies the paradise of Earth.

I see

that you Put on some weight.

You're a true pretender now.

Eat, eat.

After all, you are our only entertainment.

When we get bored with you'

you will show us how a true Pole Ioses.

You are the best in that.

Right?

In order. Thanks.

MoVe.

I'm afraid I don't have good news.

Typhoid.

It's impossible.

He neVer...

He seldom went outside.

Piease forgive me, but...

Did he contact the prisoners or touch things from the camP?

No, doctor.

Can we do something?

Anything?

Weil...

we need to start the treatment and observation.

What are you doing here?

My dad used to say that before birth we are all angeis

and then we fali down here, to Earth.

Only the best of us are going back uP.

Where is your dad?

Can you see that star?

I think your father Iooks down and is proud of you.

I think I should stop fighting.

This here is not a sport.

These are not your fights anymore.

You fight for us.

Instead of us.

Undress!

Put the ciothes beside you.

You will get them back affer a shower.

And then a warm meal.

Move!

Officer!

She tried to smuggle food for the Poles.

Stop!

Undress!

Or I will shoot you Iike a dog!

Undress.

Faster!

We won't wait all night!

They killed her.

They kilied Helcia.

They killed her...

They didn't kili her.

She will never die if you remember her.

She will Iive here and here.

Now run to work before they realize you're gone.

- Sister? - Yes?

Shouldn't I get a tetanus shot?

Yes, of course.

I see you've got a young assistant.

He's a Iover of German poetry.

Come here.

Hello, iittie nurse heiper.

CiVe the syringe to the boy.

You must stick it at the right angle.

Here.

Not in the Vein.

You could haVe killed me.

What's your name?

Janek.

You'd Iike to kill me' right?

Do you believe in Cod?

I killed a Iot of People.

Would Cod aliow for that if he existed?

I could haVe died today.

Yet here I am.

Maybe that's what it's ail about?

Maybe that's his pian?

He takes away the most precious things and Iets you Iive on.

You don't have to.

What?

You don't have to do this.

He used to be a German champ.

He's called Hammerschlag.

One punch and that's it.

This is neither mine nor yours weight.

Come, once again around the block.

Did I understand that well?

You want to fight with a Cerman champ?

With our Hammerschiag?

Cerman shouldn't have to get his hand dirty.

I have to win.

And I wiil.

Only you know that.

In exchange you want me to reiease the boy.

What if I say no?

No more fights.

Why would you eVen think that it is possible?

You can do anything' sir.

Let it be so.

Take him away.

You were right.

Our boys Iike his fights.

But his wins embolden the prisoners,

strengthen the resistance.

Maybe we should hang him before today's roil cail?

There's no need to create a martyr.

Find a boxer who can replace him'

beginning with the visit of our guests from Neuengamme.

Prisoner ?7 wiil get what he wants.

The fight will happen today.

On hard ground.

Every prisoner shouid see this.

Are you sure?

He didn't Iose a single fight.

Did you know'

that way back the flakes in these bowis

were made of crushed human bones?

Make sure that a pure-bred stallion wins this fight.

Attention! Attention!

Gentlemen!

A reai sensation awaits you tonight!

A fight for multiweight championship of Auschwitz camp.

The unbroken 7?

Will fight with the inVincibie Hammerschlag.

HaVe you seen Janek?

No.

This is going to be a good fight.

Let the better one win.

Are you ready?

Ready?

Box!

Back off! To your corners!

Pick the ring up. EVerything OK?

Box!

It's going good.

Round two!

What's wrong?

Line up! Hurry!

Faster! Form a Iine!

- Faster! - Leave him' he's got enough.

Line up!

I want to fight.

I can fight. Let me.

Not with him.

I wiil not touch him.

So he wiil first shoot him, then you.

No, not with him.

Shoot him.

Punch me.

Janek.

Punch me.

Punch me!

Don't act iike a brat and punch me!

Shoot!

Janek!

You wiil exPerience great sights here.

Here.

And the winner is...

CHAMPION

Shit.

Co...

...to work!

Oear officers and guests from Neuengamme.

Especially for you, the invincible...

Champion Hammerschlag

versus Prisoner 934.

Round one, the ring is free!

Box!

I giVe him two minutes, guys.

I know him! That's Teddy!

I was a referee in his fight before the war.

This is going to be interesting.

Gentlemen, Iet's make bets.

Gentlemen, Iet's make bets.

AII for Teddy.

Come on, Teddy!

Box!

Amazing!

Here's...

The multiweight world champion...

of the Auschwitz concentration camp...

Number ??!

Transfer him to us.

PIease.

Lateiy I've got the same dream eVery night.

I'm in an empty, dark house.

On its walls hang hundreds of portraits

with faces full of fear and hate.

When I want to take them off'

it turns out those are not portraits, but windows.

Tell me' boxer.

How it feeis to be a champion?

I'm not a champion.

Not yet.

Our guest,

commander of the Neuengamme camP'

asked us to transfer you.

Now you will fight for him.

You are ieaVing Auschwitz.

This is from someone,

who understood your sport far better than me.

Some day

ali of this will end.

Where will you go?

I'II find a new home.

And when you find it...

Do you know who wiil you be?

I don't know who will I be.

But I know for sure...

I always knew.

Who I want to be.

Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski after being transferred from

KL Auschwitz continued boxing fights in concentration camps.

After being iiberated by the AIIied forces' he returned to Poiand

and made a dream come true...