Original subtitles

I am disgusted with all of you!

I want that Jew bitch

and her kids out!

No! They are my family!

Do you know where you're going?

Anyplace they can't find me.

Well, how will you live?

Here, take this.

It may help you.

Will you write to me and tell me where you are?

Maybe.

Tell Mama not to worry about me.

Take care of her.

These Jews...

are going to have to disappear.

"Disappear"?

I can see through that baby face.

You know what I mean.

No such plan is contemplated.

You'll ask me to do your bloody work for you.

Well, don't be surprised if I start without your permission.

She doesn't speak,

Doctor, she recognizes no one.

Since the incident? Yeah.

What can I do to help?

Well, is there no, uh, special therapy

or, um... a sanitarium

that could help her?

Nurse? We have a patient for Hadamar.

Phone them.

"It is with much regret

"that we must inform you

"of the death of your daughter,

"Frauline Anna Weiss.

"Although we did all we could to help her,

"gave her every care,

"she refused to take nourishment,

"did not respond to medication.

"And on June 3, died of pneumonia

"and malnutrition.

"In view of the unsettled

conditions now prevailing,

"we have taken the liberty

"of cremating her remains

"and providing burial

near the sanitarium."

About two years ago,

the Italian ambassador raised objections

to the Führer's Jewish policies.

Mussolini was offended, so on.

The Führer told him that in 500 years

the name of Adolf Hitler will be honored for one thing:

Having wiped the Jews from the face of the earth.

One more week of hacking at rocks

and he'll be another dead Jew.

My name is Helena Slomova.

It's been a long time since I've held a girl's hand.

Too busy running.

Where will you go now?

I don't know.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

I didn't mind.

Josef...

it is wrong of us to dwell on our misfortunes.

Agreed.

I'll, uh, I'll speak to them about

letting you teach school.

Me? Of course.

Wait till you see the children of Warsaw.

Nothing in their stomachs half the time,

but those kids give concerts and plays...

Oh, Josef...

I have never loved you more.

Nor I you.

Oh, dear God.

I look at you and I see Anna.

♪ ♪

Hey!

Hey, you! Stop!

Some smuggler.

Aaron, you're late again.

Sorry, teacher.

I... had to clean the yard.

He was on the Christian side again,

I bet, smuggling.

Smuggling! Smuggling! ♪

Stop that.

Aaron, come here.

You have been warned not to sneak through the wall.

Your mother wouldn't want you to grow up

to be a smuggler and a thief.

It's all right, ma'am.

I'll change when I'm older.

Here, want an egg?

No, thank you, Aaron.

You worked for it, you keep it.

All right, children.

Now, once again.

From the beginning.

We don't encourage visitors at rehearsal.

Forgive me for interrupting.

Is Aaron Feldman here?

Aaron.

Josef...

is anything wrong?

Nothing serious.

Do you know me, Aaron?

Sure. Teacher's husband.

You're on the council.

You know me?

Who doesn't know the famous Aaron Feldman?

The Sewer Rat, the Prince of Smugglers.

I'm not a smuggler.

Oh, Aaron.

A ghetto policeman saw you three times.

The next time he'll arrest you.

He won't. I gave him an egg to shut him up.

You won't be able to give an egg to the Nazis to shut them up.

They got to catch me first.

Aren't you afraid? Sure.

But I'll do it anyway.

You won't snitch on me, will you?

No, of course not.

And you won't do it again.

I say concentrate on the productive, the healthy.

I say concentrate on feeding everybody.

For a while, the smugglers helped feed us.

Now, the Germans are shooting smugglers.

And they threaten to shoot

20 Jews for each smuggler they catch.

Those boys that crawl through the sewers

may be our salvation.

Nonsense!

They'll get us killed!

We will all be killed anyway.

I beg your pardon?

We will all be killed anyway.

How do you know?

It has begun already.

The Nazis in Russia have started.

No more ghettos.

What are you saying?

Mass murders.

Firing squads.

They mean to kill every Jew in Europe.

Ridiculous.

What is your name, young man?

Adam Levitz.

I tell this council we should be smuggling

not only food, but guns and grenades.

Such talk will guarantee our deaths.

If this council is too cowardly

to give the order, the Zionists will.

We don't intend to die

without a fight! Get out!

You'll all die here being polite and tipping your caps.

You have no authority.

You represent no one. Throw him out!

Why did you arrest one of my nurses?

She was arrested for good reason.

Sarah Ohlnick is a smuggler.

Sarah Ohlnick went outside the wall

to buy food for the children.

She knew the rules: no smuggling.

I want her released. Do you?

She's one of the best nurses in the children's ward.

A bit of class snobbery?

Would you be as eager to have her freed

if she were a housewife or a beggar?

Of course.

Then you can appeal for all eight.

Eight?

What the hell do you think I am, a monster?

That little one, the beggar girl, she is 16.

And her crime?

Like the others: smuggling food for her baby.

Oh, good God.

You're a Jew.

I was a Jew.

I'm a convert.

That's why I have this job.

I intend to keep it and obey orders and survive.

But... use your influence with the Germans.

Who the hell are you to talk?

You and your brother Moses,

so high and mighty on that lousy council.

What do you do but follow orders from the Germans...

Hand in lists of names, do their work for them?

You want to be a hero?

You try it, Doctor.

Just try it.

The Jewish Council made another appeal to the Germans, but...

Berta, you didn't need to come.

I wanted to.

Aaron.

They just killed the beggar!

Sarah the nurse.

Oh, Josef, Josef, why couldn't we have saved them?

It was hopeless, Berta.

God, I'd like to see some of them covered in blood.

We'll leave now, Berta.

No.

No, it's the least we owe them.

To be witnesses.

Can you come with us?

My brother and I have forgotten the prayers.

The prayers are no help anymore, Weiss.

We're running short of ink.

I-I-I'm a chemist.

Get us chemicals from the hospital.

We'll make our own...

Charcoal, linseed oil.

You're going to print a resistance paper?

First issue on the streets today.

But if I bring you chemicals to make ink, then I'll be involved.

Better involved with us than with the council.

The council members are alive.

Lawbreakers get shot.

I don't want to get shot.

You'll die anyway.

And better to die protesting.

Look, I am still not convinced they intend to kill us all.

I mean, what good would dead Jews be to them?

He can go; we don't need him.

The master craftsman at work.

But such equipment.

Phooey!

Look, look,

don't misunderstand me,

but logic says that we are not...

Logic doesn't prove anything anymore, Mr. Weiss.

"To the Jews of Warsaw:

"Let us have an end of apathy.

"No more submission to the enemy.

"Apathy can cause our moral collapse

"and root out of our hearts our hatred for the invader.

It can destroy within us the will to fight."

All right, I'm with you.

A blessing on you, Mr. Weiss.

We could use the doctor, too.

"It can undermine our resolution.

"Because our position is so bitterly desperate,

"our will to give up our lives for a purpose more sublime

"than our daily existence must be reinforced.

Our young people must walk with head erect."

They're braver than I am, Berta...

Whoever posted that and printed it.

It's funny, I keep thinking about our son Rudi.

What about him?

If Rudi were here, he'd... he'd be in the thick of it...

Putting up posters, refusing to give in.

I have a feeling he's safe.

I have faith in Rudi.

I, too, Josef.

I confiscated all the film I could find.

Dreadful quality.

Who filmed it?

Blobel said it was for battalion archives.

I had the feeling it was for their own entertainment.

I suppose we should keep a record.

Do you?

All our work should be documented.

I wouldn't show this stuff in newsreel theaters,

but I'd love to rub Himmler's nose in it.

Maybe get the Führer to attend a screening.

Look how casual it all is.

They don't even seem to be crying.

It's quite incredible.

Almost a religious rite.

We'll unload the wagon for a loaf of bread.

Go away! No civilians around here.

Please, one loaf?

I said go away.

Don't you know this hotel is

German Army Headquarters?

Stupid idiots.

One loaf.

Hands off, you hear?!

I hope they blow your head off.

Everywhere.

Where was the Red Army, huh?

Where to now?

Come.

Rudi, I can't eat it.

My stomach is jumping.

Make believe it's a potato pancake.

Nice and greasy.

Stop it, you monster.

Some thanks.

I go and get us dinner, you only complain.

Wait till we're married.

I won't stand for it.

Hold it; don't move.

What is it?

SS.

I don't believe it.

What?

I know him.

You know him?

Continental Hotel!

The Russians blew it up!

Get back to battalion headquarters!

They're sending engineers in!

What about Helms?

He's probably dead!

Helms.

Rudi Weiss?

How did you get here?

Never mind.

He's a relative.

Can you believe it?

His sister's married to my brother Karl.

The last time I saw him was at a soccer game.

That's before they threw me off the team.

It wasn't my fault, Rudi.

I got nothing against you.

Water.

Water, please.

Helms, listen to me.

You've been back to Berlin?

You've seen your sister?

Six months ago.

My family, tell me about them.

My parents.

Yeah... your brother's in Buchenwald.

My mother and father?

In Poland.

Inga heard from them.

They're... They're all right.

Where?

I don't... I don't remember.

Warsaw, maybe.

How the hell can I remember?

Lay off, Rudi.

What did I ever do to you?

Kristallnacht?

Three years ago?

You and that bum, Muller, beating up my grandfather.

You got it wrong.

We let him go.

We let you go.

My sister Anna?

She's...

What?

She's dead.

What...?!

What happened?

I don't know.

Last year, a year and a half ago,

I wasn't even in Berlin.

She got sick.

Pneumonia or something.

Inga went to see her.

She... She died in the hospital.

She was only 16, Helena.

I know, Rudi... I know.

And you loved her so.

I ought to kill him.

No.

No, Rudi... he could be telling us the truth.

I am.

We took your mother and Anna in, for God's sake.

They're all right.

The doctor and Mrs. Weiss... Liar!

This uniform makes you as guilty

as if you arrested Karl and killed Anna yourself!

I obey orders.

Listen.

Just get me out of here.

Get me out to the street so I can get to an aid station.

Maybe I'll bury you under a pile of plaster, huh?

The way they bury Jews alive.

I'll get you work passes.

I'll get you out of here.

It's not going to be safe for Jews in Kiev.

Rudi, he's right.

I think we can trust him.

Yes, same damage here!

They've blown up half of Kiev!

Take cover!

I'm Helms, 22nd Division.

Who are they?

They're Jews.

Take them over to the truck!

Move them out with the other Jews!

Come on, move! Lousy bastard.

We saved your neck.

What's going to happen to us?

I don't know.

I just want to live long enough

to get even with that lousy Helms.

Didn't anyone know the Russians had mines all over Kiev?!

What the devil are you doing all day?

Drinking vodka and chasing ballerinas?!

Russian sappers have blown up Kiev.

Half the city is on fire.

We've lost several hundred men.

Apparently, our counterintelligence failed.

Of course.

We're too busy shooting Jews.

What do we do now?

I can hear Himmler screaming about counterespionage.

We'll blame it on the Jews.

You've seen those Kiev Jews.

Old women, old men in beards, children.

They blew up Kiev?

If we say they did.

We absolve our intelligence and give Heydrich what he wants:

a Jew-free Ukraine.

We've shot over 100,000 Jews.

Dorf, you're looking at the man

who cleaned out the ghettos in Zhitomir, Berdichev, Uman.

Are you asking for more?

Remember, Colonel, if you kill ten Jews,

it gets easier to kill a hundred.

Easier to kill a thousand...

and easier still to kill 10,000.

♪ ♪

He says we are going to a work camp.

Work camp.

I've heard that before.

All right, all right, stay in line!

Keep it moving!

What do they call this place?

Babi Yar.

What does it mean?

Grandma's Ravine.

They don't march very well, do they?

Hm.

Ukrainians.

What's that over there?

Jewish Cemetery of Kiev.

Appropriate, isn't it?

Of course, this remains a resettlement operation.

Precisely what they were told and precisely what they believe.

It's astonishing how they cooperate.

Which proves they don't deserve to live.

Ah.

There they come.

They expected about 6,000 to turn up.

The men tell me

more than 30,000 Jews are down there.

Simply fantastic.

♪ ♪

Don't look.

Women.

The children.

Rudi...

hold me, please.

No one will believe any of this.

They'll say we lied.

Because nobody could do this to other people.

Take Major Dorf to his quarters.

I'm in charge of road construction

in the Ukraine.

This place has got to be surveyed.

Not today. It's a security area.

You mean, I can't go through

because of the target practice?

Maybe next week.

Is there a problem?

This civilian wants to get through.

He says he's the road engineer.

That's right, Major, I'm under or...

Erik!

Uncle Kurt. Get in.

Thank you.

Dorf!

You might light to check with me at headquarters later.

Final tally.

Tally?

Yes, it's, uh, some... bureaucratic business.

Goodness me, Erik, look at you.

The fearsome major.

Yes.

About Babi Yar... what were you doing there?

Executions.

Ah, yes, of course, that would be your responsibility.

I suppose somebody has to.

Who were the, um... victims?

Oh, the usual scum: saboteurs...

People who blew up Kiev...

Criminals, black marketeers.

Jews?

Some.

They're active in the resistance.

I've only been in the Ukraine for a few weeks,

but I hear your fellows are pretty thorough

in dealing with the Jews.

Only when necessary.

We're resettling them.

The road is crowded with them.

All going towards Babi Yar.

And other places.

For resettlement?

Most of them.

Criminals and spies will be executed.

Cruel business.

Any war is.

But... all those civilians?

I can't wait to see my family.

Believe me, Uncle, without them, without Marta,

without the children, I wonder if I could go on.

You're still the best pulse-taker in the world.

I've had a lot of practice.

You're old trick,

so that it won't be too cold.

Old GPs are full of old tricks.

What do you hear, Josef?

Mozart.

Ah, there we go... You mustn't tease me.

Breathe deep, mouth open.

Again.

Hm! You sound better.

Are you feeling stronger today?

Yes. I want to go back to school tomorrow.

If I miss school, they... run away.

Now, darling, maybe we oughtn't have the photographs here.

Josef, they... fill me with hope.

When I hear the children crying in the streets for bread,

and see the frozen bodies and the starving old men,

I look at the pictures and I think, maybe,

our sons are alive and happy.

I'm certain they are.

Karl has a skill; he's a fine artist.

They'll make use of him.

You see how it is in the Warsaw ghetto.

I'm a doctor; I can be used.

Anybody who can contribute survives.

It's cruel, but it's true.

And we will not speak of Anna.

We can't bring her back.

I must stop this idiotic weeping.

When I get out of bed and I go back to school, I...

I promise I won't cry.

That's much better.

I'm a spoiled woman,

indulged in too much by my parents,

you, the servants...

Not so, Berta.

You're as brave as anyone here.

Josef, the money we had sewn in the coat when I left...

Mm-hmm. What about it?

Take it. Take it.

It can't help us.

For the children in the hospital.

Oh, Berta.

We may need it for ourselves.

Hmm?

Come in.

Uh, Dr. Weiss,

your brother is back, with the man from Vilna.

Thank you, Mr. Lowy. I'll be right in.

Moses went to Vilna?

No. Just to the railroad station.

This fellow had to be sneaked in.

Someone wants to sneak in to the ghetto?

Mm-mm, no, he's a courier.

He must go back tonight.

I'll be back.

High level conference in the executive.

Don't believe anything the Germans tell you

about ghettos or work camps.

We take what they say with a grain of salt.

They mean to murder every Jew in Europe.

Impossible.

Well, reprisals, yes; we've had them here.

Not reprisals, mass murder...

The extermination of every Jew.

There were once 80,000 Jews in Vilna ghetto.

Today, there are less than 20,000.

60,000...

Shot by the SS.

But you can't shoot 60,000 human beings.

I don't believe you, Kovel.

How was it done?

The SS took any man who could work,

sent them out to the countryside to dig ditches,

the Lithuanian police circled the ghetto,

no one could get out, or in.

The Lithuanians went into the homes, beating, whipping.

The Jews came out quickly,

a few tried to hide, shot on the spot.

Taken in trucks to the ditches, undressed, searched,

lined up in the ditches, shot with machine guns.

They stood there, no tears...

no resistance.

Maybe Vilna was an exception.

Ghetto after ghetto is being wiped out.

The German army,

they're decent officers.

They must object.

Open your eyes.

Warsaw has the largest concentration of Jews in Poland.

Your turn will come.

They can't find enough ditches,

guns, bullets, to kill all of us.

Oh, they're an energetic and ingenious people;

perhaps they will.

Tell us what we must do, Kovel.

Resist.

You can start with this.

"To all Jews in the ghetto:

"Let us not go to our deaths like lambs to the slaughter.

"Young Jews, I appeal to you, do not believe those

"who wish to do you harm.

"It is Hitler's plan to annihilate the Jews.

"We are the first.

"It's true we are weak and alone,

"but the only answer worth giving to the enemy is resistance.

"Brothers, rather die fighting

"than live by the grace of a slaughter.

"Let us defend ourselves to our last breath...

Vilna and the ghetto."

But how much good will it do?

You say they'll be killed anyway.

"They," Dr. Kohn?

We!

Bare hands against tanks and artillery?

Do you have any guns? - Not yet.

We'll teach the young Zionists to obey orders

and become soldiers.

Then we'll get guns.

That sounds like Jews... No guns but start an army.

The Germans can be bribed, bought off.

They know the war is finished for them.

They've lost Africa.

America will invade Europe soon.

And we will be dead when they get here.

Berta, you shouldn't be out of bed.

I listened, Josef.

Well, it's just, just a lot of talk.

Nobody's really certain what to do yet.

I tore the coat apart.

You must buy guns.

How many?

In the first two days, more than 33,000.

We get rid of over 100,000 there before we're finished.

Have you improved security?

Yes, sir.

What about the clothing?

It's distributed to Ukrainians, and they don't seem to mind.

They don't ask questions.

♪ O little town of Bethlehem ♪

♪ How still we see thee lie ♪

♪ Above thy deep and dreamless sleep ♪

♪ The silent stars go by ♪

♪ Yet in thy dark streets shineth ♪

♪ The everlasting light ♪

♪ The hopes and fears of all the years ♪

♪ Are met in thee tonight. ♪

Daddy, can't we open presents?

Yeah, presents!

After the concert, children.

You know the rules:

Singing, then clearing up, and then presents.

Rewards after duty.

It's the same in the army.

Your father got this long vacation

only after his duties on the Russian front were over.

And Mama received this new piano for being so brave

while I was away.

It is magnificent.

One of those wonderful old Bechsteins.

I was stunned when the movers brought it in.

I couldn't believe it.

And it didn't cost a penny.

Really? ERIK: No, it was sitting

in the clinic around the corner.

No one played it; it was gathering dust,

and so the physician who ran the place offered it to me.

Offered it to you?

Yes, in the interests of party unity.

Oh.

This piano needs tuning.

Ah, tuning a piano is no problem.

Getting one is.

Well, it doesn't seem to have been

very hard for you, nephew.

Whose was it?

I told you. The clinic's.

Oh, some Jewish people lived there, but they went away.

Oh, I wonder where.

Let's have an intermission now.

Shall we open the presents?

A little less greed, children.

Marta, let them be.

It's only once a year.

Two white mice!

Mama, I wanted a mouse, also!

Oh, Dad, I love them.

I'll name one Siegfried and the other Wotan.

Better change one name, because the pet shop

assures me one of them is female.

A boy and a girl?

They're going to live together

and make mice babies.

I can hardly wait! Babies!

I might give you the sick ones.

Peter!

Erik, the children are tired.

Why don't we all sing, "Silent Night,"

and they can go to bed?

We can listen to Midnight Mass on the radio.

Uncle Kurt, you see how being married

to an administrator has made her efficient.

I think it might be the other way around.

Marta's efficiency has rubbed off on you.

Come on, children, come on... that's it.

Ready?

Okay.

♪ Silent night ♪

♪ Holy night... ♪

Something seems to be muffling the keys.

Is one of the strings broken? Hmm.

Ah!

Hmm.

These were lying on the strings.

Some old photographs.

Pictures! Let me see!

May I? Sure.

Who are they?

It's Dr. Weiss.

And their children, I imagine.

Do you know where they are, Erik?

Not the faintest idea.

I think he was deported years ago.

Laura, get rid of these.

We didn't finish singing "Silent Night."

♪ Silent night ♪

♪ Holy night ♪

♪ All is calm ♪

♪ All is bright ♪

♪ Round yon virgin ♪

♪ Mother and child ♪

♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪

♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪

♪ Sleep in heavenly peace. ♪

How is the Muller family tree coming?

Lies on top of lies.

What whores they make of us, Felscher.

It's how we survive.

He's got me painting in Charlemagne

and Frederick the Great.

They're jealous because we go back to Abraham.

Beautiful.

You won't forget the two crusaders.

There and there.

Weiss, you and I will be friends

before this mess is over.

Who knows? With America in the war,

I may need Jew friends to say nice things about me.

Don't count on me.

After all I've done for you?

Your wife was here yesterday.

Your monthly letter.

Don't you want it?

You made her pay the usual price?

It came postage due.

She had to pay a bit, but then she can afford it.

Go on, Muller.

Get out of here.

I don't want her to come here again.

She won't.

You're being transferred.

You and Felscher.

Request for a couple of high-class artists.

Transferred...?

You've developed reputations.

Concentration camp geniuses.

You're going to Theresienstadt

in Czechoslovakia.

The Paradise Ghetto.

I'll, uh...

I'll miss playing mailman for you.

Don't, Weiss.

Listen...

nothing is as it should be anymore.

Read it.

Be tolerant of her.

"My beloved Karl, dearest husband.

"I miss you more each day,

"and pray for the day when we will be united.

"One can always hope.

"I keep going to official people,

"but there seems to be no way I can secure your release.

"We must hope that your parents are well.

"Miraculously, a letter came from Warsaw some months ago.

"Your father is working in the hospital

"and your mother is teaching school.

"I wish I had some news of Rudi,

"but he has vanished from the earth.

"Oh, I love you, Karl, and I want you so much.

"Please understand me, darling.

"I have had to do things to get these letters to you,

"but my love for you is undying.

Your loving Inga."

Loving.

Cheer up, Weiss.

They say Theresienstadt is not so bad.

I always wanted to see Czechoslovakia.

Good morning, Heydrich; Dorf.

What a pair.

One of them part Jew, the other a Berlin shyster.

We estimate

that there are 11 millions Jews in the world,

and the Final Solution will deal with all them.

All?

The Führer has ordered the physical extermination

of the Jews.

Language, Heydrich, language.

The policy regarding the Jews is as follows.

They will be sent to labor camps in Poland

where natural attrition due to hunger,

fatigue and disease will take its toll.

And any survivors will be dealt with accordingly.

The "action commandos" will be expanded?

And other methods.

May we know what they are?

The use of gas is being examined.

Gas?

It's a possibility.

Now, General, you know what happened

with the mercy killings some years ago?

Sir?

I mean, the elimination of cretins, morons.

Yes, but what do you mean?

Dorf, you know damned well what I mean!

The Vatican and the church has raised hell!

He backed down, and the gassings ended.

Well? The same thing will happen.

We can't get the churches angry at us.

Heydrich...

this bloody business is getting out of hand.

Look...

I represent the Civil Branch of the Reich,

and I am damn worried!

These are only Jews we'll be handling.

Yes, controlling the foreign press, the banks,

whispering in Roosevelt's ear.

Nobody will lift a finger

to protect Jews.

And we'll be on firm legal ground.

We'll be eliminating enemies of the state, spies, terrorists.

What's the difference if they're shot,

gassed or worked to death?

I don't like this.

Oh, damn it, I'm a lawyer, too, and I want to be heard!

The conventional notion of justice is dead, Frank.

Do you happened to remember what the Fuhrer said

about your precious law?

I don't recall.

Dorf, you'd better tell him.

I believe the Führer said,

"Here I stand with my bayonets.

"There you stand with your law.

We'll see which prevails."

If it's extermination you want,

I'll oblige you.

Ah, some momentous decisions were made today.

Inevitable decisions.

Fascinating.

You have second thoughts? Of course not.

You and I are obeying the law, the Führer's law.

Not some abstract notion.

The kind of thing that Frank was babbling about.

Clear conscience?

I'm obeying orders.

Who am I to judge my superiors?

Why should they need judging?

Tell me, Dorf, how is your, um...

your charming wife and your beloved children?

Quite well.

I remember the day we spent in the Prater in Vienna.

When was that?

Three years ago.

I came to you for guidance at Heydrich's request.

Ah, yes.

The young innocent.

Your own family, Eichmann?

Splendid,

all things considered.

Wartime shortages and so on.

Our families, Eichmann...

The woman and the children of Germany...

They give us courage, determination.

No question.

Loving wife, happy children.

We owe them a better world.

Like the decisions we made today.

A necessity to assure the future of the race.

Precisely.

And later generations will not have the will

or the strength to finish these tasks.

I look at my children,

and I know I'm doing the right thing.

Rudi...

I'm cold.

Come closer.

It doesn't help.

I don't think I'll ever be warm again.

Give me your hand.

Rudi...

we cannot go on...

we cannot go on running like this.

You think we should have stayed in Prague?

I don't know, but at least there...

I had my apartment.

We could get food.

I had friends.

Your friends are all in concentration camps.

I... I think I am a burden to you.

I cry too much.

Helena...

I want to cry also.

But I learned, when I was a kid back in Berlin,

you never cry in a fight.

Never.

Even if it hurts.

Because there's always the fellow

who wants to see you cry.

And if he does, he'll murder you.

Nothing left.

Not even a turnip.

Rudi, what are we going to do?

You give me all this talk about this Jewish nation

your-your Zionist friends want.

Out in some desert?

Surrounded by Arabs?

That fellow with the whiskers...

What was his name?

It's Herzl.

Don't you try to make me laugh again.

I just want to knock some sense into your head, that's all.

You think you're going to get that place without a fight, huh?

Without killing or being killed?

But I'm cold.

I cannot think about Herzl when I'm cold.

I'll get you something to eat.

Close your eyes... I have a present.

Rudi, stop.

Come on, close them.

All right.

Now open your mouth.

What is it?

Raw potato.

Vitamins.

It's making me sick.

Then pretend it's a pastry.

Ah, brioche, fresh from the bakery.

Will you stop it?

Mmm. You smell that coffee?

I'd like mine with cream.

You're awful.

Here we are, a Berlin family,

plenty of food...

but we'll never live in Berlin.

And we will never live in Prague.

Where, then,

your nonexistent land of Israel?

I don't know.

But wherever we go, I will be happy.

So will I.

Come on out with your hands over your heads!

There's 50 of us here! Partisans!

No, Rudi.

Rudi, that knife won't help.

There are too many of them.

Come on out, slowly!

One gun... I should have gone for him.

Where are your 50 partisans?

They'll be here when we need them.

Who are you?

We are Czechs.

We escaped to Kiev and then we ran away from Kiev.

Why? RUDI: Does it matter?

You are Jews.

We are, too.

Shalom.

Shalom.

Shalom.

Jews with guns.

Very few guns.

The 50 partisans?

Uncle Sasha's imagination.

I am Sasha.

Commander of the partisan brigade from Zhytomyr.

You know... you're lucky we found you

instead of the Ukrainian partisans.

They would have killed you as soon as the Germans.

Do you have a gun for me? No.

At the moment, we have a lot more Jews than weapons.

Come. Let's go to the camp.

You both look starved.

Straight ahead to the square.

No talking.

Weiss?

Is there a Karl Weiss?

And Felscher?

Weiss and Felscher?

Here.

Weiss and Felscher?

I'm Karl Weiss.

How did you know us?

Word gets around.

I'm Maria Kalova,

one of the Theresienstadt artist.

You are to join us.

Stores?

The bank?

All a false front.

This camp is a fraud.

You can get a cup of warm water in the cafe,

and buy your own valise back from the leather shop.

But the bank?

It circulates useless currency.

Then it's all a game.

Nothing is a game to the Germans.

Well, are you treated well or...?

The barracks are packed with the old and sick.

They carry the dead out every day.

Where you came in, that's a little fortress...

Torture, murder, executions.

Karl, this is no different from Buchenwald

except in the externals.

What are they up to?

Theresienstadt is their passport to respectability.

I can't believe it.

You will when the Red Cross comes through

and decides the Nazis

are treating the Jews with kindness.

The Swedes, the Swiss... All the neutrals visit us.

"Ah, a bank...

"and a bakery.

"A cinema.

What are those Jews complaining about?"

And they can get away with this?

People believe them?

Maybe they want to believe.

Come along.

You are pleased to be through with Buchenwald, I guess.

This seems to be an improvement.

Don't be deceived by surfaces, Weiss.

An artist should see what lies below.

Yes, thank you.

Maria has told me.

This place is a pesthole.

You saw those old folks on the train?

The ones with moth-eaten furs and bowler hats?

Some of them are from my hometown; from Berlin.

The last of the Jewish bourgeoisie

turned over the last reichsmark

and artworks for retirement here.

And they die of hunger every day.

We are the lucky ones.

You and Felscher keep your noses clean

and you might survive.

Does anyone ever escape?

Or are people ever freed?

Felscher, this is no ordinary prison.

We are here for a long, long time.

Your work?

You and your colleagues?

Everyone.

And you're proud of this?

Hm?

I saw no children who looked like this.

Forgive me, please, Frey, I...

I am certainly no tower of strength myself,

but I mean... "Ghetto children at play."

"Sabbath meal at Theresienstadt."

I mean, really.

Stand watch.

We are a rather eclectic group.

We use several styles.

Do you.

This might be called...

"Concentration Camp Gothic."

Your work?

Yes, but all of us do these.

They're coming.

Thanks.

In our orchestra.

As I said before, let me show you

the artistic qualities we bring out.

And how are my artists today, hmm?

Quite well, Herr Commandant.

Good, good.

My guest is Herr Banson

of the Swedish Inspection Commission.

He's heard about our artistic program

and insisted on seeing it for himself.

Quite an atelier, eh, Banson?

Hardly, um, a torture chamber, hmm?

Uh, Frey,

show Herr Banson those portraits of the Jewish children, please.

Charming.

Yet more evidence

how, with kindness, we treat our Jews.

Whoever heard of a prison camp

with a fine art studio, huh?

Charming.

And now, gentlemen,

let me show you our orchestra.

We do, and as I say,

try to develop and bring out

the inherent artistic qualities...

Lying sons of...

Easy, Weiss.

Who is he?

Sasha?

He is a doctor.

A doctor.

Where's his office?

Don't joke.

He still can sew a wound or cut out an appendix.

And the man praying?

Samuel... he is a rabbi.

A rabbi with partisans?

That's my kind of rabbi.

He might even get me back into the synagogue.

Hey, you kids,

it might not look like it, but this is a synagogue.

Ha!

Hey, I'll deal with you later.

It's just like Berlin.

I was always getting chased for playing ball on Saturday.

How did you all get here?

Uncle Sasha brought us out of Koretz.

The Germans killed his wife and daughters.

Over 2,000 Jews shot in one afternoon.

My parents, my brother.

All of my family.

And one of Sasha's patients...

Ukrainian, a good man... He let us out... 20 people.

Then others joined us from Zhitomir, Berdichev,

all the places where Jews were killed.

To this camp?

This is our fourth camp.

The Germans come looking for us.

We tell them we're Ukrainian partisans.

Do you fight back?

We will when we get guns.

What are you waiting for?

It isn't easy.

There are women, old people, children.

Uncle Sasha won't leave them.

He doesn't pray with the others?

He tore up his prayer shawl when his wife was killed.

He tells everyone who comes here,

"No more sheep to the slaughter."

But you're just a handful.

Thousands of others just went to their death.

They were overwhelmed.

No one believed it would happen.

Hey, Weiss, you're on guard duty.

You know how to shoot?

Sure.

Will this thing fire?

If it doesn't, use it as a club.

Come, I'll show you.

What are you smiling about?

I was just thinking my father's a doctor.

Oh? Where?

He had an office in Berlin.

He's been in Warsaw now, a long time.

He once thought I would be a doctor.

What, you can't stand blood?

No, just a bad student.

Uncle Sasha.

Uncle Sasha, may I go on sentry duty with him?

Sure.

Matol will show you.

Thanks.

But stay awake.

And no romance either.

Uncle Sasha.

That fellow Samuel, your rabbi.

What about him?

Will he perform a wedding after we come off sentry duty?

Why not?

You won't even have to pay him.

♪ ♪

"Beloved,

"come, the bride to meet,

"the Princess Sabbath let us greet.

"Come to the Sabbath, greetings bring,

"For it is blessing's constant spring;

"Of old ordained, divinely taught,

Last in creation, first in thought."

"In distress I called upon the Lord.

He answered me with great deliverance."

May your years be blessed with happiness and children.

And undying love

for one another.

In the faith of Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob, you are man and wife.

Mazel tov!

Kiss the bride.

I'm afraid to.

Now that we're married.

Bravo!

Nadya, thank you

for lending me the ring.

Keep it; it was my sister's.

Well, now, you've got new responsibilities.

Family, house, insurance.

You better save your money.

You sound like my father.

He used to bawl me out

for spending my allowance on soccer games.

Uncle Sasha! The Nazis!

There's a patrol coming on the road.

A farmer told me... He saw the truck.

Everyone, move!

Come on, break camp.

Quick, quick!

Hurry, hurry, let's go.

Rudi, Helena!

We go now, yes?

This way, Reichsführer.

Gentlemen!

Whose idea was this?

Colonel Nebe.

He's an idiot.

He felt the Reichsführer should get a firsthand look.

I know Himmler better than he does.

Attention!

Quickly! Put your clothes in a pile.

Atten-hut!

How many people?

About a hundred, sir.

Normally, we process larger groups.

We've already handled 45,000 Jews

in the Minsk area in five months.

Piker.

We handled 33,000 in two days at Babi Yar.

This way!

That tall young man, the second.

He looks like an Aryan.

Bring him over here.

Sergeant, bring that tall fellow here.

Are both your parents Jews?

Yes.

Any ancestors who were not Jews?

No.

Pity I can't help you.

Send him back.

Whenever you're ready, Reichsführer.

Ready?

Yes, yes, any time, Colonel Nebe.

Fire!

It's the first time, you realize.

It's a bit hard to take.

Miserable little chicken farmer.

We shoot them by the thousands.

Oh, my God, some of them are still alive.

Sergeant!

I do think we must find another way.

Gentlemen, I have never been so proud of German soldiers.

Your consciences can be clear.

I will be responsible before God and Hitler

for all your acts.

The men are appreciative, Reichsführer.

Let's take a lesson from nature.

Combat is everywhere.

Primitive man understood that a horse was good,

a bedbug was bad.

Now, you might argue that bedbugs and rats and Jews

have a right to live, and I might agree with you,

but man has a right to defend himself against vermin.

Still, Heydrich, we must look for more efficient methods, yes?

Well, Nebe, you botched that one.

I'm Colonel Nebe to you, Major Dorf.

You're lucky you're not a sergeant, after that mess.

Who authorized you to invite the Reichsführer

to that sloppy business?

Couldn't you find gunners who'd kill them all

at the first volley?

Damn you, Dorf.

Don't you bark at me.

You're a disgrace.

Major Dorf, some of us

are sick of your interference.

Are you?

Well, for your information, Blobel,

we aren't pleased with Babi Yar.

Heydrich wants the corpses dug up and burnt.

Who the hell are you?

Get your fat behind back

- to the Ukraine. - Major Dorf,

you have no right to talk to us in this manner.

Oh, yes, he has.

Heydrich's pet.

You and that part-Jew.

Heydrich has no Jewish blood.

And anyone who spreads such lies will answer for them.

Go to hell.

I need a drink.

Listen, Major,

I have some ideas on what Himmler wants...

More efficient ways.

A lower cost for killing.

Dynamite, perhaps.

Injections, gas.

Let him go to hell!

Join us, Major?

Not him.

Keeps his head clear so he can scheme.

Like a damn kike.

Might have to do something about that little bastard.

Like what?

He's quick on his feet.

Just tell me you're with me.

You're leaving for Poland tonight?

Yes, sir.

We're examining alternative methods.

Before you go, you better read this.

"Major Erik Dorf, of your staff,

"is a member of a Communist youth group

"at the university.

"His father was a Communist leader

"who took his life in a scandal.

"Dorf's mother's family...

possibility of Jewish blood."

It's not signed.

They never are.

How do you feel about it, Erik?

It's all lies, top to bottom.

Uh... oh, my father was a sort of Socialist.

I never was a member of the Communist Party.

I may have once attended a meeting out of curiosity.

No Jewish chromosomes?

Absolutely not.

The usual check was run on me in 1935, when I enlisted.

Unfortunately, Himmler has a copy of this.

He wants another investigation,

family records and so on.

Didn't you assure him about me?

Well, you know how it is in the service.

Himmler and I have our little rivalries,

and I'm afraid you're caught in the middle.

Do we have any idea who sent that letter?

It could be anybody; it's just a way of getting at me.

But you're second in command.

Yes... but everybody's weary of me.

You see, Erik...

I know all there is to know about all of them,

from top to bottom.

What a bunch of thugs and scum they really are.

A veritable rogues' gallery:

Göring, drug addict and bribe-taker.

Rosenberg, I have his letters to his Jewish mistress.

Goebbels, scandal after scandal.

Himmler, something suspect on wife's side.

Not to mention Streicher and Kaltenbrunner,

they're no better than dog criminals.

I trust you I won't become part of your rogues' gallery.

Why should you?

Assuming this letter's untrue.

He's laboring.

With 70, it's too many.

How long does it take?

Ten to 12 minutes.

Longer when the bus is loaded so heavily.

It strains the engine.

The design will have to be improved.

They weren't designed for this sort of work.

What's it like inside the bus?

Lots of clawing and fighting.

And, sometimes, you can hear them

pounding against the sides.

Not now... the motor's too loud.

Give me a hand.

This way.

Not bad.

A half hour trip from the camp.

But it's not what we have in mind.

I'm inclined to agree.

If we use this method, we'll be burning

our truck engines all over Poland.

Laborious, slow.

We need permanent installations.

Yes, Blobel and I and some of the others

talk about it quite frequently.

Oh, do you?

What else do you two talk about?

Many things.

Do you ever compose anonymous letters?

Notes to Heydrich and Himmler about

some of their staff? I have no idea what you mean.

Don't you?

They're all dead, sir, except for two children.

We had to shoot them. Very well, that's all.

I don't like what I just saw.

Neither do I.

The mothers try to protect their children,

and that's why there were a few still alive.

I don't mean that.

Carbon monoxide is inefficient.

You'd think with all our expert German chemists,

we could do better.

One left inside.

Germans?

No, Ukrainian militia.

Do we want them? They've killed more of us than the Nazis have.

Fire!

Kill him! Kill him!

Oh! Oh!

Oh, please! No!

No!

No, please!

I said kill him.

Please! Damn you, Weiss!

If you don't, I will!

Kill him! SOLDIER: Don't! Don't shoot!

If he gets back, he'll bring the Germans!

No!

I... no!

Please!

He was just a kid.

Yuri says he's the kind who murders Jews for pay.

Rudi, please.

I never killed anyone before.

I know.

You had to.

I thought I was so tough.

Blood all over his face.

I don't understand it.

Any of it.

My parents didn't either.

Sasha, maybe.

You want to live, Rudi.

That's all you have to understand.

It's not enough.

When the killing's over, if it ever is,

and we're still alive, what then?

Then we will be a proper Mr. and Mrs. Weiss,

and we will go to Palestine.

Me working on some melon farm?

You.

Oh, Rudi, we will live to go there.

Orange groves, cedar trees,

little farming villages, and the blue sea.

I guess I do owe you a trip to your Zionist homeland.

Not a trip, Rudi.

A life for us,

where they cannot jail us or beat us

or kill us.

Do you remember the first time

we made love in Prague?

Don't embarrass me.

It was beautiful.

The best thing I ever knew in my life.

For me, too.

Now, each time we're together,

the wonder of it.

Two people knowing each other so closely.

Not just the bodies...

the arms, the lips.

It's as if God or nature

or someone decided it had to be.

Rudi...

there's poet in you.

No.

Just more love for you than I can describe.

I know, my darling.

I know.

That's why I know we won't die.

We will never die.