All language subtitles for Berlin 1945 Diary of a Metropolis 3of3 1080p BBC

In April 1945, Soviet director
Yuri Reisman makes a film

about the end of
the so-called Third Reich.

He has 38 Red Army
cameramen at his disposal.

The title of the film - Berlin.

The liberation of the city by
the Red Army is being documented.

It begins on April 16th
at the Oder with the battle

of the Seelow Heights,
70km outside of Berlin.

16 days later, the city is conquered
and the red flag is blowing

in the wind over the Reichstag.

On May 8th, Germany signs
its unconditional surrender.

War in Germany is over,
Joseph Goebbels is found dead,

Adolf Hitler's fate remains unknown.

Over two million people
are still living in Berlin -

men and women, young and old,
guilty and innocent.

Soon, only diaries and memories,
files and pictures, ashes and dust

remain to tell the tales
of their city.

TRANSLATION: May 9th, Wednesday.
We all had to show

up with buckets to clear
the barricades at the church.

It was a lot of work and
the Russians were keeping watch.

We are supposed to hand in
our radios or we'll be punished.

And not just our radios,
but cameras too.

After lunch, I went
to the firm with Mum.

Out of habit, I stupidly
greeted colleagues

in the yard with "heil Hitler".

TRANSLATION: The Reichstag is a
huge, dark building, not pretty.

The inside is a mass of
brick and iron.

In one of the city halls,
there was a huge throne

with a portrait of the
Kaiser on the back.

I had my picture taken
in the chair.

The walls were covered in countless
writings of our victorious Russian

soldiers and officers.

Here, there were soldiers
from Stalingrad.

One from Smolensk stood here.

We're in the Reichstag,
everything is OK.

TRANSLATION: Close to
Hitler's Chancellery,

next to his personal bunker,

two bodies were discovered -
one male, one female.

The corpses are badly burnt and
it is impossible to identify them

without further information.

TRANSLATION: We can say that the man

is between 50 and 60
years old, 1.65m tall.

The body is charred and
smells of burnt meat.

The glass splinters in his mouth
suggest he used a thin vial.

TRANSLATION: Experts remove
the teeth and lower jaw.

His teeth are surprisingly intact.

Dr Blaschke had a
private dental practice

at number 230 in Kudamm. He was
Hitler's personal dentist

from 1932 onwards.

His assistant, Kathe Heusermann,

was the only person we
could find there.

She knew and remembered
all the important details

about Hitler's teeth.

I held the dental bridge
in my hand,

I looked for irrefutable evidence.

I immediately found it, took a
deep breath and burst out,

"These are the teeth
of Adolf Hitler."

TRANSLATION: I went to the
Russian Kommandantur.

It's incredibly difficult to find
someone who understands you there.

They couldn't believe there
were still Jews in Berlin.

I managed to get permission
to move back into our flat.

Yesterday, I went to the
Jewish hospital in Schulstrasse.

The kids had been there last
year but were taken away again.

I was told they were
taken to Auschwitz.

I want to maintain my
strength for all of you

until you are with me.
I will not surrender hope.

This Friday, we had our first
public service in the small

synagogue of the Jewish hospital.

I gave the sermon, but I couldn't
speak much because the room

was filled with crying and sobbing.

Only now did the reality sink in
of just how many were missing.

TRANSLATION: May 13th.

The town mayor, Berzarin,

was introduced to the members of the
first post-war magistrate of Berlin.

The independent anti-fascist Dr
Arthur Werner was selected as mayor.

TRANSLATION: In a classically
Saxon accent,

Ulbricht explained to us, "It needs
a semblance of democracy.

"We must retain control
of everything".

Later, Erpenbeck rushed into
my room. He is supposed to write

text for my radio announcement,
he tells me.

We had the newest Pravda
figures in front of us,

which we translated into news with
anti-fascist democratic demeanour.

RADIO, TRANSLATED:

We are now on Moscow time - the
clocks were set two hours ahead.

TRANSLATION: The first German
newspaper has been published,

but it's difficult to
get hold of a copy.

TRANSLATION: Page one contains a
message from Stalin,

also announcements from the
Soviet military command,

including food rations
per person, per day.

People in artistic professions
are to receive the same amount

as heavy-duty workers.

600g of bread, 100g of meat,

one portion of potatoes.

Also each month, 100g of coffee,
20g of tea.

My housekeeper wonders whether
all of this will be in the shops.

Hundreds of people are
queuing in Reichsstrasse.

A kind of camp
life has emerged.

Three quarters of the people
waiting are sitting in chairs.

Many women are knitting
or mending socks.

Some, like me, are reading.

TRANSLATION: For lunch,
we had horse meat.

It was very tasty.

May 17th.

Listened to the radio at Schops

and went to the store at 10am.

A few of us girls were there today.

Charlotte Henning was
raped several times

and Edith Gasenza five times.

We all described our experiences.

TRANSLATION: I'm now trying to
acquire gynaecological instruments

to be able to perform
all necessary examinations.

The results for
gonorrhoea are horrifying.

Just today, I examined a 15-year-old
girl who'd been infected.

In the afternoon, my friend Ruth
came with her daughter.

Four Russians.

Swab inconclusive
but certainly antibiotics.

This is what you protect
your child for.

Suddenly, an order came through for
all foreigners to leave Berlin,

they were to leave immediately.

I made the final decision to leave
the city by bicycle or on foot

at the repatriation committee.

I was pretty much the only one.

None of the French guys
who were there with me agreed.

In the morning,
I left Berlin by bicycle.

TRANSLATION: Farewell, Berlin,

a city of misfortune and
tristesse.

We took the motorway towards
Magdeburg by truck.

Ten minutes later,
we had crossed the Elbe

and arrived with the Americans.

The loudspeakers announced,
"On Sunday, you will be in France."

I can't quite process it yet.

I will only wake from this
nightmare when I'm standing amongst

French-speaking civilians.

TRANSLATION: One afternoon,
someone knocked on my door.

Two young Jewish girls wearing

concentration camp clothing
were standing there.

They told me they'd just arrived
from the concentration camp Stutthof

with 30 other Jews.

We immediately went down the
street with two trolleys

to take them all upstairs.

TRANSLATION: When I saw Berlin for
the first time,

destroyed and broken, I didn't feel
pity for the Germans,

only bitterness and resentment
against the people who caused us

such unbearable suffering.

They deserve it.

I met a Mr David, who had
walked back from Auschwitz.

He told me that the kids are
almost certainly still alive

because they only
arrived last September

and they had hardly killed
any children since then.

Schatze, it's a horrible thought.

They killed children,
and maybe mine are among them.

Mr Scheppes came upstairs and said

that, starting tomorrow, all members
of the party had to report for work.

Apparently, we start at
6am in Christburger Strasse.

If it's only work,
it's certainly bearable.

But there's a lot of talk
of deportation and detention.

The time has come to do penance
for my affiliation with the party.

TRANSLATION: A lady appeared
and insisted

that my husband accompany
her to the Kommandantur.

He has been missing ever since.

My husband is 71 years old and
has trouble with his bladder.

He was a member of the party,

but never actively
involved in anything.

TRANSLATION: The yard of the
Kommandantur was full of Russians.

Two officers came in
through the gateway.

As they walked past me, one said to
the other, "Shot in the neck."

One Russian started
emptying my bags.

The only thing he didn't take was
my spoon and a handkerchief.

Then he pointed to the cellar room.

The floor was full of
sleeping people.

TRANSLATION: Suddenly, everyone gave
a Jew

at least two loaves of bread,
or 10 lbs of potatoes once.

Somewhere, sometime.

Everyone listened to foreign radio.

Everyone supported the persecuted.

Tales of awesome heroics
are coming to light.

The bigger the fear, the
more ridiculous the excuse.

Carried debris to
the mountain of rubble

in Jablonskistrasse at six
in the morning - row of buckets.

We had to work very hard.

I was there with Lotti Martin.

She was there because her father
had been a party member.

I was home at 10pm.
That's 16 hours of hard work.

If it goes on like this,
many of the women

won't be able to continue.

It's dreadful how us Germans
have to demean ourselves.

Are the Americans coming or not?

Will they divide Berlin
or leave it to the Russians?

"Who is even in charge?"
I ask Endrich.

He shrugs.

"Whoever's turn it happens to be."

Today, the papers show how Germany
will be divided.

The English, Americans, French and
Russians are coming to Berlin.

Berlin will have a government
made up of four powers.

The Americans, British, French
and Russians will have to agree

on every detail soon,
from education to food sharing.

Theoretically, there
should only be problems

with the German population.

It's hot in Berlin, each day
is hotter than the last,

and June heat smoulders
over the city.

Under the thin layers of
dust, the dead are moving.

The scent of their dying hangs
in the air like a toxic cloud.

The fumes wafting up from
Landwehrkanal are so unbearable

that passers-by have to hold
a handkerchief to their nose.

At lunchtime - three children who'd

been badly injured by hand grenades

while playing among the ruins.

I had to splint, bandage and stitch.

Since noon yesterday, we've had
some water in the boiler room.

Nice clean water.

And as of 5.30pm today,
we have electricity.

We're like children, always
switching the light on and off.

You're no longer stumbling
around in the dark.

You can see each
other while talking.

Plans are being developed for a
European Cultural Association -

exhibitions, theatre, lectures.

We've never been as
hopeful as we are today.

Concert in our school.

MUSIC: Lied Der Nachtigall
by Erna Berga and Sein Orchester

The Philharmonic Orchestra
played and Mrs Erna Berga sang.

There were many familiar faces.

Some guys had even dressed up again.

It was a wonderful night.

The first perm in a long time.

June 16th, Saturday.

There's a Nazi
special operation today.

At 7am, we were standing in rank
and file like convicts.

A youth leader came and told
everyone under 20 to step forward

to receive their youth assignment.

Later, two young men showed
up and collected the work cards.

Mine still had a big N on
it and Horst said,

"We have no use for Nazis."

But the youth leader said that it
was all how it was supposed to be

and I could get a different card.

I should just go home and
report back at 2pm.

Then I should go to a meeting
of the anti-fascist youth

and write a protocol.

On June 30th, I was ordered to drop
all my plans and head to Berlin.

Instead of wasting time
on an orderly start,

we grabbed our hats and hurried
down the Autobahn on July 1st

as if the Cossacks were
right behind us.

Russian officers in old confiscated
vehicles rushed up and down

our column to check us.

Some wanted a victory toast with us.

Others acted like
little commissars.

We reached Berlin late afternoon.

The Russians had not allowed us
to view our sectors beforehand.

Nobody knew exactly where to go.

Hundreds of officers and soldiers
were looking for places to stay.

RADIO: Hello, BBC, this is Richard
Dimbleby speaking from Berlin.

The official Allied occupation
of Berlin has begun.

The United States'
2nd Armored Division is entering

the American zone of the city today.

This is the first
BBC broadcast from Berlin.

At Reichstrasse, many tanks
with white stars drove past us.

Suddenly one tank
pulls up at the kerb.

A soldier leans out and asks,

"Excuse me, how do we get
to Grunewald?"

We reached Gruneweld with field
equipment, helmets and rucksacks.

We set up our vehicles in
a circle under the trees,

like in the prairie
in the olden days.

In the new Antifa office,
work is fun.

It feels like they want
the same thing as the Nazis,

just under a different name.

There are the same expectations,

the same manners of speaking.

The young people, they say,
are working best.

The ones that are most suited
to become team leaders are usually

the Hitler Youth leaders.

It got serious on July 4th.

Outside of the former
Adolf Hitler SS Barracks,

now the McNair Barracks,

the Russians moved in
with two companies.

MUSIC: Soviet National Anthem

When we saw them, we also
positioned two companies there,

along with a row of Sherman tanks.

MUSIC: US National Anthem

Their artillery fire to salute.

Our artillery responded.

I want to greet the American Allied
forces in the name of the commandant

of the city of Berlin and in the
name of the Soviet forces.

MUSIC: US National Anthem

The next day, Colonel Howley
sent his men to the town halls,

raised our flag and instructed
the Germans that from now on

they would be taking their
orders from the Americans.

Mum had to be at
Mrs Schwiering's at half past seven.

They have established an officer's
casino in the big villa

at Harnackstrasse.

Mrs Schwiering speaks
English fluently.

Mum brought wonderful things
we haven't seen in six years.

If ever the fate of Berlin had hung
by a thread,

it was on July 7th at
the meeting with Zhukov.

He brusquely announced, "And
now, gentlemen, let us discuss

"the question of how you intend to
supply Berlin with food and coal."

An icy wind from the steps
swept through the room.

Zhukov insisted.

He said that there was not only
a food shortage in East Germany,

but also in the Soviet Union
and that the Soviet administration

could no longer feed the whole city.

TRANSLATION: In the beginning,
we were expecting

just over two million Berliners
and printed the respective number

of food ration cards.

But soon the situation evolved.

Men, women and children from all
over poured into the capital

and we had to print new cards.

Berlin was the transit point
for all refugee transports,

even though the Allied Kommandatura
had locked down the city.

In July, 500,000 refugees arrived
in or were moved through Berlin.

TRANSLATION: We have arrived
at Stettin train station,

the end of the line,
completely bombed out.

You can only see the sky, rubble,
and people, people, people.

Refugees, all drifters like us.

Who should welcome us?

One Berliner said, "There's
still space next to that burnt-out

"station wall over there.
You can lie down there."

TRANSLATION: Red Cross nurses showed

us to the camp where
we were to be housed.

Soon, we stood in front of the
surface air raid shelter

and they said, "Here, you can stay."

Then they sent us away to wash.

TRANSLATION: Lice were like
humans' pets at the time.

We had to go for delousing
repeatedly.

Children and elders alike
had to go through it.

It was an all-around cleansing

and afterwards the lice
were gone.

Most of the time, anyway.

TRANSLATION: Returnees
and those who have been deported

are in poor health.

Babies and toddlers suffered most.

Many have severe
nutritional problems.

This has caused a lot of deaths.

July 15th.

At 9.45, we flew to Germany
to the Potsdam Conference

in a transport plane.

We were received by a
guard of honour at an airport.

After a 20-minute drive, we reached
our accommodation in Babelsberg.

It was made up of a series
of villas all looking out

over the lake - very pleasant.

In the evening,
I tried to catch a pike.

Berlin is like
an island in the South Seas,

isolated from the world.

Yet Stalin, the British prime
minister and the American president

are in Potsdam to decide our fate.

At 1.30pm, I went to lunch
with the Prime Minister.

He had just read the American
reports about the results of secret

experiments with the atom bomb.

It would not be necessary, he said,

for the Russians to enter
the war with Japan -

the new bomb was enough
to end the war.

The bomb would also change
the relationship with the Russians.

Then we could just say, if you
insist on doing this or that,

then we will wipe out Moscow
from the map,

then Stalingrad, Kyiv,
Sebastopol and so on.

The day ended with a dinner
of the heads of state.

July 25th.

At home, I finished the blue blouse
with the cut-off sleeves.

At 8pm, I went to the movies
with Mother.

The film was called "Berlin".

It was a Russian film
about the Battle of Berlin.

LOUD EXPLOSIONS

We were exhausted when we left.

They shouldn't show us
something like that.

We only just managed
to get through it.

If you were to see this in a
few years, it would be different,

but after three months,
that's not clever.

On July 28th, I did the
first consecration of a boy

in the small synagogue
of the Jewish hospital.

The following day, on July 29th,
I married the first Jewish couple

in Berlin in the small synagogue
in Rykestrasse.

Amid all the terrible suffering,
murder and savagery in Auschwitz,

two people had found each other.

This was the first joyous
day for the newly awakened

Berlin congregation.

Oh, Schatzel, how wonderful
to be lying in one's own bed,

knowing one is within
one's own four walls.

Goodnight.

I hope you are all relatively
comfortable as well,

if you are still alive.

Even though
I escaped the gas chambers,

the locked doors,
the screaming and the beatings,

the dogs and the roll calls,

at night it caught up with me.

It all came back.
The barbed wire fences,

the young girl
dead in the dirt,

Gad waving goodbye.

The past and the present
were merging,

the future was an empty sheet
of paper.

Huge headlines in all papers.

The Potsdam Agreement.

Common policy
in all occupied territories,

mutual consent on the order
of peace in Europe.

It sounds too good to be true.

This is a historic occasion.

We have conclusively proven

that a free people...

..can successfully look after
the affairs of the world.

Here we have it - no invasion,

but the atom bomb
on the city of Hiroshima.

If Hitler had managed to create
such an instrument of destruction,

I dare not think it.

TRANSLATION: August 12th.

The Americans are met
with great sympathy.

Yes, the behaviour of some Germans
is actually disgraceful.

Every day, one can observe
how German men greedily bend down

to pick up cigarette butts
thrown away by Americans,

or German women strolling through
the streets and parks,

arm in arm with American soldiers.

Imagine your own son,
18 or 19 years old,

free of any supervision,

provided with almost
unlimited resources

and fortunate enough to be as
attractive as Clark Gable.

Now imagine him being exposed

to a people bereft
of any moral standards.

Berlin women are hungry and lonely.

INFORMATION FILM NARRATION:
The problem now is future peace.

That is your job in Germany.

You are soldiers on guard.

You will not argue with them.

You will not be friendly.

You will be aloof,

watchful and suspicious.

Every German is a potential
source of trouble.

Therefore, there must be
no fraternisation

with any of the German people.

The guards have taken possession
of all the motorboats at the end

of their lake.

When they're not on duty,

they race up and down the lake
with German girls in their boats

and enjoy themselves.

TRANSLATION: You become numb.

I alone have diagnosed
50 cases of gonorrhoea.

Now the cases of unwanted
pregnancies are mounting.

TRANSLATION: I herewith politely
ask for your attention

for the suffering of a mother
and wife of a man

who is currently a prisoner of war.

She got into this terrible situation
without any personal wrongdoing

and is in the deepest agony
of the soul, begging for your help.

TRANSLATION: I was raped by Russians

on the 21st and 22nd
of April this year,

which brought about this pregnancy.

Due to my condition,
I'm suffering from depression

and therefore ask for a termination
of the pregnancy.

I'm a paediatric nurse
by profession.

TRANSLATION:
During a small festivity

where alcohol was involved,
I was raped by an American.

This evening now has consequences

and I therefore politely ask
for the termination of my pregnancy.

TRANSLATION: The termination
of the pregnancy of Mrs Gerda Karl,

resident of Berlin-Neukolln,
is hereby approved.

TRANSLATION: Dear Mum, dear Dad.

What a terrible place, Berlin.

You cannot begin to imagine
the bleakness of this megalopolis.

Even more horrifying are those
Berliners dwelling in the cellars,

dying of starvation.

TRANSLATION: What we got
on the Russian card

wasn't sufficient at all.
We just had to try and organise

something on the black market.

My parents scrambled together
anything that could

possibly be fobbed off -

our toys, doll houses,
scooters, skates.

Sometimes, that would get some
good stuff - a little butter,

some extra bread
or a piece of bacon.

Everything is being bartered,
trafficked

and sold to people
at outrageous prices.

Our GIs have had cheap watches
and cigarettes sent to them,

which they now sell around
Alexanderplatz or in the Tiergarten

to their Russian comrades
at fantastic prices.

Mickey Mouse watches
fetch 10,000 marks apiece.

They could exchange the money,
one-to-one, into American dollars.

Fancy visiting antique shops
with no money

and cigarettes
in one's handbag instead.

For four packets,
I got a lovely Venetian glass

and a large tortoiseshell comb.

How valuable cigarettes are.

September 10th.

A few days back,
there was a great military parade

celebrating the end of the war.

Thousands of Russians, thousands
of French, thousands of Americans,

thousands of British.

For us, it was great that the French
took up as much space as the others.

Just as many men,
just as many flags.

The German Reich is shattered.

The German economy is shattered.

The German culture is shattered.

We no longer have a voice
in the League of Nations,

but are treated like mere
indigenous people in a colony.

These are the bitter fruits
of five and a half years of war,

full of struggle and deprivation.

I'm afraid the Germans have still
not learnt the lesson

of this terrible war.

They're only sorry for themselves,

not for all those they murdered

and tortured and tried to wipe
from the face of the Earth.

October 1st.

Went to see a film
with Gunter in the evening.

"Jenny and the Gentleman in the
Tailcoat," with Johannes Heesters.

It looks as though Gunter
is completely infatuated with me.

I told Mum I'm at the meeting or
she'd get upset and scold me again.

Mrs Schulze received
a letter from Kurt.

So Kurt is alive, thank God.
I'm very happy.

November 8th. The flat is now
halfway cosy and nice,

the beginning
of an existence in the making.

But my great anxiety about my
husband and children

remains my all-encompassing concern.

I've left no stone unturned
to try and find the children,

but have remained unsuccessful.

I don't know how I am to bear
the certainty of their death,

should this come about.

And the only person who ever
understood me,

he, too, will not return.

In Nuremberg,
an International Court of Justice,

has convened to pass judgment
on the main war criminals.

24 defendants.

The bill of indictment filled seven
closely typed newspaper pages.

Watching the people flicking
through this document of shame

with indifference, it seems as
though none of this concerns them,

neither crime nor perpetrators,

neither guilt nor punishment.

These 21 men, these zeroes,

these hardworking
and confident monsters,

were the last survivors
of a gang that had ruled Germany.

Because of them, millions
of soldiers, sailors, pilots

and civilians died in the war,

and millions died in gas chambers
and furnaces.

No famine, no plague, no punishment
of God ever accomplished

what these men were able to do.

They caused destruction
such as the world has never seen,

and there they sat, stony faced.

Hermann Wilhelm Goring...

..you must plead guilty or
not guilty.

Rudolf Hess.

Wilhelm Keitel.

Alfred Jodl.

December 8th.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception,

Day of Remembrance.

The first snow, very cold,

wind beating against the windows.

At 7am with mother to the
Borgsdorf forest to fetch wood.

It was terribly heavy,

and the forester was about
to confiscate our tools

when we wanted to saw a trunk.

We had two large sacks,
a rucksack and a bag,

and still we had to run
for the train.

December 10th.

It's said to be almost
minus 20 degrees Centigrade.

My hair has turned very grey.

In general, we all age rapidly now.

Snow outside, scrunching underfoot.

Everybody's complaining
about the cold.

I hope it won't last for long.

With the lack of coal,

the malnourished will
freeze to death in their flats.

It's been happening already.

First post-war Christmas.

How different
from what we had imagined.

No tree, no presents, no Andric.

But the curfew was lifted yesterday

and those brave enough
are allowed out after 11pm.

Eaten lots and well.

To church with Hansels and Schulzes
at quarter to five.

It was crowded so we stood
on the upper gallery.

Another Christmas
without the children.

Last year, I often thought
about it and wished for the next one

not to be so sad.

Now, Christmas will soon come
around and I have even less hope.

Monday, New Year's Eve.

Mother was angry with me
when I left in the evening.

I took my records,
first to Gunter,

then to Hayo, who lives in
Weissensee. His parents were out.

Gunter was quite jealous because I
was flirting with Rudi and danced

the first dance of the New Year
with him. It was "Lantern, Lantern."

# Laternchen, laternchen

# Laternchen... #

At 5am, I went to another family,
who were also celebrating

and in high spirits.

At 6am, I returned.

Mother was livid.

I went to bed and slept
until 11 the next morning.

In 1949, Brigitte Eicke married her
childhood sweetheart Kurt Schulze.

The couple had two children,
a boy and a girl.

Brigitte spent her entire life in
Prenzlauer Berg and died in 2016

at the age of 89.

The trial against the main war
criminals at Nuremberg concluded

with 12 death sentences, seven
long-term or life prison sentences

and three acquittals.

Hermann Goring eluded his punishment
by committing suicide.

In 1947, over 98% of all registered

NSDAP members were back at work.

Even high-ranking SS functionaries
were able to build a career

after the war, as doctors,
judges, teachers, professors,

civil servants or journalists.

Only in 1946 Alice Lowenthal
received confirmation

that her second husband and her
daughters, Gitti and Ruth, had died.

All three had been murdered
at Auschwitz concentration camp

and were declared dead in 1950.

Alice married again, the son
of the family who had hidden her.

The pair had another daughter
they named Eva Ruth Gitti.

Alice died in 1985.

Eva still lives in Berlin.