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[woman] You didn't wake me.

You were sleeping.

You can't bear
to have breakfast with me.

I've boiled you an egg. See?
I'd hardly have boiled you an egg

if I didn't want to see you.
Um, tea or coffee?

Does any woman
ever stay long enough

to find out what the hell
goes on in your head?

What are you doing tonight?

I'm seeing my daughter.

Your daughter?
You've kept very quiet about her.

Have I?

Well, she's been abroad for a year.

Did you say tea?

I'm going.

Have fun with your daughter.

[door shuts]

[train approaching]

[brakes squealing]

[woman speaks German]

[woman] Tickets, please.

Tickets. Excuse me.

Tickets.

Tickets, please.

[panting]

[gagging]

[thunder rumbles]

[vomiting]

[woman] Oh!

Hey. Hey, you!

[faucet turning on]

Your feet. Your feet.

[boy sobbing]

Hey, kid.

Up.

It's all right.

There. Where do you live?

It's just up here.
I'll be fine now. Thank you.

Goodbye.

Look after yourself.

I'm worried about him.
He looks terrible.

The boy's saying
he doesn't need a doctor.

- He does.
- I don't need a doctor.

- Good, then.
- Peter.

We're not going to argue about this.

Remind me.
How old are you, now?

[mother] Michael's 15.

- [doctor] It's scarlet fever.
- [sighs]

[doctor] He'll be in bed
for several months, at least.

Complete isolation.

Emily, keep away. He's contagious.

Emily!

[mother] How are you feeling?

Better.

I meant to tell you...

...the day I got ill, a woman helped me.

She helped you?

Yes. She brought me home.

Do you have her address?

- [banging]
- [indistinct chatter]

[men shouting in German]

[woman singing in German on record]

- [Michael] Hello?
- [woman] Yes?

[music continues]

I brought you these flowers
to say thank you.

Put them over there in the sink.

I would have come earlier,
I've been in bed three months.

- You are better now?
- Yes. Thank you.

- Have you always been weak?
- Oh, no. I've never been sick before.

It's incredibly boring.
There's nothing to do.

I couldn't even be bothered to read.

Well, thank you again.

Wait.

I'll walk with you.
I have to go to work.

Wait in the hall while I change.

[coin clatters on floor]

[men chattering outside]

[women chattering]

[woman shouts in German]

[man grunts]

[Michael gasps]

[footsteps approaching]

There are two more buckets downstairs.

You can fill them and bring them up.

[Michael coughing]

[laughs]

[woman laughing]

You look ridiculous.
Look at you, kid.

[laughs]

You can't go home like that.

Take off your clothes.
I'll run you a bath.

[water running]

Do you always take
a bath in your trousers?

[clears throat]

It's all right. I won't look.

I'll get you a towel.

[moans]

[whispers] So that's
why you came back.

[whispers] You're so beautiful.

[whispers] What are you talking about?

Look at me, kid.

Mm! Mm!

Slowly.

Slowly...

Shh.

[silverware clattering]

[blows, slurps]

[clock ticking]

[panting, moaning]

[moaning]

[panting]

You've inconvenienced your mother.

How many more times?
I've said I'm sorry.

- You scared her.
- I got lost, that's all.

That's why I was late.
Can I have some more?

How can anyone get lost
in their own hometown?

I meant to head for the castle,
I ended up at the field.

- Opposite directions.
- None of your business.

- He's lying.
- He's not lying.

Michael never lies.

I've decided I want
to go back to school tomorrow.

- The doctor says you need three weeks.
- Well, I'm going.

[mother] Peter?

[sighs]

[children shouting]

- Hey!
- Ooh!

- [grunts]
- Like this?

That's right.

[moans]

No, not so fast.

Ah!

It's all right.

Do it again.

Mm...

Oh!

What's your name?

- What?
- Your name.

- Why do you want to know?
- I've been here three times.

I want to know your name.
What's wrong with that?

[laughs] Nothing, kid.

There's nothing wrong with that.

- It's Hanna.
- You look so suspicious.

- What's yours, kid?
- Michael.

Michael. Hmm.

So I'm with a Michael.

Hanna.

[teacher] The notion of secrecy
is central to Western literature.

You may say the whole idea of character

is defined by people

holding specific information,

which, for various reasons,

sometimes perverse,
sometimes noble,

they are determined not to disclose.

[laughs]

[Hanna] You never tell me
what you've been studying.

Studying?

At school.

- Do you learn languages?
- Yes.

- What languages?
- Latin.

- Say something in Latin.
- [laughing]

[speaking Latin]

It's Horace.

It's wonderful.

Do you want some Greek?

[reading in Greek]

It's beautiful.

How can you tell?

How do you know,
when you've no idea what it means?

What are you studying in German?

I'm studying a play.

By a writer called Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing. You heard of him?

The play's called Emilia Galotti.
You can read it.

I'd rather listen to you.

All right.

"Act One. Scene One.

The setting:
one of the prince's chambers.

The Prince..."

I'm not very good.

Go on.

"Complaints, nothing but complaints.

For goodness sake,
is there anything left but work?

Just imagine that
people actually envy us."

You're good at it, aren't you?

Good at what?

Reading.

What's funny?

I didn't think I was good at anything.

[boys shouting]

[whistling, clapping]

Whoo!

[bell clangs]

[footsteps approaching]

What are you doing?
What is this?

Why did you behave
as if you didn't know me?

You didn't want to know me! You could
see I was in the first carriage!

- So why did you sit in the second?
- What did you think I was doing?

- Why did you think I was there?
- How should I know?

Now, I've been working.
I need a bath.

And I'd like to be by myself.

Would you please leave?!

I... I didn't mean to upset you.

You don't have the power to upset me.

You don't matter enough to upset me.

[gas heater turns on,
water runs]

[sniffling]

I don't know what to say.

I've never been with a woman before.

We've been together four weeks,

and I can't live without you.

I can't.

Even the thought of it kills me.

I sat in the second carriage
because I thought you might kiss me.

Kid, you thought
we could make love in a tram?

Is it true what you said?

That I don't matter to you?

Do you forgive me?

Do you love me?

- Do you have a book?
- Yes, I have.

I took one with me this morning.

- What is it?
- The Odyssey, by Homer.

It's my homework.

We're changing the order we do things.

Read to me first, kid.
Then we make love.

- [Michael] The Odyssey, by Homer.
- What's an odyssey?

A journey.
He sets out on a journey.

[Hanna] Good.

"Sing to me of the man, Muse
The man of twists and turns

Driven time and again off course
Once he had plundered

- The hallowed heights of Troy"
- Come here.

[Michael] "He pressed
her hand to his lips.

She was dead.

- Past all help, or need of it."
- [sobbing]

[panting]

[Michael] "I poked into the place a
ways, encountered a little open patch

as big as a bedroom,
all hung around with vines,

and found a man lying there asleep.

And, by jings, it was my old Jim.

'When you landed,
I reckoned I could catch up with you

on the land without having to shout
at you. But when I see that house,

I begin to go slow."' [laughs]

"Lady Chatterley
felt his naked flesh against her

as he came into her.

For a moment,
he was still inside her..."

This is disgusting.

Where did you get this?

- I borrowed it from someone at school.
- Oh...

You should be ashamed.

Go on.

[blows raspberry]

"'Billions of bilious blue blistering
barnacles in a thundering typhoon!

It is water!' 'But what on earth
did you expect it to be?"'

- Whiskey.
- "'Whiskey, by thunder, whiskey!'

'Whiskey? Come now, captain,
you can't be serious."'

That's enough for today, kid.

I was wondering, do you think
you could get some time off?

Maybe we could go on a trip.

- What sort of trip?
- A cycling holiday.

Just two days.

I've got a guide book.
I've worked out the route.

Look. What do you think?

I think you like planning, don't you?

[sighing]

[Michael] "I'm not frightened.

I'm not frightened of anything.

The more I suffer, the more I love.

Danger will only increase my love.

It will sharpen it.
It will give it spice.

I'll be the only angel you need.

You will leave life even more beautiful
than you entered it.

Heaven will take you back
and look at you and say,

'Only one thing can make a soul
complete, and that thing is love."'

[laughing]

- Hello.
- Hello.

[boys laughing]

- [woman] Excuse me.
- Hello.

Do you know what you'd like?

- Um...
- What are you having?

- You order. I'll have what you have.
- OK.

Um...

Two frankfurters, two potato salads
and two beers, please.

[boys laughing]

[sighs]

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- I hope your mother was happy.
- Thank you.

She enjoyed her meal very much.

Come on.

[laughing, shouting]

Here, let me show you
where we're going.

It's OK, kid.

I don't want to know.

[choir singing]

[choir continues singing]

[choir stops singing]

- What are you doing?
- I'm writing a poem. About you.

- Can I hear it?
- It's not ready.

I'll read it to you one day.

[bicycle bells ringing]

[choral music plays in car]

[music continues]

[shuts off music]

- Morning, Hendrick.
- Good morning, Mr. Berg.

- You're in court 306.
- Thank you.

- You all right, Michael?
- I'm fine.

- Hurry. You know what she's like.
- [Michael] See you later!

Good luck.

[man] Please stand.

Please sit down.

[woman] The defendant, please.

- [indistinct chatter]
- [whistling]

They're coming.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- What did she say?
- [teacher] Good morning, ladies.

Welcome your new fellow-students.
Treat them with courtesy.

- Sit down.
- Hello.

- My name's Sophie.
- I'm Michael.

[teacher] The Odyssey.

Take our your books.

Everyone believes
Homer's subject is homecoming.

In fact, The Odyssey
is a book about a journey.

Home is a place you dream of.

Berg, I don't mean to distract you, but
we're meant to study Homer, not Sophie.

- [laughter]
- [shouting]

- It's wonderful, isn't it?
- Wonderful.

It's gonna be a great summer.

- Why do you leave early?
- He always leaves early.

- Do you have somewhere to go?
- See you tomorrow.

[Michael] Sorry I'm late.

I got held up at school.

I have a new book.

The Lady with a Little Dog.

By Anton Chekhov.

"The talk was that a new face
had appeared on the promenade,

a lady with a little dog."

[man] Schmitz, one moment, please.

I read the reports on you.
Every single one. Excellent work.

You'll be working in the office.

You got promoted. Congratulations.

- [boy] Yee-haw!
- Ah! [laughs]

[boy] Let's get out of here!

Come on! Michael, we're leaving.
Let's go!

Come on, Michael!

It's meant to be a surprise
for your birthday.

- [boy] Come on!
- [boy 2] What's the matter?

- I'm sorry. Really.
- [Sophie] We thought you'd like it.

[boy] We've got beer!
We're gonna dance!

I promised someone.

[girl] Michael, please!

[Michael] "Here and there the reflection
of the stars and the lights,

on the bank quivered and trembled."

- [Hanna] Oh, kid, kid.
- What?

- Stop.
- What's wrong now?

Nothing's wrong.

It's nothing.

You know, you never ask.

You never bother to ask how I am!

[Hanna] You never say.

It just happens to be my birthday.

It's my birthday, that's all!

You've never
even asked when it is.

- If you want a fight, kid...
- I don't want a fight!

- What's wrong with you?!
- What business is it of yours?!

It's always on your terms.
Everything.

We do what you want.
It's always what you want.

- My friends were giving me a party.
- Why are you here?

Go back to your party.
Is that what you want?

Mm! Mm!

It's always me
that has to apologize.

You don't have to apologize.
No one has to apologize.

War and Peace, kid.

[panting]

Now, you must go
back to your friends.

[chanting]

Are you all right?

[indistinct chatter]

It's him.

Good.

Get the boy something to eat.

[father] I think we all knew you'd
come back to us eventually.

Mr. Berg? It is 8:00.

Your daughter.

Thank you.

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

Julia.

[laughing]

- I've not kept you waiting?
- I was early.

Welcome back. [laughs]

So how will you decide?

I don't know.

I'm happy back in Berlin, I suppose.

- You've seen your mother?
- Mm-hmm.

I wanted to get away. That's all.

It was Paris,
but it could have been anywhere.

Away from your parents?

I'm aware I was difficult.

I wasn't always open with you.

I'm not open with anyone.

I knew you were distant.

You know...
I always assumed it was my fault.

Julia.

How wrong can you be?

[sobbing]

- [Julia] I'll see you very soon.
- [Michael] See you soon.

- [Julia] Good night, Dad.
- [Michael] Good night.

[woman] Those of you
for the special seminar group,

please stay on in this room.

please stay on in this room.

Professor Rohl will
be here in a moment.

Well, we seem
to be quite a small group.

A small group and a select one.

Clearly, this is going
to be a unique seminar.

We are going to start
with a reading list, gentlemen.

Karl Jaspers...

- And ladies.
- ...The Question of German Guilt.

[♪ Creation: Making Time]

[girl] So this is where you are.

Yes.

Come in.

- You take work seriously.
- I don't know.

You're rather a serious boy.

It's how I was brought up.

What about you? Are you serious?

You're sure you want to work tonight?

Yeah.

But I won't work every night.

See you tomorrow.

- Yes. Exactly
- That's right.

You need a hand.

[crowd shouting]

[siren wailing]

[crowd chanting]

- Why all the police?
- They're worried about demonstrators.

- For or against?
- Both.

[girl] Wow. It's a circus.

[man] All rise.

All photographers
are now asked to leave.

This court is now in session.
Please sit down.

[judge] First thing I'm going to do
is hear motions

from each of the defendants' lawyers.

They're arguing that there's
no reason to keep the defendants in jail

until the outcome
of the forthcoming trial.

- I'll take these cases one by one.
- Want a pen?

- I got a pen.
- [judge] Hanna Schmitz.

- Your name is Hanna Schmitz?
- [Hanna] Yes.

[judge] Can you speak louder please?

- [Hanna] My name is Hanna Schmitz.
- [judge] Thank you.

- You were born on October 21st, 1922?
- [Hanna] Yes.

[judge] At Hermannstadt.

- And you're now 43 years old?
- [Hanna] Yes.

- [judge] You joined the SS in 1943?
- Yes.

[judge] What was your
reason for joining?

You were working
at the Siemens factory at the time?

Yes.

[judge] You'd recently
been offered a promotion.

Why did you prefer to join the SS?

- Objection.
- [judge] I'll re-phrase my question.

I'm trying to ascertain

if she joined the SS freely, hmm?

Of her own free will.

- I heard there were jobs.
- [judge] Go on.

[Hanna] I was working at Siemens

when I heard the SS was recruiting.

[judge] Did you know the kind of work
you'd be expected to do?

They were looking for guards.

- I applied for a job.
- [judge] You worked first at Auschwitz?

- [Hanna] Yes.
- [judge] Until 1944.

Then you were moved to
a smaller camp near Kraków?

- [Hanna] Yes.
- Are you OK?

- [judge] You helped move prisoners...
- I'm fine.

...west in the winter of 1944
in the so-called death marches?

- So, what did you think?
- I don't know.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Wasn't it? In what way?
What were you expecting?

I thought it was exciting.

[Rohl] Exciting? Why?

Why did you think it was exciting?

Because it's justice.

- [shouting]
- [glass breaking]

[inaudible]

Societies think they operate
by something called morality,

but they don't.

They operate by something called law.

You're not guilty of anything
merely by working at Auschwitz.

Eight thousand people
worked at Auschwitz.

Precisely 19 have been convicted,
and only six for murder.

To prove murder,
you have to prove intent.

That's the law.

The question is never was it wrong,

but was it legal.

And not by our laws, no.

- By the laws at the time.
- But isn't that...

- [Rohl] What?
- ...narrow?

Oh, yes. The law is narrow.

On the other hand,

I suspect people who kill other people

tend to be aware that it's wrong.

[judge] Miss Schmitz,
you're familiar with this book?

[judge] Miss Schmitz,
you're familiar with this book?

- Yes.
- Parts of it

have already been
read out in court.

It's by a survivor,

a prisoner who survived.

Ilana Mather.

She was in the camp
when she was a child, wasn't she?

- She was with her mother.
- [Hanna] Yes.

[judge] In the book,
she describes a selection process.

At the end of the month's labor,
every month,

sixty inmates were selected.

Picked out to be sent from
the satellite camp back to Auschwitz.

That's right, isn't it?

Yes, that's right.

[judge] And, so far,
each of your fellow defendants

has specifically denied
being part of that process.

Now, I'm going to ask you.

Were you part of it?

Yes.

[murmuring]

So you helped make the selection?

- Yes.
- [judge] You admit that?

Then tell me,

how did that selection happen?

[Hanna] There were six guards,

so we decided we'd
choose ten people each.

That's how we did it every month.

We'd all choose ten.

Your fellow defendants
took part in the process?

We all did.

[judge] Even though they've denied it?

Saying "we," "we all"
is easier than saying "I," "I alone,"

isn't it, Miss Schmitz?

Did you not realize

that you were sending
these women to their deaths?

But they were new arrivals,
new women were arriving all the time.

So... the old ones had to make room
for the new ones.

[gasping]

- I'm not sure you understand...
- We couldn't keep everyone.

- There wasn't room.
- [judge] No.

But what I'm saying...

Let me rephrase.

To make room, you were
picking women out and saying,

"You, you and you have
to be sent back to be killed."

Well, what would you have done?

Should I never
have signed up at Siemens?

[man] Ms. Mather,
they're ready for you now.

Go, go. Go, go, go.

- Where's Michael?
- I don't know.

[judge] In your book, you describe
the process of selection.

[Ilana] Yes.

You were made to work and then,
when you were no longer any use to them,

then they sent you back
to Auschwitz to be killed.

[judge] Are there people here
who made that selection?

[Ilana] Yes.

[judge] I need you to identify them.
Can you please point them out?

Her.

And her.

Her.

And her.

Her.

And her.

[judge] Thank you. Please continue.

Each of the guards would choose
a certain number of women.

Hanna Schmitz chose differently.

[judge] In what way differently?

She had favorites.

Girls, mostly young.

We all remarked on it.

She gave them food
and places to sleep.

In the evening,
she... she asked them to join her.

And we all thought...

Well, you can imagine
what we thought.

And then we found out she was making
these women read aloud to her.

They were reading to her.

At first, we thought this guard,
this guard is...

...more sensitive,
she's more human, she's kinder.

Often, she chose the weak, the sick.

She picked them out.
She seemed to be protecting them almost.

But then she dispatched them.

Is that kinder?

[judge] I want to
move on now to the march.

As I understand it, you and your
daughter were marched for many months.

[Mrs. Mather] In the winter of 1944,
our camp was closed down.

We were told we had to move on.
But the plan kept changing every day.

Women were dying
all around us in the snow.

Half of us died on the march.
My daughter says in the book,

"Less a death march,
more a death gallop."

[judge] Please tell us about
the night in the church.

That night, we thought we were lucky
because we had a roof over our heads.

[judge] Go on.

We'd arrived in a village.

As always, the guards took the best
quarters. They took the priest's house.

But they let us sleep in a church.

There was a bombing raid
in the middle of the night.

The church was hit.

At first, we could only hear the fire.
It was in the steeple.

Then we could see burning beams...

...and they began to crash to the floor.

Everyone rushed...

...rushed to the doors.

But the doors had been
locked on the outside.

[judge] The church burned down?
Nobody came to open the doors?

Is that right?

[Mrs. Mather] Nobody.

[judge] Even though you
were all burning to death?

How many people were killed?

Everyone was killed.

[judge] But you survived?

Thank you.

I want to thank you
for coming to this country

today to testify.

I don't know. I don't know
what we're doing here anymore.

Don't you?

You tell us to think like lawyers,

but there's something...
disgusting about this.

- How so?
- This didn't happen to the Germans.

It happened to the Jews.

- What are we trying to do?
- We're trying to understand.

Six women locked 300 Jews in a church
and let them burn.

What is there to understand?

Tell me! I'm asking!
What is there to understand?

I started out believing in this trial.
I thought it was great.

Now, I think it's...
it's just a diversion.

Yes? Diversion from what?

You choose six women,
you put them on trial,

you say, "They were the evil ones,
they were the guilty ones."

One of the victims
happened to write a book.

That's why they're on trial
and nobody else!

Do you know how many camps
there were in Europe?

People go on about
how much did everyone know?

Who knew? What did they know?
Everyone knew!

Our parents, our teachers.
That isn't the question!

The question is,
"How'd you let this happen?"

Better, "Why didn't you
kill yourself when you found out?"

Thousands. That's how many.
There were thousands of camps.

Everyone knew.

Look at that woman.

- Which woman?
- The woman you're always staring at.

I'm sorry, but you are.

I don't know which woman you mean.

You know what I'd do?

Put the gun in my hand,
I'd shoot her myself.

Shoot them all!

[judge] Why did you
not unlock the doors?

Why did you not unlock the doors?

Why did you not unlock the doors?

I've asked all of you,
and I'm getting no answer.

Two of the victims are in this court.
They deserve an answer.

This is the SS report.
You all have copies.

The report which was written,
approved and signed by all of you

immediately after the event.
In the written report,

you all claim you didn't even know
about the fire until after it happened.

But that isn't true, is it?

Well?

It's not true.

- I don't know what you're asking.
- The first thing I'm asking

- is why didn't you unlock the doors?
- Obviously.

For the obvious reason.

- We couldn't.
- Why couldn't you?

We were guards.

Our job was to guard the prisoners.

We couldn't just let them escape.

I see. And if they escaped,
then you'd be blamed,

you'd be charged,
you might even be executed?

- [Hanna] No!
- Well, then?

If we'd opened the doors,
there would have been chaos.

How could we have restored order?

It happened so fast.
It was snowing. The bombs.

The flames... There were flames
all over the village.

Then the screaming began,
and got worse and worse.

If they'd all come rushing out,
we couldn't just let them escape.

We couldn't.
We were responsible for them!

So you did know what was happening?
You did know? You made a choice.

You let them die,

rather than risk letting them escape.

The other defendants have made
an allegation against you.

Have you heard this allegation?

They say you were in charge.

It isn't true.
I was... I was just one of the guards.

- She was in charge.
- [woman] She was!

- Of course she was.
- Did you write the report?

No. No. We all discussed what to say.
We all wrote it together.

She wrote the report.
She was in charge.

- [judge] Is that true?
- No.

- Yes, you did!
- Does it matter?

- She wrote it.
- [judge] I need a sample

- of your handwriting.
- My...

- My handwriting?
- Yes. I need to establish

- who wrote the report.
- I don't see how that's appropriate.

- 20 years have gone by.
- Take her paper. Approach the bench.

- Compare handwriting of 20 years...?
- [judge] Approach the bench.

[judge] I will not be overruled
in my own court.

[counsel] I'm sorry...

I'd rather listen to you.

There's no need.

I wrote the report.

[murmuring]

[judge] Silence, please.

Order!

You've been skipping seminars.

I have a piece of information.

Concerning one of the defendants.

- Something they're not admitting.
- What information?

You don't need me to tell you.

It's perfectly clear. You have a moral
obligation to disclose it to the court.

It happens this information
is favorable to the defendant.

It can help her case.

It may even affect the outcome,
certainly the sentencing.

- So?
- There's a problem.

The defendant herself is determined
to keep this information secret.

[laughing]

- [Rohl] A moment, please.
- Sorry.

What are her reasons?

Because she's ashamed.

Ashamed of what?

- Have you spoken to her?
- Of course not.

Why "of course not?"

I can't.

I can't do that.

I can't talk to her.

What we feel isn't important.
It's utterly unimportant.

The only question is what we do.

If people like you don't learn
from what happened to people like me,

then what the hell
is the point of anything?

Schmitz?

You have a visitor.

[children shouting]

[laughing]

[guard] Quiet, please!

Gertrud Ballow.

Andreas Michael Springer.

Michael Berg.

Walter Sherman.

[guard] Time's up.

[girl] Are you coming in?

[girl] You took your time.

[panting]

What is it?

Where are you going?

I'm sorry.

I need to sleep by myself.

[door unlocks]

I'll just be a minute.

[siren wailing]

[crowd chanting]

- Nazi!
- Nazi whore!

- [shouting]
- Nazi!

[man] Silence in the court.
Silence in the court.

All rise.

[judge] The court
finds guilty the defendants

Rita Beckhart, Caroline Steinhoff,

Regina Kroit, Angela Zeva

and Andrea Lumen

of jointly aiding and abetting murder
in 300 cases.

The court finds guilty the defendant

Hanna Schmitz of murder in 300 cases.

[murmuring]

The court sentences
the accused as follows:

Rita Beckhart, Caroline Steinhoff,

Regina Kroit, Angela Zeva
and Andrea Lumen

to each serve a total sentence in prison
of four years and three months.

Hanna Schmitz,

in view of your own admissions
and your special role,

you're in a different category.

The court sentences the accused,
Schmitz, to imprisonment for life.

[murmuring]

Where are we going?

I said I'll tell you when we get there.

- You told me you liked surprises.
- I like surprises.

[Michael] She's grown, hasn't she?

I don't know. It's so long since
I saw her, Michael. How can I tell?

It's my fault.
We shouldn't have come unannounced.

[Julia] Daddy's going to live
in his own house.

Mother, I'm afraid
I have some bad news.

Julia knows.
We've already told her.

Gertrud and I,
we are getting a divorce.

You don't come for your father's
funeral, but you come for this?

It's not easy
for me to visit this town.

- Were you really so unhappy?
- That's not what I'm saying.

- It's not what I meant.
- Well, then?

You mustn't worry about Gertrud.
I'm going to look after her.

She's already a state prosecutor,
so she earns far more than I do.

[mother] Michael...

...I'm not worried about Gertrud.

I'm worried about you.

"Sing to me of the Man, Muse

The man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course

Once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy"

- [door unlocking]
- [guard] 215, mail.

217, mail.

220, mail.

[indistinct chatter]

1219. 66215.

Number?

Open it.

Testing, testing.
One, two, three. Testing, testing.

[static on tape]

[Michael on tape] The Odyssey by Homer.

The Odyssey by Homer.

"Sing to me of the Man, Muse

The man of twists and turns

Driven time and again off course

Once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy..."

"...to the house of death.
But they held fast in place,

hoping that others might still come.

Shades of famous heroes,
men who died in the old days

and ghosts of an even older age,
I long to see."

"Come, sheathe your sword,
let's go to bed together.

Mount my bed and mix
in the magic work of love.

We'll breed deep trust between us."

"Not for all the world, not until
you consent to swear, goddess,

a blinding oath you'll never
plot some new intrigue to harm me."

"Straightaway, she began
to swear the oath that I required.

Never, she would never do me harm.

And when she'd finished then, at last,

I mounted Circes' gorgeous bed."

"When young Dawn, with her
rose-red fingers shone once more,

they yoked their pair again,

and out through the gates
and echoing colonnade,

they whipped the team
to a run and on they flew,

holding nothing back, and the princes
reached the wheatlands..."

"...those purebred stallions...

...as the sun sank..."

"...is my beginning."

"Truly, and I have to confess,
I am jealous.

It's true, till now..."

"Perfectly astonishing.
I've always said it was all tricks,

but he went to
sleep under my very eyes."

"He lifted a large newspaper
from the table

and began stamping his feet
and flourishing the newspaper

to drive Gregor back into his room."
"Zhivago... even a cake,

rather like a Baba au Rhum
known as a Zhivago bun.

At one time you only had to say
to your sleigh driver in Moscow,

'Zhivago's.' And,
rather as if you had said..."

[overlapping dialogue]

"The Lady with the Little Dog
by Anton Chekhov."

"The Lady with the Little Dog
by Anton Chekhov."

"The talk was that a new face
had appeared on the promenade,

a lady with a little dog.

Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov
had already spent two weeks in Yalta,

so he was bored with it
and always looking for fresh faces."

Sitting in the pavilion at Vernet,

he saw a young woman
walking on the seafront.

A fair-haired young lady
of medium height, wearing a beret..."

[voice trails off]

I want to take out a book.

Which book?

Do you have
The Lady with the Little Dog?

What's your name?

Hanna Schmitz.

[Michael on tape]
The Lady with the Little Dog.

The Lady with the Little Dog.

[muttering]

...Dog.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

The Lady with the Little Dog.

The...

The.

The. The. The.

The.

The.

- No letter?
- No letter. Sign.

- [woman on phone] You're Michael Berg?
- Yes.

Thank you for calling me.
You got my letter?

I have it here.

As I say, Hanna Schmitz
is coming up for release very soon.

Hanna has been in prison
for over 20 years.

She has no family.

She has no friends.

You're her only contact.

And I'm told you don't visit her.

No, I don't.

When she gets out,
she's going to need a job.

She's going to need somewhere to live.

You can't imagine how frightening
the modern world will seem to her.

Mm-hmm.

I have no one else to ask.

If you don't take
responsibility for her,

then Hanna has no future at all.

It's kind of you.

Thank you for letting me know.

- You're Michael Berg?
- Yes.

I'm Louisa Brenner. Good morning.

- How do you do?
- We were expecting you earlier.

I should warn you, for a long time
Hanna held herself together.

She was very purposeful. In the
last few years, she's different.

She's let herself go.

I'm taking you straight to the canteen.

They've just finished their lunch.

[Brenner] Table four.

You've grown up, kid.

I've got a friend who's a tailor.

He'll give you a job.

And I've found you somewhere to live.
It's a nice place.

Quite small, but it's nice.

- You'll like it.
- Thank you.

There are various social programs,
cultural stuff I can sign you up for.

And the public library is very close.

You read a lot?

I prefer being read to.

That's over now, isn't it?

Did you get married?

I did. Yes, I did.

We have a daughter.

I'm not seeing as much of her
as I'd like.

I'd like to see
a great deal more of her.

The marriage didn't last.

Have you spent time
thinking about the past?

- You mean with you?
- No.

No, I didn't mean with me.

Before the trial,
I never thought about the past.

I never had to.

Now?

What do you feel now?

It doesn't matter what I feel.

It doesn't matter what I think.

The dead are still dead.

I wasn't sure what you'd learned.

Well, I have learned, kid.

I've learned to read.

I'll pick you up next week, OK?

That sounds a good plan.

We can do it quietly,
or we can make a fuss.

Quietly.

OK. Quietly.

Quietly.

- Take care, kid.
- You, too. See you next week.

[buzzing]

I've come to collect Hanna Schmitz.

Please. Please, take a seat.

[Brenner] She didn't pack.

She never intended to leave.

[Michael] "The talk was that a new face

had appeared on the promenade,

a lady with a little dog."

[Brenner] She left me a message.

A sort of will.

I'll read the bit that concerns you.

"There is money in the old tea tin.

Give it to Michael Berg.

He should send it,
alongside the 7,000 Marks in the bank,

to the daughter who survived the fire.

It's for her.

She should decide what to do with it.

And tell Michael I said hello."

[sobbing]

[horns honking]

- Ms. Mather?
- Yes.

- You're Michael Berg.
- Yes.

I was expecting you.

- Please.
- Thank you.

So you must tell me, exactly what
brings you to the United States?

I was here already.
I was at a conference in Boston.

- You're a lawyer?
- Yes.

I was intrigued by your letter,
but I can't say I wholly understood it.

- You attended the trial?
- Yes. Almost 20 years ago.

I was a law student. I remember you.
I remember your mother very clearly.

My mother died in Israel
a good many years ago.

I... I'm sorry.

Go on, please.

Perhaps you heard.

Hanna Schmitz recently died.
She killed herself.

She was a friend of yours?

A kind of friend.

It's as simple as this.

Hanna was illiterate
for the greater part of her life.

Is that an explanation
of her behavior?

- No.
- Or an excuse?

No. No.

She taught herself to read
when she was in prison.

I sent her tapes.

She had always liked...
being read to.

Why don't you start
by being honest with me?

At least start that way.

What was the nature
of your friendship?

When I was young,
I had an affair with Hanna.

I'm not sure I can help you, Mr. Berg.

And...

...even if I could,
I'm not willing to.

I was almost 16
when I took up with her.

The affair only lasted a summer.
But...

But what?

I see.

And did Hanna Schmitz acknowledge
the effect she'd had on your life?

She'd done much worse
to other people.

I've never told anyone.

People ask all the time
what I learned in the camps.

But the camps weren't therapy.

What do you think these places were,
universities?

We didn't go there to learn.

One becomes very clear
about these things.

What are you asking for?
Forgiveness for her?

Or do you just want
to feel better yourself?

My advice? Go to the theater
if you want catharsis. Please.

Go to literature.

Don't go to the camps.

Nothing comes out of the camps.

Nothing.

What she wanted...

What she wanted was
to leave you her money.

- I have it with me.
- To do what?

As you think fit.

Here.

When I was a little girl,
I had a tea tin for my treasures.

Not quite like this.
It had Cyrillic lettering.

I took it with me to the camp,
but it got stolen.

- What was in it?
- Sentimental things.

A piece of hair from our dog.
Some tickets to the operas

my father had taken me to.
It wasn't stolen for its contents.

It was the tin itself

that was valuable,

what you could do with it.

There's nothing
I can do with this money.

I give it to anything associated
with extermination of Jews,

then to me it seems...

...like absolution, and that's
something I'm neither willing

- nor in a position to grant.
- I was thinking maybe

an organization to encourage literacy.

Good. Good.

Do you know if there
is a Jewish organization?

I'd be surprised if there isn't.

There's a Jewish organization
for everything.

Not that illiteracy
is a very Jewish problem.

Why don't you find out?
Send them the money.

Shall I do it in Hanna's name?

As you think fit.

I'll keep the tin.

Thank you.

[choral music plays]

- Where are we going?
- I thought you liked surprises.

I do. I do like surprises.

[Julia] Hanna Schmitz.

Who was she?

That's what I wanted to tell you.

That's why we're here.

So tell me.

[Michael] I was 15.

I was coming home from school.

I was feeling ill.

And a woman helped me.