Original subtitles

April 1945. The war is nearing its end.

The Russian Red Army is advancing from the east towards Berlin.

The Allied troops are gaining ground in the west.

Days before Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

is liberated by British troops

the Nazis hurriedly put a select group of prisoners on trains.

Three trains depart, carrying hundreds of Jewish prisoners.

They have no idea where they are being taken.

These prisoners are considered of high value by the Nazis

as they may be exchanged for German prisoners of war, or money.

The Nazis call them 'Austauschjuden', which literally means 'exchange Jews'.

The first train is liberated by the Americans near Magdeburg.

The second train reaches Theresienstadt

which would be liberated in May by the Russians.

The last train, carrying 2400 prisoners

grinds to a halt near the village of Tröbitz on 23 April.

At night, the SS guards flee the advancing Russian troops

leaving the prisoners on the train to their fate.

LOST TRANSPORT

So?

You're fine.

Ask...

Ask if they have food.

Food?

Food.

Vera, keep your distance.

Where have you come from?

Bergen-Belsen.

Bergen-Belsen?

- French? Italian? - Holland.

We need food.

Are there Germans on the train?

German soldiers?

There.

In the woods.

Doctor?

Stop. Stop, stay where you are. Please.

I really don't have anything left, girl.

Go to the village.

There's food there.

And Krauts.

Go to the village.

Let's stop. Just for a minute.

You go on.

Go on. I'll wait here.

Go on. Go. You don't want to miss out.

Take all the food you can find.

No, don't do that. Please.

- Please don't. For God's sake. - No.

- Winnie? - Mama.

- Winnie, go. - Leave my mother alone.

Hurry up. Over there.

All fascists out!

Mama? Mama?

What have you done? What did you do to my mother?

What did you do to my mother? What did you do to her?

What have you done? What have you... Please.

Go back.

I will avenge her, you hear.

I will avenge her.

Winnie.

Dammit.

Cellars filled to the brim. Wine, beer, sausages.

You should have seen... Peas. Raspberries in jars.

The Russians returned.

Gherkins.

I don't trust them.

Everything's so clean. Clean beds, clean pillows.

Geraniums on every window sill.

Soap.

The IPA says the Americans are close by.

Americans, Russians. Same difference. As long as we can get home.

Simone, no one knows we're here. We don't even know where we are.

Not too much at once.

My mother says the Russians are merciless animals.

They'll lock us in the church and burn us all alive.

Come. Take off your uniform.

No.

By order of the Red Army:

The village of Tröbitz is a shelter for allied and other foreign citizens

which the Red Army has liberated

from the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen.

Come on, love.

I categorically forbid the German inhabitants...

to direct any complaints or claims regarding housing, food, service, etc...

at the liberated.

Are you okay?

Ladies.

Ladies?

What's happening?

No idea.

Today we move all the sick people to the village.

Those with a fever must be put in the church.

- They're coming to take us away. - The Russians?

The Krauts.

The Krauts?

Note everyone who has a fever. They go to the field hospital.

Fever?

- Simone? - Yes?

- You should go. - What?

While you still can.

Go where?

To the Americans.

Home.

You're being paranoid.

We're free, Isaac.

We're going home. Together.

Tomorrow. Or the day after.

You don't understand. I don't want you...

Holland.

Does he have a fever?

No. Just tired.

Vera? Walk with me?

Now. Come.

- What...? Simone? - Let me take care of this, Isaac. Come.

- Simone, we can't just... - Quickly.

It's worse than I thought. It is typhoid fever.

And we have nothing.

No meds, no painkillers, no doctors.

What does Moscow say?

The usual. That it has their 'highest priority'.

Put this on!

Burn everything.

Clothes, blankets, diapers.

Anything that might carry lice.

Lice carry the disease.

So we need to cut the hair of everybody who has lice.

You won't be needing your rifle anymore.

Sergeant Novik.

I am a sniper.

Not a hairdresser.

We're just messing around.

We offered Frau Hitler here proper payment.

Go to hell.

SCARLET FEVER

That will keep the beasts at bay.

For now.

But all the sick should be taken to the church.

You can't do this. This is our house.

Listen here, my husband isn't ill. He's just tired.

All he needs is a decent bed. Understood?

We have no more coffins.

And no space.

There are twenty corpses in the chapel as we speak.

- All Jews? - Yes.

That is not counting the nineteen villagers who...

My sincere condolences, Winnie.

These people from the train, they are all ill.

They will infect us all.

We should have pushed that train just a little bit further.

To the Americans. Or set it on fire.

Yes, but no train, no Jewish girls.

I prefer a German woman anyway. They are a lot cleaner.

- There you go. - Hello?

- Simone? - Mirjam?

I sat down and asked for bread and this woman starts moaning and wailing:

'We have nothing left ourselves. The Soviets took everything last night.'

I just knew she was lying. So I said:

'Give me bread with lots of butter and be quick about it.'

It was on the table in no time.

By the way, where's Isaac?

Upstairs. He's sleeping in.

- We managed to 'organise' some bikes. - Two of them.

- We're leaving tomorrow. - Where to?

Home, of course.

By bike?

- But we don't even know where we are. - What does it matter?

We'll simple cycle westwards.

We need a map.

There. Tröbitz.

Amsterdam.

- So how far is that? - 600, 700 kilometres perhaps?

- How long will that take us? - By bike?

Two weeks. At the most.

Come on, we know how to cycle.

This is where the IPA says the Americans are.

Just across the Elbe river.

- That's a day. - Right.

Two at most.

Berlin.

That's where my father is. When this is all over...

Everything is over. And Berlin is destroyed.

Excuse me?

Completely destroyed.

You're lying.

You're lying. You're all lying.

I think we should just...

Along here.

Shut the door, why don't you?

I smell fried eggs.

We come from the earth and to the earth we must return.

Earth to earth.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

You all right, guys?

- Sure you don't want to swap? - I'm all right.

Guys?

Oh, dammit.

Halt.

Halt. Go back.

Go back.

Quarantine.

Is that what I think it is?

Quarantine.

Quarantine. Go back.

Maybe it's just their brand of vodka?

What did you say?

What did you say?

Go back. Go back. We get it.

Go back.

Hang on.

Comrade.

Comrade?

Holland. Home.

By bicycle.

- Quarantine. - Yes, quarantine. I get it.

But we really have to get home.

Go back.

- Forget it. We need to leave. - Come on, Simone. It's pointless.

We want to go home. Can you not understand that?

Hey? How long? Quarantine. How long?

- Hey? How long? - Simone.

Go back.

Jacov.

What are you doing? Are you mad?

My head.

What's wrong with your head?

- What are you looking for? - Aspirin.

What are you thinking about?

Chicken and apple sauce.

And peas.

You?

Warm sand between my toes.

Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony.

Cycling along the Amstel river.

David.

Rifka.

Gideon.

Louis.

Rosa.

Samuel.

Don't.

Don't.

My birthday dress. From my mother.

You should pin it down first.

Do the rest in the same way.

Then use this to trace round it.

To your health.

Get out.

Roll call at six. Aim at the man in front and...

Go away.

Eighty centimetres. Aim at front man, side man...

- Isaac. - Eighty centimetres...

- Isaac? - Aim at the man...

Filthy pigs.

Move. Move, move now.

Move.

Isaac.

Isaac, honey.

- Move, you bastards. - Isaac, it's me.

I'll leave you standing there until the shit comes leaking out of your arses.

Isaac, listen to me. Isaac.

No. You have a fever. You need to cool down.

You have a fever. Listen, my love. It's me. You need to cool down.

Honey? Isaac? You need to cool down.

Stay where you are.

What are you doing?

- He should be in the field hospital. - No.

- He's ill. - He'll die there.

Please, no...

Cheers.

Russians here?

Yes.

Soviets.

America?

Americans, yes.

Amsterdam.

That's where we live.

Petríshewa.

I'm hungry.

My mother has some food hidden away.

Up the chimney.

The Jews will infect our entire village.

The Russians can't get it under control.

And my granny says the Russians are withholding medicines.

The Russians are pigs.

Men are pigs.

The army command decided on stricter measures to stop the typhoid epidemic.

Move anyone with a fever over 102°F to the emergency hospital.

Only infants under the age of one can come with their mothers.

You know where I would like to stick this thermometer?

Not funny.

No exceptions.

You really should try to eat something.

Isaac.

Brahms.

I think they'll play Brahms at his funeral.

Whose funeral?

Hitler's.

- Brahms? You think? - No...

- Pfitzner. - One spoonful.

Mummy. Mummy?

Mummy!

Mummy!

They're just kids.

Bruckner.

It's going to be Bruckner.

Mark my words.

No. Not for Krauts.

Not for Krauts.

I'm hungry, too.

Holland.

Take him away, I'll take care of the paperwork with his wife.

You filthy little Kraut.

You filthy Kraut.

Filthy Kraut.

It's your fault if he dies.

It's your fault.

If he dies, it is your fault.

It'll be all right.

Everything'll be all right.

- I won't leave you. - No, I'm sorry. Doctors and nurses only.

- Isaac. - Put him in the back.

Is her husband going to make it?

We found 30 people with a fever.

Tomorrow we'll set up another emergency hospital

in a deserted barrack 10 kilometres from here.

Penicillin?

Not yet.

The Red Cross is stalled because of a demolished bridge.

The engineers are working on it. It has the highest...

Tell me what to do.

What?

New orders. From Moscow.

Come on. Get up.

Age.

Marital status, number of children.

Education, profession?

Mark professor, engineers and doctors with a cross.

Why?

Because Moscow thinks they're valuable.

Vera.

What do you want me to say?

Russia lies in ruins. Our dead cannot rebuild our country.

We need people, Vera.

Good people. People who have knowledge.

Who are resilient.

These people are tired.

They want to go home.

Will you walk with me?

You won't be needing this right now, officer Lebedev.

I stink.

You smell wonderful.

Of chamomile.

Vera?

You should laugh more.

Seriously.

No lice?

Plenty of lice.

No volunteers.

First, cut off the long parts with the scissors.

Work slow and precise.

I won't do it.

Come on.

I'll try to be gentle. Please tell me when it hurts, okay?

Simone.

Rachel.

So, Rachel. What can I do for you today?

Just the dead ends, please.

Just the dead ends. No problem.

We haven't met before, have we?

- Where are you from? - Groningen.

- We were in the back of the train. - We were in front. So that's why.

Nice town, Groningen.

- Do you know it? - I do. I went to university there.

Mathematics. Until 1941.

Until we were banned.

We... I live on Folkinge Street.

- Next to the tailor's. - Oh, right.

So are you on holiday here? Or just travelling through?

Just travelling through.

Your hair will grow back.

Thicker and prettier.

No... No.

Briefly, then.

Honey.

Why haven't you left already?

Ten minutes.

Gruppenführerin Nadeborn reporting for duty.

Here comes trouble.

I think you've had enough.

And I think you should shut up or just speak German.

Wow, and so well-behaved.

And those? What do they mean?

Are they all the friends you have in Russia?

For Zoya.

Zoya wanted to fight.

Her mother said that war was not for girls.

But still Zoya went to join the Partisans.

She was betrayed, and they caught her.

In our village, in Petríshewa.

During two hundred lashes she managed to keep silent.

Never betrayed anyone.

Before they hung her in our village square...

she told her torturers:

'You may hang me today.'

'But I am not alone.'

'There are two hundred million of us, you cannot hang us all.'

'I will be avenged.'

One German soldier for every whiplash.

That is my revenge.

For Zoya.

Vera?

Simone...

She must go to Amsterdam.

Yes. Amsterdam.

Amsterdam.

She must...

From the Führer's headquarters we are notified...

that our Führer Adolf Hitler...

at his command centre at the Reichs Chancellery...

fighting to his last breath against the Bolshevists...

has fallen for Germany.

Grand Admiral Dönitz, the Führer's successor,

will now address the German people.

German men, women, soldiers of the German army.

Our Führer, Adolf Hitler, has fallen.

According to the IPA, the Germans capitulated last night.

The radio hasn't reported it yet. But it's a matter of hours.

Looks nice on you.

I made it myself.

My heart...

is beating...

ever more slowly.

- It won't be long... - Before we're back in Holland.

In a few days.

It's so close.

It's already happening, Isaac.

Peace is here.

Darling...

Go.

Please.

You were right, you know. About Bruckner.

Comrades?

Not comrades.

Moscow.

Yes, Moscow.

Moscow. Friends. Comrades.

Friends?

Not friends.

Not friends?

Hitler no good. Stalin no good.

Russia.

Not Holland, not Amsterdam. Russia.

Russia?

Yes.

They're taking us to Russia.

Russia?

What the hell would we do in Russia?

We have to get our hands on some bikes again. Four of them.

How do you envision that, with Isaac?

- Simone? - The Elbe. That's our biggest problem.

Simone.

Comrades.

The great day of victory over Germany has arrived.

Fascist Germany, having bowed to the Red Army

has acknowledged defeat and surrendered unconditionally.

Holland. Come.

Today is my birthday.

Come here now.

Good evening.

Medicine for the field hospital.

- I haven't got all day. - Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

Open up.

Are you coming?

Promise me they'll come and get us?

I promise.

Mummy.

Mummy?

Keep your eyes open, guys. We're headed to the church square.

Thank you.

In memory of all who suffered and sacrificed.