NOT RECONCILED or Only violence helps, where it rules
To tell what, boy?
Three times l had seen how they threw the ball...
in his face, at his legs, in his loins.
Nettlinger had risked our chances of winning merely to give...
one of our opponents an opportunity to get Schrella with the ball.
And Vacano, our own sports master,
whom those from Prinz Otto College had accepted as umpire,
must have been in league with them.
Why, why did they do that to Schrella,
stick out a leg as he came down the steps during a break,
fall on him on the way home...
Only Enders, Drischka, Schweugel, Grewe and Holten...
didn 't join in.
Are you Jewish?
What are you then?
We are lambs, we've sworn never to taste of the Buffalo Sacrament.
Lambs? I have to know.
I'll show you , come on .
They do it in the old barracks near the Wilhelmskuhle.
Vacano and Nettlinger.
They callit auxiliary police.
They seized me during a razzia on beggars in the harbour district.
We were interrogated with the barbed whip.
A cognac upstairs.
How shall we redeem the world?
Through sheep's wool , sheep's leather,
sheep's milk, and th rough knitting .
Wherein lies the world's salvation?
In sheep.
Why won't you be...
the Holy Lamb in my new religion?
I'll make you great, rich ...
Go away, you're too stupid .
There must be at least seventeen women on your trail .
Quick, there's another one coming .
Love, my boy, never known what it is.
They'd have poisoned me, if only they'd had the courage.
They called me: "Such-a-thing-shouldn't-be-born . "
Is there anything more to the story?
The apprentice Ferdinand Progulske , born on 1st Mai 1917 in Cologne,
has been beheaded today at 7.30 a. m .
The Minister-President has refused the petition for mercy,
because it was an ambuscade ...
organized by the communist underworld .
He had slippedinto Vacano 's apartment, thrown the bomb at his feet.
Vacano had only burns on his feet.
You'll still come to the Café Zons?
L'd done it, l'd gone with Schrella to the Café Zons,
where the lambs met.
And l'd sworn to a young girl called Edith,
never to taste of the Buffalo Sacrament.
Then in the sombre back room l'd made...
a speech, that smacked of blood, of rebellion and revenge.
Nettlinger was waiting for me outside, and they took me to the Wilhelmskuhle.
Nettlinger lashed out.
And he came into my cell at daybreak, and said :
r'Run away, but in an hour's time l'll have to report it to the police. r'
l ran all around the city to the harbour.
I've forgotten your name.
Fáh mel .
Of course, they're after you , it came with the early morning news.
Now you had to fling bombs about...
And yesterday I've already packed one of you across the frontier.
Yesterday, who?
Schrella, he had been hiding here,
andi had to force him to leave with the An na Katerina.
Alois will come the day after tomorrow. Monday or Tuesday you'll be in Rotterdam .
They' ll kill you .
Don't forget us, sonny.
Nettlinger, I have to speak to Dr Fáh mel . Urgently.
iknow he is here.
I want to see the manager.
Left here, second door on the right.
I wish to be announced .
The manager, please. Sir, a gentleman ...
Nettlinger, excuse me, Dr Nettlinger, wishes to speak to you urgently.
The manager is waiting for you .
Have you been in war?
What did you do?
I was an expert in blowing-up . Does that mean anything to you?
Yes, in the quarry behind Denklingen ...
That's exactly what I did , only I blew up bridges and apartment blocks,
churches and rai lway viaducts,
villas and crossroads.
And at the end of the war I was attached to a general ,
who had only one wordin his head : field of fire. Do you know what it is?
Look, if I wanted to fire at the bridge now,
whichis lying behind Saint Severin ,
the church would be lying in the field of fire,
andi would have blown up Saint Severin .
I had a good team with me, physicists and architects,
and we blew up whatever stoodin our way:
at last Saint Anthony's Abbey, built by my father.
It lay between two arm ies, one German and the other American ,
andi provided the German army withits need less field of fire .
The manager asks if you will kindly receive a Dr Nettlinger.
would youreceive a Nettlinger?
One of Robert's schoolfellows? Ministerial Counsellor, Secretary?
And you sent him to the Prinz Hein rich Hotel !
He doesn't like it, my son Robert, when people disturb him .
But he won't do you any harm , child .
Let's go and eat, have a little celebration for my birthday.
Where would youlike to be taken?
To the station .
Are you thinking of leaving this hospitable city already?
No , I'm not thinking of leaving it yet.
It was a damnable accident your name was still on the Wanted List,
because of this attempted murder.
Attempted murder?
Yes, what you've done with Vacano came under that heading .
Perhaps you don't know I had no part in it.
inever once gave it my approval .
So much the better; alli could do was vouch for you ,
and arrange for your provisional release .
Now the rest will be merely a matter of form .
Are you still a German citizen?
No , I'm stateless.
Pity, if you could manage to prove you had to flee ...
not for criminal but political reasons,
you could collect a pretty sum of damages.
Tell me if youneed money; you won't get far with what you've got.
Thank you , I don't need anything .
May I at least invite you to lunch?
Good , let's go and lunch .
Chicken .
I'll take this "entrecôte" .
And smoked salmon?
No , thank you .
I'll do.
You're missing something really tasty.
Ruth less political hatred between schoolfellows;
persecution , interrogation , most bloody hate.
But twenty years later, the returning refugee...
rescued from jail by his frightful persecutor.
I'd be sorry if you thought I dou bted ...
the sincerity of your feelings.
I don't even doubt your remorse .
But the role youplayed then and the role youplay today are the same .
Perhaps you don't know what I did for your sister.
Did youprotect Edith?
Yes. Vacano wanted to have her arrested .
He put her on the list again and again ,
and again and again I struck her off.
Your good deeds are almost more frightful than your misdeeds.
And you are more merciless than God .
We are not God .
Are you going to let that salmon go back?
Of course. . . but you can't...
Listen to the son of a waiter:
a really fine man never submits to the waiters' tyranny.
Is Vacano still alive?
Of course, he is only fifty-eight,
and . . . he is one of the unteachable ones.
And you?
If only you could understand me , I'm a democrat by conviction .
What became of Trischler?
Old Trischler, who livedin the lower harbour.
Can't youremember Alois either? He was in our class.
Oh , now iremember.
We searched for Alois for weeks without finding him ,
and Vacano himself interrogated old Trischler,
but he got nothing , nothing out of him , and nothing out of the wife.
The district down there was oft bombed .
Good God , what's the matter?
would you have this wrapped for me?
would you prefer me to kill you ? I can't standit any longer.
How many breakfasts in the Café Kroner?
Ten thousand , twenty thousand?
Good morn ing , sir. Breakfast?
Yes, please: a pot of coffee, but with th ree cups of coffee,
toast, two slices of brown bread , butter,
marmalade , one boi led egg ,
and paprika-cheese.
And listen , waiter, I shall breakfast here tomorrow,
the day after tomorrow, in three weeks, three months and three years.
And always at the same time.
L had rented a room and studio for half a year, paidin advance.
They were three before me,
every child knew their names:
Brehmockel, Grumpeter, Wollersein.
r'Final deadline for Saint Anthony project today.
Have our young architects no spirit? r'
said the newspaper.
I should like to hand over a design to the solicitor.
The reputation of having failed, alone, to win over...
Brehmockel, Grumpeter and Wollersein, would have been enough for me.
But the Abbot liked my plan.
Yes, I' ll last out, Reverend Father.
him? Nothing but work, gentlemen .
Eight o'clock in the morning to Low Mass in Saint Severin ,
breakfast in the Café Kroner till ten-thirty.
From ten-thirty till five, stays up there in his studio;
won't receive anyone .
Lives up there on pea soup which he cooks himself;
gets his old mother to send him the peas and the pork,
even the onions.
From five till six a stroll through the city.
Six-thirty to seven-thirty, Reserve Officers' Club.
Paprika-cheese? Very interesting !
And he draws, even at breakfast, like a man possessed .
L did not know my wife yet.
I ask for your daughter's hand .
The unforeseen stroke me hard.
We' ll find the cul prit.
llet my son Heinrich play with the Uhlans helmet...
his uncles had given him.
And l suffered the garnison commandant to tell me:
I'm deeply sorry, Fáhmel ,
that you can't play your part in it,
but we need also people at home,
we need exactly people like you .
L built barracks, fortifications and military hospitals.
That fool of a Kaiser.
That fool of a Kaiser, that fool of a Kaiser...
Military Tribunal. And l did not say...
that l agreed with my wife.
r'Pregnant, gentlemen; a little daughter dead;
two brothers fallen on the same day:
Captain Kilb of the Horse Guards, Cadet Kilb. r'
And l couldn 't summon up the courage to tear that poem...
Heinrich had to learn for school.
Heaven's doorman Peter said :
I'll take the matter up in higher places.
And there he came back soon :
Excellence Blùcher, what a lucky fate!
Furlough tillindefinite date !
Go, old warhorse, and strike there,
Good old God will be with you .
It was Bl ùcher who came down ,
To lead us on to victory.
Hurrah and on again with hindenburg ,
Saver of Eastern Prussia!
So long as the trees of Germany rise,
So long as the flag of Germany flies...
I ought to have done what Johanna did ,
I ought to have spoken to the boy.
"Good old God will be with you ! "
Johanna tried to drag him out of his fever,
but he never came back again .
"Hurrah and on again with hinden burg ! "
Robert was not yet two,
and Otto not yet born .
You must forgive me, Robert.
I had to go to Drôscher,
to obtain an amnesty for you .
It was too much for us, father, myself, Edith .
Your son had just been born .
We found your tiny messages in the letter-box:
"Don't worry. I'm studying hardin Amsterdam .
ineed money, wrap it in a newspaper and give it...
to a man called Groll , waiter in the Anchor. "
And all at once Otto...
brought Nettlinger and the sports master home with him .
You know the conditions...
Drôscher obtained for you : no political activity,
andinto the army after your exam inations.
Why must you study statics?
Very well , as you wish .
Isn't he sweet, your little boy?
You m ust adopt him , im mediately after the marriage.
I'll furnish an apartment for you .
You should try to be reconciled with Otto ,
please try, please go.
Even his death...
did not bring any reconciliation: fallen at Kiev!
Behind Otto's pale, wide forehead...
was the will to power in its simplest form,
power over feadul schoolfellows,
over passers-by who did not salute the colours.
He would have handed his mother over to the hangman.
Did you speak to Otto? No good !
iknew it, but you have to keep trying , again and again .
Perhaps there's only one way to set him free.
I shall do it, Robert.
You should use powder and lead :
crackers do not kill , my boy.
You ought to have asked me :
now he is the Chief of the Police.
Don't think I am mad ,
iknow exactly where we are:
It's war, ti me can be read off in promotions.
Aren't you a Captain yet?
Don't carry those formulae in your head too far.
And don't lose patience .
And don't accept any privileges.
We don't eat a crum b more...
than we get on the ration cards.
Edith agrees as well .
I did not want...
to have your children enjoy any privileges either,
but they took me away from the chi ld ren .
I watched how time went marching by;
it seethed , struck,
paid a billion for a sweet,
and then lacked th ree pfennigs for a roll .
Respectability, honour, loyalty, order.
Defeated and yet undefeated ...
And my little David slept; he first woke up ...
when he saw how it could cost a life ,
to pass from hand to hand ...
a package of money, wrappedin newspaper.
I warned him about Gretz:
"You'll see what harm less people are capable of.
Gretz would betray his own Mother. "
He did , Robert;
just because the old woman kept on saying :
"It's a wicked disg race . "
They stuck her in an old people's home,
certified her insane , to save her life,
but that was what killed her.
They gave her an injection .
They came to fetch Edith too,
but ikept Edith ,
unti l the fluttering bird killed her.
Forgive me , I couldn't save the lamb.
Come in , old David !
Come, we'll say...
our Remember prayers...
They were growing up,
these to whom I would be thrown :
Peaked caps wearers, beer-drinkers,
guardians of the law.
I prayed , and saw you ...
over there at your studio-window.
If you only knew how I loved you ,
if you'd any idea.
I'd like to give you something ...
for your birthday, Father, to prove ...
iknow. Did you tell Ruth ...
we would go to Saint Anthony?
Yes, she's coming . Is the Abbot still there?
No , he couldn't get over the abbey being destroyed .
And you , could you get over it?
After all , you can rebuildbuildings.
It was a great opportunity for your boy to get some practical training ...
You know he has a girl , don't you?
No .
I don't want to know what mission Edith gave you ,
only, did you carry it on ?
Yes.
I laughed at your childish plots.
But the laughter stuck in my throat,
when i read they had killed that boy.
And later on iknew...
I had thought I loved and understood your mother,
but only then I understood and loved her, and you others too.
Later on the British Commanding Officer apologized to me one day...
for having bombed the Honorius Church ,
and destroyed the twelfth-Century crucifixion ,
when I would have given all the crucifixions...
to see Edith's smile once again .
What did the King's pictures mean to me,
compared to his emissary's real smile?
And for the lad who brought your messages,
I would have given Saint Severin ,
and known it would have been a laughable price.
We can go on to the platform , Father.
You know every chi ld here, Your Excellency,
everyone knows you built our abbey
and many old grand mothers can still tell tales about you ...
Is your mother still living?
No , Your Excellency...
She had had a full life:
seven children , thirty-six grandchildren ,
and eleven great-grandchildren .
They are splendid people.
And you are not scared of them?
Be scared of Mull? Now?
I ask myself by anyone whether I would wish ...
to be delivered up to him , and there are not many...
Here, Father, here!
He came soon out of captivity.
We were living at that ti me ...
in grandfather's studio,
and there was a huge plan of the city hanging on the wall .
All that has been destroyed was marked with black chalk,
and when he and grandfather and other men ...
were standing in front of the map,
he always said : "Blow it up" ,
and drew an X against a black blot,
and the others said :
"For God's sake , there are the remains...
of a lintel from the sixteenth century,
and there's part of a chapel from the twelfth . "
And he said :
"I'm leaving you in the l urch ...
if I have to worry...
about every chicken-run from the Roman Age .
Blow up and make some space. "
When they had gone grandfather laughed ,
and father laughed : "I do understand their feelings,
but I don't respect them . " And then he said :
"Come on , children , we're going to buy some chocolate"
and he took us to the black market.
You'll like him .
But what has he done ,
that you don't want to be an architect any more?
Perhaps I'll be able to explain it to youlater.
There they are !
Do we really not know each other?
No , I'm sure we don't.
The Schrellas, don't they live here any more?
No , they never lived here.
My official speech will be a token not of indictment,
but of reconciliation ,
also with those powers who , in their blind passion ,
destroyed our home.
May I therefore ask you here ...
to do us the honour of coming to the consecration?
I was very happy to meet your son .
L have sinned, greatly sinned:
l did not want to recognize Erika Progulske,
or hear Ferdi's name in her mouth.
Could the chief-gardener possibly bring me a few flowers?
He's off d uty till tomorrow morning .
Then I'll get myself some, outward .
Will you be going out, madam?
Yes, probably, it's such a fine even ing .
I suppose I may?
Of course. . . or shouldi telephone his Excellency or Dr Fáhmel?
I'll do so myself, Huperts.
FI GHTERS PARADE
Meeting in front of the Prinz Hein rich Hotel .
Of course, madam .
Room 212 , with balcony.
Might they be of use to us?
But won't we antagon ize more votes than we'll win ?
The Fighters' League is known as non-radical .
You can't lose , only win .
How many votes? At the best and at the worst?
At the best, around eighty thousand . At the worst, around fifty thousand .
What will foreign circles thin k?
Show sympathy.
I'll d raw the attention of the leader of the procession to your balcony.
Go up and pack your things, boy.
What will the old man say when I present him ...
with a new grandson with Edith's smile on his face?
You're right, the feeling of the blood is false, the other one alone is true.
Don't you want to live with us?
No , my hotel-room's exactly right.
The people . . . am I deceiving myself,
or aren't they just as bad as those I left behind ?
The list of the stereotypes has dwind led .
No one would have had the idea...
of labelling your father a communist.
Today...
Do youremember Enders?
He has become a priest; they have stuck him in a village , because...
he so oft makes the Sermon on the Mount the subject of his sermons.
You've seen Ferdi's sister?
Yes, she runs the lemonade stall ...
Haven't you ever been there?
What are people like Schweugel doing?
Are you really interested?
Yes, andin Grewe and Holten , in Drischka too. What are they doing?
Holten was killedin the war, but Schweugel's still alive; he is a writer.
He's always talking about bourgeois and un-bourgeois.
It just doesn't interest me. He's several times asked after you .
And what's become of Grewe?
He's a party-member, but don't ask me which party:
it doesn't matter anyway.
And Drischka is making "Drisch ka's Auto-Lions" ...
When I was sitting down there waiting for you ,
people were going into a banq uet:
they kept on repeating the name of the star...
they were waiting for: Kretz.
Kretz is a Left Opposition star.
He came last. If he's a hope ,
I'd like to know what despair is.
We ought to go to my father now.
Let's still wait for the boy.
Are the Trisch lers really dead ?
Yes, Alois as well . He was going to take them to friends in Holland ,
the boat was bombed ...
Where did you hear that?
in the Anchor, I used to go there every day,
and question all the boatmen .
I'm scared , old man .
I've never felt such a stranger among people even in 1935 and 42 .
What do you intend to do with that thing?
I want to shoot that fat man there on his white horse. Do youremem ber him?
Do you think I could ever forget him?
in spite of all , I would not shoot him .
There's our old friend Nettlinger.
I'd rather shoot him , if anyone. But think over:
Your grandson's murderer is standing nearby on the balcony.
Do you see him?
I'll rely on paragraph fifty-one , dearest.
We owe all that to Father's zeal for blowing-up .
When they were blowing up the old guard-house,
one of the vaults below collapsed . Long live dynamite!
Do youremember Father, when he could still blow things up?
How do you find him , Marian ne?
I like him very much .
Something dreadful must have happened :
your grandfather has cancelled the party...
I can't be sad .
She'll be coming back to stay with us.
He wasn't fatally wounded ,
andi hope that great wonder...
will never leave his face again .