Which gives us an opportunity to study and discuss the questions of worldwide
importance this year of 1936.
Consequently, we must today...
Guards!
My name is Stefan Lux.
I am Jewish.
The Jews are being persecuted in Germany and the world doesn't care.
I see no other way to reach people's hearts.
We're
strong and we fight against the
fascist regime.
The real thing.
No, you'll have to come back, Lieutenant Gerstein.
We
fight typhus and other diseases by eliminating parasites, and purifying the
water.
You lay out all clothes, blankets, sheets in a hermetically sealed room.
Then from the exterior openings, you introduce crystals of hydrocyanic
acid.
This is the formula.
Do we have to make it ourselves?
No, the Institute will supply you with it.
All details are in here.
This is a dangerous product, so follow with the utmost precision.
Ratios, reaction times, etc.
Regarding water...
All water destined to our troops must systematically be treated.
What if the water is known to be drinkable, Dr. Gerstein?
It will be even more drinkable after the treatment.
What is drinkable for a Slav may not be for a human being.
Sit down.
We must fight off typhus as effectively as we are fighting off our enemies on all
fronts.
Please continue, Dr. Gerstein.
Let's continue our lecture.
I was just saying that all water destined to our troops must systematically be
treated.
Did he design this program?
Is he from the Wehrmacht?
The Wehrmacht wanted him, but we stole him away, thanks to his father, who is a
friend.
Ready to be delivered to the various fronts.
Father, I'm just back from Vienna.
I got your message.
What happened?
God has recalled our little Bertha.
This is all that's left of her.
What happened?
Was she taken sick?
The letter says a cold, followed by a pulmonary abscess.
But Father, why didn't they tell us?
Why?
Why doesn't bring back the dead, especially in time of war?
She is my niece.
I could have had medication for her at the Institute.
All my friends at the Institute speak highly of your work.
I'm told you are successfully fighting typhus.
I'm doing my best.
I'm serving my country.
An idealist like you belongs in the SS, even if your wife doesn't agree with me.
Now, please excuse us.
Now, place the flower.
No, come on, don't...
Why not?
Why aren't you in uniform?
You don't bid farewell to the dead in your work clothes.
God is very upset about Bertha's death.
She was his favorite niece.
How long is Kurt staying this time?
I wish I knew.
And you?
Tell him.
The rumor is there are thousands of cases around the country.
One of my parishioners got two urns for his handicapped sister and two official
letters.
One said it was cardiac arrest, the other pneumonia.
I hear the SS are behind it.
I don't think they deal with killing children.
The SS deal with everything, you know that.
Bertha, my job is cleaning barracks and purifying the water for our troops.
I do nothing.
That's in conflict with my conscience and my faith.
If you find out anything, come and see us.
I have nothing to do with anything like that.
Kurt, as Christians, we cannot accept euthanasia.
What will you do?
Protest.
Who will protest?
Every Christian leader should protest.
May I?
Now what do they want?
The pastor just told me something terrible.
What else should he tell you?
He's a man of the old school.
Next time tell him spreading misinformation in time of war is high
treason.
What is the meaning of this, Monsignor von Galen?
Since you failed to answer my registered letter, I'm filing a complaint against
Persons Unknown for the murder of a young woman.
The murder of unproductive citizens.
We have the facts, the names of patients, the names of families and their addresses.
If you do not respond, the Catholic Church has no other choice than to inform the
faithful.
Papa is back!
A present from France.
What is it?
Come on, open it up.
Look for yourself.
So?
How are we coming along?
Kicking.
I think we'll have another lieutenant here.
What's going on?
We're having a hard time with a very, very difficult arithmetic problem.
Ah, I see.
Hello, Mr. Gershwin.
Hello, Mrs. Hintz.
No, no, no.
First your homework.
Read the question.
And if you don't find the solution, you read the question over and over again.
Go ahead.
If it costs 15,000 marks to build one house for a working-class family,
and it costs 6 million marks to build and run one insane asylum, how many
working-class houses can you build for the cost of one insane asylum?
They are thought of as valueless.
Like a machine that no longer turns anything out.
Or a lame horse.
Or a cow that no longer needs milk.
If you admit the principle that man has a right to eliminate his unproductive
neighbors...
Does Bishop von Gallen know how many have been eliminated?
Thousands and thousands.
Someday, you will be, we all will be, unproductive.
And what will happen to our soldiers when they come home from the war, severely
wounded, amputees, invalids, unproductive?
These bishops and other pastors don't know a damn thing about economics or eugenics.
Or about compassion.
I wouldn't mind giving that von Gallen a few private lessons after we've won the
war.
Why not now?
Let's strip off his cassock and...
God decides.
We just execute.
Come in.
Gerstein, come in.
Our eminent specialist in matters of purification.
It's all right, Lieutenant.
Tea, coffee, brandy, cakes?
No, thank you.
You're leaving tomorrow to inspect our disinfection units.
On the way back, you'll stop in Poland to supervise the proper usage of 500
canisters of prussic acid that we are dispatching to them.
500 canisters?
We are building a vast industrial complex there.
It will be gigantic.
They need a specialist in chemicals.
The Wehrmacht has better specialists than me.
The Wehrmacht's job is to win the war.
Ours is to win the post-war battles.
You haven't been one of us for very long, Lieutenant.
You'll find out that the SS like to stick together.
Right.
That well-known human warmth praised by our Reichsführer Himmler.
Thanks for coming.
I'm off on a mission.
So we won.
They backed down.
The operation Compassionate Death was called off.
I'd like to be informed.
Are you sure?
Absolutely.
Well, good.
They're afraid of public opinion.
The army of Jesus has driven back the army of evil.
Inform Superintendent Dr. Nibelius.
Where are you headed?
To the east.
You see how dirty that water is?
It can't even be dirtier.
Go.
Come on.
Go.
All right.
If the pump bottle does not work, you have a hand pump.
And if you don't have a hand pump, you use buckets.
If you don't have buckets, you use your helmets, all right?
If you don't have helmets, you're in big trouble.
Which you cannot do without this filtering machine.
All right.
Here we go.
How about you?
That's it?
No?
You?
No?
You want some?
You want to try?
Okay.
Cheers.
Quenches your thirst.
You won't get sick, but it tastes awful.
This looks like a lady's garter.
Did you earn the cross or the garter in battle?
It had to be in close combat.
I won both in a night skirmish.
Which took more guards, the cross or the garter?
I was scared on both occasions, but winning the garter, unfortunately,
I didn't draw blood.
You went in there fighting, both times?
You can be sure I did.
I went in there with all I had, sir.
Colonel Gersheim from the Hygiene Institute.
You've stocked 500 canisters of Prussic acid in a location that has no protection.
Only 500?
There's a lot of vermin between Berlin and Moscow.
With one canister, I can disinfect a whole barracks.
If we get bombed, all life within a kilometer will be wiped out.
We never get bombed here.
They don't bother us.
They leave us alone.
What do you plan to use it for?
What's this?
It's Italian.
We didn't conquer half the world to have to swallow bubbly mess.
I raise this chunk to Kurt Gerstein, who will be joining us.
The first visit to one of our camps?
Of course not.
This one is rather special.
How many?
Around 300.
400 units to be treated.
It's rather horrible.
There aren't ten people alive who have seen what you just saw.
You don't have a reservation, Captain?
Everything is full.
Cap...
Captain?
You're sick?
Captain?
You're sick?
Yes,
even an SS can get sick.
I'm so sorry.
The Swedish ambassador is also in the corridor.
The whole world is traveling by train.
I'm only the secretary of the Swedish embassy.
Baron von Otter.
Could you grant me an interview?
Tomorrow in Berlin.
I have to talk to you.
Why not here?
We're going to spend the night in this corridor.
I've seen something...
horrifying.
Something absolutely...
horrifying.
Families are being exterminated.
Prisoners of war?
Jews.
They're being exterminated, all families.
They're undressed.
Their heads are shorn.
Even the women.
Shorn?
Why shorn?
Close your curtains, please.
Train with lights.
The enemy can bomb at night.
Here.
Invoices for Cyclone B.
I use it to destroy parasites.
I supply them with it here.
And they are using it to...
My papers.
No, I won't need them.
Your government must warn the Americans and the British.
Get them to drop leaflets on Germany.
Once they are informed, the Germans will rise against them.
Tell them to act fast.
Every day that goes by...
We are stopping a few minutes.
Remain in your place, please.
And a quick stop...
to let by a train that has priority.
If you want references on me, you can get them from Otto de Belius, the
superintendent of the Protestant Church.
Stop them from following me.
Police!
Sit down.
They need you.
They see you so little.
It's best if you don't know what I'm about to tell the pastor.
I've discovered something dreadful, Pastor.
The Jews...
Not here.
It's unimaginable.
Later, please, later.
The Jews aren't being expelled as we thought.
They're being exterminated.
What?
The Jews are being exterminated.
Go in.
I just got back from the camps in Poland.
They're exterminating Jews.
The strongest are pressed into forced labor.
The others, the women and children, are gassed.
I saw it with my own eyes.
The church must alert all Christians.
The first thing you must do is resign from the SS.
I have seen what was not meant to be seen.
There must be a witness.
I shall be the eyes of God in that hell.
This may turn into a disaster for you and your family.
We must denounce the assassins.
I am prepared to do it with you at today's service.
To testify to what I saw.
We are ready to begin the service.
We are coming.
There's no doubt.
We must act.
But in a thoughtful and responsible manner.
Superintendent Debelius can advise you.
I believe he officiated at your marriage, didn't he?
Resign from the SS.
Keep out of all this.
We were saying...
You were saying that the Jews were like a foreign body that had to be expelled.
That we can discriminate against the Jews but not persecute them.
Suppose mass murder is going on.
What would you suggest we do?
Protest, warn Christians...
Protest will be used as propaganda by our enemies.
And we will be accused of treason.
You are at war, Gerstern.
When the church protested against the extermination of mental patients...
Mercy killings.
Euthanasia.
Not extermination, Gerstern.
Public protests stopped euthanasia.
Let's do the same for the Jews.
Those mental patients were baptized members of our church.
But the Jews...
You are a soldier.
Far from the daily reality of our people.
You are bombed.
When you endure the most cruel hardships...
You should know that the majority of the faithful...
And our pastors...
Are behind Mr. Hitler.
Nobody will protest.
Nobody will even believe you.
The Führer and Himmler watched the same test as us.
Our orders are to accelerate the procedure.
The Hygiene Institute is sending me to the Eastern Front...
To purify the water for our troops.
I can't be part of this.
There's no conflict.
All our installations are in the East.
What the Fuhrer and Colonel Hess agreed to those plans?
I'm talking of output, not plans, Herr Puffer.
We warned you there was a risk of thermal distortion...
That in the long run could cause...
They were put into operation on March 22nd.
And on the 25th...
After processing a convoy of 3,000 units...
The oven walls blew out due to overheating.
If you hadn't cut down on costs so much, Colonel Hess...
We provided you with free labor.
Why don't you adapt the mobile model?
Because it needs to be resealed all the time and tar is rationed.
Lieutenant Gerstein, expert in destruction of vermin of all sorts.
We're badly in need of your competence.
I have no competence for this type of operation.
Gerstein's superiors at the Hygiene Institute say...
He is particularly suited to tasks for which he has no competence.
I am not so sure about that.
This is the new generation of equipment...
That can process 10,000 units per day.
10,000?
But...
That's impossible.
It will be necessary.
We have to eliminate 11 to 12 million units in Europe.
The Fuhrer wants it done before 1948.
We'll devote 1949 to dealing with the rest of the world...
And in 1950, we'll take a sabbatical.
The problem is...
That during the operation, the crystals only evaporate partially.
The evaporation starts to resume when the site is being cleared...
Which slows the work of the cleaning squads.
The crystals only evaporate when they come into contact with air.
You mean, as the bodies fall to the ground, they smother the crystals?
Yes, that's right.
In some cases, the crystals exposed to air...
Take 40 to 50 minutes to evaporate...
Instead of 5 or 10.
That slows down production...
And prevents us from making accurate estimates.
Two factors could contribute to this.
The poor quality of the products...
Or temperatures that are too low.
A greater number will raise the temperature.
That legendary human warmth.
And the fenced columns will protect the crystals.
Your mission is to provide us with high-quality crystals...
And in great quantity.
My responsibilities are to the agency.
We'll be able to share you with the institute.
You'll be fulfilling your duties as an SS and as a Christian.
You'll reduce the agony of the units to 5 minutes...
And also speed up our tempo.
Lieutenant?
Professor would be more suitable.
Professor.
How soon will the cleaning squads be able to operate?
Without gas masks.
Their filters are too expensive.
Two hours.
Two hours?
Without ventilation, two hours is the minimum.
What kind of ventilation?
How many cubic meters?
1,250 on average.
Well, with a one-horsepower blower, you might save one hour.
We'll put in two blowers.
Yes, we can do that.
Back to your sanitation work.
And don't forget your Christian mission of public utility.
The nuncio can't see anyone.
Just five minutes, it's very important.
I'm telling you, his eminence is not going to see anyone.
I'm your lieutenant, I'll go and announce me.
Excellency, I have to talk to you.
I have to speak to you, Excellency.
What are you doing in here, officer?
I'm Lieutenant Kurt Giershlein, Excellency.
I have information for the Vatican of an urgency and importance that will
undoubtedly justify my intrusion.
Lieutenant, I'm shocked by the manner in which you burst in.
I call the police, Excellency.
No, no, my superiors learn of my visit.
It's an intrusion, sir.
Excellency, I have a message for the Vatican.
I've been in Poland.
At the camps of Auschwitz and Belzec, where every day thousands of Jews are
being murdered.
Enough!
Get out of here!
Come along, Count.
We cannot listen to any more of this.
I saw everything with my own eyes, Excellency.
Convoys from all over Europe are arriving at those factories of death.
Only the Vatican can do something to stop those atrocities.
Only His Holiness, by alerting world public opinion and all Christians,
Thank you for being so concerned about what His Holiness should do.
Are you a Catholic?
Excellency, what I saw haunts me day and night.
Even in death you can recognize a family.
They die clinging together.
Naked mothers clasp their infants to their breasts.
I was told that after death they can't be pried apart.
Not even with hooks.
I have no right to be in contact with the German army.
See him out.
You may leave.
Gestapo provocation.
An SS defending the Jews.
They think we are idiots.
We
have to hurry home.
It's getting dark.
Take care.
Bye.
See you tomorrow.
Excuse me, is Baron von Otterheim?
No, I'm his assistant.
Who are you?
Lieutenant Kurgerstein.
He knows me.
He's traveling.
May I help you?
When will he be back?
We don't know.
Thank you.
Hey!
Don't you just stop it!
I told you to stay there.
Stay!
What is it, dear?
You can't stay in town any younger.
They're bombing all over the country.
No, no, no.
That's not what I meant.
I want you to go and live at your parents' home in Tübingen with the children.
Please let them finish their school year here in Berlin.
I said no and I mean no!
You're probably right.
I'd like to take you back home.
I'd rather go play over there.
Maybe you should tell me...
I... I want you to leave as soon as possible.
That's all I can say.
Is there another woman?
You make me laugh.
You make me...
You make me laugh.
At least that's one thing I'm still good at.
Who will take care of you?
Mrs. Hinz will do fine.
Is she too?
Did she tell you she was?
No.
Someone else tell you?
No.
Don't worry about it.
Come here!
You take everything too seriously.
Don't forget that you have a family.
That's what counts.
More than anything in the world.
Mrs. Hinz?
Could you start packing my things, please?
Yes, and I'll get the carpenter to come back.
The bombs made it loose again.
Can you drive us to Tübingen?
No, my father will take you.
I have no time.
To Tübingen!
Gerstein, I'm relieved to find you.
Something awful has just happened.
What a fine German family.
I tried to call you.
You haven't heard?
No.
The Führer's personal plane exploded on take-off.
And the Führer was on it?
With Goebbels, Goering and Himmler.
No one survived?
Yes.
Germany.
I got you.
I report you for spreading false good news.
It was my father's.
It was damaged by some bomb blasts.
My girlfriend's house, near here, was destroyed.
Only the wall with the portrait of the Führer was undamaged.
The Führer's portrait never gets damaged!
Yes, you're right.
You made a very good impression on our colleagues, who are specialists of...
Yes?
Yes, a very good one.
I'm leaving.
For Theresienstadt, you're coming with me.
You'll continue on to visit your manufacturer of plastic acid in
Czechoslovakia, and the way we'll chat.
You are the only person with whom it's still worth talking to.
Who are the only one?
Our colleagues have a kind of technical intelligence, but they're either
self-satisfied, drunkards or degenerates.
And often all three are your children studying science.
No, they're too young.
I have here a splendid specimen of a Judeo-Bolshevik scum.
A scum?
No, no.
Kurt, one is never too young to learn.
I'll show it to them.
To celebrate Darwin's birthday, the purest Swiss chocolates.
You shouldn't have, you shouldn't have.
Giving pleasure is my pleasure.
Hmm?
Let's see.
Man descended from the ape, but the Negroes and the Jews only got half way.
Delicious.
Yeah?
No, no, thank you.
No, no.
Thank you.
Stop it.
Go.
Gerstein.
Gerstein, learn to control your facial muscles better.
In the SS, as in poker, your opponents and even your partners should never be able to
read your thoughts.
Or your game.
You think you can read my thoughts like an open book.
That's why I appreciate you.
What a treasure you have there.
Take good care of them.
See you the day after tomorrow in the morning at 6.30 sharp.
I can't wait.
Gerstein.
I'm Ricardo Fontana.
We met at a paper litigation.
I'm a Jesuit.
A Jesuit?
Is that how I should introduce you if that man came back?
That man in the black car?
No, just introduce me as a spy for God, as Kierkegaard would have put it.
Spy for God?
Or for the Vatican?
For the Vatican wouldn't make sense.
What do you want?
I was ashamed of the nurse's behavior.
What you said upset me and I wish to know more.
More?
More about what?
If what you said is true, then the Holy Father must be informed.
But he will ask me for evidence.
The Pope doesn't know what we're doing to the Jews.
With his priests, his parishes, his bishops.
He has the finest intelligence in the world.
He's only informed when Catholics are persecuted.
He should ask persecuted Catholics about the persecution of Jews and gypsies.
Gypsies move around a lot.
And Jews get moved around a lot.
Why doesn't the Pope wonder where the deportees are going?
Mr. Gerstein, neither the Pope nor my father, who is close to him, has much
esteem for Mr. Hitler.
But they realize that he has succeeded in doing what nobody else has dared to do.
He defeated Communism in Germany and now in Russia.
And this man that we do not esteem has become a myth.
Your myth is committing acts of barbarity that only the Pope, the representative of
Jesus, can condemn.
So that the world and the Germans will know about it.
When the Holy Father is informed of these atrocities, he will take a firm stand.
But you'll have to tell me everything you know.
It won't be enough to convince him.
Have a seat.
People who betray their own country are always suspect.
Some cookies for his eminence.
He's very angry.
You didn't tell us you would be out.
His eminence is conferring with the minister about religious matters.
He authorized me to show you in at any time.
He was counting on your verbal skills.
He's dealing with some very difficult Nazi negotiators.
What's the meeting about?
Well, always the same thing.
Smoothing out the little differences between us and the authorities of the
Reich.
Little differences?
They don't want to pay the taxes allotted to the churches.
May I show you in?
Oh, Ricardo.
Already back?
Do you know where my father is?
And how is the chairman, Mr. Hitler?
He sends his regards.
My father isn't here today.
Do you know when he'll be back?
Sir.
Kurt, I think the Führer made a mistake about the Jews.
Another one of your jokes.
He presented them as very dangerous because they were so organized
internationally, right?
Yet you and I have seen how easy it is to send them up in a puff of smoke.
Even our lunatics, poor wretches, turned out to be defended better.
Our churches...
I'm...
a little bit Catholic.
Our churches saved the lunatics.
Nobody's come forward for the Jews.
They say American Jews are so powerful.
But Roosevelt hasn't said a word yet.
If the Führer made a mistake, as you said, why continue?
The Führer's mistake was the diagnosis, not the remedy.
We have to get rid of them.
But I think we are lost.
Excuse me?
This idiot is driving around in circles.
Straight ahead!
I woke him up.
The Reich needs men like us.
Men who have learned to subdue their consciences.
Not those brainless brutes who feel superior because they were told they were
Aryans.
Magnificent!
A Raphaelian painting!
It will be...
Look!
Riccardo!
No!
Riccardo!
The press is interested in your father.
The Pope has dedicated the world to the immaculate heart of the Virgin Mary to
restore peace.
It's a major celebration.
I am presenting it to the press.
Another celebration?
You look tense.
Has the nuncio sent you on a mission?
No, I came on my own initiative.
Your own initiative?
Yes.
Jews of Europe are being exterminated in every country that Germany has conquered.
We'll finish this later.
Leave us!
I've come to inform the Holy Father.
The Holy Father doesn't need you to be informed.
If he was informed, he would already have condemned these atrocities.
Calm down, will you?
His Eminence, the Cardinal, is here.
Show him in.
Is it all right if he sees you here?
Yes.
From my very own garden.
Thank you.
They are splendid.
Riccardo, my boy, you look wonderful.
How is that dreadful Mr. Hitler?
Just dreadful.
What news of our American friend?
Do hear any minute, Eminence.
The nuncio didn't tell us of your arrival, Riccardo.
It's because I came without him.
It looks like the German army is blocked at Stalingrad.
Eminence, I have secret information about Hitler's extermination camps.
Well now, here we have a secret agent who leaves his post without informing the
nuncio.
I think the Holy Father should be informed.
The Holy Father holds Mr. Hitler in very low esteem.
And since he signed that infamous pact with that Stalin, nothing he does will
surprise His Holiness.
At the time I told the Holy Father that Hitler had a hidden agenda.
He attacked too late.
And now he is stuck in the Russian winter.
The Holy Father is very concerned.
Hitler must crush Stalin.
And then sign a peace treaty with the Americans.
So that all these horrors that are breaking the Holy Father's heart will be
over.
The Allies will never sign a peace treaty with Hitler.
In the meantime, Jews are being massacred.
The Holy Father must protest.
He must?
They are being gassed every day.
We've grown accustomed to the Jews' endless mourning.
I hold this information from an SS officer.
Count, your son mingles with the SS?
Do you think this SS was sent by divine providence?
The American gentleman is here.
Welcome.
Count.
This is my son Ricardo, just arrived from Berlin.
Our paths crossed earlier, right?
Yes.
The Pope wouldn't receive me.
He was meeting with some Germans.
I did, however, meet a great many eminences.
Your eminence.
Dear friend, here is the reply your government is waiting for.
Wonderful.
I trust this...
Ah, she was a saintly woman.
You didn't know her, Mr. Tietman?
No.
Countess Fontana.
She left us too soon.
Something to drink?
What?
I think the two of us make a good team.
It's a pity you can't stay.
Prague has a very beautiful Jewish cemetery.
Ah!
Dear Luigi.
Monsignor.
This just came.
The Pope needs me immediately.
Duty before pleasure.
When will Ambassador de Taylor be back?
Not for two months.
We look forward to seeing him again.
Count, Berlin is no longer a pleasant place to live in, but it's a good school
to learn moderation and patience.
We hope Ricardo will go back there as soon as possible.
So, is Berlin punishment or a promotion?
Where does the American government stand concerning the massive slaughter of Jews?
We've been trying to verify these rumors.
We've asked the Vatican, actually.
And the Vatican, having heard the same rumors, is asking us to verify them.
While you're verifying, 10,000 Jews would be exterminated every day.
If you want a chance of being believed, don't mention that figure.
Say a few hundred.
I can introduce you to someone who has seen the gas chambers operating with his
own eyes.
Ricardo!
Ricardo, our guest came here to have lunch.
Sorry, Father.
At last you have your reply.
It isn't signed.
The Pope's advisor gave it to you personally.
That's the signature.
Congratulations to SS-Lieutenant Kurt Gerstein for his nomination as head of our
sanitary and technical services.
We are grateful to him for the excellence of his work.
Signed, Heinrich Himmler.
Heil Hitler!
As for me, I name you the worst enemy of vermin, wherever and whatever they are.
I join my congratulations to Himmler's.
Thank you, Obersturmführer.
There's an ambulance here awaiting your inspection.
It's urgent.
Carry on, we'll be right back.
And the other front.
You're right.
But I know that the doctor and the others are very pleased with you.
My God, there are leaks.
There are leaks!
Close the doors!
There are leaks!
Put your masks on!
All of you, put the masks on!
Go!
It's slightly toxic, it's deadly.
Don't look at me like a clown, put your mask on!
Move out the shipment and bury it.
Come on, get the car out of here.
I can't smell anything.
I was told to have the irritants removed.
Leaks are very hard to detect.
Put your mask on.
Come on, push the car out!
Bury the shipment!
I don't want this product transiting through here anymore.
Deal with it any way you want, but deal with it!
You're on leave.
No, convalescing.
This is a nice little ball, no?
I was just telling them that there is an SS plan to exterminate the Jews.
And I've seen it in operation.
In the name of all our struggles as members of Protestant youth groups,
I've gathered you here to discuss what action could be taken.
Evening, Father.
Ah, Helmut.
Well, you know everyone.
Armin was wounded on the Eastern Front.
I hope nothing serious.
No, I'm heading back next week.
Good.
Can I talk to you?
Why didn't you tell me?
You think I'm not concerned?
Luckily my friends in the SS tell me everything.
Everything?
About everything?
Everything about you.
Congratulations on your promotion, Likud.
And rather you had told me.
What are you still doing with that pastor and his troublemakers?
Father...
Have your SS friends ever mentioned the monstrosities they're hiding from the
German people?
Not again.
Our country got back on its feet thanks to Chancellor Hitler.
And thanks to the common people who aren't as fancy as Mr. Thomas Mann or your
friend, the humanistic president.
They're making us accomplices of a crime that will doom the German people for all
eternity.
Stop listening to British propaganda, please.
Ever wondered what happened to your Jewish acquaintances and colleagues?
Ever wondered what happened to them?
They have been sidelined from public life.
In wartime it's only natural to weed out people who say they belong to an
international directed from Moscow one day and from New York the next.
What if I told you those people no longer exist?
What exactly did he tell you?
That thousands of Jews are being deported to the East to be gassed.
I actually witnessed it.
The Jews left for America long ago.
He means Jews from all over Europe.
Obey orders.
I knew the SS were a bunch of maniacs, but he tops them all.
They are sent to the camps to work, of course.
What kind of work needs millions of workers?
Don't work for the salvation of your soul, Kurt.
Work for the salvation of our people.
That's what I'm doing, Father, night and day.
Once and for all, drop all that sentimental nonsense.
You're lying.
Germans are incapable of such atrocities.
Helm, please.
Kurt, our struggles against the Nazis are ancient history.
Today you are in the SS, I am in the Luftwaffe.
And our children are being bombed.
Sorry.
Helm...
How about you?
I vowed never to raise my arm.
Never to say hi.
So far I've succeeded.
Lucky is he who can ignore what can't be changed anymore.
Excuse me, Pastor.
I have work to do.
There's still a lot more juice to gas!
Mercy, O Lord.
Holy Father, for the people of Christ.
Mercy for the Jewish people.
I know the sufferings of the world, Ricardo.
My heart bleeds for the victims.
I pray for them.
I pray for you too, my child.
The world is waiting for the representative of Jesus to lead the way.
There was no need to make a spectacle of yourself.
Somebody had to tell His Holiness.
His Holiness will use fiery language against the Nazi crimes in his Christmas
homily.
I didn't know.
Why didn't you tell me?
I'm telling you now.
Thank God.
And diplomacy and perseverance.
You must trust your Father.
The crematoriums are overworked.
Why didn't you come and verify them before?
The whole stock has come in contact with air.
It's unusable.
It has to be buried.
Unlike our other deliveries, we always seem to have problems with your shipments
of gas.
The doctor asked me for gas without irritants.
I had some manufactured.
All that towed.
They are defects.
It can't be used.
It has to be buried.
I can't call everything off.
I will use it.
It won't work.
I told you, it works better than gas.
They stole them from corpses to trade them for vodka.
He's also been talking.
I can't move corpses without drinking.
What were you two talking about?
He said there were dead bodies screaming when they were thrown in the ovens.
Move!
Your cyclone is taking 60 minutes to work instead of 10.
It's slowing down all right.
It's getting on our nerves.
They are all stupid thieves.
Heil Hitler!
First, Berlin congratulates us for our results and encourages us to increase our
efforts.
Second, we are on the verge of a catastrophe that could hinder our whole
mission.
Transport problems again?
No, no.
Our convoys have priority everywhere.
It concerns the supply of quality grade cyclone gas.
Treblinka has run out of stock.
Gerstein, why don't we keep all our supplies in one location?
Because of air raid danger.
None of our camps has ever been bombed.
You can't bomb prison camps.
It's forbidden by the Geneva Convention.
Will we ever manage to deal in a rational manner with these damn supply problems?
Estimates were established on the basis of 10,000 units per day.
10,000 units?
For all the camps?
I'm being delivered 6,000 units per day.
So am I!
I can't reach them or house them.
I'm getting 7,000 to 8,000 per day.
My camp is now total chaos.
Some people only fight war.
Enough is enough.
And our orders are to accelerate.
They have to give us the means.
All the means.
The Schriever company could supply us with mills to grind them up.
We'll never get out of this.
I'm having nightmares.
Quiet!
Let's have some order here, please.
What do you estimate your needs are?
I don't estimate.
I want huge stocks of cyclone, ready for use, stocked in one place,
underground.
You may even spend some money if you have to.
Our suppliers will have a hard time keeping up.
Your suppliers, your manufacturers, shout Heil Hitler night and day while they
fill their pockets.
They should watch out.
We can Aryanize the Aryanizers.
Gerhard will take charge of your dealings with them.
He's good at that.
He's also well connected in Switzerland and other neutral countries.
I don't want the whole operation to collapse because of gas shortage and
installation problems.
Are those your entire estimates?
Have a look at it.
Where do we stand?
Don't, Gerstein.
I thought it best to wait for you here.
I don't trust the telephone.
The others have to act.
The situation is getting worse.
The others must bomb the railroad lines leading to the camps.
And they must destroy the buildings used for extermination.
I have informed my government.
You must insist.
Bring it up again.
Those factories of death are working day and night.
You overestimate the power of heads of state.
Our government has been negotiating with the United States for seven months to get
them to take in 2,000 Jewish children.
And we're getting no...
2,000?
That's nothing.
That's a drop in the bucket.
Ten times more than that are brought to the camps every day.
I can organize for you and your family.
I found someone to inform the Pope.
I'm sure the Pope will speak out.
The Allies must be ready to inform the German people.
I will make it known, Mr. Gerstein.
I can obtain passports for you and your family.
No, no.
I refuse to leave my country.
I must testify about all this.
It is a French dinner for a German Christmas.
I will have a stud farm in Normandy and breed horses.
After our victory.
My wife and I...
I've already found a farm in Poland.
Oh, no, in Poland.
My wife and I hate the cold.
I'm going to have a Greek island.
And what's your dream coat?
I'd like to be a German in Germany.
You testify about my wartime experiences.
Unfortunately, you won't be able to tell it all.
Excuse me, please.
Germany, Germany.
He's here.
You're here.
Now, that's wonderful.
I didn't know you had guests.
Maybe I should leave.
No, no, no.
You stay.
You have to translate.
The speech is going to start in a while.
Mrs. Hintze, set up the radio.
I'll be right back.
Thank you.
Was it the promised surprise?
No, the surprise is coming.
But we have to respect very precise rules.
Germans always respect rules, as long as they're precise.
No gifts before the singing.
Silent night, holy night.
Lonely night, only the dead and the holy couple.
Has it started?
No, any minute now.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
I'll try to get rid of them.
What about our surprise?
Come along.
Here's the surprise.
I thought of a little game for you Christmas presents.
When I blow this whistle, you'll go into the room.
I'll switch off the lights and close the door.
You'll have exactly one minute to go on a treasure hunt.
The second time I blow this whistle, you'll stop immediately.
Whatever you're holding is yours.
On your marks.
Get set.
You know how to amuse idiots.
Why do you make such efforts to be popular?
I'm very attached to our Christmas traditions.
Oh, who pinched my ass?
It's my Christmas present, my dear.
No, you're not allowed to pick it up.
Our friends like your little presents.
I'm going to inform my family.
Excuse me, please.
Family?
The sweetest word in our language.
Give them my best wishes.
Make sure that no one comes in, Mrs. Hintz.
He has appealed to all the peoples of the earth to let divine law be the center of
gravity of our society.
His wish, humanity owes it to the infinite multitude of suffering mothers,
widows and orphans that have been deprived of the light of the sustenance of their
lives.
This vote, humanity owes it to the infinite multitude of orphans that have
been deprived of the light of the sustenance of their lives.
What shall I do?
Tell them I'm talking to my children and put some music on the gramophone so that
they can dance.
All right, I'll do Mrs. Hintz.
Smile at them.
I'll try.
This wish, humanity owes it...
He's talking to his children.
...to the millions of non-combatants.
This war in the air that we already have denounced many times, mankind has,
without distinction, deprived of life, health, homes, havens of charity and
prayer.
That's all.
He never even pronounced the word Jew or concentration camp.
Can you travel outside Germany?
The Pope is too protected.
He needs to meet an eyewitness.
Sir, Washington's still...
The Holy Father is arriving.
Excellency, Washington is still amazed the Pope's Christmas broadcast was so bland.
The lack of any condemnation of the Nazi atrocity threatens the moral leadership of
the Holy Father and faith in the Church itself.
You can't condemn Hitler without condemning Stalin, who is your ally.
You can't compare the two.
Mr. Russell, we are very pleased to welcome you at the Vatican again.
The greetings and good wishes that President Roosevelt has so kindly extended
to us for the holy season of Christmas have been a source of particular pleasure
for us.
Our heart, too, is saddened by the thought that once more the serene light that
radiates from Bethlehem shines upon a world troubled and bloodied by war.
No one appreciates more than President Roosevelt the ceaseless efforts of Your
Holiness to prevent the outbreak of war and to stop it from spreading.
Your Holiness is familiar with President Roosevelt's tireless efforts to achieve
victory, a complete victory.
Your moral help and assistance in this effort would be highly appreciated by the
President.
Riccardo!
This time did you come with the permission of your superiors?
Nothing is denied to your son.
A protege of the Pope, you should know that.
The Holy Father likes you.
Only yesterday he said to me that Berlin will provide with excellent diplomatic
experience.
Do diplomacy and the Gospel belong together?
At Christmas we waited for his fiery words against the Nazi crimes.
The Pope needs tangible evidence before he commits the charge.
I have an eyewitness willing to come and testify.
He's an SS officer.
I have friends for lunch.
If you hold your tongue, you are more than welcome.
Thank you, but I'd rather eat in my room.
I wanted to introduce you to the American ambassador.
Then I'll be glad to join you.
Papa!
Arnold!
Big boy!
Adelaide, I've got something for you.
Something really nice.
What is it?
Go and take a look.
I was visiting a nearby factory and I thought I'd make a little side trip to see
you.
Are you alright?
Better than yesterday, worse than tomorrow.
Good morning, Pastor.
Good morning, Kurt.
Some little gifts from the Ukraine.
Forgive me, I've heard awful rumours.
Yes?
About... about Russia.
They say a marshal of the Reich surrendered with all his men at a place
called Stalingrad.
Have you been listening to the English radio, Pastor?
Me?
God forbid, no.
It's a rumour that's going around.
Propaganda.
Falsehood.
Defeatism.
Thank you, Kurt.
You relieved me of a heavy burden.
That's alright.
Goodbye, Pastor.
200,000 dead, 90,000 taken prisoner.
Hitler is harvesting what he sold and we are the beneficiaries.
200,000 dead?
I can't stay long.
Alright, let's go.
Up the stairs.
Into the house.
Come on.
This war has played havoc with our values.
And the Church is the victim.
We had a war like Pope.
He died.
Then Providence gave us a peace-loving Pope and the war broke out.
Oh, Riccardo.
How are you?
Riccardo, have a seat.
This is the American ambassador.
My son just arrived from Berlin.
What news from Berlin, Riccardo?
This here eminence.
An SS officer gave me this map of Poland.
On it you'll find the names and the location of the concentration camps.
In red are the numbers of people who are being gassed every day.
And in black you'll find the estimates.
That's 400,000 people in Hungary, 200,000 people in Romania, 80,000 people
in Greece.
Yeah, but what can we do about it?
We can negotiate to save them.
Negotiate with the Nazis?
We'll never negotiate with those criminals.
Even to save a million lives?
Only winning the war will save them.
There'll be ashes long before that.
If the Holy Father could intervene personally with the Nazis and obtain for
the Jews to...
It is out of the question.
The Holy Father has to remain neutral so he can act for peace.
And he will not act in order to stay neutral.
But if he could intervene in the name of Jesus, of our Lord...
Richard, if he intervenes, the Germans will invade the Vatican and loot
everything.
Should we save the Vatican or Christianity?
I mean, if by miracle he was able to save these people, will your government take
these Jews in?
Why would Hitler agree to any of this?
Because it would be a fatal blow to the democracies weak enough to take in these
poor people.
As Goebbels said, let those who love the Jews have them, but naked.
It would cause civil unrest, the rise of a gigantic wave of anti-Semitism.
Ricardo, your attempt to save those poor wretches makes you an agent of Goebbels.
Since his defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler is counting on our weaknesses to
help him beat us.
If we concentrate on saving Jews and slowing down our war effort, that'll suit
him just fine.
May I remind you that while we are eating and talking, trains are heading for the
camps?
Or may I remind you that our sons are dying on battlefields to save the free
world?
The world is sick.
Ricardo, my boy, the Church is made of patience.
Patience, faith, and hard work.
In the end, time always proves the Church right.
Always.
I think Easter should be on the same date every year.
There are two important dates for Christians.
The Feast of the Holy Virgin on August the 15th and Christmas on December the 25th.
Easter doesn't have a fixed date.
Christians need milestones, or they get lost.
Ricardo, even contrition can become pride.
I feel guilty as a spectator, even more so as a priest.
Your pride and stubbornness are destroying your future.
As long as I can testify to Jesus' love for mankind, for all mankind, then my
future is assured.
Hitler can annihilate us at any moment.
We, the men of God, and all the Christians of Europe.
But if all the Christians of Europe became Jews for a while, just until the
persecution stopped, what will the executioners do?
The fact is that on one side there are the Nazis, on the other side the communists.
The Americans are still far away.
If my friend from Berlin came to Rome, will you agree to meet with him?
If you think he's worthy of it, yes.
And if he's worthy of it, will you do your best to get him an audience with the Holy
Father?
Yes.
Thank you.
Ricardo, Ricardo!
There is life the way it is, and life the way it should be.
Unfortunately, we have to live with life the way it is.
Karl!
Kurt!
It's been ages.
Get us some drinks.
A lot has happened since we last sat up around a campfire.
Sag mir das Wort, dem du gerne nicht gelauscht.
Lang, lang ist's her.
Please sit down.
Lang, lang ist's her.
Sag mir das Wort, dem du gerne nicht gelauscht.
Lang, lang ist's her.
What can I do for you?
Could you organize a trip to Rome for me?
For you alone or for you and your family?
For me alone.
A return trip?
When do you want to leave?
I don't have the exact date yet.
What do you think of the situation?
I think we were right.
And the coming events will confirm it.
Thank God my poor eyesight landed me in this sinister place.
Here I can serve my country without renouncing my convictions or betraying my
faith.
Where did you end up?
In disinfection.
A vast program.
I will make out a top priority pass to you.
So you can travel when you want.
Should it be in your name?
Yes, in my name, of course.
Thank you.
In these heroic times, have you acquired some title or some kind of rank?
Lieutenant of the Waffen-SS.
Go to the SS Transportation Department.
This is a private trip, Karl.
Thanks for your visit.
I suppose you're sending more and more trains to the east.
Goods trains.
Do you know what you're transporting?
Goods.
People, too.
Factory workers.
Industry has developed considerably in the east.
I'll attach a photograph in your SS uniform.
It'll work better.
What if I told you that we are packing families in livestock cars and sending
them to the slaughterhouse?
Get out of here at once, or I'll call the police or even the Gestapo.
I haven't changed, Karl.
Neither have I.
Those trains are convoys that are leading us to hell.
I'm not in charge of freight.
Do supervised trains get a use?
I'm doing my best to help my country win this war.
What if we try to slow down those trains?
Are you going to get out of here, Lieutenant Gerstein, or would you rather
the police showed you out?
Get him out of here.
If you want to reach me, you can find me at the Hygiene Institute.
May Christ watch over you and your family.
SS bastard!
I must catch the train back tomorrow night.
That's very short.
But I think my father will manage to get the audience.
I found out on the train that 400 SS have recently arrived in Rome.
It's a special unit.
The Allies are approaching Naples.
What is this?
Over 3 million people have been gassed.
Over 3 million?
These are the invoices and the delivery slips for the cycling gas.
These maps show all the camps, see?
This is exactly what we need to convince them.
There is a German roadblock.
It is Saturday.
They know that they are all at home.
There is nothing we can do.
Gino, what's going on?
Please come, Fratana, can you put this up for a few days?
Yeah.
Franco, take them to the guesthouse.
Go, go.
Thank you, sir.
They are in your street now.
I know.
Go, go!
The Holy Father got up very early this morning.
He is expecting you.
The Germans are arresting the Jews.
Right here, around the corner.
No, sister, no, you must find him.
Please, thank you.
Riccardo, tell me.
What?
How come your father is so close to the Pope?
It's because of my family.
We are auxiliaries to the Pontifical Throne.
Yes?
All right.
Thank you, sister.
My father is with the Pope now.
We have found out.
They are arresting converts, too.
Summon Ambassador Weizsäcker immediately.
We demand explanations.
Tell him of our hunger and our sorrow.
Our sorrow and our hunger.
Stop, stop, stop.
Monsignore!
Monsignore Udal!
Riccardo!
Eminence, I was told my father was here.
Yes, the Countess was the abbot.
That's Gerstein, a friend, I guess.
Is he a convert?
I'm sorry?
It makes no difference.
But we are keeping the two sensibilities apart.
Oh, no, no, Kurt is an Aryan.
We must see my father now.
Fontana is discussing supplies with the abbot.
We have fifty-six refugees.
There are eleven children, five gypsies, three communists, and twelve orderly
people who are in need of medical care.
Here.
I'll send you a doctor, some flour and vegetables.
We are looking for meat and pasta, but it's difficult.
There are a lot of refugees.
Your son is here with a friend.
Really?
Kurt Gerstein, my friend.
Delighted to meet you, Count.
Did you manage to get an audience?
Excuse me.
Considering what is going on, it's unthinkable for the poor to meet with the
German.
Especially in essence of it.
Can we see the Cardinal then?
Go see him.
I'll let him know.
Why don't you come with us?
No, I can't.
I have to check that all the convents are taking in these poor people.
This way.
Thank you.
You wait here.
I'll get the authorization.
You wait for me here.
It is out of the question for an SS who is betraying his country to come in here.
Some betrayals are the last resort of the just.
Ricardo.
We all like you.
The Pope.
Your father.
Myself.
We understand the distress in your heart.
But it's exhausting us and poisoning our existence.
Go there.
You will replace my secretary.
Take notes.
And maybe you will learn something about how diplomacy works.
In the Vatican you have the greatest masterpieces in the world.
And no divisions to defend them.
Mr. Ambassador, I'd be extremely grateful if you'd give orders that these arrests in
Rome cease immediately.
Twenty days ago, Major Cutler of the SS demanded 50 kilos of gold for not
deporting the Jews.
The Jewish community gave it to them.
And now they're being arrested.
Should we assume that your government doesn't keep his word?
Alas, alas.
I'm only waiting for you to say why don't you resign.
Mr. Weissegger, it is painful for the whole of us.
Painful beyond belief that in Rome, under his very eyes, so many people are
made to suffer simply because they belong to another race.
What will the Holy See do if it were to go on?
The Holy Father doesn't want to be obliged to express his disapproval.
Is this an official request from the Holy Father?
It is so he doesn't have to make one.
So far he has said nothing that the German people could consider as an act of
hostility.
But there are limits.
If the Holy Father found it became necessary to protest, he would abandon
himself for the consequences to divine providence.
I am told that even converts are being arrested.
Protest.
Gerstein?
Kurt!
What brings you to Rome?
Wolf, Wolf, I don't believe it.
Have you come to disinfect the Vatican?
No, I'm looking for a quick way to get back to Berlin.
Who's the transportation officer?
Lieutenant Nitzel.
Come with me.
I'll introduce you.
It's pretty crowded down there.
Not enough.
The Italians are kosher fascists.
Without them we'd have twice as many.
All they like to do is steal.
Come along.
Let me introduce you to Nitzel.
What will you do with them all?
Why are we here?
We are converted since two generations.
We have no reason to be here.
Have a safe trip back to Berlin.
Thank you.
More than a thousand will be deported tomorrow night from the Tibertinas.
Tibertina, train station.
Nothing can stop this now.
But there's still a way to stop it.
What should we know about Monte Cassino?
The Americans are bombing constantly.
The German soldiers are holding out.
Most of the monastery has been destroyed.
Especially the south wing.
The library wing.
The library has probably been destroyed.
They have also bombed the chapel.
Mr. Weizsäcker assured me that the German army will never surrender Monte Cassino.
We solicited the American representative to put an end to the bombings.
But there's little hope.
We have received donations from Cardinal Spellman and from the Jeddh puzzle of
letters.
Holy Father...
A thousand Jews will be deported unless your holiness intercedes.
We view yours with love, Ricardo.
Whoever signs with the persecutor speaks for our holy office.
But in this matter, only moderation can honor us.
But they will be deported tonight.
If the Holy Father appears at the station as he did at San Lorenzo, after the
American bombing, the train will not leave.
Ricardo!
Mr. Secretary, the church has opened all its convents and monasteries to the
oppressed.
Many Jews are under our protection.
The German ambassador has assured us that the others are being taken to a labor
camp.
With the women and children?
It is better than splitting the families.
No, they are being taken away to be murdered.
It is our Christian duty, the duty of the Holy See, how dare you come tell your son
to stop this nonsense?
Most Holy Father, with all respect for the dictates of silence, I beg your holiness
in all humility to act personally.
In Germany, in Austria, so many Christians have only asked to keep up their hopes.
Should we give them yet another burden to bear when they already endured these
terrible bombardments?
At the right moment will intercede so as to restore universal and equitable peace
that will reunite all Christians.
Our prayers, our cries of pain.
Ricardo, take it off.
You don't know what you're doing.
This is blasphemy on the habit of a servant of Christ.
I beg your holiness to relieve me of my functions.
Who would know better than us what it is like to be a father?
It is a crown of thorns.
The baby is dead.
The priest.
There's a Catholic priest with the Jews.
What?
Coffee or schnapps, Captain?
Both.
The doctor hasn't come down yet?
No.
It's too early for him to be awake.
What is it?
They loaded a priest in Rome with the Jews.
He says he's a secretary to the Nazi in Berlin.
Who did that?
Some idiots.
Probably thought it was funny.
I'm scared he may be a Vatican spy.
What for?
To convert Jews during the trip?
To see what we're doing here.
What has he seen here?
Here, nothing.
But he made the trip.
Four days.
In his cattle car, there were eight dead.
Five more children.
What else?
His travel companions say he's a cousin of the Pope.
He denies it.
I think he was deported by mistake.
Richard, they all are.
If he's a secretary to the Papal Monarch, we'd better liberate him.
Anyhow, we are sure he's not a Jew.
I hereby decree that he is a Jew.
You, over there.
Your Holiness.
I hear you're not a Jew.
I'm just like the others.
We need volunteers.
And priests.
In case someone dies.
The work's hard here.
It's our new Ruhr.
You're building whole new industries.
Those are factories of death.
And that smell, that's...
They are pharmaceutical factories.
It's the smell of nitrogen and rubber.
I know what it is.
He came to spy on us.
Your desire to be crucified won't be fulfilled.
I have another project.
You'll learn tolerance.
The Church has shown in the past that purification can be achieved by burning
people.
Nazism is just doing the same thing, but on a bigger scale.
In a way, we are the new chosen people.
Amen.
I'm a bit of a Catholic myself.
Not as devout as he is.
Fritzsche.
You're falling into sentimentality.
Leave us.
And send me a kapo for our cleric.
He's very Catholic.
He doesn't like us to talk about religion.
He's a good soldier, though.
Let's have some music.
Six months or a year.
We are going to lose this war.
It will be our turn to hide in the catacombs.
Find a comfortable one for me in Rome and I'll get you out of here.
A place nobody's ever been out of.
When you're back in Rome, you can hang your testimony on the barrels or sit on
the couch.
I don't know.
You're pathetic.
The world already knows.
I know they know.
But see for yourself.
Divine anger isn't rumbling from the skies nor are Allied bomber planes.
German cities get flattened by pirates but here the heavens are clear and empty.
The heavens are never empty.
Put this man in a Sonderkommando.
He's my protégé.
No one is to touch a hair on his head, a point on his star or a thread of his
cassock.
You'll work in the crematoriums.
If God's anywhere here, that's your best chance of finding him.
Move.
Get me a car, please.
You need absolute priority, Lieutenant.
Immediately.
Sorry, Lieutenant.
The convoy behind you has priority.
...in front, west, in the streets we're all going for the land the Fahne wins this
battle we're cutting time to time and singing.
Yes, we're ready.
We're cutting time
to time.
Construction to end in November, December, 1945.
Production to start in early 1946.
I'm afraid that...
What are you afraid of?
The quality of manpower they are sending us is getting worse by the day.
Isn't everything getting worse by the day?
That we will be operative in 1946, yes or no?
Of course, yes.
Gerstern!
Come in!
I have to talk to you in private.
Fritzsche!
We have to hurry.
Fritzsche tried to set him free as soon as he got here.
The doctor put him for fun in a zonderkommando and in his castle.
Now he has seen everything.
Papal Nuncio has asked for explanations.
Himmler is afraid of the consequences.
Himmler is afraid?
This priest is expected back in Berlin.
I'll never get to Rome.
It's been taken care of.
Fritzsche, you deal with it.
We'll make him sign a statement that he only saw flowerbeds.
Go to the canteen.
I'll bring him over.
Tell Berlin I have nothing to do with this.
He'll be here in five minutes.
Anything else?
Make sure you tell Berlin I made no mistake.
Yeah, don't worry.
Don't worry.
Corporal, dismissed.
My God.
Your father was sure you'd bought it, that's right.
I'm getting you out of here.
God, no.
God lets his children be devoured.
I want to understand.
Why do you want to sacrifice yourself, Ricardo?
It's wrong.
It's wrong to sacrifice yourself.
We must leave and let the world know what's going on here.
I can't leave.
Gerstein!
The world knows everything.
Look at him.
He hardly looks like a priest anymore.
Take him away with the others that he likes so much.
He's a Vatican diplomat.
He's here by mistake.
I'm here by mistake, too.
Go.
It's court-martial for you, Gerstein.
For forging letters from Himmler.
You went to Rome?
To beg for your salvation?
And to think I trusted you.
Up the chimney with him.
He'll get faster to heaven.
I spoke to Himmler over the telephone.
He wants no traces left of those mass graves.
Don't pretend you are surprised.
Tomorrow he'll ask us to dismantle the showers and the ovens.
He says he's trying to barter the Hungarian Jews, but nobody's interested.
Did the priest give you any good contacts in Rome?
Yes.
But if you want to use them, you'll have to keep them alive.
Too late.
I'll figure out a way by myself.
The
most glorious page of German history will never be written.
Is Rome still a pleasant city?
I won't leave my country.
They'll hang us, Kurt.
You before me.
Your name is in all those invoices for cyclone gas.
Go back home.
To the institute, wherever you want.
We don't need your competence anymore.
Your God will have a really hard time with you, Gerstein.
Kurt, what is going on?
Sorry, Pastor, I'm in a hurry.
What should we do?
You're home.
I have to leave again.
The most faithful shepherd of
the clouds, air and wind, gives way and knows, he will also find ways.
See, at last you find out what I did.
The things I know, I'll be a witness.
Listen to you, the SS are...
I have evidence, figures, names.
I'll go.
The Americans will understand.
The French are the closest.
The Americans are far away.
And you cannot cross the lines.
There are no more lines.
The front is collapsed.
Pastor, you are back.
What happened to us, Kurt?
Is everything they say true?
Yes, everything is true.
I knew it.
But will it be ready in time?
What?
The secret weapon.
Yes.
I knew it.
We'll stop them.
Put your uniform back on, son.
Father.
Father, I'm off on a mission.
You can wait right here.
What do I do with my captain?
Keep him there.
Gerstein is not through yet.
Our friend Gerstein is writing a French version of his report.
Another version?
Yes.
What do you think of him?
He claims to have resisted the police's atrocities.
He claims he resisted, but he was in it up to here.
I don't believe he's guilty.
His report is a very important document.
These are the first charges against him.
It is neither understandable nor excusable that a devout Christian such as himself
did not do everything in his power to avoid being involved in such a criminal
system.
Captain, the SS Gerstein was found hanged in his cell.
Was he hanged, or did he hang himself?
I don't know.
I want a written report.
Sir.
Monsignor Houdal?
Yes.
Your friends mentioned the United States to me.
But they are only taking specialists in chemistry, aviation, physics, biology.
I'm a doctor, just a physician.
Then it will have to be Argentina.
There's a boat in six days.
In the meantime, I'll put you up here.
To be continued...