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turning to page one
turning to page one
By
2008
Browse what happens, then open the scene. Summaries may reveal later events.
1995. A modern apartment, all cool and glass. MICHAEL BERG is preparing breakfast, laying the table for two. He is 51, dark- haired, saturnine. He is doing everything with deliberate quietness, taking the occasional glance towards the bedroom to check he’s not making too much noise. He is boiling an egg, which he takes out of boiling water and puts on a sparkling clean plate.
MICHAEL puts the yolk-stained egg-cup and plate into the sink, his breakfast eaten, then, as noiseless as he can, turns on the tap to run water. The bedroom door opens, and BRIGITTE comes out, naked. She’s attractive, younger. The credits end.
BRIGITTE
You didn’t wake me.
MICHAEL
You were sleeping.
BRIGITTE
You let me sleep because you can’t
bear to have breakfast with me.
It’s half-serious. MICHAEL doesn’t react.
MICHAEL
Nothing could be further from the
truth. I boiled you an egg. See?
MICHAEL produces a second boiled egg in a cup, seemingly from nowhere, like a magician, and puts it on the table.
MICHAEL
I’d hardly have boiled you an egg
if I didn’t want to see you. Tea or
coffee?
BRIGITTE has re-appeared from the bedroom, now in a dressing gown. She’s still half-serious.
BRIGITTE
Does any woman ever stay long
enough to find out what the hell
goes on in your head?
MICHAEL smiles to himself.
BRIGITTE
What are you doing tonight?
MICHAEL
I’m seeing my daughter.
BRIGITTE
Your daughter? You’ve kept very
quiet about her.
MICHAEL
Have I? She’s been abroad for a
year. Did you say tea?
MICHAEL kisses BRIGITTE on the cheek as she departs.
BRIGITTE
I’m going. Give my love to your
daughter.
He closes the door, then turns to the open door of the bedroom. He looks at the mess of last night’s love-making. Then he goes to the window and looks out. A yellow U-Bahn goes by.
December 1958. MICHAEL, now 15, is sitting on a tram. He is in a well-cut suit he’s inherited, ill-fitting, with two-tone shoes and tangled mop of hair. Sweat breaks out all over his face. A WOMAN is staring at him. He’s plainly feeling ill.
1995. MICHAEL stands at the window, looking out.
1958. Impulsively MICHAEL gets up, rings the bell and gets off at the next stop.
1995. MICHAEL closes the window.
1958. It has come on to rain. MICHAEL is walking along the street, looking more and more sickly. There is an archway leading to a courtyard, and impulsively he darts inside to get out of the rain. He begins to vomit. Opposite him is a wood workshop open to the yard. A uniformed TRAM CONDUCTRESS walks past.
MICHAEL’S body is turned away, his face invisible, his hand over his mouth. She puts down her ticket machine on the pavement and seizes him by the arm.
HANNA
Hey. Hey!
HANNA SCHMITZ has ash-blonde hair and is in her mid-thirties. She disappears. He’s sick again. She reappears with a bucket of water to sluice down the pavement. She wipes his face down with a wet cloth. Then she fills another bucket.
HANNA
Hey, kid. Hey.
MICHAEL
I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Effortlessly, HANNA takes MICHAEL in her arms. She holds his head against her breasts. MICHAEL buries himself and slowly he stops sobbing. Then he lifts his head.
HANNA
Where do you live?
HANNA and MICHAEL walk at a fair pace along a street, dotted with the scaffolding of new building. HANNA is carrying his satchel, she is pulling him by the arm.
They come up the road. It is now snowing. MICHAEL stops outside his block, as if nervous she might come in.
MICHAEL
It’s here. I’ll be fine now. Thank
you.
HANNA
Look after yourself.
MICHAEL smiles ‘Thank you’ and goes in. HANNA is left alone. She looks round, frowning, then sets off, stopping uncertainly at the crossroads to check for the way she came. MICHAEL turns and watches, curious at her indecision.
CARLA BERG is at the stove in the kitchen. She takes dinner through for the BERG family, at a round table in a traditional apartment, under a five-candled brass chandelier.
MICHAEL’S father, PETER, is a balding, abstracted man, eating in oppressive silence. Next to him, his older brother THOMAS, 18, his older sister, ANGELA, and his younger sister, EMILY. MICHAEL has his book in front of him, not touching his food.
CARLA
I’m worried about him. He looks
terrible.
PETER
The boy’s saying he doesn’t need a
doctor.
EMILY
He does.
MICHAEL
I don’t need a doctor.
PETER
Good then.
CARLA looks reproachful.
CARLA
Peter.
PETER
We’re not going to argue about
this. People have to take
responsibility for their own lives.
MICHAEL is lying in a single bed, his face violently inflamed. CARLA is with the DOCTOR, a much older man.
DOCTOR
Remind me, how old are you now?
CARLA
Michael’s fifteen.
DOCTOR
It’s scarlet fever. He’ll be in bed
for several months. At least.
MICHAEL turns into the pillow, a wet patch beneath his head. Delusional with fever, he senses a presence at the door. He turns. It’s EMILY. But at once CARLA’s arm pulls her away.
CARLA
Keep away. He’s contagious.
They vanish. The door closes. In the corridor the DOCTOR is heard.
DOCTOR
Burn the sheets. Complete
isolation. And three months is the
minimum.
1959. A sunny day in March. MICHAEL’s bed has been moved beside open windows so he can profit from the weak sun. He is sitting up, working on his stamp collection. CARLA is moving round behind him, tidying the room.
CARLA
How are you feeling?
MICHAEL
Better. By the way, I meant to tell
you, the day I got ill... a woman
helped me. A woman in the street.
CARLA
She helped you?
MICHAEL
Yes. She brought me home.
CARLA
Do you have her address?
MICHAEL is standing holding a small bunch of flowers. He is looking puzzled at a row of bells with numbers only. The woodyard is busy. WORKMEN come out of the building.
MICHAEL comes up the stairwell, once grand, now in decay - green linoleum and faded red paint. The sound of a sentimental song at the open door of a small apartment. Inside, HANNA is ironing in a sleeveless smock, blue with red flowers. Her hair is fastened in a clip. She looks at him a moment.
HANNA
Come in.
The flat is without decoration, an enfilade of small rooms. A stove, a sink, a tub, a boiler, a table, a few wooden chairs. There is no window, just a balcony door to let light into the room. HANNA carries on ironing.
MICHAEL
I brought you these flowers. To say
thank you.
HANNA
Put them down there.
MICHAEL puts them beside the sink. HANNA has a blanket and a cloth over the table : nothing disturbs her rhythm, as she irons one piece of laundry after another, then folds it and puts it over one of the chairs.
MICHAEL
I would have come earlier, but I’ve
been in bed for three months.
HANNA
You’re better now?
MICHAEL
Thank you.
HANNA
Have you always been weak?
MICHAEL
Oh no. I’d never been ill before.
It’s incredibly boring. There’s
nothing to do. I couldn’t even be
bothered to read.
HANNA carries on ironing. He is becoming as comfortable with the silence as she is. She starts ironing a pair of knickers. He watches her bare arms moving back and forth. She looks broad-planed, strong. She is at peace with being watched. She puts one pair of knickers down, then does another. Then she upends the iron.
HANNA
I have to go to work. I’ll walk
with you. Wait in the hall while I
change.
MICHAEL goes out into the hall. The kitchen door is slightly open. HANNA takes off her smock and stands in a green slip. Her stockings are hanging over the back of a chair.
She picks one up, rolls it, smooths it up over her calf and knee, then attaches it to her suspender. She reaches for the other. The flesh is bare between her legs. MICHAEL watches, riveted. HANNA seems oblivious. But as she is about to put the second stocking on, she looks at him. She drops her dress, and straightens, holding her stare. In response, he blushes, then panics and runs out of the flat. The door slams.
MICHAEL runs down the stairs in terror and shame, and out the front door.
The WORKMEN look up, curious, as MICHAEL flies by, slamming the outer door.
MICHAEL is lying in bed. He looks up at the sound of a tram going by outside.
The tram making its way along the quiet street.
MICHAEL gets out of bed and quickly gets dressed.
MICHAEL, reading a book, watches unobserved, fascinated as HANNA collects tickets. She calls out the name of the next stop. She doesn’t see him as she works.
MICHAEL is standing on the other side of the street from HANNA’S courtyard. He is in two minds about whether to go in. The WOODWORKERS are loading a van. He waits for them to finish before he slips in through the archway, making his way to the stairs.
MICHAEL is sitting on the steps of the first landing. Then, as if from nowhere, HANNA is suddenly standing behind him, in uniform, carrying a box of coal in one hand, a scuttle in the other. She looks tired but not surprised to see him.
HANNA
There are two more buckets
downstairs. You can fill them and
bring them up.
HANNA walks straight past him. For a moment he tenses as if there might be some contact. But she goes by.
MICHAEL opens the door. He turns on a dim light. There is a flight of wooden stairs into the murk of a huge pile of coke, poured in from the street. He goes down to the bottom, and picks up a bucket. He digs in to the coke, and at once it comes tumbling down on him in a cloud of dust.
HANNA is at the kitchen table, drinking a glass of milk. She has taken off her jacket and loosened her tie. MICHAEL comes in with the two buckets of coal, his face and clothes filthy. She roars with laughter, full-throated.
HANNA
You look ridiculous, look at you,
kid.
MICHAEL sees himself in the mirror, but she has already got up, going towards the tub in the corner of the kitchen.
HANNA
You can’t go home like that. Give
me your clothes, I’ll run you a
bath.
HANNA opens the tap. There’s a boiler, and steaming hot water comes out. MICHAEL takes off his sweater, then stops.
HANNA
What, do you always take a bath in
your trousers?
HANNA takes his sweater and goes to open the balcony door. He undresses. She puts his sweater on the balcony rail.
HANNA
It’s all right, I won’t look.
On the contrary, she turns and walks straight towards him. MICHAEL is naked. HANNA takes his clothes from the chair. He gets into the bath. She goes to the balcony. In the bath, he submerges himself. HANNA goes out and shakes his clothes out in the open air.
When he comes up from under the water, she is laying his clothes back on the chair. She picks up the shampoo and hands it to him.
HANNA
Wash your hair, I’ll get you a
towel.
MICHAEL washes his hair, then submerges again. When he comes back up, HANNA is holding out a large towel. He gets out, turning away to hide his erection. From behind, she wraps his body and rubs him dry. Then she lets the towel fall. She puts her body against his back, and he realises she’s naked. He turns and faces her.
HANNA
So. That’s why you came back.
MICHAEL looks at her, awed.
MICHAEL
You’re so incredibly beautiful.
HANNA
Now, kid, you know that’s not true.
At once she puts her arms round him and they kiss. MICHAEL goes down onto the floor, HANNA on top of him. All the time, she’s staring into his eyes. He can’t take it. He closes his eyes and, about to come, begins to scream. She puts her hand over his mouth to smother the noise.
The family is half-way through their meal. MICHAEL is sitting watching them eat, thinking about his lovemaking with HANNA.
PETER
You’ve inconvenienced your mother.
MICHAEL
How many more times? I’ve said I’m
sorry.
PETER
You scared her.
MICHAEL
It’s hardly my fault, I got lost,
that’s all. That’s why I was late.
Can I have some more?
He reaches for more stew. THOMAS goes on eating, a look of contempt on his face, too superior to engage in this.
EMILY
How can anyone get lost in their
own home town?
MICHAEL
The doctor told me I had to take
walks.
EMILY
So?
MICHAEL
I meant to head for the castle, I
ended up at the sports-field.
EMILY
They’re in opposite directions.
MICHAEL
It’s none of your business.
EMILY
He’s lying.
CARLA
He’s not lying. Michael never lies.
CARLA smiles benignly. EMILY knows she’s right. They all eat on for a few moments.
MICHAEL
Dad, I’ve decided, I want to go
back to school tomorrow.
CARLA
The doctor says you need another
three weeks.
MICHAEL
Well I’m going.
CARLA
Peter?
PETER
If he wants to go back, then he
must.
MICHAEL can’t breathe, as if some decisive moment in his life has been reached. PETER is looking at him, seeming to know what’s going on.
A massive brownstone building. The whole SCHOOL is coming out, but MICHAEL is first, in a desperate hurry, waving goodbye to his friends and running quickly away.
MICHAEL comes quickly up the stairs. The door of HANNA’S apartment is ajar. He pushes it open.
HANNA is at the sink. MICHAEL comes in, precipitate, tearing off his clothes and embracing her at the same time. He drops his trousers and lifts her onto the sink. He comes in about twenty seconds. He stands sweating.
HANNA
All right, kid, it’s not just about
you.
They are on the bed. He is lying underneath her. HANNA leads his hands to her face, then down her body. She begins to move, and in response, he moves too. He watches awed as she comes.
HANNA has fallen asleep on MICHAEL’S chest. He is awake, looking at the birthmark on her left shoulder. The sound of the wood yard below. He kisses the birthmark. She stirs.
MICHAEL
What’s your name?
She opens her eyes. A look of suspicion.
HANNA
What?
MICHAEL
Your name.
HANNA
Why do you want to know?
MICHAEL
I’ve been here three times. You
haven’t told me your name.
MICHAEL waits a moment.
HANNA
It’s Hanna. What’s yours, kid?
MICHAEL
Michael.
HANNA
Michael. Hmm. So I’m with a
Michael.
HANNA smiles, as if there were something funny about it.
MICHAEL
‘Hanna’.
A TEACHER, in his sixties, has scrawled the words ‘Odysseus’, ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Faust’ on the blackboard. The class of BOYS is attentive. Next to him, his friend HOLGER SCHLUTER. Across the way, RUDOLF.
TEACHER
The notion of secrecy is central to
Western literature. You may say the
whole idea of character in fiction
is defined by people holding
specific information which for
various reasons - sometimes
perverse, sometimes noble - they
are determined not to disclose.
MICHAEL looks content. The bell goes.
The BOYS come pouring out cheerfully into the corridor and head to the next classroom. MICHAEL’S demeanour has changed. There’s a knowingness, a swagger, a confidence which is new. MICHAEL lingers for a moment, then slopes off in the opposite direction, alone.
MICHAEL comes out the back door of the school, unobserved, climbs over the railings and starts to run down the street.
Later. Dark. MICHAEL is almost asleep, HANNA awake.
HANNA
You never tell me what you’ve been
studying.
MICHAEL
Studying?
HANNA
At school. Do you learn languages?
MICHAEL
Yes.
HANNA
What languages?
MICHAEL
Latin.
HANNA
Say something in Latin.
MICHAEL
Oh...
MICHAEL thinks a moment.
MICHAEL
Quo, quo scelesti ruitis? Aut cur
dexteris aptantur enses conditi?
MICHAEL smiles slightly.
MICHAEL
It’s Horace.
HANNA
It’s wonderful.
MICHAEL
Do you want some Greek?
MICHAEL grins, pleased to be able to do something. He goes and gets his satchel. HANNA turns on a light.
MICHAEL
Oi men ippeon stroton oi de pesedon
oi da naon phais epi gan malainan
emmenai kalliston, ego de ken otto
tis eratai.
HANNA
It’s beautiful.
MICHAEL
How can you tell? How do you know
when you’ve no idea what it means?
HANNA looks at him a moment.
HANNA
What about in German?
MICHAEL
In German?
HANNA
Do you have anything?
MICHAEL
Well, I’m writing an essay. It’s
about a play. By a writer called
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Perhaps
you’ve heard of him?
HANNA makes no reaction.
MICHAEL
The play’s called Emilia Galotti.
HANNA
Have you got it?
MICHAEL reaches down to the satchel and pulls out a book.
MICHAEL
Here. You can read it.
HANNA
I’d rather listen to you.
There is a silence as MICHAEL absorbs the idea.
MICHAEL
All right. I’m not very good.
MICHAEL grins, embarrassed, then opens the book.
MICHAEL
Act One. Scene One. The setting :
one of the prince’s chambers.
Prince - ”Complaints, nothing but
complaints, petitions, nothing but
petitions. For goodness’ sake, just
imagine that people actually envy
us.”
Later. They are in the bath together. HANNA takes a piece of soap and runs it lovingly down his cheek. Then she passes the soap across his stomach.
HANNA
You’re good at it, aren’t you?
MICHAEL
Good at what?
HANNA
Reading.
He smiles.
HANNA
Why are you smiling?
MICHAEL
Because I didn’t think I was good
at anything.
MICHAEL is playing handball with terrific physical confidence. A couple of bruising physical encounters. HOLGER, RUDOLF and MICHAEL all laugh. The whistle blows. Game over.
An empty tram moving through the eerie early morning streets. MICHAEL appears walking alongside it and gets on.
MICHAEL is sitting in the second carriage. He looks up. The CONDUCTRESS is HANNA. At first, she does not notice him. MICHAEL watches, waiting to be noticed. She turns round and looks at him. He smiles in greeting but she makes no acknowledgement at all. She turns away. He frowns, bewildered.
The tram is heading out of town.
HANNA is now talking animatedly to the DRIVER. They are getting on very well, laughing together and chatting. MICHAEL is still by himself in the second carriage, looking foolish.
The tram comes to a halt and PASSENGERS get on.
HANNA is now in the busy second carriage, collecting tickets. MICHAEL looks up expectantly. But as he holds up his ticket, HANNA makes no reaction except to clip it. She turns away without speaking. The tram comes to a halt again, and MICHAEL, humiliated, bolts for the door.
MICHAEL watches the tram disappears up the hill. He looks around, lost, in the middle of nowhere. A tractor goes by, WORKERS heading to the fields. MICHAEL sets off to walk back to town.
MICHAEL is on the stairs as HANNA comes up, in her uniform.
MICHAEL
What was all that about?
HANNA lets herself in, saying nothing.
HANNA has gone in to put down her things at the kitchen table. MICHAEL follows, desperate.
MICHAEL
I got up - at 4.30 - specially -
it’s the first day of the holidays,
I’d been planning to surprise you -
HANNA
Poor little baby. Got up at four
thirty - and on your holidays too.
MICHAEL
What is this? I was on your tram!
You totally ignored me! What do you
think I was doing? Why the hell do
you think I was there?
MICHAEL has yelled in desperation. HANNA looks him straight in the eye.
HANNA
I haven’t the slightest idea. And
what you do is your business not
mine.
HANNA turns and moves away.
HANNA
And if you wanted to speak to me, I
was in the first carriage. So why
did you sit in the second?
HANNA goes to run a bath.
HANNA
And now, thanks very much, I’ve
been working, I need a bath. Get
out, I’d like to be by myself.
MICHAEL
I didn’t mean to upset you.
HANNA
You don’t have the power to upset
me. You don’t matter enough to
upset me.
She takes off her clothes to get in. As soon as she does, he gets up and goes into the other room. He sits by himself, miserable. He hears her, bathing. Then finally gets up and goes back in. She is still in the bath.
MICHAEL
I don’t know what to say. I’ve
never been with a woman. We’ve been
together four weeks and I can’t
live without you. I can’t. Even the
thought of it kills me.
HANNA looks at him thoughtfully.
MICHAEL
I sat in the second carriage
because I thought you might kiss
me.
HANNA
Kid, you thought we could make love
in a tram?
They smile. But MICHAEL has a more urgent question.
MICHAEL
Is it true what you said? That I
don’t matter to you?
In the bath, she shakes her head.
MICHAEL
Do you forgive me?
She nods.
MICHAEL
Do you love me?
She looks at him. Then she nods.
MICHAEL is sitting on the side of the bed. HANNA comes in, wrapped in a towel.
HANNA
Do you have a book?
MICHAEL
Oh. Well I do. I took something
with me this morning.
HANNA
What is it?
MICHAEL
It’s another play.
MICHAEL gets it out of his pocket. HANNA has lain down on the bed, completely content.
HANNA
We’re changing the order we do
things. Read to me first, kid. Then
we make love.
MICHAEL sits at the foot of the bed and starts to read.
MICHAEL
Intrigue and Love, a play by
Friedrich Schiller...
HANNA is baking bread. MICHAEL is on a chair beside her with a book.
MICHAEL
The Odyssey by Homer.
HANNA
What’s an odyssey?
MICHAEL
It’s a journey. He sets out on a
journey.
He starts to read.
MICHAEL
“Sing to me of the Man, Muse, the
man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course,
once he had plundered
The hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and
learned their minds,
Many pains he suffered, heartsick
at the open sea,
Fighting to save his life and bring
his comrades home...
HANNA is in the bath. MICHAEL is reading a Shakespeare sonnet to her.
MICHAEL
“And we will some new pleasures
prove of golden sands and crystal
brooks, with silken lights and
silver hooks...”
HANNA
Come here.
She pulls him into the bath.
HANNA is sewing. MICHAEL is reading Huckleberry Finn.
MICHAEL
I poked into the place aways and
encountered a little open patch as
big as a bedroom, all hung around
with vines and found a man lying
there asleep, and by Jinks it was
my old Jim...
He starts acting out Jim, and the two of them collapse laughing.
MICHAEL is at the bottom of the bed. HANNA is lying inside. He is reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
MICHAEL
“Lady Chatterley felt his naked
flesh against her as he came into
her. For a moment he was still
inside her...
HANNA
This is disgusting. Where did you
get this?
MICHAEL
I borrowed it from someone at
school.
HANNA
You should be ashamed. Go on.
MICHAEL reads Tin-Tin to HANNA, who is lying on the bed. They are both looking at the pictures.
MICHAEL
‘Blistering Barnacles and a
thundering typhoon. It is water.’
‘But what on earth did you expect
it to be?’
HANNA
Whisky.
MICHAEL
Whisky! By thunder, whisky.
‘Whisky? Come now captain, you
can’t be serious.’
HANNA
All right, kid, that’s enough for
today.
They fall back onto the bed.
MICHAEL
I was wondering, do you think you
could get some time off? Maybe we
could go for a trip.
HANNA
What sort of trip?
MICHAEL
I’d love to go bicycling. Just for
two days.
MICHAEL reaches for a book.
MICHAEL
I’ve got a guide-book. I’ve worked
out the route. Look, what do you
think?
HANNA’S look is so far-away she doesn’t seem to hear the question. Silence. Then :
HANNA
I think you like planning, don’t
you?
She throws the book away and they begin to make love.
First light. Dawn breaking outside the window. MICHAEL is working at his desk, the surface covered in stamps, his collection book open. He picks one with a pyramid on it and looks at it. Underneath, MICHAEL’S VOICE reading Intrigue and Love by Schiller.
MICHAEL’S VOICE
“I’m not frightened. I’m not
frightened of anything. Why should
I be? I welcome obstacles, because
they’ll be like mountains I can fly
over to be in your arms. The more I
suffer, the more I’ll love...
Seen from outside, a shop full of stamps. MICHAEL and a STAMP DEALER with white hair and a moustache. MICHAEL is offering his pyramid stamp, his gestures becoming desperate as the STAMP DEALER shakes his head, clearly not giving him as much as he hopes.
Then MICHAEL concedes, the DEALER concedes, and a bunch of notes are handed across. MICHAEL runs exhilarated out into the street.
MICHAEL’S VOICE
“Danger will only increase my love,
it will sharpen it, it will give it
spice. I’ll be the only angel you
need. On this arm, Luise, you will
go dancing through life. You will
leave life even more beautiful than
you entered it. Heaven will take
you back and look at you and say
‘Only one thing can make a soul
complete, and that thing is love.’
HANNA and MICHAEL are whizzing down a hill together on bicycles. He has a rucksack. It’s a rural paradise - hills on all sides, a gleaming river below, the sun shining brightly. She is wearing a blue dress.
They come to a cafe and sit down outside. They pick up the menus on the table. A WAITRESS arrives.
WAITRESS
So what would you like to have?
MICHAEL
What are you having?
HANNA
You order. I’ll have what you have.
MICHAEL starts giving the order. Next to them are a group of BOY SCOUTS, who are laughing among themselves.
BOYS
There’s sausages, sausages or
sausages. Give it to me, come on,
give it here. Let me have a look.
You always have the same thing.
They all laugh. HANNA watches them nervously.
The meal finished, MICHAEL is alone, paying the bill.
WAITRESS
I hope your mother was happy.
MICHAEL
Thank you. She enjoyed her meal
very much.
The WAITRESS goes. HANNA returns from inside. MICHAEL holds out his arm to her, which she takes. They walk away towards their bikes. He is smiling. MICHAEL looks round, then dares to reach across and kiss her on the lips. The WAITRESS watches.
They get off their bikes at a small church. MICHAEL stops and gets out a map and a guide book.
MICHAEL
Here, let me show you where we’re
going.
HANNA
It’s OK, kid. I don’t want to know.
The sound of a choir from inside.
MICHAEL and HANNA enter tentatively to find a choir rehearsing Bach. It is a traditional German scene - whole families singing together at the altar. HANNA is transported, entranced at the sound of the music. MICHAEL watches.
HANNA is in a river, the water up to her calves, her skirt tied round her thighs. She is completely absorbed. Then she looks up, aware of being watched. MICHAEL is sitting with a notebook.
HANNA
What are you doing?
MICHAEL
I’m writing a poem. About you.
HANNA
Can I hear it?
MICHAEL
It’s not ready. I’ll read it to you
one day.
1995. MICHAEL, now 51, is standing by his desk. He opens a drawer. He takes out the recognizable notebook. He opens its yellowing pages and looks at the poetry. Then flips the pages, to some handwritten lists - the words ‘Odyssey’, ‘Schnitzler’, ‘Chekhov’, ‘Zweig’ with numbers beside them. MICHAEL flaps it shut, puts it back and turns to go out.
MICHAEL leaves his apartment block. He gets into his black Mercedes.
MICHAEL is listening on the radio to the same Bach music they heard in the church. He drives through the thriving modern city. Beyond, the huge cranes and gouged-out building sites of a city under construction.
MICHAEL swings his car into place. He gets out and heads across the road, prosperous, purposeful.
An ASSISTANT meets MICHAEL with his robe which he pulls on as he walks quickly through an elaborate lobby. GERHARD BADE, also in his fifties, also robed, falls in step.
GERHARD
You all right, Michael?
MICHAEL
I’m fine.
GERHARD
You’d better hurry. You know what
she’s like.
A robed ASSISTANT is waiting outside the door with documents he hands to MICHAEL. They all go in.
MICHAEL joins his CLIENT, just seconds before the FEMALE JUDGE comes in and everyone stands. Silence. The JUDGE looks at MICHAEL disapprovingly, sensing his lateness. Everyone sits. MICHAEL sits, thinking back.
1958. A sheriff’s posse of sixteen-year old GIRLS, come laughing, blushing towards the classroom. One of them is talking excitedly to the other.
SOPHIE
I’m just going to pretend I’ve been
here for years, I’m not going to
behave in any special way.
GIRL
You just wait. You wait and see.
They smile together and head for the classroom.
The BOYS are already in place, dotted round, as the GIRLS come in. There are cries of ‘Here they come’. Then the TEACHER comes in.
TEACHER
Good morning, ladies. Gentlemen,
please welcome your new fellow-
students, treat them with courtesy,
please.
Not far from MICHAEL, a GIRL sits across the aisle, virginal with brown hair, brown summer skin.
SOPHIE
Hello. My name’s Sophie.
MICHAEL
I’m Michael.
The TEACHER comes in. The class quietens.
Later. The TEACHER is in full flow. MICHAEL can’t take his eyes off SOPHIE.
TEACHER
Everyone believes that Homer’s
subject is homecoming. In fact, The
Odyssey is a book about a journey.
Home is a place you dream of, it’s
not a place you ever attain.
The TEACHER breaks off.
TEACHER
Berg, I don’t mean to distract you,
but we’re meant to studying Homer,
not studying Sophia.
The whole class cracks up. MICHAEL blushes.
MICHAEL is riveted as SOPHIE swims fast and lithe through the water. Around him, YOUNG PEOPLE are lounging round on towels. It’s the social centre. HOLGER and RUDOLF are rubbing their hair with towels as SOPHIE approaches.
HOLGER
Michael the water’s fantastic.
MICHAEL
It’s wonderful, isn’t it?
HOLGER
Wonderful. It’s going to be a great
summer.
MICHAEL looks across to where a group of AMERICANS are shouting and playing a very loud game of volleyball.
HOLGER
Now the Americans have allowed us
back in our own lake.
SOPHIE
Why are they so loud?
HOLGER
You should see their stores. They
have everything.
MICHAEL
Oh sure. Everything mankind could
ever dream of.
SOPHIE
You don’t like Americans?
MICHAEL
Just it’s more fun without them.
He looks SOPHIE straight in the eye. There is a sudden silence, MICHAEL looking straight at SOPHIE. SOPHIE looks down. Then MICHAEL moves slightly to pack up his stuff.
SOPHIE
Why do you leave early?
HOLGER
He always leaves early.
MICHAEL is cycling back towards town, a smile on his face.
MICHAEL flies up the stairs, then goes in. HANNA is sitting sewing. He kisses her on the cheek as he gets out a book.
MICHAEL
I’m sorry I’m late. I was held up
at school.
At once he sits down opposite her. A ritual.
MICHAEL
The Lady with the Little Dog. By
Anton Chekhov.
HANNA looks, seeing right through him.
MICHAEL
“The talk was that a new face had
appeared on the promenade, a lady
with a little dog.”
A huge tram-shed full of empty trams. HANNA is at the end of the garage, talking to the SUPERVISER, a large man in his fifties.
SUPERVISER
Schmitz, one moment. We’ve got good
news for you. Your work is good,
we’re going to promote you. To work
with me in the office. It’s more
money. Congratulations.
He moves away. HANNA looks distraught.
MICHAEL is watching SOPHIE swimming, a look of anxiety in his eye, when HOLGER touches his shoulder.
HOLGER
Get a move on, we’re leaving early
today.
MICHAEL
Why? What for?
HOLGER
We’re going back to Sophie’s. It’s
your birthday. We’re giving you a
party.
HOLGER and RUDOLF disappear to get dressed. SOPHIE appears in her swimming costume.
SOPHIE
Come on, it’s a surprise. We
thought you’d like it. We’ve been
planning it for weeks.
MICHAEL
I’m sorry. Really. I promised
someone I’d do something else.
The others are furious with him. They all go off.
MICHAEL is cycling towards HANNA’S apartment, his hair wet from the lake, looking equally unhappy.
HANNA is sitting unhappily as MICHAEL reads to her. They are both in a bad mood.
HANNA
Oh kid, kid. Stop.
MICHAEL
What’s wrong?
HANNA
Nothing’s wrong. It’s nothing.
HANNA just shrugs. She goes and sits at the table to drink tea. MICHAEL is irritated.
MICHAEL
You never ask, you never bother to
ask how I am.
HANNA
You never say.
MICHAEL
It just happens to be my birthday.
It’s my birthday, that’s all. In
fact, you’ve never even asked when
it is.
HANNA
Look if you want a fight, kid...
MICHAEL
No, I don’t want a fight. What’s
wrong with you?
HANNA
What business is it of yours?
She has snapped at him, razor-like.
MICHAEL
It’s always on your terms.
Everything. We do what you want.
It’s always what you want. My
friends were giving me a party!
HANNA
Well then why are you here? Go back
to your party. Isn’t that what you
want?
HANNA puts down her cup, angry. She goes into the bedroom and slams the door. He sits, the magic of the day gone. He gets up and opens the bedroom door. HANNA is on the bed.
MICHAEL
And it’s always me that has to
apologize.
Silence. HANNA lets time go by. Then :
HANNA
You don’t have to apologize. No-one
has to apologize. No-one can make
you.
HANNA reaches for a book from beside the bed. She throws it down on the cover.
HANNA
War and Peace, kid.
HANNA is on the edge of the bath, running water. She has a pale blue flowered smock. She is running with sweat. The smock sticks to her. MICHAEL gets out a book. HANNA drops lavender oil into the bath. MICHAEL stands in the bath and she washes his body.
They are making love on the bed. It’s intense. At one point she moves on top of him. She holds his head between her hands, as if she would crush the life out of him. Then she lets go.
They are both sweating, exhausted. She looks a moment.
HANNA
Now you must go back to your
friends.
MICHAEL has gone. HANNA washes out milk bottles and empties them into the sink. Then she picks up her luggage and leaves the empty apartment.
MICHAEL is sitting on the pier watching as HOLGER, RUDOLF and SOPHIE swim competitively out to a pontoon, then turn back, full of energy and high spirits. MICHAEL watches for a while, then suddenly he gets up and starts to run away from them all.
SOPHIE
Michael. You all right?
But MICHAEL is running away across the lakeside beach.
MICHAEL opens the door. He goes in. The apartment is emptied, the rented furniture in place, all trace of HANNA gone. He looks round. He looks at the empty bath, the tap above it. He opens the kitchen cupboards - some coffee, sugar, that’s about it. He goes into the bedroom, the bed stripped bare. He lies down on the bed.
MICHAEL lying on the bed, curled up, in his clothes, like a foetus, asleep.
The family at breakfast. MICHAEL slips quietly in the main door, trying to go to his room without being heard. EMILY runs to look.
EMILY
It’s him.
Sheepishly MICHAEL appears.
CARLA
Where were you last night? What
happened?
MICHAEL
I stayed at a friend’s.
PETER
Carla.
PETER looks. He seems to know exactly what’s been going on.
PETER
Get the boy something to eat. I
think we all knew you’d come back
to us eventually.
MICHAEL is alone in the deserted pool. He is on the jetty. He takes off his clothes and slips into the water. Just his head, like a seal’s, at one end, just out of the water, quite still.
1995. MICHAEL sitting alone, thinking back.
1958. The sun slants, and for a few seconds the water dazzles. He slips his head under.
1995. MICHAEL still sitting thoughtfully by himself in the empty court. Then he looks up. An ASSISTANT has appeared.
ASSISTANT
Mr Berg. It is eight o’clock. Your
daughter.
MICHAEL
Thank you.
He gets up.
JULIA is already at the table in a chic modern brasserie. She is a sympathetic young woman of around 23. MICHAEL approaches. When she sees him, she gets up.
JULIA
I was early.
MICHAEL leans in and kisses her on the cheek.
MICHAEL
Julia.
They’re uneasy. She looks a moment, then they sit down.
MICHAEL
Welcome back.
Later. They have eaten. They both have big glasses of red wine. It’s more relaxed.
MICHAEL
So how will you decide?
JULIA
I don’t know. I’m happy back in
Berlin, I suppose.
MICHAEL
You’ve seen your mother?
JULIA nods.
JULIA
I wanted to get away. There was
nothing more to it. It was Paris,
but it could have been anywhere.
MICHAEL
Away from your parents?
JULIA doesn’t answer.
MICHAEL
I’m aware I was difficult. I wasn’t
always open with you. I’m not open
with anyone.
JULIA
I knew you were distant. I’d always
assumed it was my fault.
MICHAEL
Julia. How wrong can you be?
JULIA colours, on the verge of tears. Then she looks away.
They drive through the gleaming streets. It’s been raining - Berlin is glistening. Their voices :
MICHAEL
I admit it now, I was nervous.
JULIA
I was nervous too. It’s silly isn’t
it?
MICHAEL
It is silly.
JULIA
Thank you for dinner.
MICHAEL
I’ll see you very soon.
MICHAEL lets JULIA out, and is watching her safely to her door from the car.
JULIA
Good night, Dad.
MICHAEL suddenly gets out himself.
MICHAEL
Julia, wait. I want to ask you a
favour.
JULIA
What favour?
MICHAEL
I want to take you on a trip. I
want to show you something.
JULIA
When?
MICHAEL
Tomorrow, maybe. Can I pick you up
in the car?
JULIA doesn’t need to say anything.
MICHAEL
At ten, say.
JULIA smiles.
MICHAEL
Then good.
MICHAEL hugs her, his heart aching with love. JULIA goes in to her place. MICHAEL is left standing still in the plaza outside, not moving. Underneath the sound of what follows, thirty years previously.
1966. A WOMAN LECTURER has a class of about 75 STUDENTS. From their hair, their dress, it could only be the 1960s.
LECTURER
Those of you for the special
seminar group on The Legal System
in the Third Reich, please stay on
in this room. Professor Rohl will
be here in a moment.
Nearly all the STUDENTS leave, talking among themselves. Just eight are left, dotted around the huge room. MICHAEL is one of them, now 22, in a corduroy jacket and tie. There is a lull. MICHAEL looks round at the group of oddballs, then finds ROHL, distinguished, greying, is already in front of them.
ROHL
Well, we seem to be quite a small
group. A small group and a select
one. Clearly, this is going to be a
unique seminar. Let me start by
thanking those of you who’ve chosen
to take part. Good for you. A
reading list, gentlemen.
Karl Jaspers, The Question of
German Guilt...
A calm STUDENT with long hair smiles at MICHAEL. She looks like Francoise Hardy. She murmurs.
MARTHE
And ladies.
MICHAEL is working alone at his desk, a light on. The door of his extremely modest student digs is open. MARTHE appears at the door, silently. He looks up.
MARTHE
So this is where you are.
MICHAEL
Yes. Come in.
But neither of them move. MARTHE just smiles from the door.
MARTHE
You take work seriously.
MICHAEL
Oh I don’t know.
MARTHE
You’re rather a serious boy.
MARTHE shrugs slightly.
MICHAEL
It’s how I was brought up. What
about you? Are you serious?
MARTHE
You’re sure you want to work
tonight?
MICHAEL
Well I do. But I won’t work every
night.
MARTHE
See you tomorrow.
They smile at one another. She goes.
The seminar group, long-haired, hippyish, is on the train : PROFESSOR ROHL, with MARTHE, DIETER and a few others. MICHAEL catches MARTHA’S eye. They smile. Then he opens the window, cheerful.
The STUDENTS are having a cigarette in front of the huge building. Two black vans with barred windows come by, carrying prisoners. The first one veers close to MICHAEL on the pavement, then disappears into the inner courtyard. ROHL smiles at MICHAEL.
MICHAEL
Why all the police?
ROHL
They’re worried about
demonstrators.
MICHAEL
For or against?
ROHL
Both.
A courtroom has been improvised inside the town hall. There are large windows, with milky glass, down the left-hand side. As ROHL and the STUDENTS arrive, the court is a melee of PHOTOGRAPHERS, LAWYERS and PUBLIC. The three JUDGES are already in place, next to six selected CITIZENS. MICHAEL and the others take places in the gallery
CLERK
All photographers are now asked to
leave.
The PHOTOGRAPHERS go.
JUDGE
The defendants, please.
From being noisy and chaotic, the court is now silent.
JUDGE
The first thing I’m going to do is
hear motions from each of the
defendants’ lawyers.
They’re going to be arguing that
there’s no reason to keep the
defendants in jail until the
outcome of the forthcoming trial.
DIETER grins at MICHAEL in anticipation.
JUDGE
I am going to take these cases one
by one.
MICHAEL is leaning down to get stuff out of his briefcase, as MARTHE shakes a pen which isn’t working.
MICHAEL
Do you want a pen?
MARTHE
I’ve got a pen.
So MICHAEL doesn’t hear as the JUDGE speaks.
JUDGE
Hanna Schmitz.
There is a row of six DEFENDANTS. The fifth woman is HANNA, her hair tied in a knot, her gaze fixedly into the middle distance, not looking towards the SPECTATORS. She is wearing a grey dress with short sleeves. They all sit, sideways to the gallery. HANNA rises to her feet. The words seem to come very quietly, across a great distance.
JUDGE
Your name is Hanna Schmitz?
HANNA
Yes.
It is only when the JUDGE repeats the name that MICHAEL looks up, hearing it for the first time.
JUDGE
Can you speak louder please?
HANNA
My name is Hanna Schmitz.
MICHAEL is rigid, blank, just staring.
JUDGE
Thank you. You were born on October
21st, 1922?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
At Hermannstadt. And you’re now 43
years old?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
You joined the SS in 1943?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
What was your reason? What was your
reason for joining?
HANNA doesn’t answer.
JUDGE
You were working at the Siemens
factory at the time?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
You’d recently been offered a
promotion. Why did you prefer to
join the SS?
HANNA has a DEFENCE COUNSEL, a young man, beside her, who is about to get up. But the JUDGE forestalls him.
JUDGE
I’ll re-phrase my question. I’m
trying to ascertain if she joined
the SS freely. Of her own free
will.
Everyone waits.
JUDGE
Well?
HANNA
I heard there were jobs.
JUDGE
Go on.
HANNA
I was working at Siemens when I
heard the SS was recruiting.
JUDGE
Did you know the kind of work you’d
be expected to do?
HANNA
They were looking for guards. I
applied for a job.
MICHAEL is intent now, so are the STUDENTS beside him.
JUDGE
And you worked first at Auschwitz?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
Until 1944. Then you were moved to
a smaller camp near Cracow?
HANNA
Yes.
ROHL leans into MICHAEL.
ROHL
Are you OK?
MICHAEL
I’m fine.
JUDGE
You then helped move the prisoners
west in the winter of 1944 in the
so-called death marches?
MICHAEL is hanging out of the window of the train, smoking a cigarette.
MICHAEL sits down in his seat. ROHL moves to sit opposite him.
ROHL
So what did you think?
MICHAEL
I don’t know. It wasn’t quite what
I expecting.
ROHL
Wasn’t it? In what way? What were
you expecting?
ROHL is looking at him. MICHAEL doesn’t answer.
DIETER
I thought it was exciting.
ROHL
Exciting?
DIETER
Yes.
ROHL
Why? Why did you think it exciting?
DIETER
Because it’s justice.
The train hurtles through the German countryside.
A student party, in a candle-lit room. MARTHE is singing to a guitar. It’s been going on for hours - the STUDENTS are on the floor with beer and cigarettes. The front door is open. DIETER, beer in hand, looks out to the balcony where he can see MICHAEL bent away from them, all by himself.
MICHAEL, his arms on the balcony, is smoking, looking out into the night. His eye lands on a student room in which a couple are making love.
The small STUDENT GROUP is now rattling around informally in the big lecture room.
ROHL
I need to correct an impression.
Dieter said yesterday this was
about justice. But is it?
If it were about justice you might
ask why has it taken so long? The
war ended twenty years ago.
Remember, there’ve been no
significant trials between
Nuremburg in 1946 and the Auschwitz
trials a couple of years ago.
That’s a long gap. What’s the
reason for the gap?
ROHL waits a moment for a STUDENT to answer.
DIETER
I’d have thought it was obvious.
ROHL
Say.
DIETER
Cowardice. It’s cowardice, isn’t
it? It’s bad conscience. It’s the
big cover-up.
ROHL
Go on.
DIETER
After the war. The German people
didn’t want to look at what they’d
done.
ROHL
Is that right?
DIETER
Because they had too much to hide.
All our parents are liars. All
right, mine are. So it’s left to
us, isn’t it?
ROHL
How so?
DIETER
Because we’re not implicated.
ROHL
Aren’t you? Good. So that’s all
right then.
Everyone laughs.
MARTHE
No, but seriously, Dieter’s right.
My parents, I can’t even talk to
them. I don’t love them. How could
I? How could anyone love them?
Because they’ve told themselves so
many lies, they can’t remember the
truth, let alone admit it. Isn’t
that why we signed up for this
seminar?
ROHL
I don’t know. You tell me.
MARTHE
Speaking for myself.
ROHL
Michael?
MICHAEL
I’m not sure any more.
ROHL is staring at him thoughtfully.
ROHL
What did your father do, Dieter?
DIETER
If you want to know, he was in the
Waffen SS.
There are some smiles, but DIETER rides over the reaction.
DIETER
That’s what I mean, that’s what I’m
saying. So were a million other
Germans.
ROHL
That’s exactly my point. That’s why
it’s better not to pretend this is
about justice. Forgive me, nor is
it about getting into an emotional
state. It has no purpose if it’s
just the young giving their parents
a bad time.
There’s a silence. That’s clearly why some of them are there.
MARTHE
So what is it about? What do you
think?
ROHL
Societies think they operate by
something called morality. But they
don’t. They operate by something
called law. You’re not guilty of
anything merely by working at
Auschwitz. 8,000 people worked at
Auschwitz. Precisely 19 have been
convicted, and only 6 for murder.
To prove murder you have to prove
intent. That’s the law. Remember,
the question is never ‘Was it
wrong?’ but ‘Was it legal?’ And not
by our laws, no, by the laws at the
time.
DIETER frowns, unhappy.
DIETER
But isn’t that...
ROHL
What?
DIETER
Narrow?
ROHL
Yes. The law is narrow.
ROHL looks unapologetic.
ROHL
On the other hand, I suspect people
who kill other people tend to be
aware that it’s wrong.
ROHL is leaning forward, attentive. HANNA is standing, opposite the JUDGE, who holds up a book called MOTHER & DAUGHTER : A STORY OF SURVIVAL.
JUDGE
Miss Schmitz, you’re familiar with
this book...
HANNA
Yes...
JUDGE
Parts of it have already been read
out in court.
It’s an American publication, which
has been translated. It’s by a
survivor, a prisoner who survived,
Ilana Mather...
HANNA
Yes I know. I know Ilana Mather.
JUDGE
She was in the camp, wasn’t she,
when she was a child? She was with
her mother.
The judge waits. HANNA seems arrogant, defiant.
JUDGE
In the book, she describes a
selection process. At the end of
the month’s labour, every month,
sixty inmates were selected. They
were picked out to be sent from the
satellite camp back to Auschwitz.
That’s right, isn’t it?
HANNA
Yes, it’s right.
JUDGE
And so far, each of your fellow
defendants has specifically denied
being part of that process. Now I’m
going to ask you. Were you part of
it?
HANNA
Yes.
There is a stir among the other DEFENDANTS and in the court. They start talking to their LAWYERS.
JUDGE
So you helped make the selection?
HANNA
Yes.
JUDGE
You admit that? Then tell me, how
did that selection happen?
HANNA shrugs slightly, as though it were obvious.
HANNA
There were six guards, so we
decided we’d choose ten people
each. That’s how we did it - every
month. We’d all choose ten.
JUDGE
Are you saying your fellow
defendants took part in the
process?
HANNA
We all did.
JUDGE
Even though they’ve denied it? But
you admit it. You’re saying you
took part in the process.
The other DEFENDANTS stir with animosity, but the JUDGE is intent, following his own line.
JUDGE
Did you not realise you were
sending these women to their
deaths?
He waits. HANNA nods slightly.
HANNA
Yes but there were new arrivals,
new women were arriving all the
time, so of course we had to move
some of the old ones on.
JUDGE
I’m not sure you understand...
HANNA
We couldn’t keep everyone. There
wasn’t room.
The JUDGE frowns, genuinely surprised that she doesn’t seem to understand his point.
JUDGE
No, but what I’m saying : let me
rephrase : to make room, you were
picking women out and saying ‘You
you and you have to be sent back to
be killed.’
HANNA
Well, what would you have done?
HANNA is looking at the JUDGE - a perfectly straight question. MICHAEL smiles slightly, proud of her. Everyone in the court waits for the JUDGE to answer. Silence. ROHL is impassive. But HANNA follows her own thoughts. She quietly asks herself a question.
HANNA
So should I never have signed up at
Siemens?
MICHAEL is alone, smoking. On a bench, side by side, are two women. One is very small, dark, in her sixties. The other is composed, formidable, elegant, in her thirties. ROSE and ILANA MATHER. They look up, catching MICHAEL’s eye. Then a CLERK leans in to the younger woman.
CLERK
Ms. Mather, they’re ready for you
now.
The two women go into the court. The door closes.
MICHAEL is alone in the now-deserted lobby, unwilling to go back. Then he goes to the door. He opens it a little. The sound of the trial. He opens the door fully. MICHAEL can see that it is ILANA who is testifying. The court is conspicuously packed. Large black-and-white photographs of the labour camp now dominate the room. MICHAEL comes quietly into the back of the room as the trial goes on.
MICHAEL has pushed past a couple of people to sit down near ROSE who is sitting in the body of the court. He looks across to the DEFENDANTS. RITA BECKHART, a large older woman, is one of a couple who isn’t bothering to listen.
PROSECUTOR
In your book you describe the
process of selection...
ILANA
Yes. You were made to work and
then, when you were no longer any
use to them, then they sent you
back to Auschwitz to be killed.
PROSECUTOR
Are there people here today who
made that selection?
ILANA
Yes.
PROSECUTOR
I need you to identify them. Can
you please point them out?
ILANA points with her finger at the DEFENDANTS.
ILANA
Her. And her. And her. And her. And
her. And her.
The last finger has been to HANNA. MICHAEL watches, but HANNA does not react.
ILANA
Each of the guards would choose a
certain number of women. Hanna
Schmitz chose differently.
JUDGE
In what way differently?
ILANA
She had favourites. Girls, mostly
young. We all remarked on it, she
gave them food and places to sleep.
In the evening, she asked them to
join her. We all thought - well,
you can imagine what we thought.
HANNA stares back, impassive. MICHAEL watches.
ILANA
Then we found out - she was making
these women read aloud to her. They
were reading to her. At first we
thought this guard, this guard is
more sensitive, she's more human,
she's kinder. Often she chose the
weak, the sick, she picked them
out, she seemed to be protecting
them almost. But then she
dispatched them. Is that kinder?
HANNA looks back, not apologizing.
MICHAEL sits alone, head in hands, in despair.
Now ROSE is testifying. The court is quiet, focused.
JUDGE
I want to move on now to the march.
As I understand it, you and your
daughter were marched for many
months.
ROSE
Yes. It was the winter of 1944. Our
camp was closed down, we were told
we had to move on. But the plan
kept changing every day. Women were
dying all around us in the snow.
Half of us died on the march. My
daughter says in the book, less a
death march, more a death gallop.
MICHAEL looks along the row to where ILANA is now sitting.
JUDGE
Please tell us about the night in
the church.
MICHAEL watches as ROSE looks across to ILANA. ILANA stares back at her. MICHAEL watches the exchange as ROSE nods, as if accepting she must go ahead and speak.
ROSE
That night we actually thought we
were lucky because we had a roof
over our heads. We’d arrived in a
village, as always, the guards took
the best quarters, they took the
priest’s house. But they let us
sleep in a church. There was a
bombing raid. In the middle of the
night. At first we could only hear
the fire, it was in the steeple.
Then we could see burning beams,
and they began to crash to the
floor. Everyone rushed, rushed to
the doors. But the doors had been
locked on the outside.
JUDGE
The church burned down? Nobody came
to open the doors? Is that right?
ROSE
Nobody.
JUDGE
Even though you were all burning to
death?
ROSE nods.
JUDGE
How many people were killed?
ROSE
Everyone was killed.
JUDGE
How did you survive?
ROSE
I needed to get away from the other
women. Because they were panicking,
they were screaming. I couldn’t
stand it. I couldn’t stand their
screaming. I was more frightened of
the other women than I was of the
fire. So I too my daughter and led
her to the upper floor. I can’t
defend what I did. It’s impossible
to defend. I took Ilana in my arms
and I led her towards the fire.
There was a small gallery at the
side of the church on the upper
level. It saved our lives. The
gallery didn’t burn.
ROSE turns, in tears, to look at ILANA.
JUDGE
Thank you. I want to thank you for
coming to this country today to
testify.
The group is back in the big hall. But the atmosphere is grim. It’s a while before DIETER speaks.
DIETER
I don’t know. I don’t know what
we’re doing any more.
ROHL
Don’t you?
DIETER
You keep telling us to think like
lawyers, but there’s something
disgusting about this.
ROHL is very still, like an analyst who is finally leading his patient to the heart of things.
ROHL
How so?
DIETER
This didn’t happen to the Germans.
It happened to the Jews.
Everyone is shocked at his violent passion.
DIETER
What are we trying to do?
MICHAEL
We’re trying to understand.
DIETER
Six women locked three hundred Jews
in a church, and let them burn.
What is there to understand? Tell
me, I’m asking : what is there to
understand?
MICHAEL can’t answer. DIETER gets up, outraged now.
DIETER
I started out believing in this
trial, I thought it was great, now
I think it’s just a diversion.
ROHL
Yes? Diversion from what?
DIETER
You choose six women, you put them
on trial, you say ‘They were the
evil ones, they were the guilty
ones’. Brilliant!
Because one of the victims happened
to write a book! That’s why they’re
on trial and nobody else. Do you
know how many camps there were in
Europe?
DIETER turns, furious.
DIETER
People go on about how much did
everyone know? ‘Who knew?’ ‘What
did they know?’ That isn’t the
question. The question is ‘How
could you let it happen?’ And -
better - ‘Why didn’t you kill
yourself when you found out?’
One of the group walks out.
DIETER
Thousands! That’s how many. There
were thousands of camps. Everyone
knew.
DIETER’S passion is so great that everyone is shaken.
DIETER
Look at that woman...
MICHAEL
Which woman?
DIETER
The woman you’re always staring at.
I’m sorry but you are.
MICHAEL is white. The atmosphere is electric.
MICHAEL
I don’t know which woman you mean.
DIETER
You know what I’d do? Put the gun
in my hand, I’d shoot her myself.
MICHAEL walks along an empty wooded road, miles from anywhere. The sun is shining through the trees behind him.
The wire fence of a concentration camp, deserted. MICHAEL, with a back-pack, goes alone through the metal gate. MICHAEL walks among the deserted empty huts.
Inside one of the huts, MICHAEL is by himself staring at a line of empty beds. He moves on, overwhelmed, lost. He passes through the showers. Then he comes to a room with vast metal cages on either side. In the cages, the countless dusty shoes of the exterminated.
MICHAEL opens a door and walks into a room with a line of gas ovens. He walks past them. Then he stands beside them, his head down.
HANNA is standing being examined by the JUDGE. Large photographs and maps of the village, with the lay-out of the church, are now on display.
JUDGE
Why did you not unlock the doors?
He waits. HANNA doesn’t reply.
JUDGE
Why did you not unlock the doors?
The JUDGE turns to the row of DEFENDANTS.
JUDGE
I’ve asked all of you and I’m
getting no answer. Two of the
victims are in this court. They
deserve an answer.
ILANA and ROSE are not far away from MICHAEL and the STUDENTS. The JUDGE puts down a bound handwritten document.
JUDGE
Here, this is the SS report. You
all have copies.
There is a flurry of paperwork among the DEFENDANTS and LAWYERS as they turn to their copies.
JUDGE
This is the report which was
written, approved and signed by all
of you immediately after the event.
In the written report, you all
claim you didn’t even know about
the fire until after it happened.
But that isn’t true, is it?
The JUDGE waits.
JUDGE
Well? It isn’t true.
HANNA
I don’t know what you’re asking.
JUDGE
The first thing I’m asking is, why
didn’t you unlock the doors?
HANNA takes a look to the other DEFENDANTS. For the first time her poise is crumbling.
HANNA
Obviously. For the obvious reason.
We couldn’t.
JUDGE
Why? Why couldn’t you?
HANNA
We were guards. Our job was to
guard the prisoners. We couldn’t
just let them escape.
JUDGE
I see. And if they escaped, then
you’d be blamed, you’d be charged,
you might even be executed?
HANNA
No.
JUDGE
Well then?
The JUDGE waits.
HANNA
If we opened the doors, then there
would have been chaos. How could we
have restored order?
It happened so fast. It was
snowing. The bombs - There were
flames all over the village. Then
the screaming began. It got worse
and worse. And if they’d all come
rushing out, we couldn’t just let
them escape. We couldn’t. We were
responsible for them.
JUDGE
So you did know what was happening?
You did know? You made a choice.
You let them die rather than risk
letting them escape.
HANNA can’t answer - she has no answer.
JUDGE
The other defendants have made an
allegation against you. Have you
heard this allegation?
HANNA does not reply.
JUDGE
They say you were in charge.
HANNA
It isn’t true. I was just one of
the guards.
The other DEFENDANTS interrupt to call out ‘She was in charge’.
JUDGE
Did you write the report?
HANNA
No. No. We all discussed what to
say. We all wrote it together.
BECKHART
She wrote it! She wrote the report.
She was in charge.
JUDGE
Is that true?
HANNA
No. And I didn’t write the report.
Does it matter who did?
RITA BECKHART has called out from her place. The JUDGE looks at HANNA a moment.
JUDGE
I need to see a sample of your
handwriting.
HANNA
My handwriting?
JUDGE
Yes. I need to establish who wrote
the report.
At once HANNA’S COUNSEL rises.
HANNA'S COUNSEL
I’m sorry, but I really don’t see
how that’s appropriate. Nearly
twenty years have gone by.
JUDGE
Somebody take her this piece of
paper.
HANNA'S COUNSEL
Are you really going to compare
handwriting of twenty years ago,
with handwriting of today?
JUDGE
Give her the paper. Counsel,
approach the bench.
A piece of paper and a pen are put down in front of HANNA. Her COUNSEL moves to the bench. MICHAEL stares, first at her, then at the pen and paper, an apprehension rising in him.
MICHAEL thinks back, to HANNA in her bedroom saying ‘No you read’, to her looking puzzled at the menu on the bicycle trip, and to her throwing a book away in the apartment. At this moment, MICHAEL realises she is illiterate.
Back in the courtroom, HANNA looks up to the JUDGE to stop the conference.
HANNA
There’s no need. I wrote the
report.
MICHAEL, in a panic, pushes along his row, past ROHL and the others, who all look up, knowing something is going on. HANNA turns, as if sensing him behind her.
MICHAEL is sitting on the steps outside the lecture room. ROHL walks straight past him.
ROHL
You’ve been skipping seminars.
MICHAEL comes into the room and sits down, smoking a cigarette. ROHL waits.
ROHL
So?
MICHAEL looks at him.
MICHAEL
I have a piece of information.
Concerning one of the defendants.
Something they’re not admitting.
ROHL
What information?
MICHAEL stubs out his cigarette.
ROHL
You don’t need me to tell you. It’s
perfectly clear you have a moral
obligation to disclose it to the
court.
MICHAEL
It happens this information is
favourable to the defendant. It can
help her case. It may even affect
the outcome, certainly the
sentencing.
ROHL
So?
MICHAEL
There’s a problem. The defendant
herself is determined to keep this
information secret.
Two STUDENTS come in for the seminar.
ROHL
A moment, please. Please.
Chastened, they leave.
ROHL
What are her reasons?
MICHAEL
Because she’s ashamed.
ROHL
Ashamed? Ashamed of what?
MICHAEL doesn’t answer.
ROHL
Have you spoken to her?
MICHAEL
Of course not.
ROHL
Why of course not?
MICHAEL
I can’t. I can’t do that. I can’t
talk to her.
ROHL
What we feel isn’t important. It’s
utterly unimportant. The only
question is what we do.
ROHL gets up.
ROHL
If people like you don’t learn from
what happened to people like me,
then what the hell is the point of
anything?
HANNA is sitting on the edge of her bed. A GUARD comes to the door.
GUARD
You have a visitor. Michael Berg.
HANNA is taken aback for a moment. Then she gets up.
MICHAEL is standing smoking a cigarette in the waiting area. A whole number of visitors, old people, children, families are waiting. Some kids are playing with a football. Then a GUARD arrives and calls out names. MICHAEL’s name is called.
HANNA is led swiftly down a prison corridor towards her meeting and sat down at a desk to wait.
MICHAEL is led in the GROUP towards the visiting room. It has come on to snow. As he walks towards the room, he loses heart. He changes his mind. The rest of the GROUP go on, as he falls behind, watching them go. He begins to turn back.
HANNA sits down at the empty table, waiting.
MICHAEL turns away and heads back the way he came.
HANNA looks round. Nobody is coming. She waits more.
GUARD
Time’s up.
HANNA is still waiting. Then she is led back to her cell.
MICHAEL appears at the door of MARTHE’S room. She is working at her desk. He smiles and closes the door.
MARTHE
You’ve taken your time.
They kiss. She starts to pull his clothes off. He lets her. He makes no move to undress her. She takes all his clothes off until he is naked, and she remains clothed. He looks at her a moment, then takes her in his arms and they go down on the bed. They make love.
MARTHE is apparently asleep, MICHAEL awake. As quietly as he can MICHAEL tries to slip away.
MARTHE
Where are you going?
MICHAEL
I’m sorry. I need to sleep by
myself.
HANNA is standing naked at the sink, preparing herself for the day.
MICHAEL is lying in his own bed, staring up at the ceiling, not able to sleep. MICHAEL reluctantly pushes back the cover and gets naked out of bed. Slowly he begins to dress.
HANNA washes herself, naked.
MICHAEL is dressed now. He stands in front of his mirror, adjusting his tie.
HANNA stands in front of the mirror, tying her tie. There is a small, inadequate mirror in which she checks her dress - a black suit, a white blouse and black tie. She looks very formal.
HANNA is led through the prison by a GUARD.
A lot of people heading into the courtroom. As the seminar group goes in, MICHAEL hangs back. ROHL looks at him as he goes through the doors. MICHAEL is left outside, then goes to watch as the vans arrive.
HANNA and the PRISONERS are led into the court. HANNA’S suit is so formal that members of the public call out. ‘Nazi! Nazi!’ DIETER leans in to MARTHE. HANNA walks on to her place.
Everyone rises as the JUDGES come in to take their places. HANNA’s face is resigned, without expression. The JUDGES sit. The whole court goes quiet.
JUDGE
The court finds guilty the
defendants Rita Beckhart, Karolina
Steinhof, Regina Kreutz, Angela
Zieber, Andrea Luhmann jointly
aiding and abetting murder in three
hundred cases. The court finds the
defendant Hanna Schmitz guilty of
murder in three hundred cases.
There are tears in MICHAEL’s eyes as he watches.
JUDGE
The court sentences the accused as
follows. Rita Beckhart, Karolina
Steinhof, Regina Kreutz, Angela
Zieber, and Andrea Luhmann, you
will each serve a total sentence in
prison of four years and three
months.
ROHL, MARTHE, DIETER and the students are looking down on the sentencing. MICHAEL is crying.
JUDGE
Hanna Schmitz, in view of your own
admissions and your special role,
you are in a different category.
The court sentences the accused
Schmitz to imprisonment for life.
HANNA is impassive, not reacting. Then she turns and looks up to the gallery.
MICHAEL walks away through the cameras and news crews.
MICHAEL sits on the train, thinking. The younger MICHAEL becomes the older.
1976. MICHAEL is sitting beside JULIA. MICHAEL is 32, JULIA is a bright little 4 year-old in a coat. The countryside speeding by.
JULIA
Where are we going?
MICHAEL
I said : I’ll tell you when we get
there. You told me you liked
surprises.
JULIA
I like surprises.
MICHAEL walks with JULIA towards their old house. He looks round, the memory of coming with HANNA as a sick boy 18 years earlier clear in his mind. The same landmarks.
They are all three eating at the dinner table, eating a small roast chicken.
MICHAEL
She’s grown, hasn’t she?
CARLA
I don’t know. It’s so long since I
saw her, Michael, how can I tell?
MICHAEL
My fault. We shouldn’t have come
unannounced.
JULIA
Daddy, why’s she angry?
MICHAEL smiles. Even CARLA smiles slightly.
MICHAEL
I’m afraid I’ve have some bad news.
Julia knows.
We’ve already told her. Gertrud and
I are getting a divorce.
JULIA
Daddy’s going to live in his own
house.
CARLA
You didn’t come for your father’s
funeral, but you come for this?
MICHAEL
You know, it’s not easy for me to
visit this town.
CARLA
Were you really so unhappy?
MICHAEL
That’s not what I’m saying. It’s
not what I meant.
CARLA
Well then?
CARLA looks at him hard.
MICHAEL
You mustn’t worry about Gertrud.
I’m going to look after her. And
anyway, let’s face it, she’s
already a state prosecutor, she
earns far more than I do.
CARLA
Michael, I’m not worried about
Gertrud. I’m worried about you.
Exhausted by her day, JULIA is sleeping in MICHAEL’S arms. He looks down at her, full of love.
On the other side of a busy Berlin street full of traffic, MICHAEL holds JULIA’S hand, a loving father, to guide her across the street.
GERTRUD has come to the door, a shrewd-looking intelligent woman, a little older than MICHAEL, very thin, in slacks and a blouse. MICHAEL is standing outside with JULIA.
JULIA
Hello Mummy.
GERTRUD
Hello beautiful.
GERTRUD leans down and scoops JULIA up, kisses her. MICHAEL stands on the step, hovering.
GERTRUD
Do you mind if I don’t ask you in?
MICHAEL
I don’t mind at all. I’ve a lot to
do, in fact.
It doesn’t look like it. He stands, not going.
MICHAEL
I took her to see where I grew up.
GERTRUD
You went to the West? My God, what
a trip.
JULIA
We went to say hello to granny.
GERTRUD
Oh. Daddy took you to see Carla,
did he?
JULIA
She was strange.
GERTRUD
Come on, let’s see what’s on TV.
GERTRUD gives JULIA her supper and puts her in front of the TV. Then she comes back to MICHAEL.
GERTRUD
I bet she was strange.
MICHAEL
You could say.
GERTRUD
She always was. Why on earth did
you decide to do that?
MICHAEL
I don’t know. Impulse.
GERTRUD says nothing.
MICHAEL
I suppose if I’m honest we went
because I wanted to re-establish
contact.
GERTRUD
With your mother? And did you
succeed?
They both smile.
MICHAEL
Are you all right?
He touches her arm.
GERTRUD
Michael you’re meant to be an
intelligent man. Don’t you know,
it’s very hard to receive contact
if you’re not willing to give it?
GERTRUD looks level, not unkind.
GERTRUD
Say goodbye to Julia.
JULIA
Goodbye, Daddy.
MICHAEL turns to say goodbye.
MICHAEL standing in the empty room. It’s eerily silent. He goes to his bookcase. He runs his fingers along the spines, as HANNA once did. He takes out a paperback of the Odyssey. He looks at it a moment, then he starts to read to himself.
MICHAEL
“Sing to me of the Man, Muse, the
man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course,
once he had plundered
The hallowed heights of Troy...
He sits back.
HANNA is in her cell, folding her blanket. She is 53, a new austerity, a greyness about her. Her cell is modern, but without decoration.
A GUARD comes along the corridor, calling out ‘Mail’. She leans into Hanna’s cell to tell her she has mail. HANNA is obviously surprised.
HANNA reports to the mail room where she is given a big parcel, which she is told to open. Inside, a huge batch of casette tapes and a tape machine.
HANNA is opening the box, taking out the tapes.
MICHAEL gets out a tape machine.
In her cell HANNA takes out the machine.
MICHAEL holds the microphone.
MICHAEL
Testing. Testing. 1-2-3.
HANNA puts a cassette into the machine.
MICHAEL’S VOICE
The Odyssey by Homer.
In panic, she turns it off.
MICHAEL presses the recording button and speaks into the machine.
MICHAEL
The Odyssey by Homer.
“Sing to me of the Man, Muse, the
man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course,
once he had plundered
The hallowed heights of Troy...
Many cities of men he saw and
learned their minds,
Many pains he suffered, heartsick
at the open sea,
Fighting to save his life and bring
his comrades home...
Later. MICHAEL is now walking up and down, in his shorts and T-shirt, microphone in hand, still reading.
MICHAEL
“Ah, how shameless - the way these
mortals blame the gods.
From us alone, they say, come all
their miseries...
Middle of the night. MICHAEL is lying on his back, still reading.
MICHAEL
“Who are you? Where are you from?
Your city? Your parents?
I’m wonderstruck - you drank my
drugs, you’re not bewitched...”
MICHAEL takes a cassette and puts it into a white box. He writes on the side ODYSSEY 6. Then he reaches up to put it on a shelf next to boxes separately marked ODYSSEY 1,2,3,4,5. Then he takes out a small notebook and cross-references the new tape in a handwritten list.
It’s dark. HANNA is lying on the bed.
MICHAEL’S VOICE
Zeus from the very start, the
thunder king
Has hated the race of Atreus with a
vengeance -
His trustiest weapon women’s
twisted wiles...
HANNA smiles with pleasure at his reading.
A montage of MICHAEL reading and HANNA listening. MICHAEL is reading different books. He is animated now, excited. There are extracts from The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) ; Anatol (Schnitzler) ; The World of Yesterday (Zweig) and Doctor Zhivago (Pasternak). MICHAEL catching fire with excitement with what he is doing. HANNA collecting the tapes from the mail room and organizing on her shelves - her library growing.
HANNA is lying in bed listening to a new tape.
MICHAEL
The Lady with the Little Dog, by
Anton Chekhov. “The talk was that a
new face had appeared on the
promenade, a lady with a little
dog...”
HANNA is walking round with other PRISONERS, in sequence. Suddenly she stops dead, an idea hitting her.
The library is right next to the mail room. HANNA walks past the mail room and goes to the library counter.
HANNA
I want to take out a book.
LIBRARIAN
Which book?
HANNA
Do you have The Lady with the
Little Dog?
LIBRARIAN
What’s your name?
HANNA
Hanna Schmitz.
The LIBRARIAN goes to get it. HANNA stands, waiting and looks at the stacks of books, for the first time seeing possibility.
HANNA is back in the cell. She puts down a new parcel and a book. She puts the parcel to one side, then opens the book. She then winds back the tape which is already in the recorder.
MICHAEL’S VOICE
The Lady with the Little Dog, a
story by Anton Chekhov. The talk
was...
She turns off the tape. She runs her finger along the title ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’. She gets down a small decorated metal tin, and takes a pencil from it. She starts making the sounds. ‘The’, ‘the’, ‘the’... L, L, L, etc.
HANNA is working now, circling the word ‘the’ each time it comes in the book. The book is covered in marks.
1981. MICHAEL is coming down a busy Kreuzberg street. He is 37. He goes into his block. He opens the door : the place is much more lived-in. He picks up his mail. Thumbing through it, he sees a letter in childish handwriting. MICHAEL frowns, opening it and taking out a piece of paper.
MICHAEL is holding a letter. He looks down at the writing : ‘Thanks for the latest, kid. I really liked it.’ He stares, then puts it down and steps back stunned.
HANNA stands with a new package. She opens it excitedly. She takes out tapes. She looks for writing, a letter. There is none. She turns the packing paper over and over, but there’s nothing. She stands, desolate.
HANNA effortfully writing various letters - just a single message on each. The pen working agonizingly across the paper. First :
I WOULD LIKE MORE ROMANCE, LESS ADVENTURE
Next:
I AM NOT SURE WHAT KAFKA IS SAYING
MICHAEL continuing to read to her on the machine.
HANNA still writing.
DO YOU STILL LIKE DICKENS?
Then finally, many attempts at the same sentence, written many times :
DO YOU RECEIVE MY LETTERS? WRITE TO ME, KID
MICHAEL is reading the latest letter from HANNA. He looks at it. “Do you receive my letters? Write to me, kid.” MICHAEL opens a drawer in a file box on the floor. There is a stack of her letters inside. He puts the latest on top of the pile and closes the drawer.
HANNA stands at her window, in despair.
1988. MICHAEL, 44, is at his desk, with the phone in his hand, with a typed letter in front of him.
MS BRENNER (VOICE ON PHONE)
You’re Michael Berg?
MICHAEL’S VOICE
Yes.
MS BRENNER (VOICE ON PHONE)
You got my letter?
MICHAEL
I have it here.
MS BRENNER (PHONE)
As I say, Hanna Schmitz is coming
up for release very soon.
MICHAEL fingers the letter a moment.
MS BRENNER is sitting at her desk in a simple, modern office.
MS BRENNER
Hanna has been in prison for over
twenty years. She has no family.
She has no friends. You’re her only
contact. And I’m told you don’t
visit her.
MICHAEL is sitting quite still.
MICHAEL
No. I don’t.
MS BRENNER
When she gets out, she’s going to
need a job. She’s going to need
somewhere to live. You can’t
imagine how frightening the modern
world will seem to her.
There is a silence.
MICHAEL
Yes. I’m still here.
MS BRENNER
I have no-one else to ask. If you
don’t take responsibility for her,
then Hanna has no future at all.
MICHAEL
It’s kind of you. Thank you for
letting me know.
MICHAEL puts the phone down. He looks as if he has just been handed a sentence. He gets up and stares at the wall which is now stacked with all the books he has read. Then he goes to his balcony.
MICHAEL stands looking out over Berlin from his balcony.
MICHAEL walks along the road by the prison wall, then goes to the guichet to sign in.
MICHAEL is waiting in a small barred waiting area as MS BRENNER walks across the yard to open the gate and let MICHAEL in.
MS BRENNER
You’re Michael Berg?
MICHAEL
Yes.
MS BRENNER
Louisa Brenner. We were expecting
you earlier.
MS BRENNER is walking MICHAEL up the steps towards the prison canteen. They pass GUARDS and INMATES.
MS BRENNER
I should warn you: for a long time
Hanna held herself together. She
was very purposeful. In the last
few years she’s different. She’s
let herself go.
MS BRENNER leads MICHAEL to the door of the canteen.
MS BRENNER
They’re in the canteen. They’re
just finishing lunch.
MICHAEL sees an OLD WOMAN who is sitting at a table. Her blue dress is stretched too tight across her heavy body. Her hair is grey. She has a book in her lap, but she’s not reading it. A few PRISONERS are finishing their meal.
It takes MICHAEL a moment to realise the OLD WOMAN is HANNA. Then HANNA becomes aware of being watched. She turns and looks round. At once her face lights up. MICHAEL smiles back, but as he approaches her, he fixes onto her inquiring look and sees the light go out of her eyes, as if she has looked at him and been disappointed. He sits down opposite her. She smiles, weary.
HANNA
You’ve grown up, kid.
She takes his hand. There is a long silence, MICHAEL unable to think of anything to say. He withdraws his hand.
MICHAEL
I’ve got a friend who’s a tailor,
he makes my suits. He’ll give you a
job. And I’ve found you somewhere
to live. It’s a nice place. Quite
small but nice. I think you’ll like
it.
HANNA
Thank you.
There’s a moment’s silence.
MICHAEL
There are various social
programmes, cultural stuff I can
sign you up for. And there’s a
public library very close.
HANNA nods slightly.
MICHAEL
You read a lot?
HANNA
I prefer being read to.
There is a short silence.
HANNA
That’s over now, isn’t it?
MICHAEL doesn’t answer.
HANNA
Did you get married?
MICHAEL
I did. Yes I did. We have a
daughter. I’m not seeing as much of
her as I would like. I’d like to
see a great deal more of her.
After a few moments, he concedes.
MICHAEL
The marriage didn’t last.
There is a silence.
MICHAEL
Have you spent a lot of time
thinking about the past?
HANNA
You mean, with you?
MICHAEL
No. No, I didn’t mean with me.
HANNA
Before the trial I never thought
about the past. I never had to.
MICHAEL
And now? What do you feel now?
HANNA looks a moment, a haunting look, searching him.
HANNA
It doesn’t matter what I think. It
doesn’t matter what I feel. The
dead are still dead.
There’s a silence.
MICHAEL
I wasn’t sure what you’d learnt.
HANNA
I have learnt, kid. I’ve learnt to
read.
MICHAEL stares, devastated.
MICHAEL
I’ll pick you up next week, OK?
HANNA
That sounds a good plan.
MICHAEL
Good. Quietly, or shall we make a
big fuss?
HANNA
Quietly.
MICHAEL
OK. Quietly.
They look at each other. The other PRISONERS have already gone. They stand up. She scans his face again, searching for his thoughts. He takes her in his arms, a little awkward.
HANNA
Take care, kid.
MICHAEL
You too.
They walk side by side, back towards the door. Then by way of saying goodbye, she takes his hand.
MICHAEL
See you next week.
She stretches her arm out before she lets go of his hand, then vanishes inside. MICHAEL walks on alone.
MICHAEL comes out of the main entrance. He stands a moment, looking round at the evening. MICHAEL walks to his car.
The room is simple, a bedroom to one side, a bathroom to the other. It is all furnished with simple functional furniture. The end of a hard day’s work. MICHAEL hangs a picture over the desk - a landscape, reminiscent of where they once went cycling. The job is done. He looks round, grimly content.
HANNA is lying on her bed, fully dressed. She gets up and gets some books down from the shelf. She puts them, one by one, in a pile on the table. Then she takes off her shoes. She stands up and climbs onto the pile of books on the table. Her bare feet on the books. Then she reaches up.
MICHAEL gets out of the car. He is carrying a bunch of flowers. He walks towards the prison. He leans in to the GUARD who is in a modern office.
From the far end of the corridor, MICHAEL is seen sitting on a bench. MS BRENNER comes out of her office and murmurs in his ear. MICHAEL is seen nodding, ashen.
The two of them come together down the corridor. They stop at the open door of the cell. The body has been removed. The books are still on the floor. MICHAEL goes in. A bare table, a chair, a bed, a closet, a toilet in the corner behind the door. There are shelves with books, an alarm clock, a stuffed bear, two mugs, instant coffee, tea tins.
MICHAEL
She didn’t pack. She never intended
to leave.
MS BRENNER looks at him in confirmation. MICHAEL looks at the two lower shelves on which are ranged the tapes with the cassette machine.
Above the bed are a series of cuttings, pictures torn from magazines, showing meadows, hillsides, pasture, cherry trees. One in particular : a burst of autumnal colours. MICHAEL kneels on the bed to look at them. There are quotations, articles, recipes, even sayings in HANNA’S childish handwriting : ‘Spring lets its blue banner flutter through the air’ is one. Then he sees a newspaper photograph : the young MICHAEL BERG receiving a prize from the school principal. The headline ‘Michael Berg receives school literature prize.’
MS BRENNER reaches out for a tea tin from the shelf. Then she sits next to MICHAEL on the bed, and takes out a folded sheet of paper from her suit pocket.
MS BRENNER
She left me a message, a sort of
will. I’ll read out the bit that
concerns you.
MICHAEL looks at the effortful handwriting on the page.
MS BRENNER
“There is money in the old tea tin.
Give it to Michael Berg. He should
send it, alongside the 7,000 marks
in the bank, to the daughter who
wrote the book. It’s for her. She
should decide what to do with it.
And tell Michael I said hello. Tell
him to get on with his life.”
MS BRENNER looks at him.
MS BRENNER
Do you want to see her?
MICHAEL shakes his head.
MICHAEL rides in a taxi into Manhattan. A view of the familiar skyline.
MICHAEL’S taxi comes up Fifth Avenue. It draws up outside an expensive apartment block. MICHAEL gets out and goes in, the Manhattan skyline opening up behind him.
A superbly appointed space full of great and expensive art. MICHAEL has taken his coat off. ILANA MATHER appears, elegant, well-dressed - on the surface, the spirit of prosperous New York. She is now in her early fifties.
MICHAEL
Ms Mather?
ILANA
Yes. You’re Michael Berg. I was
expecting you.
ILANA
So you must tell me: what exactly
brings you to the United States?
MICHAEL
I was already here. I was at a
conference in Boston.
ILANA
You’re a lawyer?
MICHAEL
Yes.
ILANA
I was intrigued by your letter but
I can’t say I wholly understood it.
You attended the trial?
MICHAEL
Yes. Almost twenty years ago. I was
a law student. I remember you, I
remember your mother very clearly.
ILANA
My mother died in Israel - a good
many years ago.
MICHAEL
I’m sorry.
MICHAEL hesitates for a moment.
ILANA
Go on, please.
MICHAEL
Perhaps you heard. Hanna Schmitz
recently died. She killed herself.
ILANA shakes her head.
ILANA
She was a friend of yours?
MICHAEL
A kind of friend. It’s as simple as
this. Hanna was illiterate for the
greater part of her life.
ILANA
Is that an explanation of her
behaviour?
MICHAEL
No.
ILANA
Or an excuse?
MICHAEL shakes his head.
MICHAEL
No. No. She taught herself to read
when she was in prison. I sent her
tapes. She’d always liked being
read to.
ILANA shifts slightly.
ILANA
Why don’t you start by being honest
with me? At least start that way.
What was the nature of your
friendship?
MICHAEL
When I was young I had an affair
with Hanna.
ILANA looks at him for a moment.
ILANA
I’m not sure I can help you, Mr.
Berg. Or rather, even if I could
I’m not willing to.
MICHAEL
I was almost sixteen when I took up
with her. The affair only lasted a
summer. But.
ILANA
But what?
MICHAEL just looks at her.
ILANA
I see. And did Hanna Schmitz
acknowledge the effect she’d had on
your life?
MICHAEL stares back, understood for the first time.
MICHAEL
She’d done much worse to other
people. I’ve never told anyone.
ILANA
People ask all the time what I
learned in the camps. But the camps
weren’t therapy. What do you think
these places were? Universities? We
didn’t go there to learn. One
becomes very clear about these
things.
ILANA looks at him, unrelenting.
ILANA
What are you asking for?
Forgiveness for her? Or do you just
want to feel better yourself? My
advice, go to the theatre, if you
want catharsis. Please. Go to
literature. Don't go to the camps.
Nothing comes out of the camps.
Nothing.
ILANA looks at him, unrelenting.
MICHAEL
What she wanted...what she wanted
was to leave you her money. I have
with me.
ILANA
To do what?
MICHAEL
As you think fit.
MICHAEL reaches for his briefcase. He takes out the lavender tea-tin, which he sets down on the table in front of ILANA.
MICHAEL
Here.
ILANA lifts the tin.
ILANA
When I was a little girl, I had a
tea-tin for my treasures. Not quite
like this. It had Cyrillic
lettering. I took it with me to the
camp, but it got stolen.
MICHAEL
What was in it?
ILANA
Oh. Sentimental things. A piece of
hair from our dog. Some tickets to
operas my father had taken me to.
It wasn’t stolen for its contents.
It was the tin itself which was
valuable, what you could do with
it.
She sits a moment, overcome, her hand on the tin.
ILANA
There’s nothing I can do with this
money. If I give it to anything
associated with the extermination
of the Jews, then to me it will
seem like absolution and that is
something I’m neither willing nor
in a position to grant.
MICHAEL nods slightly.
MICHAEL
I was thinking maybe an
organization to encourage literacy.
ILANA
Good.
There’s a silence.
ILANA
Good.
MICHAEL
Do you know if there’s a Jewish
organization?
ILANA
I’ll be surprised if there isn’t.
There’s a Jewish organisation for
everything. Not that illiteracy is
a very Jewish problem.
There is the shadow of a smile.
ILANA
Why don’t you find out? Send them
the money.
MICHAEL
Shall I do it in Hanna’s name?
ILANA
As you think fit.
ILANA smiles slightly. She puts her hand on top of the tin.
ILANA
I’ll keep the tin.
ILANA is standing at the window watching down to the street where MICHAEL is walking away. She has the tin in her hand. When he’s vanished, she turns and goes into her bedroom. There on the dressing table, there is a framed photo of ILANA with her mother in Germany before the war. She sets the tin down beside the photo.
1995. MICHAEL is driving JULIA in the big Mercedes through the German countryside. He is tense, silent. JULIA takes a sideways look at him, but he does not respond.
JULIA
Where are we going?
MICHAEL
I thought you liked surprises.
JULIA
I do. I do like surprises.
They draw up at a church. It is the same one he and HANNA passed on their bicycles years before. MICHAEL and JULIA get out and walk towards the graveyard at the side.
MICHAEL & JULIA stand at a deserted grave-side. The whole cemetery is seen. MICHAEL stoops down and uncovers a simple stone : HANNA SCHMITZ 1923-1988. JULIA watching, says her name.
JULIA
Hanna Schmitz.
JULIA waits a moment.
JULIA
Who was she?
MICHAEL
That’s what I wanted to tell you.
That’s why we’re here.
JULIA looks, waiting. MICHAEL looks for a moment as if he will not go on.
JULIA
So tell me.
There is a moment, then they turn to stroll, MICHAEL talking, starting to tell the story.
MICHAEL
I was 15, I was coming home from
school, I was ill...
They walk away among the trees.
FADE TO BLACK
THE END