A Secret Page #4

Aren't those good French names?

And you're Charles Mercier.

Like that?

I like Simon Grinberg better.

Sure,

that'll always be your name.

'Charles' is just to go see Daddy.

I'm taking the train.

Maxime was right: We shouldn't have registered.

And these,

do we throw them out?

Anyway, that's it for me.

Me, too.

And this, too,

done with.

That's it, Nannah,

everything's ready.

The river will help you forget

the anxiety and hardships.

Grab this.

Tania arrived yesterday.

With you, Simon and Esther,

the family will be together.

Everyone's there now.

When I said I had no news

from my husband, they sneered.

They only handle requests after 8 months' captivity.

In '17, I was a prisoner

in the Ruhr, my fiance was here.

She got my letters every Thursday without fail.

They treated prisoners decently then.

Did you see The Grand Illusion?

Esther did.

She sees everything.

She told me about it.

With Gabin, Fresnay and Dalio.

And Von Stroheim... Terrific.

They say he's not a Kraut.

I'm not surprised.

See you tomorrow.

What sweaters do I pack for him?

Would you behave?

Can't you hear me yelling?

What sweaters do I pack?

The jacquards?

All set?

Do we have everything?

Let's move it, girls.

Simon and I are staying.

I'm not going.

I have to wait for Mama and Papa.

They can't get in, with the seals.

If Robert comes home wounded,

I have to tend to him.

It's better if we stay.

No, I want to go on the train and build tree houses.

And don't smoke in the gym.

Look up.

How do you expect me to get it?

Look up.

- I am looking up.

There, don't move.

What got in my eye?

Nothing.

Just a bit of grit.

No one here?

Then I'm sitting down.

Are you the Parisians?

Get in quick.

The Demarcation Line was 1 mile away.

They had to wait for nightfall.

Act like strangers.

Day after day, in episodes,

Louise had told me everything.

All they'd told her,

all they'd been through together.

Everything,

but the main thing

Here, have some cheese. Eat.

A diabolo mint for the doggie?

He doesn't drink diabolo mint.

Still nothing for your mom?

Easy.

Why drink so fast?

I have to pee.

I can go by myself.

I'm not a baby.

'Evening, Antoine.

'Evening, Lucien.

How's it going?

'Evening, ladies.

Your papers, please.

Your papers, please.

JEWISH:

That's my son.

Esther.

Louise chose to say

Hannah had been careless, she'd blundered.

She couldn't bear to mention

a possibly deliberate act.

Even less so,

Hannah's three words

that had been Simon's undoing.

He told me to take this.

Should I throw it away?

- Of course not.

They'll come back.

They must be in a transit camp.

There's one in Pithiviers.

And Beaune-la-Rolande.

Maybe they'll meet people we know.

The transit camps are only one stage.

But towards what

There's talk of concentration camps in Germany,

prison camps for resistance fighters and Jews.

I doubt women and children are treated well.

'Mop all that up.

Don't forget the children.'

I'm not imagining things.

Their gazes are like touching.

Oh, come on.

They haven't done anything wrong.

Maybe, but it always seems

they just have, or they will.

Esther, please.

You're the one who wrote Tania in Lyon.

That's right, lady,

you gave her the address.

Some butter, children.

The real thing.

Could you take this?

Do I just count the meat and wine?

The eggs and vegetables are free, right?

Thanks to Georges' work.

He doesn't push the barrow he sleeps in it.

No, that's not right.

I hate math. If Hannah were here

Oh, stop it.

Cut the 'poor Hannah' act.

You sure you want her to come back?

Well?

Doesn't it make you sick?

I've seen worse.

You say that because you also...

- Go on, say it.

I also think Tania's desirable?

It's true.

She's beautiful and desirable.

So you excuse them?

No, I just don't judge them.

- Great.

How lofty of you.

Well, I'm much lower than you.

Ever think of Hannah?

All the time.

And I don't judge her either.

I try not to.

Give me a cigarette.

This morning, I thought about what we'd cook:

Fish or chicken.

And I said to myself: Not fish.

Simon doesn't like fish.

How stupid of me to send Tania here.

When I see them

I'm not religious,

but I remember the rabbi's words:

'Without the Torah,

a marriage is nothing.'

I feel outraged, understand?

Sure, I understand.

But you don't agree.

Where will it get us?

To be outraged.

There.

So we're outraged.

All our life.

It'll devour us and poison everyone else.

What do we do?

I don't know what to think.

We think about Hannah and Simon.

We hope.

And continue to make dinner.

I'd never seen my father so upset.

Mom tell you about the dog?

Yes.

I took care of it.

I went by the shop.

He'd gotten over Hannah and Simon.

But his dog's death crushed him.

How was Tania?

Worried about you.

Soon after returning to Paris.

Tania learned Robert had died

of typhus in the stalag.

She barely mourned him.

He was so far away.

Maxime now knows Simon, Hannah

and her parents were deported.

He can no longer imagine them

as prisoners or exiles.

No news of them.

Want us to call it off?

I don't know.

I don't know anymore.

You don't know anymore?

I know.

We'll call it off.

Even if they don't return, it's over.

For good.

Not much.

It's a little baby.

It's very pretty, Esther.

Thanks.

Move over,

I can't see the baby.

He should grow up fast,

I'm getting some nice merchandise.

For a change.

Can I hold him?

- The doctor says he's too frail.

I'm not contagious, you know.

Are you OK?

I'm glad you came.

It's your life, Maxime.

And Tania's.

And now it's going to be his.

It took them time to imagine a life together,

but they finally married and worked together.

They never again spoke of the war or the deceased.

They changed the spelling of our name.

Now I could name them,

the ghosts relaxed their grip.

Gradually they became allies in my attempt

to extract my patients from the dark.

PARIS - SERGE KLARSFELD'S OFFICE

Grinberg, Hannah Golda, ne Stirn,

and Simon Grinberg, is that right?

'August 10 to 17, 1942:

A week at Pithiviers transit camp.

'The 18th, sent to Poland,

Auschwitz.

'Gassed the day after arrival,

the 19th.'

Who's Simon Grinberg to you?

I'm his brother.

And I thought

You're preparing a book on deported children.

I brought this photo.

He didn't die right away.

He must have suffered.

It's all my fault.

I said yes, he was to blame for his dog's death,

but for that alone.

I told him what Serge Klarsfeld had found:

the transport train,

the departure for Auschwitz,

their death the next morning.

They didn't suffer the camp's daily horror.

Only Nazi hatred was to blame for their death.

I hoped I'd freed them of their secret.

A few years later, Mother lost

the ability to speak or walk

after a stroke.

My father faced up at first,

but the sight of his paralyzed champion

became too much for him,

and they decided to end it.

One June evening,

I took my daughter, Rose,

to see an abandoned chateau near our house.

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