Der kleine Löwe und die Großen oder Die Patriarchen und die Diplomatie Page #3

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have been sabotaged.

Sorry?

How much damage?

I can't say yet.

Out, Bressensdorf!

Consul Nordling stays with me.

Very good, sir.

How much time do you need?

Do what it takes.

You have ten minutes.

Not a second longer.

What about the Resistance men?

Yes, sir.

I'll keep you informed.

Load.

Take aim.

Fire!

It appears I was letting you go

too soon, Consul.

There was more. How did you know?

Pardon me?

That Lt. Hegger would call.

I'm a diplomat.

I love listening at doors.

By the way, Caf Karl ran out of...

pretzels long ago, you know.

Rationing.

Corporal Mayer won't be happy.

How long were you at that door?

Impressive, these chess pieces.

They add a dimension to your map.

Look at me when I talk to you.

What do you know?

Who tipped off the terrorists?

What terrorists?

Don't play dumb now.

Lt. Hegger's work was sabotaged.

How unfortunate. I haven't a clue.

How did you know he'd be delayed?

His unit's location was known

only to myself and Ebernach.

I had no idea.

I'd advise you to stop this.

In your own best interest, answer me.

I thought I was answering you.

How long have you spied on me

for France?

I don't work for France.

Who then? Britain? America?

You accord me too much importance.

My initiative is strictly personal.

You think I'm stupid?

If I may, I'd rather not answer that.

Turn around. I haven't finished.

Just a moment,

while I bring this up to date.

Stand clear of that map!

I'll tell you what happened.

You did come up those stairs,

but not alone.

You had an accomplice,

one of the terrorists.

You both hid behind the door,

until you had

the information you came for.

Then, the other man

went to inform your friends.

And you entered

in order to buy some time.

You knew

I wouldn't be easily dissuaded,

that a minor French general's letter

wouldn't change my mind.

Unless my operation was sabotaged,

leaving me no alternative

but to negotiate.

Well? Is that it?

Admit it.

Do you know

what we do to men like you?

Give them a medal?

Yes, on occasion.

Posthumously.

You forget one thing, Governor.

One small detail.

Supposing I were

in collusion with the Resistance,

and with my knowledge

of the staircase's existence,

do you think

you would still be alive?

In two weeks,

if I'd wanted to bring in armed men,

I'd have had no lack of opportunity.

Especially, tonight.

Sweden is a neutral country, Governor.

It has maintained its neutrality

throughout two world wars.

I have no wish

to change that state of affairs.

In that case,

what are you doing here?

I came here for that.

So your children

see that, too, one day.

Dawn over Paris.

- Stand back from the balcony.

- Sorry?

You could signal to your men.

- Please!

- Stand back.

How can I prove to you...

Don't argue. Stand back!

How old are your children?

Leave my children out of this.

You can answer

without fear of betraying a secret.

My girls are 14 and 8,

and my boy's 4 months old.

Four months?

Congratulations!

When I was 8,

like your younger daughter,

I often wondered

how a name as simple as Paris

could represent all the things

visible from your balcony.

All these streets, houses, plazas...

All the squares, too.

I couldn't see how so many things

and so many people

could fit in a city

whose name was so short.

Why do you insist

on destroying the city?

It's none of your business.

Wrong.

If I hadn't been asked to contact you,

I'd be asleep, oblivious,

like all these people you'll soon kill.

Can you stop your histrionics?

They are civilians,

caught up in an absurd war,

innocent of any action against you.

What does a life mean to you?

What is a life?

Of those about to perish,

how many children like yours?

Be quiet!

You sneak in like a thief

and lecture me in morality?

Allow me to remind you of something.

One year ago, from July-August '43,

to be precise,

your friends dropped

over 10,000 tons of bombs on Hamburg.

10,000 tons!

Most were phosphorus bombs.

You know what that means?

Anybody who wasn't shredded

or incinerated

died of suffocation

with their throat and lungs on fire.

They were civilians.

Women, children, old folks.

None of them had fought in battle.

How curious that you never protest

when the civilians being killed

are ours?

You are misinformed, General.

My embassy and I have always

denounced such actions from all sides.

Not with the ardor you display today.

Definitely not!

By that logic,

the Allies destroying a city

gives you the right to destroy one, too.

Correct?

Unless, of course,

you are merely looking for excuses.

Excuses?

I won't believe

you have no misgivings?

Believe what you want, Mr. Nordling.

My conscience is clear.

Paris will suffer the same fate

as Mannheim, Hamburg and Berlin.

We'll all have our martyrs.

Now you know.

It makes you a criminal.

- A criminal?

- Absolutely.

The pilots who bombed Hamburg,

we'll never know their names.

But you give the orders.

You'll be remembered

as the man who destroyed Paris.

How does that make me a criminal?

The annihilation of a city

outside a combat zone is a criminal act.

Yes, we agree there.

Paris, as far as I know,

is not in any combat zone.

That's correct.

Or it was, until last night.

At 03:
10 exactly,

your general

breached our outer line of defense.

By attacking our bases,

he broke his city's neutrality.

He is a direct threat to it.

As Governor of Paris,

I am sole in charge of our response.

You see a crime, Consul?

I see only an act of war.

The Allied advance

allows you to raze the city?

It's clearly the best riposte

I can give them.

With no concern for relations

between France and Germany?

What relations?

The bond between neighboring peoples.

Don't delude yourself.

By destroying Paris,

you demolish

any future bilateral relationship.

We're not at that stage yet.

Of course we are.

It's your duty to consider the future.

My duty?

As a German and human being.

You're quite wrong!

My duty is to lead my men to victory,

by all means possible.

Everything else

is absolutely irrelevant.

Frankly, I don't understand you.

You can't let this happen.

Paris doesn't belong to you.

When will you stop

seeing Paris as a French city?

If the Parisians had defended it,

or even burned it!

As the Russians burned Moscow

to stop Napoleon. But no!

They gave it to us,

legs wide open, like a whore.

The city is ours.

We do with it as we please.

Paris belongs to no one.

Are you here as Swedish consul

or mayor of the city?

Neither.

Tonight, I am simply Raoul Nordling.

Fine.

Now listen to me very carefully,

Mr. Raoul Nordling.

I'll be very clear with you.

You won't make me change my mind.

I have received orders,

I will obey them.

- At the cost of thousands of lives?

- Absolutely.

- And an irreplaceable city?

- Yes.

Meanwhile, I'll keep you here.

Then, I advise you to leave this city

as fast as possible.

There. I have nothing more to say.

I was wrong.

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