Hangmen Also Die! Page #6

escapade has boomeranged...

And I have fallen head over heels

with you Mascha.

And that is my only excuse for the

trouble I've made you.

I think I understand you much better now,

Dr. Svoboda.

And you do forgive me?

I really ought to blame myself.

After all...

- Shut it down!

- Well...

This puts us back to where we started.

There is something fishy about all of this.

Why can't we admit when we are through?

You've have wasted all our time over

a cheap romance.

Release the family, start from scratch...

before Berlin comes down on our necks.

They're lovers.

I remember exactly, because it was the

same day his Excellency was shot.

- You're sure of the time?

- I have the operation reports right here.

Dr. Svoboda assisted me while I

performed the Cholecystectomy.

During the operation he was in charge

of the suction pump apparatus as usual.

Dr. Kesselbach, I understand you

also function as physician...

for storm troop 34.

Yes, sir.

And Dr. Svoboda was there that day,

throughout the operation?

Yes, for 42 hours.

He stood only a few feet away from me.

You understand, Herr Inspector,

these intestinal operations...

- require constant control...

- I understand, Dr. Kesselbach, Thank you.

That's all I wanted to know.

Thank you, professor.

Heil, Hitler!

Heil, Hitler!

Frankly, I dislike being beaten.

Even by our most distinguish poet.

You know, Mr. Necval, I always wanted

to met your personally...

- and now at last..

- I had always hoped to met you, Professor Novotny.

- And now at last..

- Excuse me, Mr. Necval...

- I wonder if I could bother you?

- Yes?

I happen to just scribble something

down today just to...

a few lines for a song maybe.

You being such a big writer,

I thought if you have the time...

please look it over. Fix it up a bit?

May friend, I have all the time

in the world here...

until these who'eses...

Well, this is a scribble.

Here, you better read it to me.

"Fellow patriots,

the time has come.

Fellow patriots,

there is work to be done.

Raise the invisible torch

and pass it along...

Keep it burning, keep it forward on

the road that has no turning.

Die if you must,

for a cause that's just..

But shout to the end:

'No Surrender'.

Ever onward, never returning...

the senseless butcher will be learning...

this war isn't won until

the last battle is done.

Carry on, when we are gone.

No surrender!"

Of course you could made

that a lot better.

No, my friend...

let's have it just as it stands.

How does it go again? "Fellow

patriots..." Let me see that please?

"The time has come.

Fellow patriots,

there's work to be done.

Raise the invisible torch

and pass it along...

Keep it burning...

Keep it burning, keep it forward on

the road that has no turning.

Die if you must,

for a cause that's just..

But shout to the end:...

'No surrender!'."

So their answer to terror...

is the murder of hostages...

Ours is the slowing down of

the German war machine.

By the end of the week

all war production...

be lowered by a full 25%.

I work in the office of a

former hardware factory.

Now making parts for heavy tanks.

A few days ago, a telegram

came in from Berlin...

to stop immediately the manufacture

of 5 special tank parts.

Because of the new model tanks they have

started making for the Russian front.

Luckily, I saw the telegram

before anyone else saw it.

So I tore it up and threw it in the stove.

But what will happen?

They'll go on making the same 5 parts.

But when we send them to Germany...

they won't fit the new tanks.

Emil?

I think you all know sufficiently...

by my work with this group

from the past..

That no sacrifice has been

too great for me.

Yet I tremble before the bloodshed...

that threaten so many victims.

850 hostages have been arrested by now.

More than 250 are already dead.

The very flower of our Czech nation...

faces systematic annihilation.

Scientists, leaders of commerce,

and industry, artists...

even priests of God!

So I ask, regardless of sentiment...

Can our nation afford the loss of

these outstanding citizens?

I say to myself, again, and again...

this man, whoever he is...

whoever executed "the Hangman",

is a great patriot...

a hero!

But still, I can't help myself...

I keep thinking:
"If this man would

surrender himself...

If he would say:
'Here I am, do with me

what you will, but spare the innocent'"...

Wouldn't that be better

for our beloved country?

So I ask our group here,

if it should agree with me...

to move to submit this proposal

to the Central Committee.

Already people are saying...

it is sheer lunacy to sacrifice

hundreds of lives for one.

Emil, where did you hear such people

saying such things?

All over Prague.

I've even heard people blaming

the underground...

for this new wave of German terror.

Not where I work,

and I keep my ears open.

- Right.

- I've listened to many women...

some of them wives and

daughters of hostages.

- Not one spoke a single word against it.

- I'm absolutely against the motion.

I must ask to be excused on

voting on this matter.

My brother was one of the hostages

executed this morning

All those in favor,

raise their hands.

Now the "nays"?

I think the "nays" have it.

We have to adjourn now,

it's getting near curfew.

Leave one by one at irregular intervals.

Dr. Pillar, is any one in your group...

know anything about you

except your first name?

Only the leader, Bartos.

Anyway, you better not attend

any farther meetings.

You're the only one in this group

involved in the Heydrich affair.

Anyone who was involved should have

severed connection with this group.

I understand.

Bartos, I just told the doctor here

not to attend...

any meetings of your group

until farther notice.

Dr. Pillar, use the stairs, please.

I think this group will have to be

dissolved immediately.

I know exactly what you're thinking.

That peculiar motion.

- You know this man well?

- Certainly.

He's been with us 2 years,

contribute a lot of money.

How does he function in your group?

He uses our beer wagons to

distribute our leaflets.

He's the big brewer, Czaka, Emil Czaka.

Remember 2 years ago when that group

in Pilsen, was betray to the Gestapo...

- and 12 were executed?

- The Pilsen raid.

Yes, I know.

Czaka was suspected...

for a while. But it was determined that

the traitor spoke perfect German...

and a very thorough investigation

proved Czaka...

doesn't speak a bit of German.

You think I put myself in danger?

In all probability you talked yourself

into kingdom come.

But you suggested it.

I suggested you feel out the grounds,

test their morale.

I didn't suggest you crawl out on a limb

and saw yourself off.

- Take some cheese, it's good.

- No I have no more appetite.

Maybe...

maybe it would be safer if I left town?

Sorry sir, once you work for the Gestapo...

you work for the Gestapo.

Then I insist you give me

a special body guard.

I will not do anything without it.

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