Mother Night Page #3

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but from you.

You alone kept me from concluding | that Germany had gone insane.

Now, look how you've grown.

You are here to kill my dog...

aren't you?

Yes.

But, Resi, it's not something | I want to do very much.

That's all right.

I never liked it anyway.

I just felt sorry for it.

I'm going to the front. | I just came to say good-bye.

Which front?

The Russian.

You'll die, then?

Well, maybe not.

Everybody who isn't dead now | will be dead soon...

including me.

I'm sure you're going to be fine.

That's all right. | It won't hurt.

Suddenly I just | won't be anymore.

Since we'll all be dead soon, | I might as well tell you something.

What is it?

I love you.

Oh, Resi, | that's very sweet.

No. I mean I really love you.

When Helga was alive | and you two would come here...

sometimes I envied her, | and sometimes I hated her.

When she died, I dreamt | I would grow up and marry you...

and be a famous actress, | and you'd write plays for me.

I see.

I'm very honored.

That's all right. | It doesn't mean anything now.

Nothing means anything.

Go ahead and shoot the dog.

Resi was only half right.

From what I could gather, | she was dead before long...

but I went on living.

Had I actually traveled | to the Russian front...

surely I would have died | as Resi predicted.

Instead, I motorcycled around | the German countryside...

thinking I could simply | wait out the war.

My little respite ended | two months later...

when I was captured by Lieutenant | Bernard B. O'Hare, American 3rd Army.

I had said "good morning" | to him in passing...

and he recognized my voice | from the radio broadcasts.

O'Hare seemed to take all | the things I said rather personally.

After my capture, | the American army escorted me...

on a private tour | of the Nazi death camp at Oerdre.

They thought it would be | interesting to see my reaction...

to the fruits of my labor.

Take a good look | at your Kraut friends, Campbell...

'cause you're next.

To me, | they looked quite peaceful.

Two days later I was driven away | by two American soldiers.

I couldn't quite tell | if they knew who I was.

Well, Howard...

what did you think of that war?

Is that you, Wirtanen?

I got to hand it to you... | you lived through it.

- A lot of people didn't, you know. | - Yes.

Yes, I know.

I know. My wife. | My wife, for instance.

Yeah. Sorry about that. I found out | about that a few days before you did.

You found out about it before me? | How did you find that out?

That was one of the pieces | of information you broadcast that week.

I broadcast that...

that my wife had died?

I didn't even know it? | You knew she was dead and I didn't?

I would have liked | to have mourned.

Well, what happens to me now?

You've already disappeared.

The 3rd Army's been relieved of ya. | There's no records to show your capture.

So, Howard, | where do you want to go from here?

Oh, I don't know.

I don't suppose there's a hero's | welcome waiting for me anywhere.

Hardly.

We can't exactly start bragging | about all the clever tricks we pulled.

We might need them again | for the next war.

No, your role | will remain classified...

and Uncle Sam's official position is | that you're the scum of the earth.

Scum of the earth, huh?

What about my parents?

I'm sorry, Howard. | They both died about six months ago.

Both?

Father first, and your mother | two days later. Heart both times.

Did anyone tell them | what I was really doing?

Come on, Howard. | What were we supposed to do?

Sacrifice our radio station | in the heart of Berlin...

for the peace of mind | of two old people?

Oh, no, no. We wouldn't want that! | How many people knew what I was doing?

- There were three of us. | - Just three?

- It's probably too many. | - Three people knew me for what I was?

Everyone else knew you | for what you were, too.

Wait. How can you say that? | You think I'm a Nazi? I wasn't a Nazi.

Well, let me ask you | something, Howard:

What would you have done | if Germany had won the war?

Marched right up to your pal | Goebbels and surrendered?

Told him you were actually | a patriotic American spy?

Yes, I might have marched in there! | I might have escaped. I don't know.

Oh, all right. | You want me to be a Nazi?

You go ahead. | Classify me as a Nazi.

You want to hang me? Go ahead | if you think it'll raise morale.

I don't consider this life | any great treasure.

Well, I just want you to know | how little we can really do for you.

How little?

False identity, some cash, | transportation to a new place...

Anywhere you'd like to go, Howard? | How 'bout New York?

You can lose yourself pretty easily. | Plenty of work if you want it.

All right. | New York then.

Of the three that knew | I was a spy, who were the other two?

The second was | General Donovan of the O.S. S...

and the third, | I'm sorry to say, is dead.

You used to attack him | every night on your broadcast.

You called him | Franklin Delano Rosenfeld.

He got a big kick out of that. | He used to listen to you every night.

"Life"

"New York City | 1960"

At first I lived | under a false name.

The idea was to start | from scratch, lead a new life.

After a while, though, it became clear | that I really had no life...

so the alias became unnecessary...

and I went back | to using my own name.

No one ever asked whether I was | the Howard W. Campbell, Jr.

All of my belongings, | like myself, were war surplus...

coming from recreation kits | intended for troops overseas.

They even included | phonograph records...

so I became the proud owner of 26 copies | of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas. "

"Property of U.S. Gov't"

I survived my purgatory | in New York...

the same way I survived | the hell of wartime Germany...

I let my emotions be stirred | by only one thing...

my love for Helga.

It remained the permanent axis | about which my thoughts revolved.

To you, my love...

to your beauty | and to my undying devotion.

To das Reich der Zwei...

nation of two.

It's very nice, isn't it?

It's very dry.

Just the way you like it, hmm?

Yes.

- Dr. Epstein? | - Yes.

I'm your neighbor from upstairs.

I've cut myself.

Well, you won't need stitches.

The blood often makes these things | look worse than they really are.

Well, thank you, Doctor. | I'm very grateful.

No problem.

I'm only sorry it took this | to provide an introduction.

Yes, yes. | No, you're right.

That's a very famous name | you have.

Pardon me?

You never heard of | Howard W. Campbell, Jr...

broadcasting from Berlin?

From Berlin...

Yes, I do remember now.

It was a long time ago.

I never listened to him, | but I remember he was in the news.

Those things fade.

Those things should fade.

That insane moment in history | should be forgotten.

You know of Auschwitz?

Yes, yes, of course | I know of Auschwitz.

That is where I spent | my young womanhood...

and my son the doctor here...

he spent his childhood.

- Oh, well, I'm sorry. | - Forget Auschwitz.

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