Taking Sides Page #4

Breaks off. Nothing from Steve.

DAVID:

Our family name was Weill. But

that doesn't sound well in English.

My uncle changed it to Wills and...

The door opens and Emmi enters carrying a record player,

sees David and starts to back out.

EMMI:

I'm sorry.

STEVE:

Come in, Emmi, this is your office,

too. Emmi, this is Lieutenant David

Wills.

They nod briefly.

STEVE:

He is here to watch over us.

A flick from Emmi.

STEVE:

I guess you admire musicians.

DAVID:

Some.

STEVE:

Don't. This is like a criminal

investigation, David. Musicians,

morticians, doctors, lawyers,

butchers, clerks. They're all the

same.

For Emmi's benefit too. She becomes still, listens.

STEVE:

We have a duty, a moral duty.

David takes a few files, sits and starts to look through

them. Steve returns to his files. Emmi, by now, has put on

a record and starts to play it: the opening of Beethoven's

Fifth Symphony blasts out.

The two men look up, startled. Emmi beams:

EMMI:

It works! Hallelujah!

INT. STEVE'S OFFICE - DAY

Emmi at the door. Steve at his desk. David present.

EMMI:

Herr Rudolf Werner.

WERNER enters, bows to Steve and David. Emmi goes to her

desk.

STEVE:

Sit down, Werner.

Indicates the upright chair; Werner sits.

STEVE:

I want you to understand why you're

here. This is an investigation

into Wilhelm Furtwängler, former

Prussian Privy Councillor, banned

from public life under Control

Council Directive No 24 and who's

applied to come before the Tribunal

of Artists of the Denazification

Commission. I'm interested in what

he was up to from 1933 to the end

of the war, understood?

Werner nods.

STEVE:

Rudolf Otto Werner. Wind section

since 1936. What instrument did

you play?

WERNER:

First oboe.

STEVE:

I have your questionnaire here. It

says you were never a member of

the Nazi Party.

WERNER:

Absolutely not.

Long silence; Steve watches him. Werner is made more

anxious. At last, in a rush:

WERNER:

No, I was never a Nazi, I have no

interest in politics, I'm a musician -

STEVE:

Hey, hey, slow up, Fraulein Straube

has to take down what you say.

Werner swivels round to look at Emmi.

WERNER:

Straube? Any relation to Colonel

Joachim Straube?

EMMI:

My father.

WERNER:

It's a great honour to meet you,

Fraulein. Your father was a great

patriot.

Brief silence.

WERNER:

Dr. Furtwängler is a great musician.

He actively opposed the Nazis and

later on he helped many Jews to

escape.

STEVE:

Then how do you explain him being

made a Prussian Privy Councillor?

WERNER:

It was Hermann Goering. I was told

he just made the maestro his Privy

Councillor, no questions asked.

Although Dr. Furtwängler stood up

to him. And to Dr. Goebbels.

STEVE:

He also conducted for Hitler, didn't

he?

WERNER:

Yes, that's true, but he refused

to give the Nazi salute. He kept

his baton in his right hand. In

Hitler's presence. That was a brave

act...

STEVE:

Brave? To celebrate Hitler's

birthday with some heroic piece by

Wagner but without the Nazi salute?

Bravo.

WERNER:

It was Beethoven's Ninth.

STEVE:

Do you really think it was brave?

Didn't he bow to him and shake his

hand?

INT. STEVE'S OFFICE - DAY

Another man, SCHLEE, is in the chair. Only Steve and Emmi

now. Pale, yellow electric light. Silence. Schlee, too, is

very nervous. At last:

SCHLEE:

No, no, no, I give you my word. I

was never a member of the Nazi

Party. Never. I am in the percussion

section. I play the timpani.

Steve just stares at him.

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