Watch On The Rhine Page #9

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fascists have done...

...in convincing people

they are men from legends.

They've done very well

for themselves, unfortunately.

But not by themselves.

We don't like to remember, do we,

that they came in on the shoulders...

...of some of the most powerful men

in the world.

That makes us feel guilty

so we prefer to believe...

...that they're mysterious men

from the planets.

Well, they aren't.

They're smart and they're sick...

...and they're cruel.

But, given men who know

what they fight for, and will fight hard...

Yes.

Given men

who know what they fight for.

I will console you.

A year ago last month,

...Freidank and I,

with two elderly pistols...

...raided the home of the Gestapo chief

in Konstanz.

We got what we wanted,

and the following morning...

...Freidank was eating his breakfast

three blocks away...

...and I was over the Swiss border.

FANNY:

You are brave men.

I do not tell you the story

to prove that we are remarkable...

...but to prove that they are not.

Would you like a drink?

You look... You look very tired.

It is waiting...

...waiting that is bad for me.

FANNY:
But I really don't understand

what you're waiting for.

Now, I mean.

I think the Count de Brancovis

will try tonight to find out who I am.

I wait now to see

if he has so found me out.

Beyond that, I myself,

do not understand.

But there's nothing he can do.

Waiting.

Once, in Spain...

...I waited two days for the fascist planes

to exhaust themselves.

I say finally to myself,

if I must reach up with my naked hands...

...I will stop them.

It is such waiting for which I am not fit.

You will not think that

when the time comes.

- It will go.

- Of a certainty.

But must it always be your hands?

For each man, his own hands.

He has to sleep with them.

That's right.

I guess it's the way we should all feel.

But... But you have a family.

Isn't there somebody else

who hasn't a wife and children?

Each could find his own excuse.

Some have bullet holes, some have fear

of the camps and many are getting older.

Each could find a reason. Many find it.

And my children are not the only children

in the world, even to me.

That's noble of you, of course, but...

one means always in English

to insult with that word, noble?

- Of course not.

- It is not noble.

It is only the way I must live.

FANNY:

But I was thinking of Sara.

I want it this way, Mama.

The way Kurt wants it.

You wanted a good life for your children.

We want it for ours too.

This is Kurt's way

of trying to get it for them.

Good evening.

There's something bad happening,

isn't there?

I have been to the German Embassy

tonight, Herr Muller.

Yes. That's where

I thought you would go.

I don't know what this is all about,

but I'm guessing, because I know Teck.

I have nothing to do with any of it. And

I have nothing to do with Teck anymore.

If you do not mean what you're saying,

change your mind.

You are talking most unwisely.

You are trying to frighten me.

But you're not going to anymore.

I'm not going away with you

and I'm never going away with you.

- Shall we talk about this alone?

- You can't make me stay with you.

You can't make stay now

that I'm not frightened anymore.

- No, perhaps not.

- Then there's nothing to talk about.

You're in love with him?

You never can understand anything

that hasn't got tricks to it.

I don't like you, Teck. I never have.

We will not leave here together

and we will not meet again.

Not now.

Good night.

Well...

A great many things have been said

in the past few minutes.

David, am I to understand...?

You are to understand anything you like.

Without Marthe,

I shall be a very lonely man.

Already, I'm a very poor one.

Before I go tonight,

I should like to have $ 10,000.

- You, blackmailing with your wife, you...

KURT:
No, David.

The Count de Brancovis is not bargaining

with you or Marthe.

He is talking to me.

Is that correct?

Good.

I see that you understand.

I got from the embassy

a list and descriptions...

...without, of course,

saying why I wanted them.

But if I have to take any more of that,

I shall go immediately back to them.

You will not again be interrupted.

Very well.

There were many names on the list.

And among the descriptions is this,

of a man we shall call Gotter...

...because that is the name

he has most often used.

"Age, 40 to 45. About 6 feet.

One hundred and seventy pounds.

Many descriptions.

All of them unreliable.

Married to a foreign woman,

either English or American.

Three children.

Has used the names of Gotter,

Thomas Bodmor, Karl Francis.

Thought to have left Germany in 1933 and

to have joined the notorious Max Freidank.

Known to have crossed border in 1934,

February, May, June, october.

And again, with Freidank in 1935...

...and in August, october,

November, 1936."

An active man, this Gotter.

Yes. Very.

It would've been impossible for a magician

to have crossed that often.

Really? Well, to go on.

"In 1934, outlaw radio station announcing

itself as Radio European begins to operate.

Gotter was known to have crossed border

before and after three of the broadcasts.

Gotter believed to have then appeared

in Spain with Madrid government army.

Known to have lived in France

the first months of 1938.

Again, crossed border

sometime during week...

...when Hitler's Hamburg radio speech

was interrupted off the air."

That was a daring deed, Herr Muller.

I remember it well. It amused me.

- It was not done for that reason.

- No?

"Early in 1939, an informer in Konstanz

reported Gotter's arrival with Freidank...

...carrying money

exchanged in Paris and Brussels.

Following day,

home of Konstanz Gestapo chief...

...was raided by two men

who took spy list and escaped."

Herr Muller, that job took two good men.

Even you admire them.

TECK:

Even I.

Now, I think you are Gotter,

Thomas Bodmor, Karl...

Please do not describe me

to myself again.

I think that because Freidank has been

taken, you'll be traveling home.

If I am wrong, and you will not be going

back, the German Embassy will...

KURT:

I am going back.

I will start tonight.

So. You tell me free of charge.

Well, I will tell you free of charge...

...that I do not believe

they've forced information out of Freidank.

Thank you.

But I was sure they would not.

I know all three most well.

They will be able to stand up under...

Under whatever is given them.

Yes. There is a deep sickness

in the German character.

A love of death, a love of pain.

- Spare us your moral judgments.

- Yes, they're sickening.

- Get on with your dirty business.

- Fanny and David are Americans.

They do not understand our world.

And if they are fortunate, they never will.

All fascists are not of one mind,

one stripe.

There are those who give the orders...

...and there those who take them.

They came late.

Some of them were, up to a point,

fastidious men.

For these,

we may someday have pity.

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