"Cologne 1925" "You have no right. I am a cousin." "You have absolutely no right." "I'm family too, aren't I?" "They're better off with us." "I'm not trying to be difficult, but..." "So many nice things." "Music, a big house..." "Aren't we good enough?" "Not posh enough?" "Are you any better?" "They will have every opportunity with us." "Be honest. I'm not saying that we're any better than you, but really..." "You can have the sick one." "Just the sick one." "Final offer." "It's a disgrace." "Twins belong together." "Be quiet, Ferdinand." "We'll go along with it." "Everyone will get something." "Not bad, eh, Jet?" "It turns with the sun." "No Swiss sanatorium could match it." "For you." "For you." "We're going to get Lotje well again." "Lotte is going to be well cared for in her new country." "Go on." "When is Lotte coming?" "When you've finished." "Start at the front." "Not all in one go." "Lotte won't be coming." "She has consumption." "So that's that." "Look, this is my mummy." "She's not alive anymore." "Just like your mummy." "And now I'm your new mummy." "Give me that handkerchief." "You know these words, don't you?" "Handkerchief?" "Mummy?" "Say 'mummy'." "They are Dutch words." "Say it." "Dear Lotte, when are you coming?" "What are you writing?" "A letter." "To whom?" "Lotte." "And where will you send it to?" "Holland." "Do you know the address?" "She thinks we know the address." "We don't have the address either." "They don't want us to know it." "Afraid we'll drop by." "Stuck up lot." "Maybe Lotte will write to you." "If she's still alive." "Dear Anna." "Tomorrow I will get on the train and come to you." "Tomorrow I will be with you again." "You'll never guess what delicious things I've got here." "That's good." "Write a nice letter to your sister." "Later." "After your meal." "Dinand?" "We have to decide now." "Do we send it?" "And then?" "She'll want to go there when she's better." "And then they'll keep her." "I can't bear to see it." "They're barbarians, Jetje." "Stupid farmers." "Stupid, Catholic farmers." "Do you want her to grow up there?" "No." "She has to forget Anna." "Believe me, Jetje." "For her own good." "She simply has to forget Anna." "Why is there no letter?" "Harder." "No." "Because there won't be a letter." "Why not?" "I'll tell you some day." "Go on." "No." "Lotte doesn't want anything to do with you." "She thinks you're stupid and dirty." "And besides, she's dead." "Sweetie..." "Did something make you call out for Anna?" "Shall I tell you about Anna?" "You understand me perfectly, don't you?" "Clever little girl." "Anna is living with the barbarians." "They are really stupid people who have no stationery... and that's why there is never a letter." "But not to worry." "Anna is very happy with the barbarians." "She likes it there." "With all the animals..." "And she wants Lotte to be happy, too." "Anna doesn't want Lotte to cry." "You have to go to sleep now." "Sleep well." "Sleep well." "Sleep well, Anna." "What is it now?" "What do you want?" "l want to have a bath." "What's with the girl?" "I want to have a bath." "is she getting milk?" "The milk is to sell." "And why don't I see her in school?" "Really?" "She doesn't seem that way to me." "In fact, she seems rather clever." "What is it?" "'The grace of help is a supernatural assistance... through which God lightens our understanding and moves us... to shun evil and do good.'" "I want to go to school." "You're coming with me." "My hands, you see." "I don't play the piano any more." "Both hands?" "Only the right." "Arm and hand." "I have everything low in the kitchen." "But other than that..." "My biggest passion was gardening." "Now, my grandson comes and weeds for me." "That's nice too." "We just have to make the best of it." "I'll see you tomorrow." "What's wrong with you?" "Arthritis?" "Me, too. I have that, too." "It runs in our family." "Oh, well." "Not in mine." "Yes, it does." "It does." "It certainly does." "Lottchen." "Why are you looking in the mirror?" "Your father had consumption." "So did your sister." "And your mother had cancer." "But I'm still alive." "Our Lord, the most splendid of all so gentle and so kind beautiful lips" "Our Lot has been on the radio twice already." "With a choir." "purposeful and determined" "like there in the blue depths bright and shiny, every star" "Our Lord, in my heaven lt's not about you, you know." "Sing, sing." "Third year conservatory." "I'm a rotten player." "Go on." "The farmer who marries you..." "Does not exist." "Oh no?" "No." "I won't marry a farmer." "I won't be a farmer's wife." "What then?" "I want to go to school And then to university." "Go to the blacksmith." "We're busy." "Busy?" "Do I have to go myself?" "You have a beautiful voice." "Are you coming to the conservatory?" "No, I'm going to study German." "Pity." "Why?" "Why German?" "I think German is a beautiful language." "Are you the milkman's?" "You don't look like your sisters at all." "Yet they're sisters all the same." "Imagine." "You're much more beautiful." "The axle of our hay cart. ls it ready?" "Not yet." "What are you doing?" "He looks like he wants to fight." "He does." "Fight for us." "For all of us." "Against unemployment and against poverty." "That man has big plans for us." "It's incredible... that this Hitler, this mudslinger, is so successful." "Germany, Germany... lt's in the papers every day." "I'm sick of it sometimes." "Our Bram has just returned from Germany." "Oh really?" "Yes." "A born raconteur, my brother." "They said that you had to go to Germany for proper training in violin making." "And?" "He was back after fourteen days, devastated." "Why?" "Oh, I don't know... I can listen to him for hours." "Tell us, go on." "lt's just not easy to get a position there." "For Jews, he means." "He was given the cold shoulder everywhere he went." "We're no longer welcome there." "Oh, you shouldn't take those Nazis too seriously, you know." "We belong to the First Class, did you know that?" "Farmers belong to the First Class." "If he succeeds, everything will be better." "Then you can take on a workman and I can go to school." "Who gave you this paper?" "Bernd Möller." "He told me all this." "Bernd Möller is an idiot." "We are Catholics." "Adolf Hitler is fighting for us." "It says so right there." "You'll get a workman, I'll go to school." "Never let me catch you near that boy." "Why?" "I only want to go to school." "Never let me catch you near that bastard, you hear me?" "So that's how they do it." "Enlisting young people." "Idiots." "Bunch of sheep." "And you're falling for this as well." "Never again, do you hear?" "If I ever catch you near that stupid ass..." "Let them talk, ignorant farmers." "Your uncle is an ignorant farmer." "Obedient Catholics." "They don't know any better." "Like animals who have lived too long in a cage." "Open the door and they stay inside." "What has the Church ever done for us?" "Do you want to spend the rest of your life in filth?" "We'll do it differently." "If there were more women like you we'd have the new Germany in no time." "Well, what do you think?" "Nice." "I've joined, Anna." "A new order, and I'm part of it." "You should join as well." "Yes." "Do you want to make me happy?" "And Germany?" "And our Führer?" "l want to go to grammar school." "I'll build you a house." "With a gable roof." "And shutters." "A Bavarian veranda." "And a solid oak door." "I have to go home." "They don't know where l am." "And there's a storm coming." "Heinrich, come here." "Anna kissed him." "Would you have dared if your father were still alive?" "Would you?" "Would you have dared if your father were still alive?" "Come here, you." "Answer me." "What's wrong?" "Separating twins...what an idea." "It's just criminal." "I've written so many letters." "Sitting up in my bed..." "'Anna, where are you." "Anna, write back." "Anna, Anna, Anna...'" "But she never replied." "I talked to her in my head." "They thought I was a quiet child, but I was talking all day." "Like this I can see both of you." "But which one is Anna?" "Why don't you visit her?" "She never gave me a sign she was alive." "Shall I go with you?" "I'll go with you." "David, you cannot talk about this." "We never talk about it at home." "Why not?" "I told you." "Now you must forget it again." "That does it." "I'm taking you away from here." "St. Joseph's Domestic Science School" "That cupboard on Monday morning, I told you." "The outside only." "And the floor?" "l wanted to do that later." "Come here, girl." "I check everything myself, like this." "There can be no dust, no dirt anywhere." "So no rest until all the dirt is gone." "It's a struggle." "Dust plagues our lives." "And don't forget the portrait of our Führer." "I can't find it." "Schumann." "Higher, I think." "That's not very gentlemanly." "No, it's not." "What is that?" "It's cruel." "All those letters." "My sister." "How could you?" "Something so terrible." "You don't know what you're talking about." "Where are her letters?" "Or did you throw them away?" "No, darling." "No..." "Give me those letters then." "No letter ever came." "Why not?" "Did she know where l lived?" "All that time she was waiting for a letter from me?" "Who would do such a thing?" "Why?" "Explain it to me." "We saved you from a bunch of illiterate barbarians." "Why didn't you save her then?" "You were sick." "And if you had gone to visit Anna, they would have kept you there." "Your life wouldn't have been as nice." "l would have still had my sister." "You would now both be marching behind Mr Hitler, waving flags." "Does she still live there?" "With the barbarians?" "Why?" "Because I'm going to her." "You don't always have to spend your evening off in your room." "I don't mind." "Come and join us." "Take a seat." "Of course we're not going to just sit here." "Every young woman should master that." "Go on." "Herr Stolz?" "Do you think I could read a book?" "Of course." "Do you have any preferences?" "The Sorrows of Young Werther." "Goethe?" "But that's far too difficult." "Have you read it?" "No, but..." "Well, then let her." "Nowadays, culture belongs to everyone." "Hereditary Health Department." "Could we have a word with you?" "According to our information, you have a servant called Anna Bamberg." "May we come in?" "What about Anna Bamberg?" "As you know, Anna Bamberg is mentally retarded." "She looks quite normal, I thought." "Yes, yes." "That's not unusual." "But these papers leave no doubts." "What do you want from her?" "You know the government is looking to solve the problem of retarded people?" "It has been decided that Anna Bamberg is to be sterilized." "Sterilized?" "Such things are hereditary, Madam." "Surely you know that." "Anna Bamberg, retarded?" "It's right here in the guardianship deed." "'Anna Bamberg, foster daughter of Heinrich and Martha, is retarded... and too delicate of health to be educated." "She is so weak...'" "That they had to keep her home from school." "And so on." "Read for yourself." "He was paid?" "She's right in front of you, Anna Bamberg." "I'm the delicate, retarded girl you're looking for." "I could read and write when I was six years old." "My uncle kept me home to work for him for free." "He allowed his wife to terrorize me, he beat me up." "And no-one..." "No-one ever came to check whether what he'd written was true." "And now you're going to sterilize me?" "I've had quite enough of this." "Out." "Get out." "Don't you worry." "I won't break any more of your vases." "You know what your problem is?" "You have ideas above your station." "Good luck." "You're a servant and you always will be." "My dear sister." "This is my first letter to you, but also my hundredth." "I'm writing this with thumping heart, because I think, dear Anna... that we will see each other again soon." "I have found you." "So you're still alive." "Lotte..." "What a surprise. I've asked myself a hundred times why you didn't write." "We were both lied to." "Your letter took five weeks to get here." "Dear Anna, do you know where you're going yet?" "I'm tutoring in German. I have nearly enough for the trip." "Will you write to me?" "Dear Lotte." "Your letter came yesterday, after eight weeks." "It was opened at Customs." "I have a new position." "Near Cologne, with a countess." "We live in a villa with a swimming pool." "Can you imagine?" "The countess is a beautiful woman." "And she smells so nice, of powder and cigarettes." "Are you coming soon?" "I've gone ahead and bought one." "I have to go to the station." "Today?" "That's completely impossible." "But I told you." "My sister." "Not now. I can't do without you." "You're the only one who keeps her head." "But you promised." "Careful with the chandelier." "Please." "Oh, dear..." "How will you get to the station?" "Günther." "Hermann, take over from him." "But quickly." "Hurry." "Do you remember me?" "Everything." "Your eyebrows..." "Everything." "Your eyes." "Daddy's eyes." "This car belongs to the countess." "Everyone else's cars are commandeered." "Nice car." "You can only stay one night." "I couldn't reach you." "Everything has changed again." "We're heading east." "The countess is afraid." "Afraid that the English will start bombing us." "There she is." "Charlotte von Garlitz Dublow, Countess of Falkenau." "They have an old castle on the Oder." "That's where we're going." "Beautiful, isn't she?" "is this all right?" "When do you have to leave?" "Tomorrow morning." "The countess can't do without me." "Tomorrow?" "Yes." "Pity." "The war... I have to go downstairs." "What about me?" "Can I come?" "I'll help you." "Why not?" "You'll find out what a proper maid's life is like." "You're like a board." "As straight as an arrow." "Thanks." "Not too tight?" "I taught them." "Come." "Why are they here?" "They're on leave." "Guests of the count." "Hannele." "My sister." "My sister Lotte." "I don't know what it's like there or how long we'll stay." "It's madness, but we're taking everything with us." "The whole family is dining here." "Plus spouses and children." "The officers... the guests..." "Let me think..." "Who is serving?" "We used to have the same glasses." "Hannele and I." "And Lotte." "Hermann will pour the wine." "Did we have crystal?" "No, in Holland." "At my mother and father's house." "Anna, the silverware." "We can't find it." "Has it been packed?" "Madam, this is my sister." "Not now, darling." "Silverware." "Come, rescue me." "What's it like, university?" "Oh, nice." "But I don't study enough." "I much prefer singing." "I've got an accompanist at the moment." "I can play, but he's much better." "Do you still play the piano?" "A very nice boy." "Do you want to know a secret?" "We're going to get engaged." "Anna, dear Anna." "What would I do without you?" "Engaged?" "Really?" "Tell me about it." "When are you finished?" "is it the champagne, or are there more maids here?" "for the Jews live shamelessly in our German fatherland soldiers, comrades put the Jews against the wall when the soldier goes into battle he is in high spirits with the Jew's blood dripping from his knife, things look even better" "for we are going into battle for we are going into battle against England, England" "Our side has suffered the first casualty." "This is the hardest I've ever worked." "Do you want to stay here?" "Why?" "You can come with me to Holland." "There is no war there." "And I'm sure my...mother would be pleased." "Go with you to Holland... I don't have anything for you." "That many?" "You don't have to read them now." "Silly children's letters." "If I had received all those letters..." "Remember this?" "Mum's." "Now you can have it for a while." "She couldn't embroider." "What are they doing?" "Why are they doing that?" "They've gone mad." "Anna, you have to leave." "You can't stay here." "Come with me." "Come with me to Holland." "Please." "Why not?" "I can't abandon the countess right now." "She was so kind to me." "Two weeks." "Three, at the most." "Until we settle in there." "Then I'll come." "Two weeks... I don't understand." "I couldn't stick it here for another day." "Until we've settled in." "Then I'll come." "Why can't you decide for yourself?" "Forty-five rooms." "She doesn't know what to do." "It's not up to that woman." "It's your life." "Three weeks." "Then I'll come. I promise." "I want to meet everybody." "Your sisters." "Your fiance." "Want to see him?" "What's the matter?" "Oh, nothing." "He's handsome." "What was it?" "For a moment I thought he was a Jew." "Madam." "If you want me to take you to the station, you'd better come now." "Safe journey." "See you soon." "Bye." "Bye, Lotte." "Bye." "Everyone is waiting for you." "Lotte, come." "Please, Lotte." "Come." "This endless running..." "I'm old." "Then don't." "I didn't ask you to run after me." "I'm your sister. I'm alive, I exist." "l didn't ask you for anything." "I've looked for you, I've telephoned." "Telephoned?" "Yes, telephoned. I asked for you." "And then she doesn't know who I am." "Your daughter." "Did you call Hester?" "I said:" "Anna." "Nothing." "Anna Grosalie, Nothing." "Anna Bamberg." "Nothing." "She must have thought I was crazy." "Bother my daughter?" "How dare you?" "All this time you pretended that I didn't exist." "But I'm alive. I want to talk to you." "Why are you bothering me?" "You were gone." "Why didn't you stay away?" "Why didn't you tell anyone about me?" "What should I have told my children?" "Were you ashamed of me?" "I'll walk with you and we will talk." "l don't want to talk." "Then I'll talk." "I've had time." "Plenty of time to think things over, Lottchen." "Don't call me Lottchen." "Let me do the talking, okay?" "Fine." "Say what you want." "We'll walk and I'll talk." "I can't hear anything." "My God, what a pigsty." "Forty-five rooms." "You have to help me." "The emperor Wilhelm slept here." "You can still smell him." "Stuffy and sour." "I'd like to go to Holland in two weeks, to visit my sister. ls that all right?" "Of course not." "The rooms, I don't know where everything is." "The linen and such like." "But after that I want to go to visit my sister." "Darling, that's impossible." "Then we have to get the cellars ready for the Poles." "Which Poles?" "Forced labour." "Coming to replace our workers, who have to fight in Poland." "Funny, isn't it?" "You see?" "You really can't leave." "Dearest Lotte." "It will take a while longer... but then... I'm really coming to see you." "She's an anti-Semite." "Don't be silly." "Just because she thought I was a Jew?" "You want to know something?" "I am a Jew. I look like three Jews put together." "So bring your sister over." "I won't have anything to do with that whole German thing." "And I'm giving up my studies, too." "Considering the circumstances I think it's better if you don't come here." "Your country is at war." "Better not." "We're going." "Are you coming?" "Something wrong with your sister?" "I have no sister." "Do you want to dance?" "Are you all right?" "Come, drink." "How about you?" "I'm so hot, so terribly hot." "Are my cheeks really red?" "Will you be staying long?" "Why does she say that?" "'Better not.' Better for whom?" "Who said that?" "Lotte." "First I had to come, and now I can't." "Lotte, is that the fat woman?" "My sister. ln Holland." "The letter." "Oh, your sister." "Why not, all of a sudden?" "Why not what?" "What have I done wrong?" "I only want to go to her." "To Holland?" "We're twin sisters." "Yes, twins." "We had one of those in Czechoslovakia." "A non-commissioned artillery officer." "I won't write back. 'Better not.' l've done without her all my life." "Seriously?" "You were in Czechoslovakia?" "Do you look alike?" "My sister knows all about music." "She's a wonderful singer." "Songs by... I don't know who." "With a pianist, that's her fiance." "Can you sing?" "Me neither." "She studies at a university." "German." "My sister." "She teaches, too." "Speaks really good German, better than me." "So clever..." "With such a...nose." "And her eyes..." "The way she sometimes looks..." "What way is that?" "Exactly like our father." "Then she doesn't need to say anything." "Neither of us says anything." "I could see her thinking." "And looking." "Why would she do that?" "It's clean." "She's German herself." "What a nice handkerchief." "It's good that you've got a handkerchief like that with you." "Maybe she thinks I'm stupid?" "Stupid?" "You?" "lmpossible." "Out of the question." "I'm on to you, Mister Ostmarker." "Or should I say Austrian?" "Since you're with us now." "Now it's dirty." "Why don't you lie down for a while." "Austrians, they're those operetta soldiers, aren't they?" "With roses in their rifles." "I'm a conscript." "If I had a choice, I'd be at home in Vienna." "With a rose in my rifle." "What's this I hear?" "What have you done?" "Did you lend the beet press to the Poles?" "Otherwise they have to do it by hand." "Silly goose." "You don't think they'd do the same for us, do you?" "They hate us." "But we don't hate them." "They are subhuman." "We are the Master Race." "Shouldn't we lend them the beet press, if we are the Master Race?" "Oh, go ahead then." "You do what you want anyway." "Bolshevik." "What is it?" "Listen carefully." "I wanted to see you." "I'm not allowed to leave the barracks, so I climbed over the wall." "It's a secret." "We're marching off." "Where to?" "I don't have time, I have to go back." "If they find out... I just wanted to see you." "Where to?" "I have to go back." "All leave has been cancelled." "We're off, Anna." "Oh, my dearest." "I'll write." "Will you wait for me?" "When are you coming back?" "Why has all leave suddenly been cancelled?" "My people." "Despite having maintained strict neutrality during the past months... our country was attacked last night... suddenly and without warning, by the German Wehrmacht... despite their solemn promise... that our neutrality would be respected as long as we maintained it ourselves." "Who do they think they are?" "Bloody Huns." "Let's go." "To do what?" "Sailing." "Today?" "It's war." "People are advised not to go out." "We're going anyway." "Lotte, hold on." "Stop." "We said we would wait." "First we get married." "That's the deal." "l don't want to wait any longer." "Stop." "Why don't you want to wait?" "You're mad." "No, I'm very serious." "We could be dead tomorrow." "Seriously." "I don't know." "Jesus, forget it." "Forget everything." "Forget me, what does it matter?" "What's wrong with you?" "And we're not getting married either." "Don't be stupid." "Here." "I'm breaking it off." "Take it." "Then don't." "All the same to me." "Can we go back?" "No." "Come on, I want to go now." "Go on, then." "Come." "Don't forget the peak halyard." "David, come on." "No." "I'm going." "Bye." "Bye." "Bye." "What's the matter, silly rabbit?" "Why don't you break it off?" "Why should I?" "Because I'm German, of course." "I'm German." "You know how it is." "All those refugees..." "The way Germans think about Jews..." "And now they're here." "It's war." "I'm German, and you'll hate me." "To me you're Lotte." "The girl I love so much." "The girl who sings so beautifully." "My bunny rabbit." "Who is German." "And who thinks she can sail." "We're Lotte and David." "And all that politics has nothing to do with it." "Lotte, don't." "I've come for Martin Grosalie." "His training is done." "He has leave today." "Leave has been cancelled." "They're being punished." "What for?" "They were almost done." "All they had to do, was shout 'Sieg Heil'." "Brand-new SS officers, shouldn't be a problem." "The commanding officer didn't think it sounded enthusiastic enough." "That's a serious matter around here." "Do you understand?" "They can't keep him here." "I haven't seen him in two years." "That can't be helped." "They're returning to the front tonight." "Poland, Russia." "Fighting, fighting..." "He's been trying to get leave for two years." "He must have it now." "It was the only reason he wanted to do this stupid training." "Do you think he really wanted to be an officer?" "He doesn't give a damn about the whole war." "At least you can't throw that one in the water." "David, I want to become a Jew." "Yeah, right." "I'm serious." "I want to convert." "You'd be mad." "Why?" "Because of the situation?" "No, because of all the fuss." "My silly rabbit." "My bag, I forgot my bag." "Where?" "ln the cafe." "The train tickets, everything..." "Seven minutes." "You'll never make it." "Easily." "I'm your silly rabbit." "And don't you forget it." "I'm sorry." "Buchenwald?" "Buchenwald, Buchenwald..." "What is there, Buchenwald?" "A sort of work camp, for young men." "'l'm doing fine." "We're working hard." "David.' ln German..." "What is the charge?" "is there a charge?" "No, no." "We think the Germans wanted to set an example." "After the strike in Amsterdam." "'Watch out, don't make trouble.'" "He's not so bad off there." "He's healthy, he's always practised sports." "It could easily last a few months, though." "Strange how things go, isn't it?" "If you hadn't forgotten your bag..." "Shall I make tea?" "Please forgive me, Anna, for not contacting you for so long." "We're all confused here." "But I think about you a lot and I need you." "I'm scared, Anna." "Help me." "David has been taken to Buchenwald." "It's my own fault." "Do you know what's in Buchenwald?" "Tell me." "We're getting married, if I want to." "And I want to." "Anna." "Sweet, dear Anna..." "He wants me in Vienna." "He has leave." "How can he have leave, now?" "'Got tired, Russia too big." "Eight days too late for Stalingrad." "Official leave." "Come to Vienna." "Get married, if you want." "Martin.' l don't understand, but I want to." "I want to." "Anna, you are a good person." "Anna, wait." "Anna, wait." "From Holland." "From your sister." "Just for a few months, of course." "But of course." "I think it will be a lot of fun." "Don't you, Dinand?" "We'll pay all the expenses, have I made that clear?" "Plenty of space now that the girls have left home." "Such lovely little rooms." "Until we find a definite solution." "Jet's room..." "Dad." "is it all right?" "Oh, did I not make that clear?" "Of course it is. lt's our humane duty." "Welcome." "I know exactly how you must feel." "I miss my girls, too." "Just their physical presence, eh?" "I mean, I'm very happy they've married so well... and Jet has already had her second child..." "The plates." "No, not there." "Put them in the living room." "It's a raid." "I'll have a look." "But how do you prepare a hare?" "Marinate in oil with a dash of cognac." "The village?" "That way." "Nice to meet one of our own people here." "Good luck and thank you." "It's all right." "They've gone." "It wasn't a raid." "They were nice boys." "Funny to speak German again." "From David." "'lf I don't get my sailboat soon... it will be too late." "David.'" "He's asking for help." "Auschwitz." "Now it's Auschwitz." "My darling, my sweet..." "I want to go to him." "Just for once, let me be alone... in this stupid house." "Welcome home, Mr and Mrs Grosalie." "Did it hurt?" "It hurt terribly." "Did you cry?" "I'm a man." "Oh, my hero." "Don't worry. I'm with the signals unit, they're not in any danger." "What's this supposed to be?" "What is this?" "Mash?" "Looks more and more like water." "is that it?" "Do I not get any more?" "Never mind then." "If I don't answer, I don't wish to be disturbed." "Where did you get that food?" "I got some extra coupons from the resistance." "Do you want a sandwich?" "Here, have a sandwich." "Those coupons..." "How... I'll make you a cheese sandwich." "How long have you been getting them?" "Do you want it or not?" "Those coupons are for..." "The people in hiding, I know." "They'll get theirs next time." "Here." "Give me that." "The coupons, everything." "Now." "Look here..." "Otherwise I'll tell everyone here what you're really like." "Pathetic, greedy little man." "You know what your problem is?" "You'll always be a bloody Hun." "I'm so nervous. I hope I recognise him." "As long as he recognises you." "I'm sure he will." "I'm going to enjoy every minute of it." "Whether he wants to or not." "I don't want to get pregnant." "But should I turn my back on him?" "No, girl." "You'll be leaving with a belly full." "The girls." "They say it's almost over." "The Russians are at West-Prussia." "Maybe you won't have to go back." "Then we'll go back to Vienna." "Don't look." "Now." "It's a bit premature, but I don't have much to do at your parents' house." "That's what I want." "A baby." "First a boy, then a girl and then another boy." "Or two boys." "So they can play together." "A girl is not much use for a boy." "Although it's nice for the girl to have a big brother." "But it could be a girl first, of course." "What would you rather have first, a boy or a girl?" "As long as I have a lot." "A big family." "On Sundays we'll go for walks." "Will you come?" "Actually, I'd like a girl first." "I don't know why." "Now I know what I really want." "Twins." "Two girls." "And they'll always stay together." "Gas?" "Yes, gas." "What kind of sick idea is that?" "It was in the paper." "I'm not making it up." "What was in the paper?" "Something about shower rooms... where the enemy prisoners, it said... were driven in naked and gassed." "Naked?" "And that the capacity of the chambers... has been raised from two hundred to a thousand people per day." "Of course that isn't true." "Are you calling me a liar?" "There's mail?" "There hasn't been a letter for a long time." "There is mail." "'Dear Frau Grosalie." "It is my duty as company commander... to inform you of your husband's heroic death.'" "In the Eiffel." "Shellfire." "He had survived Russia, the partisans... even dysentery, I heard later." "But those apples..." "Apples?" "Shortly before the end of the war, he's riding with some lads in a truck." "They park near a couple of apple trees." "Star apples, I think." "You had them, then." "He stays waiting in the cabin." "From the trees, they see... they entire truck exploding... and being torn to shreds." "Shellfire from the Americans." "'Your husband's heroic death'." "They swept him together... and buried him in that village." "At least you had a grave." "There was no cemetery in Auschwitz." "Lotte, are you coming?" "Everyone's going." "Are you coming?" "I want to see the Canadians." "We don't want to be late." "Do you think David will still want me?" "I don't think David is coming back." "And I think... that you think that, too." "Are you awake?" "My little girl..." "An official notice about David." "Do you want to read it?" "Well, what it boils down to... lt's what we already suspected." "In Auschwitz." "What we suspected." "My darling... my little bunny rabbit." "Can I help you, lady?" "Damn, a bloody Hun." "Piss off, won't you." "You have a baby!" "I didn't know that." "is it a boy or a girl?" "A girl." "Hester." "Why aren't you saying anything?" "That language... is no longer spoken here." "Not in this house." "Not in my life." "Never again." "Start a fight, curse her, hit her, I don't know... but do something." "This is terrible." "You have to talk to her." "Get over it." "She can't help it." "And you don't know anything about her." "They're not all Nazis." "Talk to her." "You'll find out." "She's family, Lotte." "She's your twin sister, for God's sake." "Come." "All glued together." "Bone glue?" "With a brush and very nice varnish." "For the sound." "I came for her." "She's the only one I have left." "Get out." "Get out of my house, Nazi." "Nazi." "You killed him." "You and that man..." "Do you want an SS whore in your home?" "Get out." "Get out of my life." "I never want to see you again." "You're not my sister any more." "So that's what it was." "Your twin sister, the wife of an SS officer." "And now you speak Dutch." "Good, eh?" "I thought:" "I won't let that happen to me twice." "We should get back. lt's getting late." "I hardly knew anything about what was happening in Holland." "And about what happened to the Jews... we didn't find out until much later." "'We didn't know.'" "We didn't know." "We have to get back." "If I'd had TB instead of you, the roles would have been reversed." "The question is:" "Would I have made the same choices?" "Of course." "You wouldn't have known any better, just like me." "I would never have married an SS officer." "I didn't fall in love with an SS officer... but with Martin, the best man in the whole world." "I would never have fallen in love with a murderer." "Martin was no murderer." "Don't be so naive." "You just told me so yourself." "Poland, Russia..." "An SS officer who was there at the time, took part in clean-ups." "Don't tell me he didn't kill anybody." "Of course he took part, because he had to." "But I know for certain that he hated war." "He was a good man." "SS men were murderers out of conviction." "There are all sorts of people, aren't there?" "Same in the SS." "That way, you can understand any murderer if you study him hard enough." "That's very dangerous, Anna." "Where are we, for God's sake?" "We've both been victims of circumstance." "Sorry, but I'm not going to compare my life to yours." "Why not?" "is my sorrow worth any less than yours?" "Damn it, Lotte. lf you and I can't understand each other, then who can?" "What will happen to the world?" "Shut up, I don't want to hear it." "I don't want to understand." "By forgiving you I'd betray David." "You don't have to forgive me for anything." "I'm not asking for forgiveness." "I haven't done anything wrong." "I've always tried to do the right thing and you're treating me like a monster." "I didn't kill David." "Oh stop it, Anna." "You and I live in two different worlds." "They can never ever meet." "I'm going this way." "You go back." "I'll find another route." "Anna, what's wrong?" "Nothing." "We'll go back together." "If I only knew where we were." "Hold on." "We'll climb down, slowly." "'The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak'." "Well, there we are." "Dinner can be served here, as far as I'm concerned." "I didn't kill David." "I know that." "But you feel I'm responsible." "I'm not really sure that I do." "The very last one." "Lovely." "A feast." "Do you have any children?" "No." "I couldn't have any... thanks to uncle Heinrich's beatings." "I later got a job with the Child Welfare Council." "That's where l worked for the rest of my life." "And I really enjoyed it." "Little Anna... I'm so cold, so cold... I understand." "She knew that she..." "She wanted me... for me to..." "Before she..." "That's what it was." "I understand." "Who is this woman?" "Anna." "My sister." "My twin sister."