The Divided Heart (1954) Movie Script
Hey!
Hey!
Well, don't just stand there. Help me!
One more go. A race this time.
What about your party?
- Oh yes! Come on!
- Toni!
Hello!
We came out here to practice turns
for the ski race.
Don't you want to win?
Yes, I do.
If you ever want to be any good,
you must always ski under control,
always under control.
I was, Papa, I promise.
Hello Toni.
Hello Mitzi. What's that?
Wait and see.
All right, you two, off you go.
Oh, and here's something
for your birthday.
Thanks, Herr Pieter.
And thanks for lending us Dora.
She went fine.
Did she? Come on, Dora.
- Thanks, Herr Pieter.
- Oh, nothing.
Oh, goodie!
- Now this one.
- No, now Papa's.
Show me how they work.
Gone.
It's come back.
Let me do it.
Franz, there's a man and
a woman asking for you.
- What do they want?
- I don't know.
- Herr Hartl?
- Yes.
I am a child tracing officer
from
the International Refugee Organization.
Mr. Marks is a child
repatriation officer.
We have to make some inquiries.
Have you a foreign adopted child
living with you?
No, we have Toni.
We are trying to trace a child
who was adopted from a children's home
in Leipzig by a family named Hartl.
Yes, that's us.
Were you living in
Brno in Czechoslovakia
when you adopted the boy?
Yes, we were.
At this address?
Yes.
Why do you say he's foreign?
He's not a foreign child.
He was born in Yugoslavia
of Slovene parents.
He was christened Ivan Slavko.
No, that's not true.
Toni is German, we made sure of that.
He was born of German parents
both killed in the war.
Papa, I can't do it.
Will you do it for me?
In a minute, son.
Go back and play with the others.
We are busy.
Why? We want you to light the candles.
Go back and play.
His mother is alive. She's a Slovene
living at Toplic in Yugoslavia.
No, that's not true.
I'm afraid it is.
No, you made a mistake.
What's going to happen?
- Was that the boy?
- Yes.
We have to report that he's been traced
- and that he's here and well.
- No!
His mother will be informed.
But I'm his mother!
He's mine, I love him.
If she claims custody,
it will have to go through the court.
The decision is
entirely up to the court.
When will we know?
If she applies for the custody,
in due course, you'll receive a letter
from the court.
You said you'd only be a minute. We
want you to come and light the candles.
Come on, Mama. Come on, Papa.
- Well, good night, Mr. Hartl.
- Good night.
What sort of woman is she?
Someone for whom the clock has stopped
at ten years ago.
It's difficult to explain You'll see.
Good morning Mrs. Slavko.
Good morning.
Can we have something to drink?
Yes.
Please, take a seat.
We finally have some good news for you
Mrs. Slavko.
We found Ivan.
Where is he?
Why did you not bring him?
I waited for 9 years.
Why did you not bring him, why?
She asked one question only.
"Where is he? Haven't you brought him?"
I tried to explain it was not so simple.
She would have to sue for him in court.
But she just couldn't see why.
She blazed out, "What? For my own baby?
They dare try and keep him?
My little vonker they stole?
As for, "What he was like now?
What kind of people he was with?"
All the flood of questions you'd expect.
Not a word.
Her baby.
It was indeed as if the clock had
stopped for her ten years ago.
I can't say in the
house, Franz, I can't.
Waiting for a knock on the door,
or a letter. I'm going to take him away.
Tonight, not here.
We can talk about it then.
No, Franz, it may be too late tonight.
You must keep calm.
I can't keep calm. Are you calm?
He's mine. He's going away.
Wait for me outside.
- We can't run away.
- Why not?
It wouldn't be the first time.
And the war was on
then. And the Russians.
Oh, Franz, why can't we
- You're all worked up.
- Yes!
You don't seem to realize
what's happening.
I can't let them take him.
I need his love as much as yours.
- Yes, I know.
- And he needs me.
Of course I know what it means to you.
But you want to stay here and
do nothing, not even put up a fight!
Come, Inga.
Where can we go?
We can't hide in the woods.
To another town.
I see, as easy as that!
There's a card to be stamped
wherever we go.
Why can't you try and be reasonable?
Reasonable, reasonable?
He's not the same to you, is he?
He can't be.
You've only really known him two years.
How much does he mean to you, hmm?
Now listen.
First, never say that to me again.
He's my son.
Next
I can't give up my
job. We've got to eat.
If it would do any good going away,
I'd do it.
No. Listen.
We've got to live in this world.
We can't change the law
but we have our rights too.
He was legally adopted.
- We'll fight back.
- We must.
We're going to.
What has he done?
What have you done?
What's all this noise?
What's going on?
- What have you done?
- I don't know. Nothing.
All right.
Get on with your drawings.
You won't forget my race is at three?
You won't be late, promise?
Hurry or you'll be late for school,
darling.
- Bye.
- Bye.
Hey, want to knock me over?
- Sorry.
- Here's a letter for your papa.
Papa, there's a letter for you.
It's registered.
Save me the stamp.
In the matter of the application of
the International Refugee Organization
for the resettlement or repatriation
of Ivan Slavko,
an unaccompanied displaced child
hereby summoned
An unaccompanied displaced child!
It's in the paper too!
What are we going to do?
He's not an unaccompanied
displaced child.
They got it all wrong.
What can we do?
The lawyer said we must wait.
Go and see those people who came here
at once.
They started it.
Just go, today?
Yes, Franz.
All right, Inga.
I'll tell Herr Kaufmann.
Your job,
- you may get the sack.
- We're going!
And the ski race? Oh, we can't!
Is there anything else?
No, that's all.
It's only that we thought
You thought what?
It's this idea there must be a law case
we can't get used to.
We've done nothing wrong.
But I've told you,
there's nothing to be afraid of.
The court will give you legal aid,
- first class lawyer
- Lawyers,
they are only good for twisting things.
This it's all so plain and simple.
We'd hoped
Yes?
What had you hoped?
We could make you see our side
and then you'd drop the case.
I can't help myself once the wheels
have been set in motion.
Oh, we'd hoped you were a man, not
Not just a mere machine.
It's taken me years to learn that.
How to be a useful part of the machine.
A man here would be useless.
He would drown in the tears.
Forty-two thousand parents who today
still can't find their children.
Over 20,000 lost children
looking for their mothers, still.
Babies in baskets brought from half the
countries in Europe like day-old chicks,
placed in these Lebensborn homes
which the Nazis ran,
their parentage deliberately covered up
and lied about!
So people like you should think they were
Germans and bring them up as Germans.
You know her, don't
you? What sort is she?
I think she's
She's a good woman.
Then won't she adopt
one of those lost ones instead?
If it was wrong
to take away her child by force,
isn't it just as wrong to snatch mine?
But this
is her child.
Part of her dead husband
which still lives.
Oh, Mother of Jesus, why is there war?
Ready, go!
Now here comes number 49, Toni Hartl.
He's doing fine.
Well, he made it
and his time was 25 seconds.
Toni Hartl, number 49,
- in 25 seconds.
- Well done.
- Have you seen my papa?
- No.
Bad luck, number four.
I'm afraid number
four is out of the race.
Now here comes the last of them,
number number ten is Hansel Fischer.
Well done, Hansel.
I'll give you the time in one second.
Have you seen my father?
Number ten's time
was 29 and a half seconds,
29 and a half seconds.
All right then. Here are the results
of the boys' class coach time.
First, Toni Hartl, 25 seconds.
Good boy, Toni.
Toni, we've won!
Toni!
I've got a message
for you from your papa.
He had to go away on business.
They're sorry but they couldn't help it.
They'll be home soon,
you are not to worry.
But they promised and I won!
Slavski.
Foreigner, that's what he is!
You take that back!
I won't, it's in the papers.
My father read it out.
Stop it, you two!
Or I'll knock your heads together.
Off you go.
Shoo.
What did he mean
saying that you're a foreigner?
Don't know and I don't care!
What are you following me for?
Why don't you clear off?
Toni, what is it?
Why are you crying?
It's me. Tell me what's wrong.
But you promised.
We had to go to Munich
and we didn't know that before.
Why?
Why did he call me a foreigner?
Who did?
He did, Max.
Toni, you mustn't be upset.
You mustn't be.
I can explain to you why he said that.
Then you will understand
and you won't mind what he said.
But why, Mama?
It's because you've got another mother.
She lives a long way away.
You see, when you were quite tiny,
before you can even remember,
this other mother lost you.
Someone took you away from her.
And we found you in a place
for children without any mother
and made you into our little boy,
really ours.
It's called adopting.
But Toni, it makes no difference.
We love you just as much,
perhaps even more.
Why haven't you ever told me?
Because we thought she was dead
and now we found out she's alive.
Will she come and live here too
like when Papa came back?
No, she won't.
I don't know what is going to happen,
perhaps nothing.
But you mustn't worry, darling,
will you promise?
You can tell Max
it isn't everyone who can say
he's got two mothers.
- Mitzi!
- Here.
I've got two mothers.
I've got two mothers!
You can't have two mothers.
I have.
That's why Max is jealous. I have,
I have, I have!
There is a point I
would like to mention.
I'm sorry.
Oyez, oyez, oyez.
The United States Court of Appeals
of the Allied High Commission
for Germany is now open.
All persons designed to appear
before this honorable court
draw near, give attention
and you shall be heard.
God save the United States
and its honorable court.
Hearing of case number D-641,
establishment of the status of Ivan
Slavko, an unaccompanied displaced child.
Is the appellant ready and in court?
Are the appellees ready and in court?
The court is now open to proceed.
Your Honor, my client
only speaks Slovene.
The interpreter
will sit beside Mrs. Slavko
and see that she
understands what is said.
Is the child in court?
No, Your Honor,
the child was not summoned.
Your Honor, this is a translation
of Mrs. Slavko's statement.
"I was married in 1932
to Josip Slavko from the bank."
"We had two daughters,
but we wanted a son."
"Our prayer was granted
and God gave us a son."
"He was born on January 2, 1941,
and we christened him Ivan."
We were all very
thankful and very proud,
the whole family.
Three, four.
It is ok.
We lived in Toplic, in Slovenia.
In April 1941, the Germans invaded.
The occupation started.
Josip longed to be with the Partisans
in the woods
but I begged him to stay with us,
to leave this work
to those without children.
He gave way,
but at night,
he took food to the Partisans.
Halt!
Over here, quickly!
Halt!
Honey.
I love you, honey.
The Fhrer is our best friend.
The Fhrer is our best friend.
Adolf Hitler is the friend
of all children.
Adolf Hitler is the friend
of all children.
Josip was betrayed by
a neighbor who owed us money.
The next day,
they came for me and the children.
I was out of the house when they came.
But my little girls
were taken with the rest.
Nobody knows what happened to them.
They were never seen again.
We fled to the woods, we hid there.
For five months, we hid there.
The Partisans helped us,
they brought us food and kept us alive.
Then Ivan fell ill.
I couldn't keep him warm.
The Partisans wanted me to go with them.
I could help with their
sick and wounded.
They said Ivan could not live.
If I return to the town,
the Germans would take me
but Ivan might live.
They took us to the camp.
At least there was food for everyone
and medicine.
On the fourth day, all the children
were taken from the camp.
They took Ivan.
Did she remain in this camp?
I think Mrs. Slavko will tell you that
after the children had been taken,
the women were told
that they would be sent
to a health resort, a spa.
Please, speak now.
They told you,
you will be sent to a health spa.
Yes.
They took everything from us
but our clothes.
They took everything from us
but our clothes.
Our wedding rings.
Our wedding rings.
And the gold
from our teeth with jackknifes.
And the gold from our teeth
with jackknifes.
Our guards were young boys.
Our guards were young boys.
We weren't taken to the health resort.
We weren't taken to the health resort.
Auschwitz.
Your Honor, she remained in this place
until the liberation.
She is one of the few women of Toplic
who returned.
I want the court
to give me back the child I lost.
She asks now the court to give her back
the child she lost.
I am his blood mother, but
the other woman only the bread mother.
She says she is the blood mother
but the other woman
only the bread mother.
If my child is forced
to live in Germany,
one day he will know the truth.
She says if her child is forced to live in
Germany, one day he will know the truth.
What will he
then think about his bread parents
when he discovers what the Germans
did to his own nation, to his father,
to his mother and to himself.
She asks what will he then
think about his bread parents
when he discovers
what the Germans did to his own nation,
to his father, to his mother
and to himself.
Your Honor, that concludes
the petition of my client.
What is it you're asking us
to do for you, Mrs. Slavko?
What do you want?
Give me back my child.
She says,
"Give me back my baby."
Your baby?
It's no longer in human power
to give you back your baby, Mrs. Slavko.
The court is adjourned
until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
She hates us.
When is the war going to end?
- Let's go in.
- No.
Yes.
Inga.
I'm sorry, Franz.
It's all right.
Does she really think
she can be a mother to him now?
It's too late.
Can't someone make her see that?
I think the judge was trying to.
No, she'll get him, I know she will.
- But you don't.
- I do!
After what she said, what can I say?
Inga.
Have you forgotten
what you've done for Toni?
It's all you have to tell them.
Herr Hartl, Frau Hartl,
nurse will bring you two boys
to choose from. There is no hurry.
Take your time.
Thank you.
Franz, I'm terrified.
So am I.
What do we know about children? Suppose
You'll know
or you wouldn't want one so badly.
- Hello.
- Hello.
How old are you?
I can play football.
You can? You are a big boy.
Hello to you too.
Don't be shy, Toni. Go and say hello.
Hello.
Don't you want to make friends?
Well, come on.
Come.
Can I see your pistol?
Hey, what is it?
And how old are you, Toni?
I'm afraid Toni's not very responsive.
Not like Hans.
He was even more nervous
when he came here.
Might we be alone with him perhaps.
Let's go and sit over there.
Well, nevermind.
Look what I've got for you.
Would you like one?
Ooh, can I have one?
Thank you.
That is a tired little boy.
Come on into bed
and I'll read you a story.
Hey.
Look what I have got for you.
I'll get another room.
It's for you, it's yours.
It's a present from Papa for Toni.
Don't you want it? It's from me too.
Go to sleep, Liebchen. Come.
I'll come in later.
You're going back to the war.
It's your last night and I've supported.
Not if you've got what you want.
I want you both.
Franz, come here a minute.
Nurse! Nurse! Nurse!
Nurse! Nurse!
Everything is all right, darling.
I'm here.
It's all right.
My little one.
Franz, I didn't wake up.
Come back to us, Franz.
This is your home, Toni.
This is your room, Toni. Look.
That's bunny, Toni's bunny.
For Toni to look after.
Here, give him something to eat.
That's Papa, he loves Toni.
Toni!
Toni!
Toni! What frightened you?
What are you running away from?
Oh!
You did have a nasty fall.
I'll have to bathe it and tie it up.
You didn't even cry.
- No, no, no!
- What is it?
There's nothing in the house
to be afraid of.
- No!
- Toni, come in and we make it all better.
No!
Come on, Toni, you must be hungry.
Come and have your supper.
No!
Poor bunny must be terribly hungry.
Won't you give poor bunny his supper?
Come on, Toni.
Toni.
This is not a very nice game
for little boys.
Come and see what I have got for you.
I want to show you the lovely nest
bunny has found.
- No.
- Come on, dear.
Look, in Papa's coat.
Toni, come here.
Wasn't bunny clever
to find such a lovely place?
So you see, it wasn't ever you
he was afraid of, Franz.
It must have been your uniform.
What are you doing?
I'm writing a letter to your father.
I want to write one too.
- You want to write one?
- Yes.
Here.
Thank you.
When Papa gets my letter,
will he send me one back?
It was the first time he saw me cry.
After that, he could cry naturally
whenever little boys do cry.
Mrs. Hartl, this strange
fear of uniforms,
for I gather the fear of your husband
was no more than that,
how did it originate?
Your honor.
And this strange
inability to shed tears?
Your honor, there is a gap of two years
in the child's life
before he came to the orphanage
about which we know nothing.
He may have seen bitter fighting,
violence, destruction
from the day he was
taken from his mother
by men in uniform.
Please proceed, Dr. Muller.
Until the end of the war,
you lived alone with the child
in the German part of Czechoslovakia?
Yes, our home was in Brno.
But you had to leave your home.
In the end when the
Russians were coming.
And your possessions.
We could take what we could carry
but I had Toni.
Taking the boy with you, you walked
and hitchhiked nearly 200 miles
to the German frontier.
- Yes.
- How did you manage?
- I worked.
- What sort of work?
In the fields, road work,
wherever I could find it.
Your honor,
I would like to ask Frau Hartl
one more question about this journey.
Is it true that the wife of a farmer
offered to let you
leave the boy with her
so that you could go on your way
unburdened,
then send for him later
once you had found a home?
Yes.
- But you refused?
- Yes.
Why?
Because he didn't want to be left.
How long did this journey take?
Sixty-one days.
You had nowhere in Germany to go to?
No.
Eventually, you found a room
in the village where you are now living.
Yes.
Had you any money?
I worked.
When did you hear from your husband?
Not for five years, I
thought he was dead.
And then?
Then I got a card.
It said he was in Russia
and ill and being sent back.
Until your husband came back, you clothed
and fed the boy and sent him to school?
- Yes.
- For nearly five years, single-handed?
- He had everything he needed.
- Thank you, Frau Hartl.
You may sit down.
I may have been only his bread mother
but I gave him a mother's love too.
Mrs. Hartl, Mrs. Slavko,
a boy is not a piece of property
to be owned.
He belongs to no one
but himself and God.
We're not deciding
a question of title deeds
but a boy's future.
It's been laid down
that this thought must be uppermost:
where does
the brightest future for him lie?
Moreover, we must
consider his own wishes.
For that, he must meet his natural
mother, he must try to get to know her.
He must form his wishes fairly
and without undue influence.
And remember, he's a boy, Mrs. Slavko,
not your baby.
This is a boy, not your baby.
This meeting will be arranged, please.
Then we should like to see the boy
and learn his wishes from his own lips.
The court is adjourned.
London, Judgement of Solomon,
the Yugoslav mother is to see her child.
The Chief Justice
To quote an old Jewish proverb,
"Since God could not be everywhere,
He made mothers."
The tragedy in this case today
is that the love of two mothers clash,
one of whom must give way.
Now it's up to the boy.
Toni!
Hello!
I've got Dora.
Herr Pieter taught me a new game.
It's like noughts and crosses,
only it's boxes instead.
You make a square
and then you make
dots inside, like this.
- Toni.
- Yes, Mama?
Toni, you haven't
asked about your mother.
- We went to see her, you know.
- I know.
Don't you want us to tell you about her?
It was in the papers, I read it.
She's a nice woman, Toni, your mother.
Your father,
he must have been a fine man too.
He's dead.
Well, your mother is coming to see you.
She wants to see you again very much,
get to know you again,
see where you live, see your skiing,
you know?
She's coming tomorrow in a motorcar.
I expect she'll take you out in it.
You'll have a good time.
There, you start.
You make a line between two dots,
any dots, it doesn't matter.
Well, don't you want me
to tell you all about her?
Why she's really coming?
I know. Your turn.
That's very nice. Lovely.
Ivan, I have brought you a present.
Present. Ta. Present.
Ivan, I have brought you a present.
- That's very good.
- Aha!
Look, Feldstein.
Please, stop the car.
She's not coming, only a man.
So I do hope you understand, Mrs. Hartl.
She's dreadfully nervous,
I've sent her on to the inn.
Is it too much to ask if I might take
the boy to her there this first time?
Without me?
Jump in, Toni. We'll see you later.
Mama, aren't you coming too?
No, Toni, I have to stay here
and cook supper.
Come on, Toni.
No! Let me out!
- Toni!
- Be good, Toni.
I won't go!
I'm sorry, but I have to come too.
- Yes, of course.
- Come along, Toni.
It's all right. Go in.
Come here.
How do you do, Ivan?
I'm happy to meeting you.
Well, let's all go inside, shall we?
My little boy.
You are alive, my son.
My sweet child.
My little boy.
My Ivan, my
Present.
You open it, Toni.
Present.
- Mama.
- Oh, Toni, I'm so ashamed.
I did mean to be kind to her.
I lost my way children.
Could you show me the way to the hotel?
Tell him I am very sorry
for making him unhappy.
Your mother wants me to say
she's very, very sorry.
She's afraid she's made you unhappy.
She came here for three days, you know.
But she was thinking perhaps
she'd better go straight back tomorrow
and not bother you.
I don't want her to go.
He does not want you to leave.
It's not goodbye, then. It's good night.
Do you ski in your country?
Ski, Yugoslavia, you?
Oh, no.
Good. Then I can teach you.
The first thing to learn
is you must ski under control,
always under control.
I think these are the best stamps
I've got.
Which?
My Yugoslavians, the
ones she brought me.
Pictures of all the
different industries,
printing, mining, shipbuilding.
And the airmail set has
different scenery, lovely scenery.
Mr. Marks says
that where my other mother lives,
it's about the best part.
And the skiing too.
But not like here.
It's your bedtime, come on in.
- Good night, Mama.
- I'll come back later.
I can't stand anymore of it.
She's going tomorrow.
That's not going to be the end of it.
There will never be an end now.
Why did she ever come?
It will go on for Toni wherever he is.
And us too and her.
Inga, this is life.
This is what we're born for.
To love and to suffer,
and through it, to grow.
And Toni too?
Yes. Toni too.
No, Franz. You're just talking.
Using words would mean nothing
like the judges do.
You think only blood mothers
can have mother love, don't you?
You'd like to wrap him in a parcel
and send him back, wouldn't you?
Inga.
He's my son too. And I love him too.
If you really mean it, we can
still go away to the Eastern zone.
But that wouldn't be the end of it.
You've just said,
it will go on for Toni
now, wherever he is
and for us.
It's out of our hands now.
Only if we let it be.
Toni doesn't want to go away.
Not now.
But he's growing up.
Inga.
I don't want to have to say
when the time comes
we decided what was best,
who was best,
that we knew better than anyone else.
He might answer,
"You knew what was best
for my mother too, didn't you?
And my father."
God help me to see it your way one day,
Franz.
Mrs. Slavko wanted to say goodbye.
- We won't keep you.
- Come in.
Mrs. Slavko wants me to say that she
will never forget the last three days
and that she will never regret them.
Now I think Mrs. Slavko would like to
say what she has to say in her own words.
When I came here, I didn't love my son,
I loved my baby.
She says that when she came here,
she didn't love her son,
she loved her baby.
But since I have been
here, I found my love for my son too.
But since she's been here,
she's found her love for her son too.
Because I love him, I
cannot take him away from all he loves.
Because she loves him now,
she can't take him
away from all he loves.
No.
You haven't any right to give him.
Giving and taking, they're just
another sort of running away.
Franz was right.
Running away won't help anyone.
We can't end this. It's too big for us.
It's
Only something above us can.
The judges.
It's their job to decide, isn't it?
Well, let them do their job.
The rest of us have to.
Come in.
Ah. Come along in.
Mr. Marks, you sit over there.
Thank you.
Well, you are a fine fellow, aren't you?
That's right, sit down.
Ivan, how old are you?
- Toni, how old are you?
- Ten.
Ten. I wish I were ten again.
- You go to school, don't you?
- Yes.
- You like your teacher?
- Yes.
What games do you play at school?
Football?
Sometimes.
What else? Skiing?
- Pretty good at skiing, eh?
- Yes.
Toni, you know why we're all here?
Because I got two mothers.
But do you really understand?
You really know the difference between
a real mother and a foster mother?
Yes, my mother told me.
Or do you mean your foster mother?
My mother, not my other mother.
He means Frau Hartl, Your Honor.
You like her, your other mother?
- Yes.
- Good.
Well, I
Well, you've had a good time with her,
rides in the car, presents.
Toni, what did you do for her?
I'm teaching her to ski.
Would you like to go back to Yugoslavia
with her?
I want to stay here.
Wouldn't you be just as happy there,
with your real mother?
Wouldn't you?
All we're trying to do is to find
out what you really want, son.
There are times when justice
cannot be done.
The foundation of justice
is to reward those who have done good,
to compensate
those who have suffered wrongs,
to punish only the evildoers.
The natural mother of this child
has suffered wrongs beyond redress.
If we refuse her petition,
the court is adding to those wrongs,
punishing her for having suffered.
The foster parents
came at a time
when the whole future of the boy,
body and mind, hung in the balance.
Only through their love and care
is he here today.
If we take him away from them,
the court is punishing them
for the good they have done.
Justice stands between these two women
with veiled eyes and cannot help us,
so both these considerations
we must forget.
The boy is the victim of horrors
brought about by grownups.
Now it is the duty of grownups
to try to do what is best for the boy.
He was questioned
by the three judges of this court.
I do not think that any of those present
will forget the scene.
He said, "I want to stay here."
I, for my part,
could not face my conscience
if I voted to take him away
from the parents who have brought him up
from his school, from his school friends
and from the country
which he regards as his own.
He wants the boy to stay in Germany.
Wars leave behind the stain of shame
which the centuries will not wash away.
And we have no power
to redress the wrongs done.
It isn't easy
to deny a boy his wish to remain
with those whom he considers
his mother and father.
But in my opinion, little boys
have resilience not given to grownups.
It isn't too much to expect
that with new friends and new places,
with his own flesh and blood, he
may soon find a place in his affections
for the woman who bore him,
at least equal to that now held
for his German foster parents.
In my judgement,
Ivan should be returned
to his true mother.
In a difficult decision,
the truth to lay hold of
is usually the simplest truth.
Here is the real mother,
here is the real son.
In a very material sense,
God has made them of one flesh.
Moreover, he is the seed of the father
that is dead but lives in him
and the male likeness of the sisters
who are lost but are found in him.
In childhood,
the mother cares for the son.
When he is grown, the son cares for her
and protects the mother.
It is very natural that this child
should cleave now to the foster mother
as the source of the only care
and protection he has ever known.
But he is ten years old
and is on the brink of the age
when his need will be to give love
rather than receive it.
If he goes to the real mother,
I would put it that we are giving
the custody of the mother to the son
rather than that of
the son to the mother.
I'm sure she will not make the mistake
of treating him as her baby.
And because of all the love
he has received,
I think he will have enough to give.
By a majority
of opinion, the court now orders
that Ivan Slavko be repatriated
to Yugoslavia
and designate his mother, Sonja Slavko,
as his guardian.
Pursuant to the provisions of
United States High Commission of Law 11,
an order to this effect will be entered.
The court is adjourned.
Toni, darling, your coffee.
Have you got your stamps, Toni?
Is my tie all right?
- Goodbye.
- Bye Toni.
- Bye.
- Bye Toni.
- Bye bye.
- Bye Toni.
Bye Toni.
Tickets, please.
No, no, no, your tickets.
- Tickets, tickets.
- Thank you.
Ticket.
Yes, yes.
Hey!
Well, don't just stand there. Help me!
One more go. A race this time.
What about your party?
- Oh yes! Come on!
- Toni!
Hello!
We came out here to practice turns
for the ski race.
Don't you want to win?
Yes, I do.
If you ever want to be any good,
you must always ski under control,
always under control.
I was, Papa, I promise.
Hello Toni.
Hello Mitzi. What's that?
Wait and see.
All right, you two, off you go.
Oh, and here's something
for your birthday.
Thanks, Herr Pieter.
And thanks for lending us Dora.
She went fine.
Did she? Come on, Dora.
- Thanks, Herr Pieter.
- Oh, nothing.
Oh, goodie!
- Now this one.
- No, now Papa's.
Show me how they work.
Gone.
It's come back.
Let me do it.
Franz, there's a man and
a woman asking for you.
- What do they want?
- I don't know.
- Herr Hartl?
- Yes.
I am a child tracing officer
from
the International Refugee Organization.
Mr. Marks is a child
repatriation officer.
We have to make some inquiries.
Have you a foreign adopted child
living with you?
No, we have Toni.
We are trying to trace a child
who was adopted from a children's home
in Leipzig by a family named Hartl.
Yes, that's us.
Were you living in
Brno in Czechoslovakia
when you adopted the boy?
Yes, we were.
At this address?
Yes.
Why do you say he's foreign?
He's not a foreign child.
He was born in Yugoslavia
of Slovene parents.
He was christened Ivan Slavko.
No, that's not true.
Toni is German, we made sure of that.
He was born of German parents
both killed in the war.
Papa, I can't do it.
Will you do it for me?
In a minute, son.
Go back and play with the others.
We are busy.
Why? We want you to light the candles.
Go back and play.
His mother is alive. She's a Slovene
living at Toplic in Yugoslavia.
No, that's not true.
I'm afraid it is.
No, you made a mistake.
What's going to happen?
- Was that the boy?
- Yes.
We have to report that he's been traced
- and that he's here and well.
- No!
His mother will be informed.
But I'm his mother!
He's mine, I love him.
If she claims custody,
it will have to go through the court.
The decision is
entirely up to the court.
When will we know?
If she applies for the custody,
in due course, you'll receive a letter
from the court.
You said you'd only be a minute. We
want you to come and light the candles.
Come on, Mama. Come on, Papa.
- Well, good night, Mr. Hartl.
- Good night.
What sort of woman is she?
Someone for whom the clock has stopped
at ten years ago.
It's difficult to explain You'll see.
Good morning Mrs. Slavko.
Good morning.
Can we have something to drink?
Yes.
Please, take a seat.
We finally have some good news for you
Mrs. Slavko.
We found Ivan.
Where is he?
Why did you not bring him?
I waited for 9 years.
Why did you not bring him, why?
She asked one question only.
"Where is he? Haven't you brought him?"
I tried to explain it was not so simple.
She would have to sue for him in court.
But she just couldn't see why.
She blazed out, "What? For my own baby?
They dare try and keep him?
My little vonker they stole?
As for, "What he was like now?
What kind of people he was with?"
All the flood of questions you'd expect.
Not a word.
Her baby.
It was indeed as if the clock had
stopped for her ten years ago.
I can't say in the
house, Franz, I can't.
Waiting for a knock on the door,
or a letter. I'm going to take him away.
Tonight, not here.
We can talk about it then.
No, Franz, it may be too late tonight.
You must keep calm.
I can't keep calm. Are you calm?
He's mine. He's going away.
Wait for me outside.
- We can't run away.
- Why not?
It wouldn't be the first time.
And the war was on
then. And the Russians.
Oh, Franz, why can't we
- You're all worked up.
- Yes!
You don't seem to realize
what's happening.
I can't let them take him.
I need his love as much as yours.
- Yes, I know.
- And he needs me.
Of course I know what it means to you.
But you want to stay here and
do nothing, not even put up a fight!
Come, Inga.
Where can we go?
We can't hide in the woods.
To another town.
I see, as easy as that!
There's a card to be stamped
wherever we go.
Why can't you try and be reasonable?
Reasonable, reasonable?
He's not the same to you, is he?
He can't be.
You've only really known him two years.
How much does he mean to you, hmm?
Now listen.
First, never say that to me again.
He's my son.
Next
I can't give up my
job. We've got to eat.
If it would do any good going away,
I'd do it.
No. Listen.
We've got to live in this world.
We can't change the law
but we have our rights too.
He was legally adopted.
- We'll fight back.
- We must.
We're going to.
What has he done?
What have you done?
What's all this noise?
What's going on?
- What have you done?
- I don't know. Nothing.
All right.
Get on with your drawings.
You won't forget my race is at three?
You won't be late, promise?
Hurry or you'll be late for school,
darling.
- Bye.
- Bye.
Hey, want to knock me over?
- Sorry.
- Here's a letter for your papa.
Papa, there's a letter for you.
It's registered.
Save me the stamp.
In the matter of the application of
the International Refugee Organization
for the resettlement or repatriation
of Ivan Slavko,
an unaccompanied displaced child
hereby summoned
An unaccompanied displaced child!
It's in the paper too!
What are we going to do?
He's not an unaccompanied
displaced child.
They got it all wrong.
What can we do?
The lawyer said we must wait.
Go and see those people who came here
at once.
They started it.
Just go, today?
Yes, Franz.
All right, Inga.
I'll tell Herr Kaufmann.
Your job,
- you may get the sack.
- We're going!
And the ski race? Oh, we can't!
Is there anything else?
No, that's all.
It's only that we thought
You thought what?
It's this idea there must be a law case
we can't get used to.
We've done nothing wrong.
But I've told you,
there's nothing to be afraid of.
The court will give you legal aid,
- first class lawyer
- Lawyers,
they are only good for twisting things.
This it's all so plain and simple.
We'd hoped
Yes?
What had you hoped?
We could make you see our side
and then you'd drop the case.
I can't help myself once the wheels
have been set in motion.
Oh, we'd hoped you were a man, not
Not just a mere machine.
It's taken me years to learn that.
How to be a useful part of the machine.
A man here would be useless.
He would drown in the tears.
Forty-two thousand parents who today
still can't find their children.
Over 20,000 lost children
looking for their mothers, still.
Babies in baskets brought from half the
countries in Europe like day-old chicks,
placed in these Lebensborn homes
which the Nazis ran,
their parentage deliberately covered up
and lied about!
So people like you should think they were
Germans and bring them up as Germans.
You know her, don't
you? What sort is she?
I think she's
She's a good woman.
Then won't she adopt
one of those lost ones instead?
If it was wrong
to take away her child by force,
isn't it just as wrong to snatch mine?
But this
is her child.
Part of her dead husband
which still lives.
Oh, Mother of Jesus, why is there war?
Ready, go!
Now here comes number 49, Toni Hartl.
He's doing fine.
Well, he made it
and his time was 25 seconds.
Toni Hartl, number 49,
- in 25 seconds.
- Well done.
- Have you seen my papa?
- No.
Bad luck, number four.
I'm afraid number
four is out of the race.
Now here comes the last of them,
number number ten is Hansel Fischer.
Well done, Hansel.
I'll give you the time in one second.
Have you seen my father?
Number ten's time
was 29 and a half seconds,
29 and a half seconds.
All right then. Here are the results
of the boys' class coach time.
First, Toni Hartl, 25 seconds.
Good boy, Toni.
Toni, we've won!
Toni!
I've got a message
for you from your papa.
He had to go away on business.
They're sorry but they couldn't help it.
They'll be home soon,
you are not to worry.
But they promised and I won!
Slavski.
Foreigner, that's what he is!
You take that back!
I won't, it's in the papers.
My father read it out.
Stop it, you two!
Or I'll knock your heads together.
Off you go.
Shoo.
What did he mean
saying that you're a foreigner?
Don't know and I don't care!
What are you following me for?
Why don't you clear off?
Toni, what is it?
Why are you crying?
It's me. Tell me what's wrong.
But you promised.
We had to go to Munich
and we didn't know that before.
Why?
Why did he call me a foreigner?
Who did?
He did, Max.
Toni, you mustn't be upset.
You mustn't be.
I can explain to you why he said that.
Then you will understand
and you won't mind what he said.
But why, Mama?
It's because you've got another mother.
She lives a long way away.
You see, when you were quite tiny,
before you can even remember,
this other mother lost you.
Someone took you away from her.
And we found you in a place
for children without any mother
and made you into our little boy,
really ours.
It's called adopting.
But Toni, it makes no difference.
We love you just as much,
perhaps even more.
Why haven't you ever told me?
Because we thought she was dead
and now we found out she's alive.
Will she come and live here too
like when Papa came back?
No, she won't.
I don't know what is going to happen,
perhaps nothing.
But you mustn't worry, darling,
will you promise?
You can tell Max
it isn't everyone who can say
he's got two mothers.
- Mitzi!
- Here.
I've got two mothers.
I've got two mothers!
You can't have two mothers.
I have.
That's why Max is jealous. I have,
I have, I have!
There is a point I
would like to mention.
I'm sorry.
Oyez, oyez, oyez.
The United States Court of Appeals
of the Allied High Commission
for Germany is now open.
All persons designed to appear
before this honorable court
draw near, give attention
and you shall be heard.
God save the United States
and its honorable court.
Hearing of case number D-641,
establishment of the status of Ivan
Slavko, an unaccompanied displaced child.
Is the appellant ready and in court?
Are the appellees ready and in court?
The court is now open to proceed.
Your Honor, my client
only speaks Slovene.
The interpreter
will sit beside Mrs. Slavko
and see that she
understands what is said.
Is the child in court?
No, Your Honor,
the child was not summoned.
Your Honor, this is a translation
of Mrs. Slavko's statement.
"I was married in 1932
to Josip Slavko from the bank."
"We had two daughters,
but we wanted a son."
"Our prayer was granted
and God gave us a son."
"He was born on January 2, 1941,
and we christened him Ivan."
We were all very
thankful and very proud,
the whole family.
Three, four.
It is ok.
We lived in Toplic, in Slovenia.
In April 1941, the Germans invaded.
The occupation started.
Josip longed to be with the Partisans
in the woods
but I begged him to stay with us,
to leave this work
to those without children.
He gave way,
but at night,
he took food to the Partisans.
Halt!
Over here, quickly!
Halt!
Honey.
I love you, honey.
The Fhrer is our best friend.
The Fhrer is our best friend.
Adolf Hitler is the friend
of all children.
Adolf Hitler is the friend
of all children.
Josip was betrayed by
a neighbor who owed us money.
The next day,
they came for me and the children.
I was out of the house when they came.
But my little girls
were taken with the rest.
Nobody knows what happened to them.
They were never seen again.
We fled to the woods, we hid there.
For five months, we hid there.
The Partisans helped us,
they brought us food and kept us alive.
Then Ivan fell ill.
I couldn't keep him warm.
The Partisans wanted me to go with them.
I could help with their
sick and wounded.
They said Ivan could not live.
If I return to the town,
the Germans would take me
but Ivan might live.
They took us to the camp.
At least there was food for everyone
and medicine.
On the fourth day, all the children
were taken from the camp.
They took Ivan.
Did she remain in this camp?
I think Mrs. Slavko will tell you that
after the children had been taken,
the women were told
that they would be sent
to a health resort, a spa.
Please, speak now.
They told you,
you will be sent to a health spa.
Yes.
They took everything from us
but our clothes.
They took everything from us
but our clothes.
Our wedding rings.
Our wedding rings.
And the gold
from our teeth with jackknifes.
And the gold from our teeth
with jackknifes.
Our guards were young boys.
Our guards were young boys.
We weren't taken to the health resort.
We weren't taken to the health resort.
Auschwitz.
Your Honor, she remained in this place
until the liberation.
She is one of the few women of Toplic
who returned.
I want the court
to give me back the child I lost.
She asks now the court to give her back
the child she lost.
I am his blood mother, but
the other woman only the bread mother.
She says she is the blood mother
but the other woman
only the bread mother.
If my child is forced
to live in Germany,
one day he will know the truth.
She says if her child is forced to live in
Germany, one day he will know the truth.
What will he
then think about his bread parents
when he discovers what the Germans
did to his own nation, to his father,
to his mother and to himself.
She asks what will he then
think about his bread parents
when he discovers
what the Germans did to his own nation,
to his father, to his mother
and to himself.
Your Honor, that concludes
the petition of my client.
What is it you're asking us
to do for you, Mrs. Slavko?
What do you want?
Give me back my child.
She says,
"Give me back my baby."
Your baby?
It's no longer in human power
to give you back your baby, Mrs. Slavko.
The court is adjourned
until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
She hates us.
When is the war going to end?
- Let's go in.
- No.
Yes.
Inga.
I'm sorry, Franz.
It's all right.
Does she really think
she can be a mother to him now?
It's too late.
Can't someone make her see that?
I think the judge was trying to.
No, she'll get him, I know she will.
- But you don't.
- I do!
After what she said, what can I say?
Inga.
Have you forgotten
what you've done for Toni?
It's all you have to tell them.
Herr Hartl, Frau Hartl,
nurse will bring you two boys
to choose from. There is no hurry.
Take your time.
Thank you.
Franz, I'm terrified.
So am I.
What do we know about children? Suppose
You'll know
or you wouldn't want one so badly.
- Hello.
- Hello.
How old are you?
I can play football.
You can? You are a big boy.
Hello to you too.
Don't be shy, Toni. Go and say hello.
Hello.
Don't you want to make friends?
Well, come on.
Come.
Can I see your pistol?
Hey, what is it?
And how old are you, Toni?
I'm afraid Toni's not very responsive.
Not like Hans.
He was even more nervous
when he came here.
Might we be alone with him perhaps.
Let's go and sit over there.
Well, nevermind.
Look what I've got for you.
Would you like one?
Ooh, can I have one?
Thank you.
That is a tired little boy.
Come on into bed
and I'll read you a story.
Hey.
Look what I have got for you.
I'll get another room.
It's for you, it's yours.
It's a present from Papa for Toni.
Don't you want it? It's from me too.
Go to sleep, Liebchen. Come.
I'll come in later.
You're going back to the war.
It's your last night and I've supported.
Not if you've got what you want.
I want you both.
Franz, come here a minute.
Nurse! Nurse! Nurse!
Nurse! Nurse!
Everything is all right, darling.
I'm here.
It's all right.
My little one.
Franz, I didn't wake up.
Come back to us, Franz.
This is your home, Toni.
This is your room, Toni. Look.
That's bunny, Toni's bunny.
For Toni to look after.
Here, give him something to eat.
That's Papa, he loves Toni.
Toni!
Toni!
Toni! What frightened you?
What are you running away from?
Oh!
You did have a nasty fall.
I'll have to bathe it and tie it up.
You didn't even cry.
- No, no, no!
- What is it?
There's nothing in the house
to be afraid of.
- No!
- Toni, come in and we make it all better.
No!
Come on, Toni, you must be hungry.
Come and have your supper.
No!
Poor bunny must be terribly hungry.
Won't you give poor bunny his supper?
Come on, Toni.
Toni.
This is not a very nice game
for little boys.
Come and see what I have got for you.
I want to show you the lovely nest
bunny has found.
- No.
- Come on, dear.
Look, in Papa's coat.
Toni, come here.
Wasn't bunny clever
to find such a lovely place?
So you see, it wasn't ever you
he was afraid of, Franz.
It must have been your uniform.
What are you doing?
I'm writing a letter to your father.
I want to write one too.
- You want to write one?
- Yes.
Here.
Thank you.
When Papa gets my letter,
will he send me one back?
It was the first time he saw me cry.
After that, he could cry naturally
whenever little boys do cry.
Mrs. Hartl, this strange
fear of uniforms,
for I gather the fear of your husband
was no more than that,
how did it originate?
Your honor.
And this strange
inability to shed tears?
Your honor, there is a gap of two years
in the child's life
before he came to the orphanage
about which we know nothing.
He may have seen bitter fighting,
violence, destruction
from the day he was
taken from his mother
by men in uniform.
Please proceed, Dr. Muller.
Until the end of the war,
you lived alone with the child
in the German part of Czechoslovakia?
Yes, our home was in Brno.
But you had to leave your home.
In the end when the
Russians were coming.
And your possessions.
We could take what we could carry
but I had Toni.
Taking the boy with you, you walked
and hitchhiked nearly 200 miles
to the German frontier.
- Yes.
- How did you manage?
- I worked.
- What sort of work?
In the fields, road work,
wherever I could find it.
Your honor,
I would like to ask Frau Hartl
one more question about this journey.
Is it true that the wife of a farmer
offered to let you
leave the boy with her
so that you could go on your way
unburdened,
then send for him later
once you had found a home?
Yes.
- But you refused?
- Yes.
Why?
Because he didn't want to be left.
How long did this journey take?
Sixty-one days.
You had nowhere in Germany to go to?
No.
Eventually, you found a room
in the village where you are now living.
Yes.
Had you any money?
I worked.
When did you hear from your husband?
Not for five years, I
thought he was dead.
And then?
Then I got a card.
It said he was in Russia
and ill and being sent back.
Until your husband came back, you clothed
and fed the boy and sent him to school?
- Yes.
- For nearly five years, single-handed?
- He had everything he needed.
- Thank you, Frau Hartl.
You may sit down.
I may have been only his bread mother
but I gave him a mother's love too.
Mrs. Hartl, Mrs. Slavko,
a boy is not a piece of property
to be owned.
He belongs to no one
but himself and God.
We're not deciding
a question of title deeds
but a boy's future.
It's been laid down
that this thought must be uppermost:
where does
the brightest future for him lie?
Moreover, we must
consider his own wishes.
For that, he must meet his natural
mother, he must try to get to know her.
He must form his wishes fairly
and without undue influence.
And remember, he's a boy, Mrs. Slavko,
not your baby.
This is a boy, not your baby.
This meeting will be arranged, please.
Then we should like to see the boy
and learn his wishes from his own lips.
The court is adjourned.
London, Judgement of Solomon,
the Yugoslav mother is to see her child.
The Chief Justice
To quote an old Jewish proverb,
"Since God could not be everywhere,
He made mothers."
The tragedy in this case today
is that the love of two mothers clash,
one of whom must give way.
Now it's up to the boy.
Toni!
Hello!
I've got Dora.
Herr Pieter taught me a new game.
It's like noughts and crosses,
only it's boxes instead.
You make a square
and then you make
dots inside, like this.
- Toni.
- Yes, Mama?
Toni, you haven't
asked about your mother.
- We went to see her, you know.
- I know.
Don't you want us to tell you about her?
It was in the papers, I read it.
She's a nice woman, Toni, your mother.
Your father,
he must have been a fine man too.
He's dead.
Well, your mother is coming to see you.
She wants to see you again very much,
get to know you again,
see where you live, see your skiing,
you know?
She's coming tomorrow in a motorcar.
I expect she'll take you out in it.
You'll have a good time.
There, you start.
You make a line between two dots,
any dots, it doesn't matter.
Well, don't you want me
to tell you all about her?
Why she's really coming?
I know. Your turn.
That's very nice. Lovely.
Ivan, I have brought you a present.
Present. Ta. Present.
Ivan, I have brought you a present.
- That's very good.
- Aha!
Look, Feldstein.
Please, stop the car.
She's not coming, only a man.
So I do hope you understand, Mrs. Hartl.
She's dreadfully nervous,
I've sent her on to the inn.
Is it too much to ask if I might take
the boy to her there this first time?
Without me?
Jump in, Toni. We'll see you later.
Mama, aren't you coming too?
No, Toni, I have to stay here
and cook supper.
Come on, Toni.
No! Let me out!
- Toni!
- Be good, Toni.
I won't go!
I'm sorry, but I have to come too.
- Yes, of course.
- Come along, Toni.
It's all right. Go in.
Come here.
How do you do, Ivan?
I'm happy to meeting you.
Well, let's all go inside, shall we?
My little boy.
You are alive, my son.
My sweet child.
My little boy.
My Ivan, my
Present.
You open it, Toni.
Present.
- Mama.
- Oh, Toni, I'm so ashamed.
I did mean to be kind to her.
I lost my way children.
Could you show me the way to the hotel?
Tell him I am very sorry
for making him unhappy.
Your mother wants me to say
she's very, very sorry.
She's afraid she's made you unhappy.
She came here for three days, you know.
But she was thinking perhaps
she'd better go straight back tomorrow
and not bother you.
I don't want her to go.
He does not want you to leave.
It's not goodbye, then. It's good night.
Do you ski in your country?
Ski, Yugoslavia, you?
Oh, no.
Good. Then I can teach you.
The first thing to learn
is you must ski under control,
always under control.
I think these are the best stamps
I've got.
Which?
My Yugoslavians, the
ones she brought me.
Pictures of all the
different industries,
printing, mining, shipbuilding.
And the airmail set has
different scenery, lovely scenery.
Mr. Marks says
that where my other mother lives,
it's about the best part.
And the skiing too.
But not like here.
It's your bedtime, come on in.
- Good night, Mama.
- I'll come back later.
I can't stand anymore of it.
She's going tomorrow.
That's not going to be the end of it.
There will never be an end now.
Why did she ever come?
It will go on for Toni wherever he is.
And us too and her.
Inga, this is life.
This is what we're born for.
To love and to suffer,
and through it, to grow.
And Toni too?
Yes. Toni too.
No, Franz. You're just talking.
Using words would mean nothing
like the judges do.
You think only blood mothers
can have mother love, don't you?
You'd like to wrap him in a parcel
and send him back, wouldn't you?
Inga.
He's my son too. And I love him too.
If you really mean it, we can
still go away to the Eastern zone.
But that wouldn't be the end of it.
You've just said,
it will go on for Toni
now, wherever he is
and for us.
It's out of our hands now.
Only if we let it be.
Toni doesn't want to go away.
Not now.
But he's growing up.
Inga.
I don't want to have to say
when the time comes
we decided what was best,
who was best,
that we knew better than anyone else.
He might answer,
"You knew what was best
for my mother too, didn't you?
And my father."
God help me to see it your way one day,
Franz.
Mrs. Slavko wanted to say goodbye.
- We won't keep you.
- Come in.
Mrs. Slavko wants me to say that she
will never forget the last three days
and that she will never regret them.
Now I think Mrs. Slavko would like to
say what she has to say in her own words.
When I came here, I didn't love my son,
I loved my baby.
She says that when she came here,
she didn't love her son,
she loved her baby.
But since I have been
here, I found my love for my son too.
But since she's been here,
she's found her love for her son too.
Because I love him, I
cannot take him away from all he loves.
Because she loves him now,
she can't take him
away from all he loves.
No.
You haven't any right to give him.
Giving and taking, they're just
another sort of running away.
Franz was right.
Running away won't help anyone.
We can't end this. It's too big for us.
It's
Only something above us can.
The judges.
It's their job to decide, isn't it?
Well, let them do their job.
The rest of us have to.
Come in.
Ah. Come along in.
Mr. Marks, you sit over there.
Thank you.
Well, you are a fine fellow, aren't you?
That's right, sit down.
Ivan, how old are you?
- Toni, how old are you?
- Ten.
Ten. I wish I were ten again.
- You go to school, don't you?
- Yes.
- You like your teacher?
- Yes.
What games do you play at school?
Football?
Sometimes.
What else? Skiing?
- Pretty good at skiing, eh?
- Yes.
Toni, you know why we're all here?
Because I got two mothers.
But do you really understand?
You really know the difference between
a real mother and a foster mother?
Yes, my mother told me.
Or do you mean your foster mother?
My mother, not my other mother.
He means Frau Hartl, Your Honor.
You like her, your other mother?
- Yes.
- Good.
Well, I
Well, you've had a good time with her,
rides in the car, presents.
Toni, what did you do for her?
I'm teaching her to ski.
Would you like to go back to Yugoslavia
with her?
I want to stay here.
Wouldn't you be just as happy there,
with your real mother?
Wouldn't you?
All we're trying to do is to find
out what you really want, son.
There are times when justice
cannot be done.
The foundation of justice
is to reward those who have done good,
to compensate
those who have suffered wrongs,
to punish only the evildoers.
The natural mother of this child
has suffered wrongs beyond redress.
If we refuse her petition,
the court is adding to those wrongs,
punishing her for having suffered.
The foster parents
came at a time
when the whole future of the boy,
body and mind, hung in the balance.
Only through their love and care
is he here today.
If we take him away from them,
the court is punishing them
for the good they have done.
Justice stands between these two women
with veiled eyes and cannot help us,
so both these considerations
we must forget.
The boy is the victim of horrors
brought about by grownups.
Now it is the duty of grownups
to try to do what is best for the boy.
He was questioned
by the three judges of this court.
I do not think that any of those present
will forget the scene.
He said, "I want to stay here."
I, for my part,
could not face my conscience
if I voted to take him away
from the parents who have brought him up
from his school, from his school friends
and from the country
which he regards as his own.
He wants the boy to stay in Germany.
Wars leave behind the stain of shame
which the centuries will not wash away.
And we have no power
to redress the wrongs done.
It isn't easy
to deny a boy his wish to remain
with those whom he considers
his mother and father.
But in my opinion, little boys
have resilience not given to grownups.
It isn't too much to expect
that with new friends and new places,
with his own flesh and blood, he
may soon find a place in his affections
for the woman who bore him,
at least equal to that now held
for his German foster parents.
In my judgement,
Ivan should be returned
to his true mother.
In a difficult decision,
the truth to lay hold of
is usually the simplest truth.
Here is the real mother,
here is the real son.
In a very material sense,
God has made them of one flesh.
Moreover, he is the seed of the father
that is dead but lives in him
and the male likeness of the sisters
who are lost but are found in him.
In childhood,
the mother cares for the son.
When he is grown, the son cares for her
and protects the mother.
It is very natural that this child
should cleave now to the foster mother
as the source of the only care
and protection he has ever known.
But he is ten years old
and is on the brink of the age
when his need will be to give love
rather than receive it.
If he goes to the real mother,
I would put it that we are giving
the custody of the mother to the son
rather than that of
the son to the mother.
I'm sure she will not make the mistake
of treating him as her baby.
And because of all the love
he has received,
I think he will have enough to give.
By a majority
of opinion, the court now orders
that Ivan Slavko be repatriated
to Yugoslavia
and designate his mother, Sonja Slavko,
as his guardian.
Pursuant to the provisions of
United States High Commission of Law 11,
an order to this effect will be entered.
The court is adjourned.
Toni, darling, your coffee.
Have you got your stamps, Toni?
Is my tie all right?
- Goodbye.
- Bye Toni.
- Bye.
- Bye Toni.
- Bye bye.
- Bye Toni.
Bye Toni.
Tickets, please.
No, no, no, your tickets.
- Tickets, tickets.
- Thank you.
Ticket.
Yes, yes.