War and Remembrance (1988) s01e02 Episode Script
Part II - 1.27.1942 - 5.6.1942
Dear Old Slote, what a marvelous surprise to learn you're in Bern, so close, working for our release.
Your nice Swiss diplomat friend Dr.
Robleau is visiting with Aaron while l hammer this off.
First of all, I'm fine.
So is Louis.
It's crazy how comfortable we are.
Only the other American internees from Siena's Excelsior Hotel remind us of the war and our perilous situation.
Speaking of which, Slote, Aaron is still playing with the notion of staying on here, war or no war.
Between his old friends the Archbishop and Chief of Police, he's treated like exiled royalty.
He also feels, lf needed, he has one sweaty little ace in the hole.
He once converted to Catholicism back in the twenties.
He dropped it fast, but has the documents, so he refuses to worry about being Jewish.
Between that and being an American journalist, he feels safe here.
It's his home.
He's too old to move, etcetera.
He has an answer for everything.
It's maddening.
Why should l be so upset about Aaron? It's his life.
l came to work for him to be nearer to you in those simple, lost days when my only worry was a messed up romance.
You were a fool not to marry me in Paris when l proposed.
How l loved you.
lf one only understood sooner things happen once and roll away into the past, leaving one marked and changed forever.
Looking back is to no avail.
Think of something to do about Aaron, my dear, please.
He can't stay alone in an enemy country.
I'm a lot thinner in the enclosed.
At least I'm smiling.
Isn't Louis cute? Love, Natalie.
Stunning girl.
Yes, she is.
Antoine, thank you so much for carrying our letters.
Oh, my pleasure.
Dr.
Jastrow was charming.
l hope they'll all be out by March or April.
March or April? Now, l must report to your minister.
Will you have dinner with me later, Leslie? Thank you, but some other time.
Do you know Jacob Ascher? Of course.
An important philanthropist, a German Jew now a Swiss.
Why? I've never met him, but he's invited me tonight for cocktails.
Most insistent.
Well, Leslie, enjoy yourself.
Guten abend.
Ich bin Leslie Slote.
Why don't you talk in English? All right.
I'm Leslie Slote.
I'm the first undersecretary at the American legation in Bern.
How? Have we met? l asked someone about you because you kept staring at me.
My apologies.
You remind me very much of someone l know.
Really? I'm Selma Ascher.
Yes.
This is my father's home.
Ah.
I've yet to meet him.
Papa will be down soon.
Something came up.
He's deeply involved in refugee work.
My friend said you were transferred from Moscow for being too partial to Jews.
l wish l could claim such martyrdom, but my transfer was routine.
I'm glad to be where the food's good, lights go on at night, guns don't go off.
Don't be ashamed of what you have done.
Can't you realize how it distinguishes you in your foreign service? Thank you, but I'm afraid it distinguished me in the wrong way.
Mr.
Slote, l am Jacob Ascher.
l apologize for not having been able to greet you.
No need.
No need.
Excuse me.
Pleasure to have met.
Mr.
Slote You are wondering why l invited you.
Yes.
The truth is, there is someone who expressed an interest in meeting you.
Father Martin, this is the American first undersecretary Leslie Slote.
I'm very pleased to meet you.
I'm honored.
Father Martin has greatly helped our work in the Jewish refugee council.
One does so little.
You, of all people, cannot say that.
No, please.
Please.
Father Martin is also a German citizen.
Well, perhaps l will leave you two to talk.
Thank you.
l, uh l would prefer that we talked elsewhere.
All right.
Perhaps I'll walk with you back into the city.
Walk? It's miles.
No.
It's only a couple.
It's good exercise.
Yes, l suppose.
Shall we go? I'm afraid l have to be going.
Well ahgood night.
Write your friend about the girl who resembles her.
I'd like to you see you.
No.
I'd only depress you, reminding you of your lost love.
Goodbye.
Are the stories coming out of Russia and Poland true, Herr Slote? Stories? About the Jewish massacres.
Such things are difficult to prove.
Massacre victims can't talk.
Yet, in Moscow, one is told, you did obtain some documentary evidence.
Yes, l did- Certain photographs of a particularly gruesome nature from the region of Minsk.
I'm also told that you placed them in the hands of the New York times, Herr Slote.
Right again.
And the story, all 10 lines of it, ended up on the back page.
That's terrible.
That's-that's terrible.
Yes, particularly as it seems to have had a very depressing effect upon my career.
Your Would, uh would further evidence interest you? Conclusive evidence of new, unbelievable atrocities.
My government would be very interested.
Your government.
Do you like the cinema, Herr Slote? I'm very partial to films.
l confess, it's a frivolous waste of time.
Yes, l go to films.
Perhaps you'll join me one evening at the palace? A Bing Crosby film is coming soon.
He's my favorite.
Would you enjoy that? Yes, of course.
Certainly.
I'd be delighted to join you.
Excellent.
l shall call you.
So, until then.
Until then.
in the wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster, the Japanese have continued to press their attack.
On Christmas day, Hong Kong falls, while in the jungles of Malaya and Burma, the Japanese continue their remorseless advance as Singapore prepares for a last-ditch stand.
American positions in the Philippines crumble.
MacArthur falls back to Bataan.
The enemy takes Manila.
The Japanese seem unstoppable, and by early February, are on their way to making the Pacific Ocean a Japanese lake.
it is then that the American navy finally strikes its first counterblow.
A carrier task force under Admiral William F.
Bull Halsey aboard the Enterprise steams southwest into enemy waters to bombard Japanese strong points in the marshalls and gilberts.
The returning Armada is given a tumultuous welcome at Pearl Harbor.
Journalists hall the attack as a resurgence of American power in the Pacific, the turn of the tide.
All ahead 1/3.
All ahead 1/3.
Aye, sir.
Engines answer ahead 1/3, sir.
Attention! I'm keeping this short, gentlemen.
You will remain standing.
Let's get one thing straight.
The purpose of the hoopla out there is to boost civilian morale.
The truth is, Hirohito isn't losing any sleep over what that raid did.
it was a nuisance raid.
Unfortunately, we were not much of a nuisance.
As to what the North Hampton did, the less said, the better.
Mr.
Grigg, all shore leaves are canceled.
We sortie at dawn for gunnery practice.
Questions? That is all.
Lots of mail, Captain.
Let him in.
Admiral Spruance's compliments sir he invites you to dine with him, at 18:00, and listen to your friend Alistair Tudsbury's special broadcast from Singapore.
Accept with pleasure.
Thank you, sir.
''Dear Pug, this is from a well-meaning friend.
l realize what war can do to a marriage, but l hate to see it happen to a model couple like you and Rhoda.
Why don't you write and ask her about that tall man she plays tennis with.
His name begins with a ''K.
'' That Isn't all she plays.
She's been seen in all the wrong places with him at the wrong times.
Everybody who has known you two is talking.
Unless you do something PDQ, you can kiss your marriage goodbye.
A word to the wise from a well-wisher.
'' Good evening.
This is Alistair Tudsbury broadcasting from Singapore.
As this broadcast reaches you, Japanese heavy artillery is raining destruction on this great island city from across the Johore Strait.
The lives of hundreds of civilians are lost each day to this merciless bombardment.
l come to you tonight, in part, because the military authorities now concede that Singapore's one hope lies in letting the democratic world know exactly how desperate our situation is.
lf help is ever to arrive, it must come now.
So in conclusion, l believe that even at this late date, the tide can be turned.
I'll gamble my overstuffed old hide on this, but not the person of my daughter Pamela, a clever and lovely young woman who assists me in my work.
(radio) So off she goes tomorrow with the women and children.
She told me a story not two hours ago that l want her to share with you.
Here, then, is Pamela.
My story is a short one.
For the past two weeks, I've worked at a troop hospital as a volunteer.
Today, a badly wounded man took me aside and gave me a mill's bomb, a sort of grenade.
''Ma'am, you've been very nice to us.
lf you think a Jap is about to rape you Ma'am,'' he said in an Aussie accent, ''just pull the pin and you'll know nothing more.
'' l have only one thing to add.
l leave under protest.
Good night.
Good night from Alistair Tudsbury in Singapore.
You've just been listening to a special broadcast from the studio The fall of Singapore will be worse than the fall of France.
it means the collapse of of an entire world system.
Our side needs a victory out here.
We do.
He's an able correspondent, that fellow Tudsbury.
You know the daughter? Yes.
She sounds like a very admirable young woman.
Yes, she is.
Leslie Slote.
Hello, it's Selma Ascher.
Will you take me to dinner? Good God, yes! When? Where? I'll pick you up in half an hour.
Oh, uh All right.
Half an hour.
I've been talking my head off.
Does Natalie talk so much? More, much more.
She's very opinionated and very argumentative.
Then l think we're really not much alike.
I'm rapidly forgetting the resemblance.
Truly? Poor me.
That's the only reason you're interested in me.
Not once you spoke half a dozen words.
Then you're not sorry l called? Selma, I'm delighted And I'm flattered.
Selma.
The priest that l met at your father's house.
Father Martin.
Yes.
Would information that he's offered be reliable regarding the mistreatment of the Jews? l would think so, Leslie.
Father Martin's a good man, even if he is a German.
Do you like to dance? l dance abominably.
I've done it so little.
But l would like to dance tonight.
Then, by all means.
On the Eastern front, despite reported stiff German resistance, new Russian offensives continue to roll up heavy gains in all sectors.
Meanwhile, in North Africa, in a series of lightning strikes, the German panzer divisions under Field Marshal Rommel have recovered nearly all the ground won by British forces at the turn of the year.
in the Pacific, the Japanese have begun a series of major attacks with new fighting reported in Java, Borneo, Surabaya, and throughout the entire Dutch East Indies.
The war news is always so terrible.
l can't think about the war tonight.
l won't.
Tonight was very nice.
Thank you.
Care to come up for a drink? l can't.
No, l can't.
May l call you? lf you want to.
l do.
Well, fine.
Now I've done two bad things since l met you.
What was the first? Asking a man to dinner.
Kissing me was the second? Not you, Leslie.
Kissing a gentile.
I've not kissed many Jews, either.
Now l really must be going.
l will be calling you.
Good night, Leslie.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
What is your evaluation of this material, Leslie? l believe it speaks the truth.
The Germans are committing mass murder, perhaps genocide, under the cover of war.
l believe it's an authentic document of grave import.
And, uh What sort of action do you recommend? The legation should send an urgent summary cable to the secretary of state, then send the document by special air courier.
Augie here thinks differently.
Indeed l do.
A kindly description would be a compassionately motivated fraud.
Let's hear your reasons, Augie.
Apart from the fact that your source, uh, one Jacob Ascher, is obviously tainted.
Look at the document itself.
Sheer fantasy.
Why? Why? Cabinet-level government men meeting and calmly discussing some evil plan, and then and then, mind you, putting it in writing? Come on, now.
l mean, l admire your compassion, Les- Never mind my compassion.
I'm well aware of who Dr.
Ascher is.
And nothing is more German than reducing inhuman plan to writing.
Read Mein Kampf.
l have read Mein Kampf.
So have l.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Sir, if it is authentic, as I'm sure it is, then the Germans are committing a crime that's almost beyond human imagination.
President Roosevelt can turn world opinion against the Germans with that document.
Okay, Augie, many thanks.
Anytime, Bill.
Les l do admire compassion.
I'm sorry, Les, but I'm with Augie.
That stuff is the pipe dream of an ignoramus making up horror stories and doing a bum job.
Why do you say that? I'm a railroad man, or l was before l got this job.
The rolling stock of all German held Europe couldn't handle this.
You're talking here about millions and millions of civilians, Les.
Sir at the risk of seeming compassionate, may l respond? Go ahead.
l admit the train part looks big.
A dragnet through Western Europe into Poland and occupied Russia.
But, sir, the point is most of the Jews are already there.
They don't have to be moved far, if at all.
All right, Les, how would you go about authenticating this document? What would you consider authentication? Oh, geez, l don't know.
Give me something.
in the meantime, put this thing in, uh, maximum security storage.
l will, sir.
Maximum security, incidentally, is not the New York Times cable desk.
Sir, no one will release this unless you authorize it.
Okay, then.
I'm sorry about Augie.
He's a bit of a jackass, but it never hurts to hear the other side of the story.
l understand.
Thank you, sir.
We'll be leaving in April.
That is now the official word.
To April.
To April.
Good heavens, l shall barely have time to finish my revision of constantine.
l may have to stay in sleepy old Siena, and let Natalie and the baby go home without me.
Oh, my dear Professor Real coffee? The Swiss charge d'affaires brings Bernard Berenson little gifts.
Our kind friend shared half a pound with me.
worth the trip to Siena.
One begins to understand why Berenson has decided not to go back with the other Americans.
Creature comforts aren't everything, Werner.
Even B.
B.
suffers shortages.
But he's decided to ride out the storm at anchor.
He thinks it will all end well, meaning that your side will lose.
Of course, Bernard is an expert at Italian paintings, not warfare.
Dr.
Freud might call it wishful thinking.
Still, whichever side wins, such a prominent person need not worry.
A prominent Jew? Mrs.
Henry, victory softens harsh wartime policies.
That is my profound personal hope.
How much do you really know about what's happening to the Jews? in Italy? Nothing is happening.
And elsewhere? What about the stories coming out of Eastern Europe that your soldiers are massacring Jews? Maria, we'll have coffee and brandy in the next room.
Werner.
Have a cigar, Werner? Thank you.
l take it, Mrs.
Henry that your question was not merely provocative.
But when you ask me whether the German army has been massacring the Jews, then l respond that this is a lie.
The army has not only refrained from atrocities, but has at times intervened to protect the Jews from the local population.
That is God's truth as l know it.
Oh, put it down there, please, Maria.
This is excellent brandy, professor.
Thank you, Werner.
l laid in a few cases back in '37.
Dr.
Beck, have you ever visited a concentration camp? l 'm not saying our regime does not have many regrettable things to answer for- Werner, l would prefer to change the subject.
Natalie, Werner's our guest.
You and your baby are alive because he rescued you.
Besides, my idea of remaining in Italy is nothing of his problem.
Bernard Berenson is a very worldly man, but even he- damn Berenson! Suppose Germany occupies Italy? Suppose Mussolini decides to ship all the Jews to the Polish ghettos? It's childish to even consider taking such risks.
But only l would be taking those risks.
Please, professor, Mrs.
Henry, lf l have provoked in any way this quarrel.
Nonsense, Werner.
l am convinced you haven't an anti-semitic bone in your whole body.
You serve adetestable regime, and whether you were right to do that is a large question.
Natalie, if you think Jews are safer in the states than in Germany or Italy, you're the childish one.
Aaron, you're drunk! I've lived in a fascist country for more than 10 years.
I've found more peace than l ever did back home.
lf the war should take a hopeless turn, need l remind you we're losing on all fronts l foresee a defeated America that could be uglier than Nazi Germany.
l foresee horrors, Natalie, that would eclipse the civil war.
A blood bath of region against region, race against race, every man's hand against his brother, and all men's hands against the Jews.
Professor, you surprise me with your penetrating insight about America.
l understand you want to take Louis back to America, but we may have a negotiated peace this year, and l would welcome it.
Welcome peace with Hitler? Yes, even with Hitler.
The longer the war goes on, the worse it will be for Jews behind Nazi lines.
All of civilization may come crashing down in flames! We're fighting against tyranny for freedom.
Fiddlesticks! This war is about who rules next, who fixes the currencies, who dominates the markets, who seizes the hegemony which the British empire has lost.
l suppose if we marshal all our industrial powers we may eventually crush the Germans, but to what purpose? There are good and bad things in all nations.
The hegemony can be shared.
l know you won't go home without me.
Of course l will leave.
l never said anything else.
But l will not be treated like a fool simply because l considered staying on.
Please don't take that tone with me again.
Mrs.
Henry, l consider your uncle's view of the war lucid and inspiring.
He gives to all this stupid carnage a direction, a hope.
Aaron loves to take any side of an argument, especially over wine.
Oh, really, Natalie! But peace with Hitler? Who can believe a word Hitler says or have faith in any paper he signs? That is not an insoluble problem.
Exactly! The skin of a tyrant is not of steel plate.
So history teaches us.
l must tell you, my old and trusted teacher, l have considered many times into the dawn the ethics of tyrannicide.
My baby gets fed now.
Let me thank you for the best dinner I've had in months.
Well, we probably do owe you our lives.
I'm not unaware of-that No.
Please, please You spoke with the grasp of thucydides.
it was only a rush of angry words.
There are good things and bad things in all nations.
The hegemony can be shared, brilliant! Why, it restores one's faith in the possible brotherhood of mankind.
What a profound tribute to the Jewish spirit.
You're too kind.
Professor, would you consider coming to Rome and talking to the press correspondents of neutral countries? Only neutral countries.
None of Goebbels' propagandists or Gayda's hacks.
What would be the point? Your views on the war would command attention.
They would have great impact.
No, no- They would encourage the better elements in Germany.
Oh, no, Werner.
l -l couldn't possibly do that.
l should be pilloried on my return home.
And-and Werner please forgive poor Natalie.
Even an animal mother fears for her baby.
Please, professor, it is most understandable.
And now l must bid you good night.
And thank you once again for a grand evening.
Professor, l shall be pressing you yet again to share your prophetic insight with a suffering world.
Fair warning.
l am not a prophet, Werner, nor even the son of a prophet.
A pleasant journey to you.
Thank you.
(radio) And now, l have heavy news.
Singapore has fallen.
That mighty bastion of empire, which held out so long against insuperable odds, has honorably surrendered to spare its civilian population from further useless slaughter.
And so, let us go on, into the storm and through the storm.
You have just heard Prime Minister Winston Churchill speaking from London.
in his brief message to the commonwealth and empire, Mr.
Churchill called the surrender an honorable one.
When an empire dies, it dies like a cloudy day, without a visible moment of sunset.
The demise is not announced on the radio, nor does one read it in the morning paper.
What was Singapore? Singapore was the city, Singapore was the naval base, Singapore was the bastion of the empire, but at the bottom, Singapore was a narcotic myth which dulled the pain while the grip of white Europe on Asia was amputated, and now the colored malayans have new masters with colored skins.
Get down, Tudsbury! Get down! Get down, Tudsbury! Leslie Slote.
It's Selma.
I'm in a phone booth.
Why haven't you returned my calls? My father found out about our evening together.
l promised not to talk to you, but l must.
That man we talked about- don't mention his name- he gave me an urgent message for you about authentication.
All right.
Where can we meet, and when? Feldstrasse bridge.
Now.
I'm coming.
Father Martin has arranged a meeting with a man high in the German legation.
The German legation? That's fantastic.
Who? He wouldn't say.
Meet him 6:30 Sunday evening in front of the postal office on the Adlerstrasse.
He'll take you to the rendezvous.
He begs you not to tell anyone about this.
Selma, thank you.
This is very important.
I'm sorry he involved you.
He decided I'm a safe messenger since I'll be gone soon.
I'll never see you again, you know.
l don't understand.
We leave next Monday for America.
My father is moving his business.
But the real reason we're going is that I'm to marry an American, a lawyer in Baltimore.
Quite Orthodox.
Papa has arranged it.
You're doing this to please your parents? Does it make any difference? I'm doing it.
Oh, Leslie.
There.
I'll remember you always.
I'll never forget you.
Yes, you will.
You've had so many adventures.
You'll have so many more.
But now I've had my one.
Goodbye, Leslie.
Leslie, l don't know where all this Father Martin business is leading, but please take care.
l have never seen a more frightened person.
Herr Slote! Father! On the Russian front, Adolf Hitler's order to stand or die is obeyed.
The massive Soviet counterattacks slaughter more than 200,000 enemy soldiers, but somehow Hitler's armies manage to hang on.
Some pullbacks are forced, but the line holds from Leningrad to the Black Sea.
And as the Russian counter offensive begins to fade and the Spring thaw turns the land into a sea of mud, a triumphant Adolf Hitler summons the inner circle of his high command to supreme headquarters on the Eastern front.
Colonel General Franz Halder, now Chief of Staff of the German army.
Major General Armin Von Roon, his chief of operations.
Field Marshal Wilhelmilst.
Field Marshal Feder Von Bock.
General Freidrich Paulus.
Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt.
Heil Hitler! danke.
The winter battle in Russia is ending.
My order to stand or die saved the Wehrmacht.
Mein Fuhrer, it was a great military decision.
Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe, the powerful German air force.
One of Hitler's oldest and most trusted Nazi associates.
We will annihilate the Bolshevik Empire.
lf not for your iron will Lieutenant General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations of the OKW, Hitler's supreme headquarters command.
into the streets of Germany.
Exactly, Mein Fuhrer.
The greatest military decision Field Marshal Wilhelm Keltel, Commander in Chief of the OKW.
to his grand army.
When he allowed the retreat, the Russians pursued him all the way to Paris.
My life's aim has not changed since l wrote it down in prison 20 years ago in Mein Kampf.
l will seize the living space in Russia that we won in 1917 and were swindled out of by the Versailles Treaty.
Russia is the heart of the world land masses.
He who dominates Russia dominates the world.
With the fall of Singapore, the British Empire is in receivership.
The world imperial system is broken up.
America is paralyzed by our devastating u-boat campaign and by the victorious march of Japan.
All the land masses of the Earth, 150 million square kilometers, are at hazard.
it is a moment that comes once in a thousand years.
Now is the time to seize the initiative, throw in all our forces, and in a huge new offensive, wipe out the entire defense potential remaining to the Soviet Union.
This final campaign will be called Case Blue.
The German people trust me.
My soldiers trust me because l am one of them- a common foot soldier.
Any General that does not have faith in me, l will dismiss, dishonor, and crush.
Then l will find others to fight and win Case Blue.
Come in.
Top secret urgent, sir, from Admiral Halsey.
I'm going to the White House.
Admiral, the President is reported sick in bed.
l know.
Lean forward, sir.
Take a deep breath and hold it.
Bronchitis again.
lf he'll only rest, we may avoid pleurisy this time.
l shall make him rest, Admiral.
I'll behave.
Above all, no smoking.
l said I'd behave.
And make sure he takes this.
Yes.
Some rest, Mr.
President.
No cigarettes.
Thank you, Ross.
Franklin! Those boys on bataan- l failed them.
l had to order MacArthur to leave.
l need him.
But it broke their spirits.
10,000 soldiers lost their lives on that Barbaricdeath March, Eleanor.
10,000 and that brave handful still holding out on corregidor, beyond rescue.
Franklin, you must keep up your own spirits.
it will be a long war.
Will it? l see nothing but darkness and collapse everywhere.
The Japs are cutting the Burma Road, British prestige in Asia is gone, there's a big new German offensive building in the East.
What l really fear is Germany and Japan joining hands across a prostrate Russia, or Stalin making a separate peace to save his neck.
This is the fever talking, Franklin.
It's not like you.
A victory.
A victory in the pacific.
We need a huge victory now.
Yes? Mr.
President, will you see Admiral King? You're resting, Franklin.
Tell him to come in.
Admiral.
Mr.
President, l regret this intrusion.
I'll be brief.
Tomorrow at this time we will bomb Japan.
What? And this is the first l hear it's tomorrow? Admiral Halsey's carrier task force is moving into position now to launch a squadron of army B-25 bombers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle.
From well outside carrier plane range, the force is undetected.
Army bombers? Off carriers? The strike will hit military targets in Tokyo and other cities.
The bombers will fly on to a base in China.
The Chinese are alerted and ready for them.
The hazards are high, but we expect to achieve total surprise.
Those aviators.
What brave men.
Well, they'll give Hirohito something to think about.
A turn.
A turn.
Yes l think of those young pilots, and l think of Longfellow's words.
''humanity, with all its fears, with all its hopes of future years, is hanging breathless on your fate.
'' April 18, 1942, 0800 hours.
Task force 16, lead by William F.
''Bull'' Halsey, aboard the USS Enterprise.
And 15 other war ships, including the USS Hornet.
16 army B-25 bombers lashed to her flight deck lie deep within Japanese waters, 624 miles east of Tokyo.
Now hear this.
Admiral Halsey speaking.
You're all wondering where we're taking all those B-25s over there on the deck of the Hornet.
Gentlemen, here is our destination.
This force is bound for Tokyo to avenge Pearl Harbor and Bataan.
Yay! Yay! Henry, is this good war-making or is it just a showy stunt? That depends upon how the Japs react.
My hat's off to those army aviators, though.
Oh, yes.
The price of the raid will be steep.
17 of the 80 army aviators will be killed or captured.
15 of the 16 aircraft, fuel tanks exhausted, will be lost as they crash-land in China.
The raid will have almost no impact on Japan's war production or military capability.
But the Doolittle raiders' heroic deeds and their soldiers' deaths will not have been in vain.
The Tokyo raid sends spirits soaring on the home front and around the world.
Where did the planes take off from? Why from Shangri-la, ladies and gentlemen.
From Shangri-la.
in the aftermath, the Japanese high command decides that the impudent Americans must be taught a lesson.
There will be no more Doolittle raids.
After much discussion and debate, Japanese strategic planners finally decide they will gamble everything on an all-or-nothing roll of the dice.
The inferior battered U.
S.
Navy must be lured into a final fleet action and annihilated.
And so the two axis partners, at the peak of their strength, turn their backs on each other.
And as the German army launches Case Blue and begins the long march to Stalingrad, the Japanese imperial fleet prepares for the most decisive engagement in the annals of modern naval warfare- The Battle of Midway.
SS Colonel Karl Adolph Eichmann.
Party number 899895.
SS number 45326.
A fanatical Nazi, the Gestapo's expert on Jewish affairs, Eichmann is chief of section IV B-4 of the Reich security main office.
His primary responsibility- the organization and execution of SS Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler's ''final solution.
'' Herr Eichmann, surely the Reich security main office realizes that Italy is not an occupied country.
It's a sovereign nation, a full military ally.
And these Jews you wish to ship east are still Italian nationals.
Herr Dr.
Beck, haven't you ever had a virgin? I'm afraid l don't understand.
The principle is the same lots of soothing words, disarming talk, then at the proper moment after the first time, no problems.
I'm not entirely sure that is a useful parallel, Herr Eichmann.
Most Italians like the Jews or at least feel sorry for them.
Even Mussolini- The Italians are not to be taken seriously.
it is the Fuhrer's unshakable will to cleanse the continent of Jews.
Italy will be no exception! But to return to the principle you must get Italy to hand over some Jews, however few, and on whatever basis, at once.
As soon as that line is crossed, resistance to the Jewish policies will crumble.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Once the Jews are physically removed, their wealth remains behind for confiscation.
When your slimy Italian politician gets a taste of that revenue, oh, you'll be surprised how quickly he will embrace the Fuhrer's wise policies.
It's happened in country after country.
With all due respect, Herr Eichmann, l cannot imagine what basis l might propose that would result in the Italian government turning over its citizens.
Fortunately, l can.
The way to start is with the Italian Jews who are already in Germany.
There are precisely 118 of these delightful people.
Now you will propose that Italy takes charge of all German Jews who have fled here, while Germany takes control of all Italian Jews on Reich soil.
l see.
l hope you do.
l have to point out l will be asked exactly where these 118 Jews will be resettled, what they will do there, and in what circumstances.
Very well write whatever you want.
Nothing will ever come of it.
That's not how the foreign service operates, I'm afraid.
We've been very factual.
Very well, Herr Dr.
Beck.
lf you like, I'll be glad to tell you precisely where the Jews will go and what the disposition will be by direct order of the Fuhrer.
lf you like, Herr Dr.
Beck.
That won't be necessary.
Do you happen to have a spot of brandy in the office? I've already driven over 200 kilometers this morning, and I've had no breakfast.
l will tell you this.
You can look for a very positive effect on your career once you pull this off.
Ahem.
Well I'll do what l can do for you, Herr Eichmann.
But the Italians will have the last word.
l can't help that.
So you can't help that.
l now request from you an explanation of the Jastrow case.
The Jastrow case? You have sequestered in Siena a 70-year-old stateless Jew, Aaron Jastrow, a prominent author from the United States, his niece, and her infant.
You have written them, you have telephoned them, you have visited them.
Yes? l don't know what you are implying? l haven't kept it secret.
We know you studied in the United States and that Jastrow was your teacher.
is that why you are protecting the Jew? l am not protecting him.
l am hoping to use him.
in what way? As you yourself have pointed out, Herr Eichmann, Herr Dr.
Jastrow is a prominent American author.
Yes, Herr Dr.
Beck.
Well, that is exactly it.
l am hoping he will make a series of broadcasts in which he will picture the Germans and the Japanese as deprived and misunderstood proud people, and the allies as fat cats clutching riches gained by armed force.
He will picture the whole war as a useless blood-letting which should be stopped at once by a ''sharing of the hegemony,'' his own brilliant phrase.
He used it in my presence.
Such a suggestion of world leadership being shared coming from such a prominent Jewish author could have great impact in America to weaken the war effort and encourage a peace movement.
When will Jastrow be making his first broadcast? That's not definite yet.
It's a question of persuading him, which takes time.
Really? Why should that be? Persuading a Jew is simple.
To be effective, it has to be done of his own free will.
Jews will do whatever you want them to of their own free will.
However, l understand you now.
Jastrow is your teacher.
He is a fine man.
You don't want him upset or frightened.
it isn't that you are coddling or protecting a Jew.
It's just that you think you might catch more flies with honey, yes? I'm sure that my approach is correct.
Yes, providing you get some results before the war is over.
Tell me, Herr Dr.
Beck, is your family here with you in Rome? No.
They're at home in Stuttgart.
How many kids do you have? Three.
Boys? Girls? Yes.
Two girls, one boy.
Oh, please.
Please.
Oh, how beautiful, and with the Fuhrer, too.
Hmm, girls are so sweet.
l have three boys.
No luck on girls.
No matter what, l always try to get home to see the kids at least once a week, even if it's only for an hour.
l suppose you are as fond of your kids as l am of mine.
l love my children, Herr Eichmann.
Good.
Right.
Let's do some straight talking, shall we? Can Reichsfuhrer Himmler expect a progress report fairly soon on those 118 jews? Yes.
l will, uh, do my best.
Excellent.
Oh, I'm so pleased l could come here and we could thrash this out.
You have a heavy responsibility.
So do a job for the Fuhrer.
Of course you understand, Herr Beck, this whole Jastrow business is not kosher, it's not kosher at all.
Tell the old yid to make his broadcast, then let Ovra put him away.
But they have a guarantee of safe conduct as part of the American journalist exchange.
The American journalists have already left Italy.
l delayed their departure myself, tied it to our mess in Brazil.
But sooner or later, that is bound to clear up.
But you did manage that delay.
See? When you want to be, you can be a real live wire.
Well, good luck, Herr Dr.
Beck.
Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler.
Stop it! It's disgusting.
Halte! Call these SS men? They're marching like gypsies, like Chinamen.
is this the parade to put on for Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler? You're playing like street beggars! l want them drilled drilled until they drop! l come back at 1500 hours for another inspection.
lf there is no improvement straight to the Russian front! Front line.
The whole lot of them! Birkenau! Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
Klinger, is this what Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler will see tomorrow? l am working them night and day, Herr Kommandant, flogging them like dogs.
Flogging? Shoot the five slowest ones.
l authorize you.
That will pep up the rest.
Where are my 60 blockhouses? Lumber shortages, restricted rules- No excuses, no shortages.
Requisition whatever you need.
All rules waived.
One rule- 60 blockhouses up by tomorrow at 12 noon.
Do you understand? Or you will pay, and they will.
Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
lf l am finished, Sammy, so are you.
So are all of you! Kaput! To the gas! Herr Sturmscharfuhrer, we can speed up the work.
We have ideas.
Let's hear.
Rudy, see how our roses are growing.
Smell.
is my adjutant here? Yes.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Schwarz, too.
Upstairs in your study.
For lunch there's sauerbraten, your favorite.
No lunch.
No time.
That Klinger in Birkenau has gone crazy.
He asked for trucks to speed up his job.
l squashed him good.
''Prisoners are horses,'' l said.
''They walk.
'' Give him trucks.
What else? The damn fool wants floodlights on his job tonight.
All night long.
Floodlights.
Let him have them.
But the air defense rules- l make the air defense rules.
Call central supply right now.
Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
The parade? Much, much better.
Just like machines.
Program? Nice job.
The printing shop outdid itself.
''Aerodrome trooping of colors band seranade honor review'' Good.
Gruppenfuhrer Kammler himself will do the map talk at breakfast.
Of course.
Grabbing the bows.
''Architect's office motor tour'' Special action before lunch? Who is responsible for this idiotic change? The railroad directorate.
They insisted, Sturmscharfuhrer, on getting the empty train back in Oppeln by noon.
Schwarz! Out! ''A special action from beginning to end.
'' Before lunch.
What kind of appetite will our guest have after that? Are you insane? Herr Kommandant, l tried.
The empty train the railroad directorate insisted- This is Reichsfuhrer SS business! Understood? I'll throw the whole railroad directorate into block 11 and you, too! You stupid swine! This Himmler visit is making us all nervous wrecks.
We'll all be glad when this is over.
He doesn't sleep, doesn't eat only drinks.
It's all on him.
Maybe l will have some lunch.
Of course, Rudy.
Schwarz.
The special action all in order? 100º%, Kommandant.
lf one thing goes wrong- one thing It's my neck.
Mine.
It's a select transport from Amsterdam.
They've been well treated.
It'll go smooth.
Smooth as oil.
it had better.
A hard thing to watch, all the same.
Orders.
He wants to see a whole action from beginning to end.
He watched one in Russia.
Didn't approve.
Crude business.
They made them dig their own mass graves, then mowed them down and buried them, clothes and all.
Here, of course, we are more practical, more humane.
Still have a glass of brandy.
I'm very curious to see how Himmler will take it.
He's tough, but Kommandant.
Never before have l dared to ask this.
Suppose suppose Germany loses the war.
Now it's going, Sammy.
Twice as many men, thanks to the trucks.
This was an idea.
Just the side toward the road.
My Russian foreman.
Russian? He's no Russian.
He's a Jew swindler like you.
You think l don't know? Schnell! Schnell! Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler.
Nazi party number 14303.
SS number 168.
Son of a Bavarian schoolmaster, Himmler joined the Nazi party in 1923, took over the SS in 1929, and in 1934 became Chief of the Gestapo, speedily building it into one of the most feared state police organizations in the world.
By the outbreak of the war in 1939, Himmler was in undisputed control of a virtual private empire.
A dangerous fanatic, second in power only to the Fuhrer, and widely regarded as his possible successor, Himmler's prime responsibility is the carrying out of Adolf Hitler's racial policies, calling for the extermination of 11 million men, women, and children- the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe.
This installation will be doubled westward.
Total capacity- 200,000 prisoners for the new factories.
it will be done, Reichsfuhrer.
Tremendous drainage problems to the west, Reichsfuhrer.
An SS officer does not recognize difficulties.
He overcomes them.
How this will be done is your worry, not mine.
Ja Wohl, Reichsfuhrer.
You have done much here in a short time.
And after lunch, the special action? Ja Wohl, Herr Reichsfuhrer.
Special action.
Isn't it wonderful, Herr Reichsfuhrer? Soso peaceful.
Umthe disinfection, and over here, the undressing huts.
Towels and, um, soap.
Shower heads.
For the windows.
And this door? Leads outside.
Disposal.
Don't they suspect? Not yet? That's why the SS.
We take no chances.
Who are those prisoners in the striped suits? Jews.
The most timid, the most nervous ones, are picked out when they arrive.
Then they get a choice-- a bullet in the head at once or this duty.
We get a few.
They don't last long.
They go to the gas, too.
Meantime, they're a help.
Very practical.
[speaking German.]
Reichsfuhrer, now it's better go observe from over there.
Please, come with me.
Now, at least, it will go fast.
Would the Reichsfuhrer care to come in, have a look, and listen? It's quite safe.
Sounds like a Synagogue, l always say.
Cigarette.
So, what's next? Around the back, Reichsfuhrer.
We've already had a special action this morning.
May l speak frankly, Reichsfuhrer? This is our greatest problem.
Disposal.
I've told Berlin over and over that burial is no answer.
Not on the scale projected.
What about the others? It's not only the Jews.
We already have over 20,000 Polish politicals that have to be dealt with, and the gypsies.
More and more are brought in every day.
Crematoriums.
Of course.
Crematoriums.
But they remain pretty models in the central building board, Reichsfuhrer.
Notes.
Quicklime.
The bacteria count in the water here is already endangering the health of my SS.
l say again, Reichsfuhrer, disposal is the problem.
Berlin is ignoring it.
l shall issue orders to override all projects in this province for labor and materials.
The construction of crematoriums will take precedence even over I.
G.
Farben.
Thank you, Reichsfuhrer.
Use your best construction crews.
When crematoriums are finished, liquidate the crews.
Understood, Reichsfuhrer.
The request of your medical unit to perform special sterilization experiments on Jewish women granted.
Great news for my medical staff.
You have given me an honest look at Auschwitz.
You are doing your best under tough wartime conditions.
l promote you to Obersturmbannfuhrer.
Herr Reichsfuhrer.
I'll say goodbye to your charming wife and be leaving.
You will not see me to the airport.
You have too much work to do.
Obersturmbannfuhrer? Children.
What a charming little girl.
Do you like flower? Flower, yes.
Here is a flower.
Come to me.
We have a new job Arbeitskommando, crematoria.
Crematorium For ourselves.
Never.
It's possible to escape even from Auschwitz.
l don't understand the necessity for this dinner, Natalie.
What information could this baby doctor have to interest us? l said you didn't have to come, but he invited us both.
It's 40 years since I've had a proper Sabbath meal.
We may as well hear what's so urgent.
Professor? Thank you, Seniore Sacerdote.
It's a very long time since l put on one of these.
Amen.
Amen.
Good Sabbath.
All right, Natalie.
We will take the baby to the bedroom.
Don't worry.
It's all right.
Let Miriam take care of him.
She is better than a Governess.
When did you last see your husband? It's almost two years now This brunello is very fine, Dr.
Castelnuovo.
From our own small vineyard.
Mrs.
Henry, l asked you here this evening because there are some things better not spoken of at the office.
l have been in touch with Avram Rabinovitz.
Avram? How are you acquainted with him, my good doctor? My son-in-law and l partially financed the sailing of the Redeemer.
l have good reports for you-- they reached palestine unharmed.
You're sure? Slipped through the British blockade.
Excellent news, Dr.
Castelnuovo.
And Rabinovitz, what about him? He returned to Marseilles.
That's his base.
He's there now.
Why didn't the two of you leave with the other American journalists? Rabinovitz is very puzzled and concerned.
He has asked about this repeatedly.
We were temporarily detained.
But why? Reprisals.
Three German agents in Brazil, posing as Italian journalists, were arrested.
So the three of us-- German agents in Brazil-- how does that affect you? You're Americans.
That makes no sense.
None whatever, l agree.
Our state department is pressing the Italian Government through Bern to send us to Switzerland at once.
l am not concerned.
l am.
My niece has trouble accepting that our government has things on its mind besides our release.
But we have further protection protection of rather unusual nature.
My dear, shall we confide in these delightful new friends of ours? As you wish, Aaron.
The secretary of the German legation in Rome is an ex-student of mine, Werner Beck.
He's been a very good friend.
Then why doesn't he help you with all this nonsense about Brazil? He has.
He's been burning up the lines to Berlin.
He says our release through Switzerland is only a matter of time.
Do you believe that? My guess would be that this Dr.
Beck is preventing you from leaving.
Oh, how preposterous.
What's in it for him? You ask the right question.
It's to his advantage to have the famous Dr.
Jastrow trapped here and dependent on him.
in what way, I'm sure you'll find out.
Now l have a message from Avram.
He says, ''get out while you can.
'' Don't you think l want to? But how? With us, Mrs.
Henry.
Get out with us.
We're arranging with Avram to go to Palestine.
Aren't you overreacting? This is Italy, not Germany.
Dr.
Jastrow, only last week, we heard in the Synagogue that fascists are planning to round up all Jews on Yom Kippur.
Once collected, we'll be given to the Germans and transported to the east.
Doctor, my good friend the Archbishop assures me the Vatican intelligence net is Europe's best.
lf that were remotely possible, he wouldn't have kept it from me.
Possibly.
But the church has property and influence to protect in Germany and Italy.
We Jews had better look out for ourselves.
You've taken me into the bosom of your family, and we are grateful.
But l feel we must go now.
Come, Natalie.
Fetch the baby.
Go ahead.
Read your mail.
Your kindness has not gone unappreciated, Werner.
l enjoy being able to bring you your mail.
The Arch of Constantine, it arrived safely! Just listen to this, Natalie.
''The Arch of Constantine-- your best book yet.
classic stature certain book club selection Honored to publish such a fresh and seminal work.
'' Well, well.
Isn't that splendid news? That is good news, but not all the good news.
Slote, our friend at the American Legation in Bern, has absolutely no idea when this Brazil business will be straightened out.
Yes, but all that is quite out of date.
May we have lunch? Otherwise, there's so much to discuss, I'm afraid we may forget to eat.
What a lovely view.
Won't you be sorry to leave it behind? Are we leaving it behind? That is why I've come, Professor.
Then you have our releases? Not exactly.
Almost as good, however.
Professor Italian radio wants to put you on the air-- you and other famous enemy aliens-- Berenson, perhaps Santayana.
Dear me.
What's that to do with our release? lf the Professor will simply come to Rome and record a leisurely two-hour interview or four half-hour broadcasts, the Ovra will allow me to arrange three exit visas and tickets for a Rome-Zurich plane.
The Brazil business will be set aside, and you're on your way.
You won't even have to come back to Siena.
So, how does that strike you, Dr.
Jastrow? l confess I'm rather bewildered, Werner.
Would they want me to discuss something in my field, like Constantine? They want a philosophical view of the war showing all the right isn't on one side.
You remember what you said on my last visit? That would precisely fill the bill.
But l had too much wine that night, and Natalie had provoked me.
it was a bad-tempered outburst.
But, Professor, you have a great original vision of this world catastrophe.
That theme of sharing the hegemony is perfect.
You'd not only please Rome radio, but impress your countrymen as well.
And to state matters bluntly, you'd get out of Italy at once.
How about Berenson and Santayana, have they agreed to this? The Italian radio people consider you the key personality.
Once you agree, the others will follow suit.
Then they don't know yet.
No, no, no, Werner.
l couldn't attack my own country on enemy shortwave.
Surely you can see that.
I'd rather rot here in Siena.
There's also the question of Mrs.
Henry and her baby rotting here.
And there's the more serious question of how long you can stay in Siena.
I've made a long trip to lay this before you.
l didn't expect a rejection.
l thought I'd earned your confidence, Professor.
What's the question of our staying in Siena? The Ovra pressure never lets up on me, Mrs.
Henry.
You belong in a concentration camp with the other alien Jews.
l was reminded of this when the idea came up.
l can't fathom this! Surely we're guaranteed eventual passage to Switzerland, aren't we? How can Rome radio blackmail me into wrecking my reputation? Just be firm, Werner.
Tell them to put it out of their minds.
l won't consider it.
That, l must tell you, is a grave statement, Professor.
Nevertheless, it's my answer.
It's final.
Your car, Dr.
Beck.
I'll walk with you.
He'll do it.
Do what, the broadcasting? Yes, he'll do it.
His resistance was very strong.
His explosive reactions pass.
When does Rome radio want him? That's not definite, but l must have a letter consenting to make the broadcast.
That will start the wheels turning-- the wheels of your release.
You'll have the letter soon.
l want to have it now.
I'd postpone my return.
l can't press him in this mood.
Please understand.
l promise it will come.
l must count on your good sense then.
You can count on my concern for my baby.
My greatest pleasure would be sending you off to Zurich.
l shall be waiting anxiously for that letter.
Goodbye, Mrs.
Henry.
l couldn't help it.
His proposal is outrageous! Instead of turning him down flat, you should've stalled.
Possibly.
But I'll never make those broadcasts he's asking for.
Never! He took my outburst far too literally.
No matter how badly the state department has treated me, l still love my country.
l won't go on the air for the axis, mark myself a traitor.
They can kill me if they like, but l won't do it.
Then we're in real danger, Aaron.
That may be.
The first thing you should do is draft a letter to Werner.
Tell him l apologize and that I'm beginning to lay out four broadcasts.
Be vague about the completion date.
Then go talk to that young Jewish doctor, Castelnuovo.
His plans for leaving Italy might take on a new relevance.
Aaron, this is a change.
l really hadn't bargained for adventure at my time of life.
Making a dash for it might seem far-fetched, but l don't like Werner's new tune.
But the important thing is to get you and Louis out of danger.
So let's set about it.
The Ovra may well be watching Castelnuovo.
it may be best if it looks like an office visit.
Take the baby with you.
Your nice Swiss diplomat friend Dr.
Robleau is visiting with Aaron while l hammer this off.
First of all, I'm fine.
So is Louis.
It's crazy how comfortable we are.
Only the other American internees from Siena's Excelsior Hotel remind us of the war and our perilous situation.
Speaking of which, Slote, Aaron is still playing with the notion of staying on here, war or no war.
Between his old friends the Archbishop and Chief of Police, he's treated like exiled royalty.
He also feels, lf needed, he has one sweaty little ace in the hole.
He once converted to Catholicism back in the twenties.
He dropped it fast, but has the documents, so he refuses to worry about being Jewish.
Between that and being an American journalist, he feels safe here.
It's his home.
He's too old to move, etcetera.
He has an answer for everything.
It's maddening.
Why should l be so upset about Aaron? It's his life.
l came to work for him to be nearer to you in those simple, lost days when my only worry was a messed up romance.
You were a fool not to marry me in Paris when l proposed.
How l loved you.
lf one only understood sooner things happen once and roll away into the past, leaving one marked and changed forever.
Looking back is to no avail.
Think of something to do about Aaron, my dear, please.
He can't stay alone in an enemy country.
I'm a lot thinner in the enclosed.
At least I'm smiling.
Isn't Louis cute? Love, Natalie.
Stunning girl.
Yes, she is.
Antoine, thank you so much for carrying our letters.
Oh, my pleasure.
Dr.
Jastrow was charming.
l hope they'll all be out by March or April.
March or April? Now, l must report to your minister.
Will you have dinner with me later, Leslie? Thank you, but some other time.
Do you know Jacob Ascher? Of course.
An important philanthropist, a German Jew now a Swiss.
Why? I've never met him, but he's invited me tonight for cocktails.
Most insistent.
Well, Leslie, enjoy yourself.
Guten abend.
Ich bin Leslie Slote.
Why don't you talk in English? All right.
I'm Leslie Slote.
I'm the first undersecretary at the American legation in Bern.
How? Have we met? l asked someone about you because you kept staring at me.
My apologies.
You remind me very much of someone l know.
Really? I'm Selma Ascher.
Yes.
This is my father's home.
Ah.
I've yet to meet him.
Papa will be down soon.
Something came up.
He's deeply involved in refugee work.
My friend said you were transferred from Moscow for being too partial to Jews.
l wish l could claim such martyrdom, but my transfer was routine.
I'm glad to be where the food's good, lights go on at night, guns don't go off.
Don't be ashamed of what you have done.
Can't you realize how it distinguishes you in your foreign service? Thank you, but I'm afraid it distinguished me in the wrong way.
Mr.
Slote, l am Jacob Ascher.
l apologize for not having been able to greet you.
No need.
No need.
Excuse me.
Pleasure to have met.
Mr.
Slote You are wondering why l invited you.
Yes.
The truth is, there is someone who expressed an interest in meeting you.
Father Martin, this is the American first undersecretary Leslie Slote.
I'm very pleased to meet you.
I'm honored.
Father Martin has greatly helped our work in the Jewish refugee council.
One does so little.
You, of all people, cannot say that.
No, please.
Please.
Father Martin is also a German citizen.
Well, perhaps l will leave you two to talk.
Thank you.
l, uh l would prefer that we talked elsewhere.
All right.
Perhaps I'll walk with you back into the city.
Walk? It's miles.
No.
It's only a couple.
It's good exercise.
Yes, l suppose.
Shall we go? I'm afraid l have to be going.
Well ahgood night.
Write your friend about the girl who resembles her.
I'd like to you see you.
No.
I'd only depress you, reminding you of your lost love.
Goodbye.
Are the stories coming out of Russia and Poland true, Herr Slote? Stories? About the Jewish massacres.
Such things are difficult to prove.
Massacre victims can't talk.
Yet, in Moscow, one is told, you did obtain some documentary evidence.
Yes, l did- Certain photographs of a particularly gruesome nature from the region of Minsk.
I'm also told that you placed them in the hands of the New York times, Herr Slote.
Right again.
And the story, all 10 lines of it, ended up on the back page.
That's terrible.
That's-that's terrible.
Yes, particularly as it seems to have had a very depressing effect upon my career.
Your Would, uh would further evidence interest you? Conclusive evidence of new, unbelievable atrocities.
My government would be very interested.
Your government.
Do you like the cinema, Herr Slote? I'm very partial to films.
l confess, it's a frivolous waste of time.
Yes, l go to films.
Perhaps you'll join me one evening at the palace? A Bing Crosby film is coming soon.
He's my favorite.
Would you enjoy that? Yes, of course.
Certainly.
I'd be delighted to join you.
Excellent.
l shall call you.
So, until then.
Until then.
in the wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster, the Japanese have continued to press their attack.
On Christmas day, Hong Kong falls, while in the jungles of Malaya and Burma, the Japanese continue their remorseless advance as Singapore prepares for a last-ditch stand.
American positions in the Philippines crumble.
MacArthur falls back to Bataan.
The enemy takes Manila.
The Japanese seem unstoppable, and by early February, are on their way to making the Pacific Ocean a Japanese lake.
it is then that the American navy finally strikes its first counterblow.
A carrier task force under Admiral William F.
Bull Halsey aboard the Enterprise steams southwest into enemy waters to bombard Japanese strong points in the marshalls and gilberts.
The returning Armada is given a tumultuous welcome at Pearl Harbor.
Journalists hall the attack as a resurgence of American power in the Pacific, the turn of the tide.
All ahead 1/3.
All ahead 1/3.
Aye, sir.
Engines answer ahead 1/3, sir.
Attention! I'm keeping this short, gentlemen.
You will remain standing.
Let's get one thing straight.
The purpose of the hoopla out there is to boost civilian morale.
The truth is, Hirohito isn't losing any sleep over what that raid did.
it was a nuisance raid.
Unfortunately, we were not much of a nuisance.
As to what the North Hampton did, the less said, the better.
Mr.
Grigg, all shore leaves are canceled.
We sortie at dawn for gunnery practice.
Questions? That is all.
Lots of mail, Captain.
Let him in.
Admiral Spruance's compliments sir he invites you to dine with him, at 18:00, and listen to your friend Alistair Tudsbury's special broadcast from Singapore.
Accept with pleasure.
Thank you, sir.
''Dear Pug, this is from a well-meaning friend.
l realize what war can do to a marriage, but l hate to see it happen to a model couple like you and Rhoda.
Why don't you write and ask her about that tall man she plays tennis with.
His name begins with a ''K.
'' That Isn't all she plays.
She's been seen in all the wrong places with him at the wrong times.
Everybody who has known you two is talking.
Unless you do something PDQ, you can kiss your marriage goodbye.
A word to the wise from a well-wisher.
'' Good evening.
This is Alistair Tudsbury broadcasting from Singapore.
As this broadcast reaches you, Japanese heavy artillery is raining destruction on this great island city from across the Johore Strait.
The lives of hundreds of civilians are lost each day to this merciless bombardment.
l come to you tonight, in part, because the military authorities now concede that Singapore's one hope lies in letting the democratic world know exactly how desperate our situation is.
lf help is ever to arrive, it must come now.
So in conclusion, l believe that even at this late date, the tide can be turned.
I'll gamble my overstuffed old hide on this, but not the person of my daughter Pamela, a clever and lovely young woman who assists me in my work.
(radio) So off she goes tomorrow with the women and children.
She told me a story not two hours ago that l want her to share with you.
Here, then, is Pamela.
My story is a short one.
For the past two weeks, I've worked at a troop hospital as a volunteer.
Today, a badly wounded man took me aside and gave me a mill's bomb, a sort of grenade.
''Ma'am, you've been very nice to us.
lf you think a Jap is about to rape you Ma'am,'' he said in an Aussie accent, ''just pull the pin and you'll know nothing more.
'' l have only one thing to add.
l leave under protest.
Good night.
Good night from Alistair Tudsbury in Singapore.
You've just been listening to a special broadcast from the studio The fall of Singapore will be worse than the fall of France.
it means the collapse of of an entire world system.
Our side needs a victory out here.
We do.
He's an able correspondent, that fellow Tudsbury.
You know the daughter? Yes.
She sounds like a very admirable young woman.
Yes, she is.
Leslie Slote.
Hello, it's Selma Ascher.
Will you take me to dinner? Good God, yes! When? Where? I'll pick you up in half an hour.
Oh, uh All right.
Half an hour.
I've been talking my head off.
Does Natalie talk so much? More, much more.
She's very opinionated and very argumentative.
Then l think we're really not much alike.
I'm rapidly forgetting the resemblance.
Truly? Poor me.
That's the only reason you're interested in me.
Not once you spoke half a dozen words.
Then you're not sorry l called? Selma, I'm delighted And I'm flattered.
Selma.
The priest that l met at your father's house.
Father Martin.
Yes.
Would information that he's offered be reliable regarding the mistreatment of the Jews? l would think so, Leslie.
Father Martin's a good man, even if he is a German.
Do you like to dance? l dance abominably.
I've done it so little.
But l would like to dance tonight.
Then, by all means.
On the Eastern front, despite reported stiff German resistance, new Russian offensives continue to roll up heavy gains in all sectors.
Meanwhile, in North Africa, in a series of lightning strikes, the German panzer divisions under Field Marshal Rommel have recovered nearly all the ground won by British forces at the turn of the year.
in the Pacific, the Japanese have begun a series of major attacks with new fighting reported in Java, Borneo, Surabaya, and throughout the entire Dutch East Indies.
The war news is always so terrible.
l can't think about the war tonight.
l won't.
Tonight was very nice.
Thank you.
Care to come up for a drink? l can't.
No, l can't.
May l call you? lf you want to.
l do.
Well, fine.
Now I've done two bad things since l met you.
What was the first? Asking a man to dinner.
Kissing me was the second? Not you, Leslie.
Kissing a gentile.
I've not kissed many Jews, either.
Now l really must be going.
l will be calling you.
Good night, Leslie.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
What is your evaluation of this material, Leslie? l believe it speaks the truth.
The Germans are committing mass murder, perhaps genocide, under the cover of war.
l believe it's an authentic document of grave import.
And, uh What sort of action do you recommend? The legation should send an urgent summary cable to the secretary of state, then send the document by special air courier.
Augie here thinks differently.
Indeed l do.
A kindly description would be a compassionately motivated fraud.
Let's hear your reasons, Augie.
Apart from the fact that your source, uh, one Jacob Ascher, is obviously tainted.
Look at the document itself.
Sheer fantasy.
Why? Why? Cabinet-level government men meeting and calmly discussing some evil plan, and then and then, mind you, putting it in writing? Come on, now.
l mean, l admire your compassion, Les- Never mind my compassion.
I'm well aware of who Dr.
Ascher is.
And nothing is more German than reducing inhuman plan to writing.
Read Mein Kampf.
l have read Mein Kampf.
So have l.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Sir, if it is authentic, as I'm sure it is, then the Germans are committing a crime that's almost beyond human imagination.
President Roosevelt can turn world opinion against the Germans with that document.
Okay, Augie, many thanks.
Anytime, Bill.
Les l do admire compassion.
I'm sorry, Les, but I'm with Augie.
That stuff is the pipe dream of an ignoramus making up horror stories and doing a bum job.
Why do you say that? I'm a railroad man, or l was before l got this job.
The rolling stock of all German held Europe couldn't handle this.
You're talking here about millions and millions of civilians, Les.
Sir at the risk of seeming compassionate, may l respond? Go ahead.
l admit the train part looks big.
A dragnet through Western Europe into Poland and occupied Russia.
But, sir, the point is most of the Jews are already there.
They don't have to be moved far, if at all.
All right, Les, how would you go about authenticating this document? What would you consider authentication? Oh, geez, l don't know.
Give me something.
in the meantime, put this thing in, uh, maximum security storage.
l will, sir.
Maximum security, incidentally, is not the New York Times cable desk.
Sir, no one will release this unless you authorize it.
Okay, then.
I'm sorry about Augie.
He's a bit of a jackass, but it never hurts to hear the other side of the story.
l understand.
Thank you, sir.
We'll be leaving in April.
That is now the official word.
To April.
To April.
Good heavens, l shall barely have time to finish my revision of constantine.
l may have to stay in sleepy old Siena, and let Natalie and the baby go home without me.
Oh, my dear Professor Real coffee? The Swiss charge d'affaires brings Bernard Berenson little gifts.
Our kind friend shared half a pound with me.
worth the trip to Siena.
One begins to understand why Berenson has decided not to go back with the other Americans.
Creature comforts aren't everything, Werner.
Even B.
B.
suffers shortages.
But he's decided to ride out the storm at anchor.
He thinks it will all end well, meaning that your side will lose.
Of course, Bernard is an expert at Italian paintings, not warfare.
Dr.
Freud might call it wishful thinking.
Still, whichever side wins, such a prominent person need not worry.
A prominent Jew? Mrs.
Henry, victory softens harsh wartime policies.
That is my profound personal hope.
How much do you really know about what's happening to the Jews? in Italy? Nothing is happening.
And elsewhere? What about the stories coming out of Eastern Europe that your soldiers are massacring Jews? Maria, we'll have coffee and brandy in the next room.
Werner.
Have a cigar, Werner? Thank you.
l take it, Mrs.
Henry that your question was not merely provocative.
But when you ask me whether the German army has been massacring the Jews, then l respond that this is a lie.
The army has not only refrained from atrocities, but has at times intervened to protect the Jews from the local population.
That is God's truth as l know it.
Oh, put it down there, please, Maria.
This is excellent brandy, professor.
Thank you, Werner.
l laid in a few cases back in '37.
Dr.
Beck, have you ever visited a concentration camp? l 'm not saying our regime does not have many regrettable things to answer for- Werner, l would prefer to change the subject.
Natalie, Werner's our guest.
You and your baby are alive because he rescued you.
Besides, my idea of remaining in Italy is nothing of his problem.
Bernard Berenson is a very worldly man, but even he- damn Berenson! Suppose Germany occupies Italy? Suppose Mussolini decides to ship all the Jews to the Polish ghettos? It's childish to even consider taking such risks.
But only l would be taking those risks.
Please, professor, Mrs.
Henry, lf l have provoked in any way this quarrel.
Nonsense, Werner.
l am convinced you haven't an anti-semitic bone in your whole body.
You serve adetestable regime, and whether you were right to do that is a large question.
Natalie, if you think Jews are safer in the states than in Germany or Italy, you're the childish one.
Aaron, you're drunk! I've lived in a fascist country for more than 10 years.
I've found more peace than l ever did back home.
lf the war should take a hopeless turn, need l remind you we're losing on all fronts l foresee a defeated America that could be uglier than Nazi Germany.
l foresee horrors, Natalie, that would eclipse the civil war.
A blood bath of region against region, race against race, every man's hand against his brother, and all men's hands against the Jews.
Professor, you surprise me with your penetrating insight about America.
l understand you want to take Louis back to America, but we may have a negotiated peace this year, and l would welcome it.
Welcome peace with Hitler? Yes, even with Hitler.
The longer the war goes on, the worse it will be for Jews behind Nazi lines.
All of civilization may come crashing down in flames! We're fighting against tyranny for freedom.
Fiddlesticks! This war is about who rules next, who fixes the currencies, who dominates the markets, who seizes the hegemony which the British empire has lost.
l suppose if we marshal all our industrial powers we may eventually crush the Germans, but to what purpose? There are good and bad things in all nations.
The hegemony can be shared.
l know you won't go home without me.
Of course l will leave.
l never said anything else.
But l will not be treated like a fool simply because l considered staying on.
Please don't take that tone with me again.
Mrs.
Henry, l consider your uncle's view of the war lucid and inspiring.
He gives to all this stupid carnage a direction, a hope.
Aaron loves to take any side of an argument, especially over wine.
Oh, really, Natalie! But peace with Hitler? Who can believe a word Hitler says or have faith in any paper he signs? That is not an insoluble problem.
Exactly! The skin of a tyrant is not of steel plate.
So history teaches us.
l must tell you, my old and trusted teacher, l have considered many times into the dawn the ethics of tyrannicide.
My baby gets fed now.
Let me thank you for the best dinner I've had in months.
Well, we probably do owe you our lives.
I'm not unaware of-that No.
Please, please You spoke with the grasp of thucydides.
it was only a rush of angry words.
There are good things and bad things in all nations.
The hegemony can be shared, brilliant! Why, it restores one's faith in the possible brotherhood of mankind.
What a profound tribute to the Jewish spirit.
You're too kind.
Professor, would you consider coming to Rome and talking to the press correspondents of neutral countries? Only neutral countries.
None of Goebbels' propagandists or Gayda's hacks.
What would be the point? Your views on the war would command attention.
They would have great impact.
No, no- They would encourage the better elements in Germany.
Oh, no, Werner.
l -l couldn't possibly do that.
l should be pilloried on my return home.
And-and Werner please forgive poor Natalie.
Even an animal mother fears for her baby.
Please, professor, it is most understandable.
And now l must bid you good night.
And thank you once again for a grand evening.
Professor, l shall be pressing you yet again to share your prophetic insight with a suffering world.
Fair warning.
l am not a prophet, Werner, nor even the son of a prophet.
A pleasant journey to you.
Thank you.
(radio) And now, l have heavy news.
Singapore has fallen.
That mighty bastion of empire, which held out so long against insuperable odds, has honorably surrendered to spare its civilian population from further useless slaughter.
And so, let us go on, into the storm and through the storm.
You have just heard Prime Minister Winston Churchill speaking from London.
in his brief message to the commonwealth and empire, Mr.
Churchill called the surrender an honorable one.
When an empire dies, it dies like a cloudy day, without a visible moment of sunset.
The demise is not announced on the radio, nor does one read it in the morning paper.
What was Singapore? Singapore was the city, Singapore was the naval base, Singapore was the bastion of the empire, but at the bottom, Singapore was a narcotic myth which dulled the pain while the grip of white Europe on Asia was amputated, and now the colored malayans have new masters with colored skins.
Get down, Tudsbury! Get down! Get down, Tudsbury! Leslie Slote.
It's Selma.
I'm in a phone booth.
Why haven't you returned my calls? My father found out about our evening together.
l promised not to talk to you, but l must.
That man we talked about- don't mention his name- he gave me an urgent message for you about authentication.
All right.
Where can we meet, and when? Feldstrasse bridge.
Now.
I'm coming.
Father Martin has arranged a meeting with a man high in the German legation.
The German legation? That's fantastic.
Who? He wouldn't say.
Meet him 6:30 Sunday evening in front of the postal office on the Adlerstrasse.
He'll take you to the rendezvous.
He begs you not to tell anyone about this.
Selma, thank you.
This is very important.
I'm sorry he involved you.
He decided I'm a safe messenger since I'll be gone soon.
I'll never see you again, you know.
l don't understand.
We leave next Monday for America.
My father is moving his business.
But the real reason we're going is that I'm to marry an American, a lawyer in Baltimore.
Quite Orthodox.
Papa has arranged it.
You're doing this to please your parents? Does it make any difference? I'm doing it.
Oh, Leslie.
There.
I'll remember you always.
I'll never forget you.
Yes, you will.
You've had so many adventures.
You'll have so many more.
But now I've had my one.
Goodbye, Leslie.
Leslie, l don't know where all this Father Martin business is leading, but please take care.
l have never seen a more frightened person.
Herr Slote! Father! On the Russian front, Adolf Hitler's order to stand or die is obeyed.
The massive Soviet counterattacks slaughter more than 200,000 enemy soldiers, but somehow Hitler's armies manage to hang on.
Some pullbacks are forced, but the line holds from Leningrad to the Black Sea.
And as the Russian counter offensive begins to fade and the Spring thaw turns the land into a sea of mud, a triumphant Adolf Hitler summons the inner circle of his high command to supreme headquarters on the Eastern front.
Colonel General Franz Halder, now Chief of Staff of the German army.
Major General Armin Von Roon, his chief of operations.
Field Marshal Wilhelmilst.
Field Marshal Feder Von Bock.
General Freidrich Paulus.
Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt.
Heil Hitler! danke.
The winter battle in Russia is ending.
My order to stand or die saved the Wehrmacht.
Mein Fuhrer, it was a great military decision.
Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe, the powerful German air force.
One of Hitler's oldest and most trusted Nazi associates.
We will annihilate the Bolshevik Empire.
lf not for your iron will Lieutenant General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations of the OKW, Hitler's supreme headquarters command.
into the streets of Germany.
Exactly, Mein Fuhrer.
The greatest military decision Field Marshal Wilhelm Keltel, Commander in Chief of the OKW.
to his grand army.
When he allowed the retreat, the Russians pursued him all the way to Paris.
My life's aim has not changed since l wrote it down in prison 20 years ago in Mein Kampf.
l will seize the living space in Russia that we won in 1917 and were swindled out of by the Versailles Treaty.
Russia is the heart of the world land masses.
He who dominates Russia dominates the world.
With the fall of Singapore, the British Empire is in receivership.
The world imperial system is broken up.
America is paralyzed by our devastating u-boat campaign and by the victorious march of Japan.
All the land masses of the Earth, 150 million square kilometers, are at hazard.
it is a moment that comes once in a thousand years.
Now is the time to seize the initiative, throw in all our forces, and in a huge new offensive, wipe out the entire defense potential remaining to the Soviet Union.
This final campaign will be called Case Blue.
The German people trust me.
My soldiers trust me because l am one of them- a common foot soldier.
Any General that does not have faith in me, l will dismiss, dishonor, and crush.
Then l will find others to fight and win Case Blue.
Come in.
Top secret urgent, sir, from Admiral Halsey.
I'm going to the White House.
Admiral, the President is reported sick in bed.
l know.
Lean forward, sir.
Take a deep breath and hold it.
Bronchitis again.
lf he'll only rest, we may avoid pleurisy this time.
l shall make him rest, Admiral.
I'll behave.
Above all, no smoking.
l said I'd behave.
And make sure he takes this.
Yes.
Some rest, Mr.
President.
No cigarettes.
Thank you, Ross.
Franklin! Those boys on bataan- l failed them.
l had to order MacArthur to leave.
l need him.
But it broke their spirits.
10,000 soldiers lost their lives on that Barbaricdeath March, Eleanor.
10,000 and that brave handful still holding out on corregidor, beyond rescue.
Franklin, you must keep up your own spirits.
it will be a long war.
Will it? l see nothing but darkness and collapse everywhere.
The Japs are cutting the Burma Road, British prestige in Asia is gone, there's a big new German offensive building in the East.
What l really fear is Germany and Japan joining hands across a prostrate Russia, or Stalin making a separate peace to save his neck.
This is the fever talking, Franklin.
It's not like you.
A victory.
A victory in the pacific.
We need a huge victory now.
Yes? Mr.
President, will you see Admiral King? You're resting, Franklin.
Tell him to come in.
Admiral.
Mr.
President, l regret this intrusion.
I'll be brief.
Tomorrow at this time we will bomb Japan.
What? And this is the first l hear it's tomorrow? Admiral Halsey's carrier task force is moving into position now to launch a squadron of army B-25 bombers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle.
From well outside carrier plane range, the force is undetected.
Army bombers? Off carriers? The strike will hit military targets in Tokyo and other cities.
The bombers will fly on to a base in China.
The Chinese are alerted and ready for them.
The hazards are high, but we expect to achieve total surprise.
Those aviators.
What brave men.
Well, they'll give Hirohito something to think about.
A turn.
A turn.
Yes l think of those young pilots, and l think of Longfellow's words.
''humanity, with all its fears, with all its hopes of future years, is hanging breathless on your fate.
'' April 18, 1942, 0800 hours.
Task force 16, lead by William F.
''Bull'' Halsey, aboard the USS Enterprise.
And 15 other war ships, including the USS Hornet.
16 army B-25 bombers lashed to her flight deck lie deep within Japanese waters, 624 miles east of Tokyo.
Now hear this.
Admiral Halsey speaking.
You're all wondering where we're taking all those B-25s over there on the deck of the Hornet.
Gentlemen, here is our destination.
This force is bound for Tokyo to avenge Pearl Harbor and Bataan.
Yay! Yay! Henry, is this good war-making or is it just a showy stunt? That depends upon how the Japs react.
My hat's off to those army aviators, though.
Oh, yes.
The price of the raid will be steep.
17 of the 80 army aviators will be killed or captured.
15 of the 16 aircraft, fuel tanks exhausted, will be lost as they crash-land in China.
The raid will have almost no impact on Japan's war production or military capability.
But the Doolittle raiders' heroic deeds and their soldiers' deaths will not have been in vain.
The Tokyo raid sends spirits soaring on the home front and around the world.
Where did the planes take off from? Why from Shangri-la, ladies and gentlemen.
From Shangri-la.
in the aftermath, the Japanese high command decides that the impudent Americans must be taught a lesson.
There will be no more Doolittle raids.
After much discussion and debate, Japanese strategic planners finally decide they will gamble everything on an all-or-nothing roll of the dice.
The inferior battered U.
S.
Navy must be lured into a final fleet action and annihilated.
And so the two axis partners, at the peak of their strength, turn their backs on each other.
And as the German army launches Case Blue and begins the long march to Stalingrad, the Japanese imperial fleet prepares for the most decisive engagement in the annals of modern naval warfare- The Battle of Midway.
SS Colonel Karl Adolph Eichmann.
Party number 899895.
SS number 45326.
A fanatical Nazi, the Gestapo's expert on Jewish affairs, Eichmann is chief of section IV B-4 of the Reich security main office.
His primary responsibility- the organization and execution of SS Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler's ''final solution.
'' Herr Eichmann, surely the Reich security main office realizes that Italy is not an occupied country.
It's a sovereign nation, a full military ally.
And these Jews you wish to ship east are still Italian nationals.
Herr Dr.
Beck, haven't you ever had a virgin? I'm afraid l don't understand.
The principle is the same lots of soothing words, disarming talk, then at the proper moment after the first time, no problems.
I'm not entirely sure that is a useful parallel, Herr Eichmann.
Most Italians like the Jews or at least feel sorry for them.
Even Mussolini- The Italians are not to be taken seriously.
it is the Fuhrer's unshakable will to cleanse the continent of Jews.
Italy will be no exception! But to return to the principle you must get Italy to hand over some Jews, however few, and on whatever basis, at once.
As soon as that line is crossed, resistance to the Jewish policies will crumble.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Once the Jews are physically removed, their wealth remains behind for confiscation.
When your slimy Italian politician gets a taste of that revenue, oh, you'll be surprised how quickly he will embrace the Fuhrer's wise policies.
It's happened in country after country.
With all due respect, Herr Eichmann, l cannot imagine what basis l might propose that would result in the Italian government turning over its citizens.
Fortunately, l can.
The way to start is with the Italian Jews who are already in Germany.
There are precisely 118 of these delightful people.
Now you will propose that Italy takes charge of all German Jews who have fled here, while Germany takes control of all Italian Jews on Reich soil.
l see.
l hope you do.
l have to point out l will be asked exactly where these 118 Jews will be resettled, what they will do there, and in what circumstances.
Very well write whatever you want.
Nothing will ever come of it.
That's not how the foreign service operates, I'm afraid.
We've been very factual.
Very well, Herr Dr.
Beck.
lf you like, I'll be glad to tell you precisely where the Jews will go and what the disposition will be by direct order of the Fuhrer.
lf you like, Herr Dr.
Beck.
That won't be necessary.
Do you happen to have a spot of brandy in the office? I've already driven over 200 kilometers this morning, and I've had no breakfast.
l will tell you this.
You can look for a very positive effect on your career once you pull this off.
Ahem.
Well I'll do what l can do for you, Herr Eichmann.
But the Italians will have the last word.
l can't help that.
So you can't help that.
l now request from you an explanation of the Jastrow case.
The Jastrow case? You have sequestered in Siena a 70-year-old stateless Jew, Aaron Jastrow, a prominent author from the United States, his niece, and her infant.
You have written them, you have telephoned them, you have visited them.
Yes? l don't know what you are implying? l haven't kept it secret.
We know you studied in the United States and that Jastrow was your teacher.
is that why you are protecting the Jew? l am not protecting him.
l am hoping to use him.
in what way? As you yourself have pointed out, Herr Eichmann, Herr Dr.
Jastrow is a prominent American author.
Yes, Herr Dr.
Beck.
Well, that is exactly it.
l am hoping he will make a series of broadcasts in which he will picture the Germans and the Japanese as deprived and misunderstood proud people, and the allies as fat cats clutching riches gained by armed force.
He will picture the whole war as a useless blood-letting which should be stopped at once by a ''sharing of the hegemony,'' his own brilliant phrase.
He used it in my presence.
Such a suggestion of world leadership being shared coming from such a prominent Jewish author could have great impact in America to weaken the war effort and encourage a peace movement.
When will Jastrow be making his first broadcast? That's not definite yet.
It's a question of persuading him, which takes time.
Really? Why should that be? Persuading a Jew is simple.
To be effective, it has to be done of his own free will.
Jews will do whatever you want them to of their own free will.
However, l understand you now.
Jastrow is your teacher.
He is a fine man.
You don't want him upset or frightened.
it isn't that you are coddling or protecting a Jew.
It's just that you think you might catch more flies with honey, yes? I'm sure that my approach is correct.
Yes, providing you get some results before the war is over.
Tell me, Herr Dr.
Beck, is your family here with you in Rome? No.
They're at home in Stuttgart.
How many kids do you have? Three.
Boys? Girls? Yes.
Two girls, one boy.
Oh, please.
Please.
Oh, how beautiful, and with the Fuhrer, too.
Hmm, girls are so sweet.
l have three boys.
No luck on girls.
No matter what, l always try to get home to see the kids at least once a week, even if it's only for an hour.
l suppose you are as fond of your kids as l am of mine.
l love my children, Herr Eichmann.
Good.
Right.
Let's do some straight talking, shall we? Can Reichsfuhrer Himmler expect a progress report fairly soon on those 118 jews? Yes.
l will, uh, do my best.
Excellent.
Oh, I'm so pleased l could come here and we could thrash this out.
You have a heavy responsibility.
So do a job for the Fuhrer.
Of course you understand, Herr Beck, this whole Jastrow business is not kosher, it's not kosher at all.
Tell the old yid to make his broadcast, then let Ovra put him away.
But they have a guarantee of safe conduct as part of the American journalist exchange.
The American journalists have already left Italy.
l delayed their departure myself, tied it to our mess in Brazil.
But sooner or later, that is bound to clear up.
But you did manage that delay.
See? When you want to be, you can be a real live wire.
Well, good luck, Herr Dr.
Beck.
Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler.
Stop it! It's disgusting.
Halte! Call these SS men? They're marching like gypsies, like Chinamen.
is this the parade to put on for Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler? You're playing like street beggars! l want them drilled drilled until they drop! l come back at 1500 hours for another inspection.
lf there is no improvement straight to the Russian front! Front line.
The whole lot of them! Birkenau! Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
Klinger, is this what Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler will see tomorrow? l am working them night and day, Herr Kommandant, flogging them like dogs.
Flogging? Shoot the five slowest ones.
l authorize you.
That will pep up the rest.
Where are my 60 blockhouses? Lumber shortages, restricted rules- No excuses, no shortages.
Requisition whatever you need.
All rules waived.
One rule- 60 blockhouses up by tomorrow at 12 noon.
Do you understand? Or you will pay, and they will.
Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
lf l am finished, Sammy, so are you.
So are all of you! Kaput! To the gas! Herr Sturmscharfuhrer, we can speed up the work.
We have ideas.
Let's hear.
Rudy, see how our roses are growing.
Smell.
is my adjutant here? Yes.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Schwarz, too.
Upstairs in your study.
For lunch there's sauerbraten, your favorite.
No lunch.
No time.
That Klinger in Birkenau has gone crazy.
He asked for trucks to speed up his job.
l squashed him good.
''Prisoners are horses,'' l said.
''They walk.
'' Give him trucks.
What else? The damn fool wants floodlights on his job tonight.
All night long.
Floodlights.
Let him have them.
But the air defense rules- l make the air defense rules.
Call central supply right now.
Zu Befehl, Herr Kommandant.
The parade? Much, much better.
Just like machines.
Program? Nice job.
The printing shop outdid itself.
''Aerodrome trooping of colors band seranade honor review'' Good.
Gruppenfuhrer Kammler himself will do the map talk at breakfast.
Of course.
Grabbing the bows.
''Architect's office motor tour'' Special action before lunch? Who is responsible for this idiotic change? The railroad directorate.
They insisted, Sturmscharfuhrer, on getting the empty train back in Oppeln by noon.
Schwarz! Out! ''A special action from beginning to end.
'' Before lunch.
What kind of appetite will our guest have after that? Are you insane? Herr Kommandant, l tried.
The empty train the railroad directorate insisted- This is Reichsfuhrer SS business! Understood? I'll throw the whole railroad directorate into block 11 and you, too! You stupid swine! This Himmler visit is making us all nervous wrecks.
We'll all be glad when this is over.
He doesn't sleep, doesn't eat only drinks.
It's all on him.
Maybe l will have some lunch.
Of course, Rudy.
Schwarz.
The special action all in order? 100º%, Kommandant.
lf one thing goes wrong- one thing It's my neck.
Mine.
It's a select transport from Amsterdam.
They've been well treated.
It'll go smooth.
Smooth as oil.
it had better.
A hard thing to watch, all the same.
Orders.
He wants to see a whole action from beginning to end.
He watched one in Russia.
Didn't approve.
Crude business.
They made them dig their own mass graves, then mowed them down and buried them, clothes and all.
Here, of course, we are more practical, more humane.
Still have a glass of brandy.
I'm very curious to see how Himmler will take it.
He's tough, but Kommandant.
Never before have l dared to ask this.
Suppose suppose Germany loses the war.
Now it's going, Sammy.
Twice as many men, thanks to the trucks.
This was an idea.
Just the side toward the road.
My Russian foreman.
Russian? He's no Russian.
He's a Jew swindler like you.
You think l don't know? Schnell! Schnell! Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler.
Nazi party number 14303.
SS number 168.
Son of a Bavarian schoolmaster, Himmler joined the Nazi party in 1923, took over the SS in 1929, and in 1934 became Chief of the Gestapo, speedily building it into one of the most feared state police organizations in the world.
By the outbreak of the war in 1939, Himmler was in undisputed control of a virtual private empire.
A dangerous fanatic, second in power only to the Fuhrer, and widely regarded as his possible successor, Himmler's prime responsibility is the carrying out of Adolf Hitler's racial policies, calling for the extermination of 11 million men, women, and children- the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe.
This installation will be doubled westward.
Total capacity- 200,000 prisoners for the new factories.
it will be done, Reichsfuhrer.
Tremendous drainage problems to the west, Reichsfuhrer.
An SS officer does not recognize difficulties.
He overcomes them.
How this will be done is your worry, not mine.
Ja Wohl, Reichsfuhrer.
You have done much here in a short time.
And after lunch, the special action? Ja Wohl, Herr Reichsfuhrer.
Special action.
Isn't it wonderful, Herr Reichsfuhrer? Soso peaceful.
Umthe disinfection, and over here, the undressing huts.
Towels and, um, soap.
Shower heads.
For the windows.
And this door? Leads outside.
Disposal.
Don't they suspect? Not yet? That's why the SS.
We take no chances.
Who are those prisoners in the striped suits? Jews.
The most timid, the most nervous ones, are picked out when they arrive.
Then they get a choice-- a bullet in the head at once or this duty.
We get a few.
They don't last long.
They go to the gas, too.
Meantime, they're a help.
Very practical.
[speaking German.]
Reichsfuhrer, now it's better go observe from over there.
Please, come with me.
Now, at least, it will go fast.
Would the Reichsfuhrer care to come in, have a look, and listen? It's quite safe.
Sounds like a Synagogue, l always say.
Cigarette.
So, what's next? Around the back, Reichsfuhrer.
We've already had a special action this morning.
May l speak frankly, Reichsfuhrer? This is our greatest problem.
Disposal.
I've told Berlin over and over that burial is no answer.
Not on the scale projected.
What about the others? It's not only the Jews.
We already have over 20,000 Polish politicals that have to be dealt with, and the gypsies.
More and more are brought in every day.
Crematoriums.
Of course.
Crematoriums.
But they remain pretty models in the central building board, Reichsfuhrer.
Notes.
Quicklime.
The bacteria count in the water here is already endangering the health of my SS.
l say again, Reichsfuhrer, disposal is the problem.
Berlin is ignoring it.
l shall issue orders to override all projects in this province for labor and materials.
The construction of crematoriums will take precedence even over I.
G.
Farben.
Thank you, Reichsfuhrer.
Use your best construction crews.
When crematoriums are finished, liquidate the crews.
Understood, Reichsfuhrer.
The request of your medical unit to perform special sterilization experiments on Jewish women granted.
Great news for my medical staff.
You have given me an honest look at Auschwitz.
You are doing your best under tough wartime conditions.
l promote you to Obersturmbannfuhrer.
Herr Reichsfuhrer.
I'll say goodbye to your charming wife and be leaving.
You will not see me to the airport.
You have too much work to do.
Obersturmbannfuhrer? Children.
What a charming little girl.
Do you like flower? Flower, yes.
Here is a flower.
Come to me.
We have a new job Arbeitskommando, crematoria.
Crematorium For ourselves.
Never.
It's possible to escape even from Auschwitz.
l don't understand the necessity for this dinner, Natalie.
What information could this baby doctor have to interest us? l said you didn't have to come, but he invited us both.
It's 40 years since I've had a proper Sabbath meal.
We may as well hear what's so urgent.
Professor? Thank you, Seniore Sacerdote.
It's a very long time since l put on one of these.
Amen.
Amen.
Good Sabbath.
All right, Natalie.
We will take the baby to the bedroom.
Don't worry.
It's all right.
Let Miriam take care of him.
She is better than a Governess.
When did you last see your husband? It's almost two years now This brunello is very fine, Dr.
Castelnuovo.
From our own small vineyard.
Mrs.
Henry, l asked you here this evening because there are some things better not spoken of at the office.
l have been in touch with Avram Rabinovitz.
Avram? How are you acquainted with him, my good doctor? My son-in-law and l partially financed the sailing of the Redeemer.
l have good reports for you-- they reached palestine unharmed.
You're sure? Slipped through the British blockade.
Excellent news, Dr.
Castelnuovo.
And Rabinovitz, what about him? He returned to Marseilles.
That's his base.
He's there now.
Why didn't the two of you leave with the other American journalists? Rabinovitz is very puzzled and concerned.
He has asked about this repeatedly.
We were temporarily detained.
But why? Reprisals.
Three German agents in Brazil, posing as Italian journalists, were arrested.
So the three of us-- German agents in Brazil-- how does that affect you? You're Americans.
That makes no sense.
None whatever, l agree.
Our state department is pressing the Italian Government through Bern to send us to Switzerland at once.
l am not concerned.
l am.
My niece has trouble accepting that our government has things on its mind besides our release.
But we have further protection protection of rather unusual nature.
My dear, shall we confide in these delightful new friends of ours? As you wish, Aaron.
The secretary of the German legation in Rome is an ex-student of mine, Werner Beck.
He's been a very good friend.
Then why doesn't he help you with all this nonsense about Brazil? He has.
He's been burning up the lines to Berlin.
He says our release through Switzerland is only a matter of time.
Do you believe that? My guess would be that this Dr.
Beck is preventing you from leaving.
Oh, how preposterous.
What's in it for him? You ask the right question.
It's to his advantage to have the famous Dr.
Jastrow trapped here and dependent on him.
in what way, I'm sure you'll find out.
Now l have a message from Avram.
He says, ''get out while you can.
'' Don't you think l want to? But how? With us, Mrs.
Henry.
Get out with us.
We're arranging with Avram to go to Palestine.
Aren't you overreacting? This is Italy, not Germany.
Dr.
Jastrow, only last week, we heard in the Synagogue that fascists are planning to round up all Jews on Yom Kippur.
Once collected, we'll be given to the Germans and transported to the east.
Doctor, my good friend the Archbishop assures me the Vatican intelligence net is Europe's best.
lf that were remotely possible, he wouldn't have kept it from me.
Possibly.
But the church has property and influence to protect in Germany and Italy.
We Jews had better look out for ourselves.
You've taken me into the bosom of your family, and we are grateful.
But l feel we must go now.
Come, Natalie.
Fetch the baby.
Go ahead.
Read your mail.
Your kindness has not gone unappreciated, Werner.
l enjoy being able to bring you your mail.
The Arch of Constantine, it arrived safely! Just listen to this, Natalie.
''The Arch of Constantine-- your best book yet.
classic stature certain book club selection Honored to publish such a fresh and seminal work.
'' Well, well.
Isn't that splendid news? That is good news, but not all the good news.
Slote, our friend at the American Legation in Bern, has absolutely no idea when this Brazil business will be straightened out.
Yes, but all that is quite out of date.
May we have lunch? Otherwise, there's so much to discuss, I'm afraid we may forget to eat.
What a lovely view.
Won't you be sorry to leave it behind? Are we leaving it behind? That is why I've come, Professor.
Then you have our releases? Not exactly.
Almost as good, however.
Professor Italian radio wants to put you on the air-- you and other famous enemy aliens-- Berenson, perhaps Santayana.
Dear me.
What's that to do with our release? lf the Professor will simply come to Rome and record a leisurely two-hour interview or four half-hour broadcasts, the Ovra will allow me to arrange three exit visas and tickets for a Rome-Zurich plane.
The Brazil business will be set aside, and you're on your way.
You won't even have to come back to Siena.
So, how does that strike you, Dr.
Jastrow? l confess I'm rather bewildered, Werner.
Would they want me to discuss something in my field, like Constantine? They want a philosophical view of the war showing all the right isn't on one side.
You remember what you said on my last visit? That would precisely fill the bill.
But l had too much wine that night, and Natalie had provoked me.
it was a bad-tempered outburst.
But, Professor, you have a great original vision of this world catastrophe.
That theme of sharing the hegemony is perfect.
You'd not only please Rome radio, but impress your countrymen as well.
And to state matters bluntly, you'd get out of Italy at once.
How about Berenson and Santayana, have they agreed to this? The Italian radio people consider you the key personality.
Once you agree, the others will follow suit.
Then they don't know yet.
No, no, no, Werner.
l couldn't attack my own country on enemy shortwave.
Surely you can see that.
I'd rather rot here in Siena.
There's also the question of Mrs.
Henry and her baby rotting here.
And there's the more serious question of how long you can stay in Siena.
I've made a long trip to lay this before you.
l didn't expect a rejection.
l thought I'd earned your confidence, Professor.
What's the question of our staying in Siena? The Ovra pressure never lets up on me, Mrs.
Henry.
You belong in a concentration camp with the other alien Jews.
l was reminded of this when the idea came up.
l can't fathom this! Surely we're guaranteed eventual passage to Switzerland, aren't we? How can Rome radio blackmail me into wrecking my reputation? Just be firm, Werner.
Tell them to put it out of their minds.
l won't consider it.
That, l must tell you, is a grave statement, Professor.
Nevertheless, it's my answer.
It's final.
Your car, Dr.
Beck.
I'll walk with you.
He'll do it.
Do what, the broadcasting? Yes, he'll do it.
His resistance was very strong.
His explosive reactions pass.
When does Rome radio want him? That's not definite, but l must have a letter consenting to make the broadcast.
That will start the wheels turning-- the wheels of your release.
You'll have the letter soon.
l want to have it now.
I'd postpone my return.
l can't press him in this mood.
Please understand.
l promise it will come.
l must count on your good sense then.
You can count on my concern for my baby.
My greatest pleasure would be sending you off to Zurich.
l shall be waiting anxiously for that letter.
Goodbye, Mrs.
Henry.
l couldn't help it.
His proposal is outrageous! Instead of turning him down flat, you should've stalled.
Possibly.
But I'll never make those broadcasts he's asking for.
Never! He took my outburst far too literally.
No matter how badly the state department has treated me, l still love my country.
l won't go on the air for the axis, mark myself a traitor.
They can kill me if they like, but l won't do it.
Then we're in real danger, Aaron.
That may be.
The first thing you should do is draft a letter to Werner.
Tell him l apologize and that I'm beginning to lay out four broadcasts.
Be vague about the completion date.
Then go talk to that young Jewish doctor, Castelnuovo.
His plans for leaving Italy might take on a new relevance.
Aaron, this is a change.
l really hadn't bargained for adventure at my time of life.
Making a dash for it might seem far-fetched, but l don't like Werner's new tune.
But the important thing is to get you and Louis out of danger.
So let's set about it.
The Ovra may well be watching Castelnuovo.
it may be best if it looks like an office visit.
Take the baby with you.