01x01 - Episode 1

[bunniefuu]

MUSIC: Hast Du Schon Berlin Bei
Nacht Gesehen? by Richard Forst

Berlin, autumn 1932.

The last sunny
days before winter.

The people get up, go to
work, stroll along the street,

sit outside cafes, go to the
cinema, or perhaps to the cabaret.

But one in three
people is unemployed.

They live in tenements or
shanties and they are hungry.

Street battles are
a daily occurrence.

Political murders are
part of everyday life.

The country is divided.

At the Reichstag
elections in November,

the National Socialists, under Adolf
Hitler, become the strongest party.

They and the Communists,
under Ernst Thalmann,

make up the majority
in the Reichstag.

A stable government
cannot be formed.

In December, Kurt von Schleicher
becomes Reich Chancellor

without a majority and
with little backing.

In Berlin, the street battles
intensify, the cracks deepen.

The new year has to
bring a decision.

It is a year we know about
through diaries and letters,

photographs and films.

New Year's Eve is
fast approaching.

TRANSLATION: - It was
a very quiet night.

Surprisingly, I had
almost nothing to do.

At around ten, a former hospital
clerk named Elter was admitted.

He was doubled over and
complaining of severe pains

in the appendix region.

The weather was dry but
quite cold. No snow.

- TRANSLATION: - The President's
New Year reception proceeded

in the customary way,
as it has for years.

Presidential guard drill,
diplomatic corps in attendance,

public appearance of the
government, speeches and responses.

- TRANSLATION:
- Severe cramps,

and my little Elna
had had toothaches,

so we went to bed on
New Year's Day at 7pm

and spent the whole night
whimpering at one another.

Today, Elna went to the dentist.

She returned home very satisfied
with the meticulous treatment

and almost free from pain.

Her treatment is supposed
to continue tomorrow.

- MUSIC: Die Arbeiter Von Wien

♪ Wir sind das Bauvolk
der kommenden Welt... ♪

- When I was in Charlottenstrasse
today at five, I heard people sing.

They were workers on their
way to a Communist rally.

I saw almost only young people.

80% were under 30, marked by
bitterness and frustration.

Their clothes and
their emaciated faces

suggested that most of
them were unemployed.

Their leader gave three
cheers for the Red Front.

Every voice and every fist was
raised three times in a row.

An unsettling factor is the
number of political murders.

The fifth political
m*rder since New Year's

was reported from Breslau.

Fights in Hamburg, Erfurt and
Aachen were also reported.

- TRANSLATION: - My work at the
hospital proceeds as follows.

In the morning, at quarter
to nine, I go to the ward.

Then I go to the outpatients
clinic to sign some paperwork.

I have around 25 to 40
patients to examine each day.

Sometimes it's eczema, sometimes
gonorrhoea, sometimes syphilis.

At eight, I met up with Lilie.

We went to Aschinger,
and then the usual.

She wanted cigarettes,
ate a sausage, drank beer,

all at my expense, of course.

And yet, after I had drunk
several beers, at around 11,

we still went to our old
local in Steinmetzstrasse.

When I think about it, it
all seems like a big mistake.

- TRANSLATION: - Trouble
is brewing in Berlin.

We went to Bulowplatz. The streets
were overrun by Communist rabble.

Dangerous to drive through
there, but all went well.

The police made sure no-one could
sh**t at us from the windows.

At exactly 2pm, Hitler arrived.

Our SA marched in front
of Karl-Liebknecht-Haus.

A splendid sight.

Terrible loss of face
for the Communists.

Bulowplatz is ours.

- I ask myself whether the
Nazis could be satisfied.

Their 15,000 men were chased
away to the four winds

without the protection
of 16,000 policemen

of armoured vehicles
and machine g*ns.

At Alexanderplatz, the streets were
blocked by counter-demonstrators.

It was pure luck that the day
didn't end in a bloodbath.

Two people were k*lled,
over 60 were injured.

- TRANSLATION: - Our
barometer by the window

was showing -18 degrees today.

How cold must it be outside?

I hope Elna's little
nose didn't freeze

when she was waiting
at the tram stop.

God will protect my
brave little girl.

- We went to 132 Ackerstrasse.

The huge building included a
number of narrow back yards

and was five storeys high.

In the second back yard, we went up
the stairs to one of the apartments.

I looked at the walls.

There was hardly a centimetre
that wasn't cracked or punctured.

The walls were damp or rancid.

Even the woodwork of
the windows was mouldy

and was swollen
from the dampness.

- TRANSLATION: - Dr Hess presented a
patient with suspected tuberculosis.

He is 52 years old, has lost a
great deal of weight recently,

night sweats and
coughing up blood.

The X-ray showed a lung
tumour, probably cancerous.

At 8:30pm, I met
Lilie at Aschinger.

She had a glass of beer in
front of her, had already eaten,

and was smoking her
sixth cigarette.

Our conversation was dull.

She was angry that I
didn't pay for her.

We parted very coolly.

- TRANSLATION: - Meal with
Hitler. Very political.

Hitler remarkable, as ever.

We went to see the
film The Rebel again.

I am awestruck once
more. What a great film.

- MAN CALLS OUT

MAN REPLIES

- In the film's cl*max,
French soldiers invade Tyrol.

Farmers throw huge piles
of rocks and wood on them.

Bang, bang, crash.

A portion of the
audience wildly cheered

as the French were massacred.

There was a big rush in
front of the UFA-Palast.

The UFA, like so many other
publishers and newspapers,

belongs to Alfred Hugenberg,

the leader of the German
National People's Party.

- The Hugenberg party still hoped
to form a government with Hitler,

but the price seemed to be high.

Many people are plotting
against Schleicher.

- TRANSLATION: - A reception with the
French ambassador, Francois-Poncet.

Jostling crowds.

Schleicher's imminent fall was
the topic on everyone's lips.

It's an orgy of
backroom politics.

- In the evening, Tempo
published a sensational story.

A new government will be formed with
Hitler, Von Papen and Hugenberg.

I called friends to
hear their opinion.

One said the Tempo was
just being sensationalist

and that I shouldn't
pay them any attention.

- TRANSLATION: - Schleicher
has been toppled.

I'm overcome with
waves of nausea

at the thought of those
notorious jackasses and chancers

being back in government.

- Something was brewing.

Hugenberg spoke out for
a Cabinet with Hitler.

What does that mean?

- TRANSLATION: - The annual
press ball in the evening.

Lots of beautiful,
elegant women.

- TRANSLATION: - I had
to attend the press ball

on behalf of my newspaper.
Who flirted with whom?

Who held forth? Who
accompanied whom?

Who sat with whom?

That's what the readers want
to know the next morning.

- TRANSLATION: - It was the strangest
atmosphere I've ever experienced.

Everyone sensed
what was in the air.

No-one wanted to
believe it was true.

The government box, which at these
events is usually full of ministers,

state secretaries,
diplomats, was empty.

- TRANSLATION: - It has got
much warmer. Only -1 today.

Light snowfall.

At the moment, we have
a serious flu epidemic.

The hospital is overcrowded.

Internal medicine has borrowed wards
from us and the surgical department.

They don't know where to
put all their patients.

- TRANSLATION: - Little Elna
came home with a fever yesterday.

She has been coughing and
spluttering for weeks.

All that miserable waiting
around at tram stops

and the sudden change in weather

have affected the
poor girl terribly.

- TRANSLATION: - The Social
Democrats and the Iron Front

held a demonstration
in the Lustgarten.

More than 100,000 people,
countless red flags.

In front of the palace, a large
red banner - "Berlin stays red".

The Social Democrat MP
Kunstler held a speech.

I didn't see any Communists,
although they had intended

to demonstrate there, too.

A great seething crowd.

- TRANSLATION: - It seems Papen
or Hitler will form a Cabinet.

A slight bout of the flu, which I'm
fighting with alcohol and sleep.

Germany, what will
become of you?

- UNTRANSLATED

TRANSLATION: - The newspaper
seller on the corner

has the afternoon edition
torn from his hands.

The headline accompanies
me the short distance home,

up two flights of stairs, and
lies before me on the table.

Adolf Hitler is
Reich Chancellor.

- CHANTING

CHEERING

TRANSLATION: - The Cabinet
has been hastily put together.

Hitler is there with
Dr Frick and Goering.

But Hugenberg, Papen and
Defence Minister Blomberg

are present to
keep him in check.

So it is neither a
National Socialist

nor a revolutionary government,
although it bears Hitler's name.

It's not a Third Reich, barely
even a two-and-a-half Reich.

- TRANSLATION: -
Carnival Atmosphere.

SA and SS troops in uniformed
Stahlhelm patrol the streets.

Spectators throng the pavements.

In and around the Hotel
Kaiserhof was one big party.

The whole square
was full of gawkers.

- TRANSLATION: - At the old Reich
Chancellery, behind closed windows,

standing erect like a
statue hewn from marble,

was Reich President
Von Hindenburg.

He looked magnificent.

Two buildings down, Adolf Hitler
greeted the cheering masses

with the fascist salute.

It was an uplifting sight.

The whole of Berlin on its feet.

Everyone inflamed by
nationalist fervour.

Our fatherland.

- TRANSLATION: - Images and gestures
that no photographer captures.

Men and women who avert their eyes
when the brown uniforms pass by.

Who hurry home and
disappear indoors.

Or those who find it hard
to conceal their fury,

their powerlessness,
their pain or their fear.

A young girl has tears
pouring down her face.

Bystanders move away.

- After the torchlight procession,
two people were k*lled.

SA Sturmfuhrer Maikowski
and a police officer.

- TRANSLATION: - Thousands of
Siemens workers travel to the factory

for the early shift.

The railway carriage smells
of sweat and cold smoke.

People sit bleary-eyed
on the seats.

Some of them hang their heads.

We thrust fliers into
everybody's hand.

No-one argues.

No-one seems to get het up.

They take the fliers
from us wordlessly.

Some people read them, most put
them straight in their pocket.

- TRANSLATION: - Hitler
heads a government

that we can and must
fight. But after all,

it is a constitutionally
legitimate government.

If we organise a general
strike now, the government

will do everything it can to
make us incapable of action.

We tried to stop the
fascists coming to power

and now we have to
drive them out of power.

- TRANSLATION: - The streets are
flooded with brown SA uniforms.

Countless civilians wear a
swastika badge on their lapel

or have at least
donned a brown shirt.

- TRANSLATION: - My patients
speak of nothing else.

Many of them are
filled with joy.

Many of them look worried.

They agree on one thing only.

Everything will
be different now.

I hear how they believe in him,

or want to believe in him.

Ready to serve him.

- TRANSLATION: - The
Reichstag has been dissolved.

New elections are to take place

on the 5th of March.

The government has banned the
Communist demonstration this Friday

and the Social Democratic
Party demonstration

in the Lustgarten on Sunday.

- TRANSLATION: - Commanding
generals and station commanders

have been summoned to Berlin
to meet Hitler in person.

- TRANSLATION: - I was
introduced to him before dinner.

Afterwards, in a speech,
he outlined his approach.

- TRANSLATION: - The sole
aim of general policy -

regaining political power,

exterminating Marxism
root and branch,

tightest authoritarian
state leadership,

eliminating the cancer
that is democracy...

..fighting for new export
opportunities and, better still,

perhaps, the conquest of
new living space in the East

and its merciless Germanisation.

- TRANSLATION: - No
political goals were declared

that might give
cause for concern.

- The emergency ordinance
was issued today.

It contains drastic regulations
for political gatherings

and demonstrations and
restrictions for the press.

- TRANSLATION: -
Press bans everywhere.

Very careful use of language.

We must once again learn
to read between the lines.

National Socialists are occupying
all the government posts.

- TRANSLATION: - Hitler is
filling all positions of power

with his own people.

The interior
ministries, the police,

schools, universities,
the radio.

- TRANSLATION: - Adolf
Hitler took his first steps

on the diplomatic stage.

Everybody was watching him.

The former Corporal appeared rather
uncomfortable in his new role.

He kept reaching for the place where
his uniform belt would have been.

He crumpled his handkerchief and
seemed struck with stage fright.

- BELLS PEAL

- The state funeral for the
n*zi gangster Maikowski.

Maikowski m*rder*d a
Communist in December.

In the night of the 31st of January,
he and a policeman were shot.

The police officer was an
alleged supporter of the left.

- TRANSLATION: - At 11:45am, I
was finally able to push my way

through the crowd and
into the cathedral,

which was filled to capacity.

At the front, by the altar,
the two coffins lay on biers.

Yes, may the Lord in all his mercy
bring these two faithful souls

home to Him.

Through the night, into the light,
through struggle to freedom.

- TRANSLATION: - Social Democratic
Party Chairman Wels explained

that he had convened the meeting
with trade union representatives

in order to discuss what final
defensive measures might be taken.

He said that factory workers
were constantly asking

when they should lay
down their tools.

The idea of a united front
with the Communist Party

was a popular topic, he said.

Arrests and press
bans were increasing.

Trade union leader
Leipart posed the question

of what our goals in case of
a general strike would be.

Those workers who
are still employed

would certainly have to fear losing
what might well be their last job.

- TRANSLATION: - Yesterday
morning, I told the doctor

that Elna's condition
had worsened.

He prescribed a new medicine.

I was given something
to help with my cough

because my home remedies
have achieved nothing.

Elna has a fever again today.

- TRANSLATION: - There wasn't
much to do on the ward today.

I only examined four
patients in total.

I left at six and met Trude.

We went to the Metro-Palast
on the Chausseestrasse.

And watched the film F.P.1 Doesn't
Answer, starring Hans Albers.

- ♪ Flieger, gruss mir die Sonne

♪ Gruss mir die Sterne
und gruss mir den Mond

♪ Dein Leben, das
ist das Schweben

♪ Durch die Ferne
die keiner bewohnt

♪ Schneller und immer schneller

♪ Dreht der Propeller
Wie es mir grade gefallt

♪ Piloten ist nichts verboten

♪ Un' mit Vollgas
dusen sie um die Welt

♪ Such dir die schonste
Sternenschnuppe aus

♪ Und bring sie deinem
Madel mit nach Haus

♪ Flieger, gruss mir die Sonne

♪ Gruss mir die Sterne und
gruss mir den Mond... ♪

g*nf*re

TRANSLATION: - The
film was mediocre.

I can't understand why such a
big fuss has been made of it.

- I try to go to
Hitler's mass meetings.

It started at eight, but
when I arrived at six

the roads to the hall
were already blocked.

- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

RAUCOUS CHEERS

TRANSLATION: - I was
able to get a ticket.

My seat wasn't far from
the speaker's platform.

Suddenly, everyone stood up.

Hitler appeared through a
door at the back of the hall.

- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING SUBSIDES

- As he began to speak,
there was silence.

I don't know at what
point it happened,

but the audience
became electrified.

Thousands of people
leap out of their seats,

raising their arms
towards the Fuhrer.

They're laughing, crying,
or simply gawping.

I look at the woman next to me.

Fat beads of sweat are
trickling down her face.

The atmosphere in the hall
is one of malicious glee.

- APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE SUBSIDES

SHOUTING AND CLAPPING

- Followed by his staff, Hitler
makes his way towards the exit.

The men look drained. The women
have dark rings around their eyes.

I hurry away.

- TRANSLATION: - The rally,
which Goebbels claims

20 to 30 million Germans
listened to on the radio,

was doubtless a great
success for Hitler.

What a successful instrument of
propaganda the radio has become

and how little use have Hitler's
opponents made of it to date.

- TRANSLATION: - My dear child, the
market is dominated by influenza

and "Heil Hitler".

The flu is bad but, strangely,
I haven't caught it.

Business is slow. All of
our customers are laid low.

Hitler's appointment
came as a shock.

Yesterday, Theo told
me that we had received

no new printing orders all week.

But otherwise things are calm.

- TRANSLATION: - When I examine my
patients, I notice more and more

of them are wearing swastikas
under their clothing.

For the first time,
one of my patients

spoke about Jews in
a derogatory manner.

- TRANSLATION: - Elna is much better.
On Friday, I informed the doctor.

On Saturday, we
got the sick note.

Today, I took Elna outside
for the first time.

- TRANSLATION: - I made my rounds
in the morning at around 9:30am.

At ten, I went to church, where
the pastor gave a good sermon.

In the evening, Friedl called. She
says she wants to see me again.

So, in a way, I now have three
girls - Trude, Friedl and Lilie.

But I definitely
like Trude best.

- TRANSLATION: - Goering
is cracking down.

One governor after the
other is being toppled.

Admiral Levetzow has been named
Chief of Police for Berlin.

Lutze is Police Chief in Hanover
and Schepmann in Dortmund.

- The SA was equipped with the
newest model of an automatic p*stol

and the police is now instructed
by Goering to sh**t first

and ask questions later.

- TRANSLATION: - Any police
officer who uses a firearm

will be protected by me
regardless of the consequences.

Officers should always remember
that failure to take action

weighs heavier than mistakes
made when taking action.

- TRANSLATION: - Ossietzky
was supposed to give a speech

at a League of German
Writers meeting.

Erich Muhsam rushed to our
table, where the speaker sat,

and spread out
the evening paper,

which had just appeared with
Goering's "sh**t first" decree.

Any noise from outside startled
us as we were expecting

the nationalists'
sh**ting spree to begin.

Ossietzky was not a good orator.

He held tight to the table, head
bowed, barely lifting his voice.

There was nothing of the
people's champion about him.

He didn't seem capable of
rousing anybody to action.

- TRANSLATION: -
My parents rented

their first real apartment
in Bayerische Strasse

and furnished it
according to their taste.

Very modern, with black
Bauhaus furniture.

Those elegant chairs
made of steel tubes.

- TRANSLATION: - My dear child, the
flu has found its way to us after all.

Edith and Marta have been in
bed four days. Just imagine.

On Sunday, I ate at your
brother Werner's house.

He takes a serious view
of the political situation

and thinks it will
lead to his ruin.

But if he were still
in the Communist Party,

it would be even worse for him.

Despite those dark topics, I
very much enjoyed being there.

And the stuffed
pigeons were exquisite.

For the time being, Jews
have nothing to fear.

There are hardly any
in the civil service

and new laws can't be
introduced that quickly.

- TRANSLATION: -
Office, Berlin, work.

Still not enough money. Our
propaganda work is faltering.

I watched the Fuhrer's
Sportpalast speech.

It was a triumph.

It will be crucial for
our propaganda campaign.

- APPLAUSE

TRANSLATION: - I received
a telegram from Goering

that read roughly as follows.

"Invitation to an important
meeting in the palais

"of the Reichstag President."

I felt obliged to attend,
and upon arrival I found

40 to 50 representatives
of business and industry.

- TRANSLATION: - Hitler
arrived with Dr Wagner

and greeted every
attendee with a handshake.

In Hitler's opinion, the 6 to 8
million Communist voters in Germany

are proof of how dangerous
the situation is.

He says only the NSDAP
can save the country

from the Communist threat.

He expressed his commitment
to private property

and the right of inheritance.

- TRANSLATION: - After Hitler
left the room, Dr Schacht proposed

setting up an election fund
of, as far as I remember,

3 million Reichsmarks.

- TRANSLATION: - Hitler is
continuing his election campaign.

Newsreels show
Hitler in Cologne,

Hamburg, Stuttgart,
Nuremberg, Munich,

Breslau and Koenigsberg.

He travels in his own
private aeroplane,

his head protected from the
wind and cold by a leather cap.

- TRANSLATION: - Several meetings
I attended have been attacked

and many of those present had to be
taken away with serious injuries.

In Hindenburg, a
comrade narrowly escaped

being beaten to death.

I had a similar experience
in Langenbielau.

One of my companions
was struck down.

A lot of people were
injured in Breslau.

I would request that
meetings no longer take place

with myself in attendance.

- TRANSLATION: - My manservant
Friedrich says he must leave me.

His father, a n*zi and old
civil servant in Pankow,

has commanded him to do so
because unpleasant things

are expected to happen
in my house soon.

The boy was white as chalk.

Wieland Herzfelde told me that,
according to reliable sources,

the Nazis are planning a fake
assassination attempt on Hitler

as the signal to
start a bloodbath.

His information came
from the SA in Dortmund

and from a wiretapped conversation
between Hitler himself and Rohm.

- TRANSLATION: - I
took Peter to the zoo.

It was a relief to watch
the elegant wading birds

like flamingos and cranes, whose
gorgeous colours waft over one

and are more beautiful
than anything I know.

What a delight it would
be to lie in the sun,

in the place these
birds call home.

- TRANSLATION: - It seems likely
that the SA will occupy Berlin.

Heinrich Mann has
departed for the Riviera.

Thomas Mann is in Paris.

Alfred Kerr is in Prague.

They have no desire to be
accosted by barbarous Nazis

or possibly even k*lled.

- TRANSLATION: - Almost every
day, letters arrived for Muhsam

containing death threats,

or he'd get telephone calls
predicting his imminent demise.

He wanted to leave
early on the 28th.

His suitcase was packed
and everything was ready.

- ALARM RINGS

TRANSLATION: - The planned
assassination attempt

took place today - not on Hitler,
but on the Reichstag building.

- TRANSLATION: - Fire in four places.
Fire brigade sounded the alarm.

Assembly chamber in flames.
Telephone connections lost.

- TRANSLATION: - The whole
building was on fire.

Following the thick
firemen's houses,

we made our way to the lobby.

Evidence of arson was found
in four separate places.

There is no doubt
that the Communists

are trying to seize power
using arson and terror tactics.

Communist deputies
have been arrested

and the SA has been alerted.

- TRANSLATION: - They have
arrested some poor soul,

allegedly a Dutch communist
called Marinus van der Lubbe,

and charged him with arson.

They say he ignited
flammable material

at more than 30 sites
around the building.

- TRANSLATION: - I wanted the workers
to revolt against the political order.

I wanted them to see this as the
signal for a united rebellion.

- TRANSLATION: -
Carl came home.

My first question was, "What
are we going to do now?"

"First, let's go
to bed," he said.

I repeated, "Carl,
you have to flee."

Carl shook his head. "No,
I'll wait another three days."

- TRANSLATION: - At five o'clock,
when we were still sleeping,

two detective superintendents
from the Berlin Police

came and arrested Erich Muhsam

In parting, he said to me, "My dear
Zenzl, things are coming to a head.

"I think it will be
even worse this time."

Then he left, as calm as ever.

- TRANSLATION: - Carl went
to the bathroom and washed

while I quickly brewed coffee
and made him a sandwich.

His last words to me were,
"Chin up. I'll be back soon."

I went to the window,
my feet like lead.

A private car was
waiting at the corner.

Three men climbed inside
with Carl in the middle.

Then the car shot
off like an arrow.

- TRANSLATION: - Since morning,
the government has been arresting

Communist MPs, lawyers, writers.

They include Egon Erwin
Kisch, Erich Muhsam,

Ludwig Renn, Carl von Ossietzky.

Torgler, the Communist chairman,
handed himself over to the police.

It is said that he was
seen with the arsonist.

- TRANSLATION: - A person
was presented to me

who I was told was the
arsonist Van der Lubbe.

I declare that I have never
before seen this person

and that I do not know him.

- TRANSLATION: - The
tram is densely packed.

Most of the people hide their
faces behind their newspaper.

I look over someone's shoulder.

The president has
issued a decree.

Death penalty for treason, arson
or attacks on the government.

Restrictions on
personal freedom.

No privacy of postal, telegraphic
and telephonic communications,

house searches at any
time of the day or night.

- TRANSLATION: - Goering has
had hundreds if not thousands

of people in Germany arrested.

Nobody that I have
spoken to believes

it was a Communist arson attack.

- TRANSLATION: -
Full scale panic.

The Communist Party leader,
Thalmann, was arrested

in Charlottenburg today.

- TRANSLATION: -
My beloved Maudie,

since yesterday evening, I
have been in Spandau Prison.

You will already have heard that I
am being held in protective custody.

It's possible that this is
just a temporary measure.

I'm currently not allowed
to receive visitors.

- The Nazis waged the election
campaign in a very impressive way.

The huge n*zi posters that littered
the cities and the countryside.

The many brown uniforms.

The frequent parades
of the Brown Army,

the mass meetings and the daily
broadcasts of election speeches

on the radio have already
given the impression

that there is only one
big party in Germany.

- TRANSLATION: - There
is a fear of pogroms,

but I don't think
things will go that far.

Nonetheless, the
tension is hard to bear.

I would like 5th of
March to be over.

- TRANSLATION: - God knows what
terrible things lie ahead for us

in the coming days and weeks.

We beg for God's mercy.