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Central Studio of Children and Youth Films
named after M. Gorky
By Commission of State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers
on Television and Radio Broadcasting
SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING
PART 5
Starring
Stirlitz - Vyacheslav TIKHONOV
Pleischner - Yevgeny YEVSTIGNEYEV Pastor Schlagg - Rostislav PLYATT
Physicist Runge - Grigory LYAMPE Bormann - Yuri VIZBOR
Schellenberg - Oleg TABAKOV Mueller - Leonid BRONEVOY
General Wolf - Vassily Lanovoy Dolman - Yan YANAKIYEV
Allen Dulles - Vyacheslav SHALEVICH
Gewernitz - Valentin GAFT Guesmann - Alexei EIBOZHENKO
Holtoff - Konstantin ZHELDIN Eismann - Leonid KURAVLYOV
Himmler - Nikolai PROKOPOVICH
Hitler - Fritz DIEZ (GDR) Göring - Wilhelm BURMEYER (GDR)
Narrated by Yefim KOPELYAN
Track down this agent for me.
See to it that only three persons know about it:
You, me and him.
How long are you going to give me this ***, ***?
If you, son of a ***, don't start talking, I'm going to fleece you.
Listen to me carefully, Runge.
I don't want you dead, I want to help you out.
In return you must do me a favor. You hear me?
I don't understand what you want.
I want you to be honest with me. Tell me
how you got into that prison hospital,
you, an absolutely fit guy.
My medical tests are bad.
How long are you going to lie to me, ***?
Tell me, who?!
I questioned the prison doctors.
They said you're fit as a fiddle.
Well? You're sound as a bell. Who?
Who?!
What the hell are you doing? It's outrageous! Stop it.
Get out of here!
Try to understand him, Runge.
His wife and his two kids were killed in yesterday's bombing.
Want a cigarette?
Thank you.
- Thank you. - Don't cry. Don't.
Calm.
Why did he yell like hell at you?
You wouldn't say that it was Stirlitz who transferred you to that hospital?
You're funny, Runge.
Stirlitz is our colleague.
You didn't want to let him down, right?
You can't be responsible for our man's actions.
He himself proposed to transfer you to that hospital, right?
Yes.
Write down how it all happened and we'll consider the incident settled.
Now they'll bring you coffee.
Here's a pen, sit down. Write it down and go to have some sleep.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Great, he's cracked.
Let him sleep for about 10 minutes, then wake him up and question again.
Beat him up till he starts wailing, and keep asking just one question:
What deal did the man who questioned him offer?
That's what interests me.
You need to beat testimonies out of him if not today, then in the next 2 days.
Excuse me, can you help me?
But how did you come here?
By the stairs.
- Have you got a pass? - Sure.
We're evacuating.
- I can see it. - Come tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'll be busy. Please, help me today.
It depends with what.
I need a book by Mevers, dated 1857, published in Leipzig.
Then you should've turned to Doctor Nikenberg,
but he's in the hospital right now.
Pity. So I guess no one can help me?
I really don't know.
Then try Professor Pleischner.
- Thank you. - Any time.
You've come to me?
Right. Good day.
Good day.
Good day, good day...
- Mister... - Stirlitz.
Mister Stirlitz. Oh, my God, it's been so long.
- And I've seen you quite recently. - When?
Ah, you were...
- I've come to ask you for a favor. - Welcome.
You were at the funeral.
Excuse me, what do you want?
I need a book by Mevers, published in Leipzig.
Oh, it's a very rare edition.
I'm afraid we've sent it to the depository, in the mountains.
But I'll try to look for it.
And you're a sly man.
To ask me for a book by Mevers
is like asking you for a tone of margarine.
You wanted to see me. That's it.
I'm sorry.
Not it, not it...
Not it.
I'd say the Greeks' Art is by far too humanist, too blurred.
The Romans are tougher, probably, they're more like us, Germans.
Not without reason Mussolini considers Julius Caesar the first fascist ever.
The Greeks are focused on Man,
while the Romans - on the idea, inner logics.
A hero, a role-model.
Kids are supposed to play it. Am I right?
Why don't you say anything?
Why don't you object? I guess, you don't side with me.
You do hate muscular torsos
and proudly set, blunt heads.
No?
- You had big problems, didn't you? - Problems?
If a concentration camp is a problem.
You know, I've been taught to argue
only with those who I can fully trust.
I trusted only one man. My brother.
How can one live without any trust? How do you manage to live?
I manage. Yes, I do.
I don't know why, but I trust you.
Frau Bau, go down to the air-raid shelter, please.
But why?
You know pretty well I manage to run just to the middle of the hallway.
I guess, it's better to stay here then.
The fear reflex.
Nothing can be done about it.
So where were we?
Right, here's your book.
You said you trust me.
Why?
Don't know.
Information to be pondered over. Bormann.
The Reichsleiter, the Fuhrer's Nazi party deputy.
Married.
Father of eight children.
Has a conviction. Incomplete high-school education.
About Bormann, like everybody else in the Reich, Stirlitz knew very little.
There was a word he'd served a sentence for assassination,
but then either escaped or was released after the amnesty
and joined Hitler's party.
He became Hess' private secretary
who was the only privileged one to be on the first-name basis with the Fuhrer...
Having taken over Hess' position, after the latter fled to England,
Bormann sanctioned the Gestapo to destroy all his friends
he used to work with in the party office.
Like before, he was unnoticeable, stayed away from cameras
and seldom appeared at receptions.
He demonstrated accentuated respect for Göring, Goebbels and Himmler.
He changed only after the Fuhrer called him
his shadow.
Bormann wrote
Hitler's most important political speeches.
Every morning Bormann reported to him
on home and foreign affairs.
Bormann decided whether the Fuhrer would receive Goebbels
or deny him an audience,
whether he would invite Mussolini to dinner or not.
Stirlitz, like many others in the SD,
knew that in the last few years the Fuhrer
had made no important decision without consulting with Bormann.
Thinking about Bormann,
Stirlitz now and again returned to the only weighty fact
which he got, while talking once to Schellenberg.
The latter said:
Stirlitz made a decision to stake on Bormann,
firstly, because he figured out Himmler's stand,
who had betrayed his Fuhrer, going into negotiations with Dulles,
and, secondly,
because he could stake on nobody else.
Neither Göring, nor Goebbels had real power.
So, Hitler's shadow
Martin Bormann.
It was this man, Martin Bormann,
who got by the SD secret mail
a letter stamped
which ran:
Partaigenosse Bormann!
Behind the Fuhrer's back, some people known to me
start playing a game with the envoys of rotten
Western democracies in Sweden and Switzerland.
It's all being done while the total war is underway.
And while on the battlefields the world's future is being decided.
Being an SD officer I could inform you
of certain details of these treacherous negotiations.
But I need some guarantees,
as, if the SD gets hold of this letter,
I'll be destroyed right away.
For this reason I'm sending this letter unsigned.
If you find my information of consequence, I ask you
to come to the Neues Tor hotel tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Loyal to the Fuhrer Nazi Party member.
Good morning, Reichsleiter Bormann's office.
Good morning, Mr. Ribbentrop.
The Reichsleiter is in conference with the army men now.
I'll put you through in 10 minutes.
In 30.
- Bormann thought. -
.
His first impulse was to call the Gestapo chief Mueller.
He knew that Mueller owed him one.
But what if the author of this letter is from the Gestapo?
And Mueller is also involved in this game?
Rats are abandoning the sinking ship, anything is possible.
Anyway, it may turn out
a trump card against Himmler.
- Bormann thought, -
Bormann pondered for quite a while
but didn't come to any definite decision.
03. 02. 1945 (11 hours 40 minutes)
Stirlitz was on his way to meet Bormann.
God knows why he was sure Bormann would come.
When in trouble, he thought, they get very complaisant.
Stirlitz made another circle to check if he was being followed.
If he'd been tailed, he got rid of them.
Hi, pal, you're here. It's been a long time. I'm so glad.
Do come in. Enjoy your beer. Today we offer Bavarian.
This way.
Here. Read the recent news. Today the news is good.
Bring beer here!
Another customer has come.
War or no war - if it comes to Bavarian beer, everyone is here.
On crouches, but they still come, and it goes on from day to day!
Hi, buddy!
Paul, you're a huge soap bubble, that's what you are!
As I see, you haven't grown skinny either.
You've come. Glad to see you. Come on in.
Go and drink your beer. Today we offer Bavarian.
But I prefer ***.
Never mind, have some beer, won't do you any harm.
Bring beer here!
They've been tailing me. Yes, they've been tailing me.
If they start tailing me again, it means, something's wrong.
But what could've happened?
Stirlitz kept on asking himself.
He didn't expect any radio contacts, so there couldn't be any slip here.
Some old stuff?
They have no time to deal with the new one.
Hold.
Erwin.
And what if they found the transmitter?
Hi, old pal.
He made a mistake.
He should've searched all the hospitals. What if they're injured?
He shouldn't have relied on phones.
I need to check on it myself.
And urgently, today.
Nobody was tailing him now.
Stirlitz thought: Maybe it's my imagination?
Through this park he was to get to another street,
to the Museum of Natural History.
He walked through the park on the hospital premises,
and was unaware
that it was exactly the place where Kathe was staying now.
On this square, by the Neues Tor hotel,
an hour later he was to meet Bormann.
He'd picked this place on purpose.
From here you could see clearly in any direction.
It was calm and quiet on the square.
However, Stirlitz thought they could place their men in the hotel.
If Bormann had informed Himmler, that's exactly what would be done.
Otherwise Bormann's people would be hanging about
here, by the entrance on the opposite side.
Stirlitz came here rather often.
In the Reich Security Department they knew
that he often made appointments with his agents at museums.
The curator, who'd been here for many years
and was, no doubt, an informant, knew him in person.
It suited Stirlitz very well.
He had 20 minutes before the meeting.
Agent Klaus was supposed to come here to meet him right now.
In the morning he sent a coded message at his address via the secretariat.
An express telegram, please. I want my agent to meet me at 12:40.
Your watch is 2 minutes slow.
Since all knew that he met his agents at museums,
this telegram could serve as an excuse,
should anyone wondered why he was here.
By inviting Klaus he pursued two goals.
Primarily - it was an alibi, in case Bormann told Himmler of the letter,
and the latter gave an order to comb the neighborhood and all the buildings.
And secondly - to confirm once more, though indirectly,
his alibi in the case Klaus was missing.
But it didn't work as Stirlitz had planned.
Bormann never showed up.
Probably, Bormann didn't get the letter, Stirlitz thought,
and for this reason didn't come?
Meanwhile Bormann was in the meeting with the Fuhrer.
It was not on his agenda to go to the Neues Tor hotel.
He desperately wanted to see the man, who'd written the letter,
but decided not to rush the events and to wait.
If it's serious this man will definitely
let know of himself again, Bormann thought.
Go down carefully.
Quick. Don't make any noise.
Be quiet.
V-192 - to Mueller.
Top secret, available in one copy.
The owner of the Mercedes-Benz
at 12:27 entered the building of the Museum of Natural History.
Since you'd warned of the high
professional skills of the subject under surveillance
I decided against following him in the museum by one or two visitors...
My agent llze was assigned a mission
to bring there some students for a class in the museum halls.
The information, provided by llze, allows me to report
that the subject came in contact with no strangers.
V-192.
Mueller speaking.
Herr Schellenberg is greeting Herr Mueller.
Or do you prefer ?
I'd prefer just .
Categorical, modest and in good taste.
I'm listening to you, buddy.
Yeah, and straight to the point, or he'll evade the answer, he's like a fox.
Buddy, I'm having here Stirlitz now.
You remember him, right? So much the better.
He feels kind of confused.
Either he's being followed by criminals,
and he lives all by himself in a forest,
or it's your men who are tailing him.
Help me to undo this mess.
What model is his car?
What model is your car?
- Mercedes-Benz. - Mercedes-Benz.
Don't cover the receiver with your hand.
Give the receiver to Stirlitz.
Are you a clairvoyant or what?
Hail Hitler.
Good day, buddy.
Tell me, is your car license number
661125 by any chance?
Right, Gruppenfuhrer.
Where did they start tailing you? On Kurfurstendam?
And where did you lose them? On Veteranenstrasse?
Exactly.
You noticed them, didn't you?
And what do you think?
I'll wring their necks. A good job they are doing!
Relax, Stirlitz, those who followed you, aren't criminals.
Live comfortably in your forest.
They were our men.
They're tailing a , similar to yours, of a South-American.
Keep on living as you used to.
But if they mix you up with this South-American again
and report to me that you frequent the bar,
I'm not going to cover for you.
But if I need to go there for my work?
Doesn't matter.
If you want to make appointments with your men in foul places,
better go to the .
To the ? Thank you.
It was Mueller's tricky place. The counter-espionage operated there.
Stirlitz knew about it from Schellenberg.
There was a special instruction,
forbidding party members and the military to go there.
That's why naive braggers thought they were absolutely safe there,
unaware that every table was tapped by the Gestapo.
Okay, thank you then.
If you sanction it, I'm going to have meetings
in the then.
But if I am cornered, I'll come to you for help.
Welcome. I'll be always glad to see you. Hail Hitler.
Stirlitz didn't believe Mueller.
Anyway, in the evening, going on some important business,
he called for an office car.
Werner- to Mueller. Top secret.
Available in one copy.
Today at 19:42 the subject called
for an office car, Wanderer 956183.
The subject asked the driver to drop him at the station.
There he got out of the car.
The attempt to track down the subject at other stations
yielded no result.
Werner.
Never thought I'd be missing you.
I don't know what's your occupation,
I only know that you were my late brother's friend.
But I have always enjoyed your company, Mister Stirlitz.
Thank you.
This way.
- Are you freezing here? - Right. Freezing to death.
But what can be done? Who isn't freezing now, I wonder.
Hitler's bunker is heated up very well.
That's for sure.
The Fuhrer must live in warmth.
How is it possible to compare our concerns to his concerns and worries?
Who are we? We are just we, everyone for himself.
But he must care about all the Germans.
Come on, Professor.
The crazy maniac pushed millions of people under bombs,
and he himself stays, like a coward, in a hideout
watching movies together with his thugs.
Do you agree?
So, here we are.
Your brother and my friend
was an antifascist,
a member of the underground organization.
For many years he headed the Resistance group.
He helped me.
You never asked me about my occupation.
I'm an SS Standartenfuhrer and I'm in military intelligence, too.
No, no, and again no.
My brother couldn't be a provocateur, I don't believe you.
He had never been it, but as for me, I'm really in military intelligence.
In the Soviet military intelligence.
Do you remember your brother's handwriting well?
Sure.
This is your brother's death-letter to me.
My dear friend.
Thank you for everything.
I've learned a lot from you.
I've learned how to love
and how in the name of this love
to hate all those who are bringing slavery to the people of Germany.
Pleischner.
He wrote in this manner, fearing the Gestapo.
But, as you understand, slavery is being brought to German people
by hordes of Bolsheviks and by armadas of Americans, isn't it so?
Or, probably, it's Hitler who brought slavery to you?
And the Nazis?
Stirlitz regretted he had said all this,
and regretted he'd come to the poor man with his business.
he thought.
Which means it's his business. Too.
I understand.
Now I understand it all.
You can fully rely on me.
But I was in a concentration camp.
I must warn you,
as soon as they hit me
in my ribs with a whip,
I may break.
I know.
What did you feel when I told you about myself?
Relief, big relief.
Then we'll do the job.
And do it very well.
What am I supposed to do?
Nothing. Just live on.
And any minute be ready to do what's required of you...
For whom?
- For Germany, - For whom?
I mean Germany, not the Reich.
You must agree, there's a world of difference between these two notions.
Absolutely.
Italy. Emergency military airport .
If they shoot you down, in war everything is possible,
you are to burn this letter before you
unbuckle the parachute straps.
I won't be able to burn the letter before I unbuckle the parachute straps,
as I'll be dragged against the ground.
But first thing I'll do after I unbuckle the straps, I'll burn this letter.
Let's agree on this option.
Here's the letter.
You're to destroy it even if you're shot down above the Reichstag.
Karl Wolf had reasonable grounds for fear.
Should the letter get in somebody else's, not Himmler's, hands,
his fate would have been decided.
Seven hours later the letter was unsealed by Himmler.
Dear Reichsfuhrer.
Shortly after I arrived in Bern,
I set down to sorting out the data collected by the secret agents here,
at Allen Dulles' representation in Bern,
I made one major conclusion.
Dulles, as well as we're, is worried about the real perspective
of creating Communist regimes in Northern Italy,
which will result in forming a communist belt
via Togliatti to Maurice Thorez in France.
I've just got back from the meeting with Dulles' envoys
Gewernitz and Guesmann.
Tomorrow, on Thursday, March 8, there'll be held a meeting with Dulles.
03.08. 1945 (15 hours 30 minutes)
Bern. The USA Special Office mansion.
Fabulous contralto.
I'd say, Italian voices are the best in the world.
What?
I'm saying that Italians have very special voices.
Either due to the sea,
note, a warm sea, in Germany the sea is cold,
or it's...
the Italian sky.
It's kind of mystical.
It seems, this clock is slow.
- No, it shows the right time. - Really?
Then it's my watch that is fast.
2 minutes fast.
I hate to wait. And you?
- When I have to... - Wonderful contralto.
- How do you do? - Good day.
- Did you have breakfast? - Yes, thank you.
This way, please.
Allen Dulles - resident of the US Strategic Services Agency in Europe.
What a beautiful day, isn't it?
Yes, very beautiful.
Another of our men is due to come here now,
and then we'll start.
He'll be here any minute.
General, do you realize
that Germany has lost this war?
Yes, I do. I understand that Germany has lost this war.
But should we start these negotiations
with such a painful for me, a German, ?
Do you understand that unconditional capitulation
can serve as the practical basis for these talks?
I do.
I understand it.
However, in case you
wish to talk with us on Himmler's behalf,
these talks will break up without having started.
Mister Dulles will be forced to take his leaving.
I reckon, that to continue this war
is a crime against both the Germans and the European culture,
especially now, when we made certain moves towards negotiations.
You.
We.
Both America and Germany.
I'm ready to place my organization at your disposal,
it's the most powerful organization in Germany, the SS and the SD,
at your disposal, at your allies' disposal,
with the only purpose to stop the war
and to ensure that communist regimes are not established
either in Italy or Germany.
I can assume, that prior to these discussions with me
and to giving an agreement to launch official negotiations,
though they are kind of secret,
you made inquiries and came to know that in Germany my rank is
an SS Obergruppenfuhrer.
And I'm holding the position
of the Head of Reichsfuhrer Himmler's private headquarters.
General, you just said
that you're placing the SS and the SD at our disposal.
Do you mean to say
that you'll get to grips with the Vermacht
and with Field-Marshal Kesselring in particular?
Or will Field-Marshal Kesselring
carry out your orders?
I understand what you mean.
I understand you, Mister Gewernitz.
But I need your guarantees, so that
tomorrow I could begin discussing it with Field-Marshal Kesselring
in detail and thoroughly.
Okay, it sounds reasonable.
But you have to understand
that as soon as Kesselring issues an order to capitulate here,
in Italy, where we have over 1.5 million people under control,
it will start a chain reaction on the other fronts.
I mean the Western front in Norway,
in Denmark, in the West of Germany.
Thus on the Eastern front line
the struggle can continue with the growing force.
If I have your guarantees,
I'm prepared to pledge myself to prevent the destruction of Italy.
And it has already been planned by Hitler's order.
We have an order to annihilate all picture galleries,
and all landmarks.
In other words, to level to the ground what belongs to the history of mankind.
At the risk to my life
I've already rescued and
taken to hiding-places paintings from the Uffizi and Pati galleries,
King Victor Emmanuel's collection of coins.
Do you have Titian, El Greco, Botticelli there?
Right, El Greco, Botticelli.
How much can it cost in dollar equivalent?
They have no price. These masterpieces are priceless.
I'm ready to deal with you, General Wolf.
But you must give me your guarantees.
Firstly, you won't contact anybody else, but me.
I guess, I don't need to say it twice.
The fact of our negotiations is to be known only to those
present here now - to you, me,
your man
and my friends.
In this case we'll hardly be able to call a truce, Mr. Dulles.
Since you're not President of the United States of America
and I'm not Chancellor of Germany.
Tell me, Allen, shall I report to the President
or will you do it?
So far there's no need to report to the President.
Don't take your eyes off the road, Guesmann.
We can fall down, and it'll be a pity.
The war is coming to an end.
To act against the President's line?
It's the first time I feel like a criminal.
The first time in my whole life.
And you, Guesmann?
- It might cost us our heads. - Sure.
Every single day, every hour, every minute can cost us our heads.
We'll inform of it just our chief, Donovan.
And see what decision he will make.
Anyway, the only chance to rescue Europe
from Bolshevism is to call a truce with the Germans quickly,
without any further delay and without losing time on politicians.
And what about Russians?
Russians?
When the document is signed, when it comes into force,
they can say whatever they wish, it can't be undone.
Let's wait and see.
In politics it's the first move, firmness, resolution, a clear-cut goal that matter.
The rest the future will forgive us.
03.08.1945 (17 hours 10 minutes)
Today, on March 8, the troops of the 53rd Army
of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in Czechoslovakia
liberated the town of Banska Stavnitsa.
The armies of the 3rd Ukrainian Front
kept on resisting enemy massive tank and infantry forces attacks.
At Lake Balaton.
In the battles at Lake Balaton
the squad leader of the 1288th infantry regiment
of the 113th infantry division of the 3rd Ukrainian Front
Guards Sergeant Smyshlyayev
had blown up an enemy tank and died the death of hero.
In the battles at Lake Balaton,
the unit leader of 239th
destructive anti-tank detachment
of the 113th infantry division
of the 3rd Ukrainian Front
Junior Sergeant Nelyubin
had blown up an enemy tank and died the death of hero.
Today was published the Communist Party Central Committee decree
on March 8 - the International Women's Day.
Stressing the great role of the Soviet women
in the Great Patriotic War,
the Central Committee expressed its belief
that by new heroic feats both in the rear and on the front line
they will bring closer the hour of our ultimate victory.
Today it was also published
that on February 1, 1945
the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet
decorated with orders and medals
72,196 women-soldiers of the Red Army.
44 women-soldiers
were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Armies of the 2nd Byelorussian Front
are advancing successfully to Danzig.
Good evening, Pastor.
Sorry, I'm so late. Were you sleeping?
Good evening. I was sleeping, but never mind.
- Sorry again. - I've already forgiven you.
I'll just put on the light there.
Has anything happened?
Right. It has.
Screenplay by Yulian SEMYONOV
Directed by Tatiana LIOZNOVA
Cinematography by Pyotr KATAYEV
Production Designer Boris DULENKOV
Music by Mikael TARIVERDIYEV
Lyrics by Robert ROZHDESTVENSKY
English Subtitles by Galina BARDINA
End of Part 5