Sophie's Choice

You must help us, Sophie.

Stop torturing her.

Sophie!

What is that?

It's a photo of children rejected from the Germanization program:

The "Lebensborn" program.

These are children...

taken from Polish parents...

who, at first, were believed...

to have Aryan racial features.

They were to be taken to Germany...

and raised as Germans.

But, at some point, it was decided...

that they were racially unsuitable.

Unsuitable!

That's why they were consigned...

for disposal.

All we ask of you is to translate some stolen Gestapo documents.

I can't.

I cannot endanger my children.

Your children could be next.

No. No. I do not want to get involved.

This woman will be...

Commandant Hoess' secretary.

Take her downstairs. See that she showers thoroughly...

Give me your clothes.

Here is the shower.

You must use this disinfectant soap.

It burns and it stinks.

But you must use it, because she has a good nose.

Shoes!

Put your shoes here.

Please don't take them. They were a gift from my father.

My God how'd you keep them in the camp?

I hid them... Please...

If she sees them, she'll take them away.

I'll clean them. Please, they are all I have.

Well, all right.

Thank you.

Don't be afraid.

I was told you could help us.

Will you help the resistance?

But what can I do?

Emmi Hoess has a radio. Her room is under her father's office...

where you will work. If you could get the radio...

bring it down here. I could smuggle it out.

Sure, sure, I give you the radio...

you smuggle it out, and I get shot for stealing it.

That's why you must make Hoess trust you.

But how?

He is a man... and you are a woman...

of course!

Bald, starving, stinking of germicides.

Very impressive!

You're wrong. You look German.

You speak cultured German. You'll be working with him alone...

and he's an unhappy man.

- Then do something for me. - What?

You must find my son.

His name is Jan. He's in the Children's Camp.

What do you want to know?

If... if he is...

- If he's alive, right? - Yes.

I understand.

Maybe Hoess could arrange to get him out.

I baked Himmler's favourite cake.

This is the new...

secretary from the Camp.

Take her to the office.

Himmler can't stay for dinner.

Do you think it's deliberate?

Why deliberate?

You said the escapes, the delays with the building upset him.

Enough!

Imagine, that idiot guard took the new girl right into the kitchen...

without disinfecting her. In the kitchen!

- I mean, the children... - They are perfectly healthy.

That's because they're well fed here.

What happens if we leave?

They will have to sacrifice like other German children.

You are looking well.

I hardly drank...

after I left here.

Can you imagine?

My father asked me what kind of medicine...

I practice here.

What can I tell him?

I perform God's work.

I select who shall live and who shall die.

Is that not God's work?

You're too young to recall what was done to Germany in defeat.

We cannot afford to be kind if we are to survive.

There is an epidemic in the Children's Camp.

No matter what we do they die like flies.

You cannot afford to be so sensitive.

And lastly a trait of character...

common to all people of southern climes...

a certain dullness of mind...

Do I speak too fast?

No, Commandant.

Excuse me.

I'm sorry to disturb you...

but I thought maybe if you could go to Berlin...

and explain to Himmler how unfair his order is...

maybe he'd change his mind.

There's no appeal. We're being transferred and that's that.

My pills, quick!

- Shall I call the doctor? - Be quiet.

It's unbearable.

It's better now.

That ergotamine is a miracle.

I'm glad, Commandant.

Sit down.

How did you come here?

Not many prisoners are lucky enough to find such work.

I think...

it must have been fate.

Fate brought me to you...

because I knew only you would understand.

Understand what?

That a mistake has been made.

May I show you something?

This is one of the earliest Polish documents...

suggesting a "final solution" to the Jewish problem.

I helped my father to write it.

Perhaps you will realize the injustice of my imprisonment.

So, you claim you are innocent.

Sir, I freely admit my guilt of the minor charge...

which caused me to be sent here.

I only ask that this misdemeanor be compared to my record...

not only as a Polish sympathizer with National Socialism...

but as an active campaigner in the sacred war against the Jews.

That pamphlet in your hand, Commandant, will prove my point.

I implore you. You have the power to give clemency and freedom.