Angels of Iron (Engel aus Eisen)

Dear God,

please spare me from living in uninteresting times.

ANGELS OF IRON

LEADERS COME AND GO, THE GERMAN PEOPLE REMAINS

The Soviet Occupying Forces

have interrupted communications between West Germany

and Berlin's Western Sectors

as a reprisal for the introduction of an illegal currency.

The Western Occupying Powers are attempting

to maintain communications using an air bridge.

Please stay calm.

There is no danger of war.

I told you to come up with something!

Who wanted to come to this damn city? Not me!

At least the electricity is back on.

My beer!

What are you crying about now?

I can't take it anymore.

I can't even stand the sight of myself.

We'll leave.

I promise you, Gerti.

We'll leave.

They can do it to us German arseholes.

They draw a line through the city, and we can live with it.

All official regulations abandoned! How could order thrive?

Half the troops on the border, the other half checking ration cards.

Didn't you hear? Half of HQ has gone over.

Half of all files are in the West, half are here.

All the fingerprint cards divided half-and-half.

It'll pass.

We've seen so much pass, right, Commissioner Schäfer?

I won't have any part of it.

I won't, I tell you.

You're to see Commissioner Schäfer about the raid.

Why? Isn't Körner in? -You know they're all out on duty.

Isn't he the guy who... -Yes indeed.

Now he's found refuge at HQ. They're taking everyone now.

Descend.

This way.

Line up.

Schäfer, come along, would you? Come along.

Listen, we have to interrupt this. You hear?

... Send them home.

Screw the air bridge! -Send them home I say.

No!

WERNER GLADOW, SCHOOLBOY GERMAN, BORN FEB 19, '31...

You'll do as I tell you!

You can go home.

Let's drink to that! -Do we have any booze?

There must be a bottle somewhere.

My watches? -Agnes.

Won't you come in?

Nah.

What's up?

Agnes, cigarettes! -Where are they?

You know where.

You're spoiling my laundry.

So it's aeroplanes. Day and night.

The whole economy transferred to the skies.

There's one German mark, another German mark.

Both in the same city.

I have a guy who pays 20 West marks per watch.

Then give them to him. -Are you coming or not?

He's given them to us. -To what do we owe the honour?

Wondering how to turn a cemetery into a dancehall again?

Maybe you should read fewer books.

Come on! -You're bugging me.

What's up?

Go and have a drink. You've all got shit in your ears.

Can't you hear?

There's a buzzing.

We've brought him in before.

He's from Lichtenberg.

But we had to let him go again.

Gladow...

Gladow?

They're this gang. The usual.

The black market. -Then he shouldn't have been let go.

Three years of work, then the dream is gone.

Just as you thought you'd systematised things...

then...

it all goes up in smoke.

Hey, Werner.

Hey, Mrs Kassner.

Out and about in this heat?

It's like the desert.

Have you ever been?

No. But I imagine it like this.

Can you hear me?

Talk to me, Richard Schütze.

Your wife is waiting for news.

She hasn't been with another man once.

Not even as the war was over.

Richard Schütze, can you hear me?

Richard Schütze...

This is Luzie Gladow.

Your wife is beside me.

We're waiting for a sign.

If you are here,

give us a sign.

Maybe he no longer wants to talk to me.

Richard Schütze, I'm calling to you on the other side.

We're eager for news.

Calm yourselves, ladies.

This is Werner, my son.

Had a hard day at the hospital?

I need something to eat.

He wants to be a doctor.

Werner, this is Mrs Schütze and her daughter from Friedrichshagen.

Hello, Mr Gladow. -Hello, Mr Gladow.

He'll soon be eighteen.

You'll excuse me.

Did you bring it for me?

It was worth bringing my child through those hard times.

Worth it! Can't even get any peace in the kitchen.

Wolf it down. Your father's wealthy.

Excuse my husband.

He's been bed-bound since he was in captivity.

Let's get back to it, ladies.

Step this way.

Round the clock, American planes are providing for Berlin's Western Sectors

deep in the Soviet Occupation Zone.

The biggest air supply mission in history

is in full swing.

Around 1000 planes a day

are supplying the population with necessities:

Coal, food and clothing.

Even a complete power station was flown in, piece by piece,

to supply the zones that the Russian Occupying Forces have cut off

from all normal provision.

West Berliners are obeying the measures

ordered by their City Commander.

Electricity and public transport are limited

to between six a.m. and six p.m.

Such is the order of the day.

The opportunity of shopping in the East Zone

is not open to the population,

as the Russian Occupying Forces have introduced ration cards

and obligatory passport checks for every purchase.

An example to the population

is the valiant behaviour of American pilots,

four of whom lost their lives in the last six weeks.

This is the plane of Lieutenant Charles H. King...

and Robert W. Stuber,

which crashed on Handjery Street in Friedenau.

Planes are lovely.

No, really. They're lovely.

The way they land.

Ask a steward. Maybe they'll take you away.

Aren't you a singer...

who...

does Italian tearjerkers?

Where do you think you saw me, then?

Er, in...

Kassel? -Kassel!

Who sings in Kassel?

But it was Italian tearjerkers, right?

And now...

you make dollars...

Your friends probably can't afford to offer you a better life.

Will they always be so small-time?

You're very well-informed.

Well...

A cops' bar.

Is that his car? -Yes, I think so.

I'll check. Might be something in it.

I'll wait for you here.

Go on and stare.

Know how he paid for it?

Car.

Yes.

The braggart, the miserable arsehole!

Völpel.

He was an executioner...

until a year ago.

One beheading after the next.

And now...

he's been brought down to this.

He said he's an executioner. -Who?

The guy who just went in.

I can't imagine it.

What exactly did he tell you at the airport?

He said it really fast.

"Go and ask your Gladow...

if he'd like to make the big time...

now all hell has broken loose in the skies.

If he wants to know more, I'll be at the Quelle Bar after six."

CURRENCY EXCHANGE

What do you want from me, you miserable executioner?

Think twice before you say a single word!

One false step and I'll slit your throat.

Come upstairs first.

Out.

Like I told you.

It's no big deal.

Some die on their feet, others like this.

It is a job like any other.

When the arseholes didn't need me here anymore, they made me push pens.

But I came here for the longest time.

Wherever the sun shines.