2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

It's my right to see my father the way I want to see him.

Not the way I want to see him, the way I do see him.

It's my right. You can't take that from me.

You have your own view and I'm sorry.

So everyone is alone with his view.

If you thought

you can change anything with this film,

then you are unfortunately mistaken.

This is the story of my father,

a war criminal.

And of my mother, my siblings,

nieces, and nephews.

A typically German story.

2 or 3 things I know about him

Erla was dressed in black.

Tille was sitting in the sleigh, too.

Erla had to go get something

and she left us alone for a moment.

It was at the beginning of that drive

to the Schlösslehof.

Tille told me, "Papa is dead."

He wasn't supposed to tell me.

But he just couldn't

keep it to himself.

We both started sobbing and crying

and when Erla came

probably all three of us.

I think I heard in the schoolyard, from children,

"They hanged your father!".

Mother told me when I was small,

at the end of 1947,

I was three and a half, right?

No, four and a half.

She didn't want to tell me he had been executed.

She told me he fell in battle.

He would have preferred

to die in the war.

He wanted to go back to the war.

That was the first time I ever saw her cry.

She threw herself on the bed.

It was horrible.

That your mother cried?

You didn't know what to make of it'?

You didn't know why'?

Or did you know? - Yes, I did, but...

Three of my five siblings are still alive.

Ellen, the middle one, born in 1937 in Stuttgart.

Barbel, born in Stuttgart in 1935,

who at first didn't want to appear on camera.

Andrea, the youngest, born in 1943 in Pressburg.

Those were the days! When the whole family came together.

Erika and Tilman were still alive.

Erla, our mother, was the centre.

As long as she was alive,

I wouldn't have dared to make this film.

And she lived a long life.

Me, 1942

60 years later.

I never knew my father.

As a child I didn't even know

what that is, a father.

As a child I often dreamed he would come back.

That it was all just a bad dream. That's how it was.

You'?

Yes, me.

Yes, I just dreamt

that I'd had a nightmare.

Then I woke up to the sad reality:

The bad dream was reality.

I dreamed it had all just been a mistake.

He wasn't dead at all and he was back again.

It was a blissful feeling in my dream.

With Eri, your sister and my wife,

it was a huge burden on her.

Whenever she spoke of her father,

she broke out in tears.

I thought it was understandable,

it had only been eight years.

But she never got over it in her whole life.

"The public prosecutor wants

to let me die with dignity.

And if necessary, I will.

I ask the high court for milder punishment

because I do not deserve to die

- considering my six children and their good name

and in the interest of the Slovakian people.

I cannot plead guilty.

I cannot plead guilty.

I cannot plead guilty.

I acted under the constraints of the situation,

in the framework of the orders and directives I was given.

I often faltered, I made errors and mistakes,

but I committed no crimes.

I entrust my fate into your hands.

You will not break a heart

that beats so warm until..."

My father and me

Trunk of sorrows

The trunk was for featherbeds.

When our mother died

five years ago,

we put everything she collected about our father into it.

My father's childhood and youth were sheltered.

His decisive experience

was World War One.

The hurrahs at the beginning, the misery at the end.

My father's father was a romantic who taught school.

Painter

United in their fear of the coming "modern times"

my father shared with his father a penchant

for mysticism and enthusiasm.

A tendency

to equate the ideal and reality.

Lake Constance, a place for dreams, was his landscape.

There is a report by... - By whom?

A journalist who was sent to describe the house.

An atmosphere piece by a journalist.

In the style of the period.

"At the home of the Ambassador Mrs. Erla Ludin receives us.

Light floods into the terrace and the hall.

The room's harmony and brightness

reflect the personality of the young Woman

standing before us, slender and tall,

of blond beauty,

with a clear gaze and calm cheerfulness

Nordic! - Slender and tall and of blond beauty.

With another kind of beauty, who knows...

A teacher of rhythmic gymnastics.

Energetic and independent

until my father took her for his bride.

From then on, she was only the Woman at his side.

The Wife of an SA leader.

The spouse of the Ambassador.

Our mother.

I remember

I was sitting in the backseat of the car

and I wanted to caress her.

She sat in front and I always wanted to touch her,

but I didn't dare.

There is an early interview with her

in which she reveals a lot, but remains silent about even more.

I never liked

coffee klatches or little visits

with ladies only.

I always felt men have to be there, too,

or it's uninteresting.

Though I never had much interesting to offer.

It was more interesting with men.

Really? All your life'? - Yes.

That's what I used to think. And I still think that way today.

Pictures of a soldier's life. To my dear mother, Christmas 1926.

To his parents' dismay,

my father joined the Reichswehr, straight after high school.

"See, I've reached this point

and always struggle to become a personality strong enough

to take on the risk of life.

Even at the risk of going under.

Only then can one become a leader,

only then can one achieve greatness and freedom

in the soldier's profession."

Fantastic, here is a tailor's bill.

"Your Honour Lieutenant Ludin,

one short riding trousers,

90 marks 80 pfennigs,

deposit 30 marks." - Quite a pretty penny.

Now comes the whole Reichswehr story. The Reichswehr trial...

One year in prison

for professing himself a German, i.e., a National Socialist.

The freshly commissioned lieutenant

soon felt hemmed in by the barracks square.

He and his friend Scheringer

secretly sought contact to Hitler.

That was a breach of their oaths as soldiers,

preparation for high treason.

The young lieutenants were brought to trial.

Adolf Hitler appeared as a witness.

There was a lot of press and hubbub.

My mother secretly visited him in jail.

She even stayed overnight.

"My dear Richard,

after my release I immediately threw myself into the turmoil.

I often speak at SA recruiting rallies,

and I agitate against the system, not without success.

Only now have I really committed myself to National Socialism.

Two things really made the difference.

First, the SA, which is an outstanding troop.

Second, the personality of Hitler,

whom I have now had the chance to get to know better

during a longer stay in Munich.

His goals are absolutely great and what he wants is pure."

If he had done it just to promote his career,

he definitely would have discussed it with me.

I wouldn't have approved of it. - He would have'? - Yes.

Something to promote his career...

He certainly would have discussed it with me.

The joy of his life

"The courage, tenacity,

obedience, loyalty, and willingness to sacrifice

of the SA Group Southwest should, now and henceforth,

have only one great goal before its eyes: