THE WHITE RIBBON
I don't know if the story I want to tell you is entirely true.
Some of it I only know from hearsay.
After so many years, a lot of it is still obscure,
and many questions remain unanswered.
But I feel I must talk about the strange events
that occurred in our village.
They could perhaps clarify
certain things that happened in this country.
It all began, I think, with the doctor's riding accident.
After his dressage session on the Baron's estate,
he was heading home
to see if any patients had arrived.
On entering the garden, his horse tripped on a wire
strung between two trees.
His daughter saw the accident from a window and informed a neighbour
who informed the estate's steward
so that the doctor, who was in agony,
could be transported to the district hospital over 30 km away.
The neighbour, a single woman of around 40,
was the village midwife.
Since the doctor's wife had died in childbirth,
she had become invaluable to him as a housekeeper and receptionist.
After tending to the doctor's two children,
she went to the school to fetch her own son, Karl.
- Have you seen Anni? - You haven't even said hello.
- Hello, Mrs Wagner. Forgive him. - Hello, Klara.
We are so worried that Martin has forgotten his manners.
That's all right.
- How is the Doctor? - Not very well.
- Will he have to stay in hospital? - I don't know.
- We'll go and see if we can help Anna. - Good.
- Did you enjoy the choir? - Yes.
Show how well you sang.
Goodbye, sir.
Last one is a rotten egg!
If l remember rightly,
it seemed odd to me that the children with Klara,
instead of scattering after school to their homes,
headed together to the outskirts of the village.
I could cut out some animals for you,
like last week.
Would you like that?
We can colour them in together.
Or make cut outs from lovely coloured paper?
The golden paper I got for Easter, remember?
Come on.
I'II make us something to eat.
What if he never comes back?
What?
Come on!
Don't be silly!
It's like when you get the flu.
Remember last winter?
You were very sick, weren't you?
And then. . .
- Hi, Anni. - How are you?
Can we help you?
How did the wire get there? Did the Doctor say?
He was in no mood to talk.
His collarbone was sticking out of his neck.
I've asked his daughter. She has no idea.
He rides through there every day.
- Did you look at the wire? - Of course. It's thin but strong.
Almost invisible.
Sorry, madam. You play too well for me.
Don't apologise, concentrate. It'll help us both.
You play too fast for me, madam. I am not Frederick the Great.
How could he have played Schubert?
Let's start the Variation again.
Darling, if you like the music, sit beside me and turn the pages.
If you're bored, go to your room.
Or stay out of my sight.
I get nervous when you're sauntering around.
What time is it? Where's the nanny?
With the twins, I presume.
- It's twenty to nine. -Twenty to nine?
Way past your bedtime!
- Has he done his homework? - Of course, madam.
Do you want to turn the pages for me or not?
- Yes. - Then come over here.
Let's go back to the Theme.
Practise the Variations or it's no fun.
- I'II do my best, Baroness. - So, from the ninth bar.
Please forgive us, Father.
Forgive us.
This evening no one here has felt like eating.
When night fell and you hadn't returned,
your mother searched the village in tears.
How could we enjoy our meal, whilst fearing for you?
How can we enjoy our meal now, having heard your lies and excuses?
I don't know what's worse, your absence or your return.
Tonight we shall all go to bed hungry.
You surely all agree with me
that I cannot leave your offence unpunished
if we are to carry on living in mutual respect.
Tomorrow evening at this hour,
I shall give each of you, In front of your siblings,
ten lashes of the cane.
Until then, you may ponder over your offence.
- Do you agree with me? - Yes, Father.
AII right, then. Go to bed now, all of you.
Don't touch me.
Your mother and I will sleep badly tonight.
I must beat you and the lashes will cause us more pain than you.
Leave us alone and go to bed.
When you were little,
your mother sometimes tied a ribbon in your hair or around your arm.
Its white colour was to remind you of innocence and purity.
I thought you were now well-mannered enough
to get by without such reminders.
I was wrong.
Tomorrow, once your punishment has purified you,
your mother will retie a ribbon on you,
and you will wear it until we can trust you again.
Where is the wire now?
- Who removed it? - I don't know.
Weren't you here?
- Were you in town with your father? - No.
- Then you must have been here. - I was at school.
When you left, was the wire still here?
I didn't check.
- When did you get back? - At noon.
I make lunch for the doctor and the kids.
I've been helping him since his wife died.
- When was that? - Since Rudolph's birth, five years ago.
I'm the midwife here. We work together.
- But you saw nothing? - No.
- How long was the wire there? - I never saw it.
So nobody saw it, before or afterwards?
Did it wind itself around two trees and vanish by itself?
Well?
- Mother! - What is it?
Excuse me.
The day after the doctor's accident
brought no solution to the mystery.
Then a second far more tragic incident
almost made people forget the previous one.
The wife of a tenant farmer died in a work accident.
The woman, who had an injured arm,
was discharged by the steward from harvesting duties
and assigned to lighter work in the sawmill.
Stay outside, I'm not done.
You get out.
On the same day, I had a strange encounter.
The weather was beautiful and hot,
so I decided to improve my meagre menu
with some brown trout
which are plentiful in the river.
The Baron allowed me to fish there.
Martin!
Martin, be careful!
Are you insane?
Do you want to break your neck?
Hello, sir.
What's wrong? Have you gone mad?
Do you know how high this is?
Didn't you hear me shout to you?
- I did, sir. - Well?
Well?
You saw me and wanted to impress me, is that it?
- So why. . . - I was giving God a chance to kill me.
He didn't do it so he must be pleased with me.
What are you saying?
He doesn't want me to die.
Who doesn't want you to die?
God.
Why would God want you to die?
Promise me you won't do it again.
Look at me.
Promise me.
Don't you trust me?
Yes, I do, sir.
AII right.
Go home now. I'II talk to your father after your piano lesson tomorrow.
Please don't tell him, sir!
It's there.
Careful, it's all rotten.
Who sent her up here?
No idea. We had to collect loose ends and she fell through.
- Did you see it? - Not really.
You know how it is.
The foremen send the weaker harvesters up here.
Who sent her up here?
It was on my way home, after that strange encounter with Martin,
that I first met Eva.
Hello.
Excuse me.
Sorry for accosting you.
Aren't you the new nanny on the estate?
Why?
They say you're from Treglitz.
- Who says that? - The locals.
So?
Nothing.
I don't know.
I'm the schoolteacher here.
I just thought. . .
When I saw you, I thought. . .
I'm the tailor's son from Vasendorf.
- I know. - What?
- The Baroness told me. - What?
That the teacher was from the village next to mine.
I see, yes.
Well, I thought. . .
It looks as if you're going there now.
- Where? - Back home to Treglitz.
Does it?
- Are you going there? - Yes, I am.
I wondered,
since you'll be passing through my village,
if you could say hello to my father and give him a fish.
- What? - He'd love that.
Especially over the weekend.
How. . .?
I don't know. I'm afraid I have nothing to wrap it up in.
Neither do I,
I'm afraid.
We could tie them on with fishing line.
Just like that, on the bicycle?
That's not a very good idea.
Right, it was just an idea.
- Is that your bicycle? - No, it belongs to the estate.
Is this your first day off?
You must be glad to be going home.
I can imagine.
Well, I still have a long way to go.
Right.
Goodbye.
If you see my father in Vasendorf, say hello to him from me.
I don't know your father.
That's true.
It's my first time on a bicycle.
You're doing fine. Just be careful.
That woman today, what was wrong with her?
Which woman?
Oh, her. She was dead.
- What's that? - What?
Dead.
What's "dead"?
That's quite a question.
It's when you don't live any more.
When you stop living.
When do you stop Living?
When you are very old or very ill.
- And the woman? - She had an accident.
- An "accident"? - Yes. It's when you're badly hurt.
- Like Father? - Yes, but much worse than that.
So bad that your body can't take it anymore.
And then you're dead?
Yes.
But most people don't have an accident.
- So they're not dead. - No, they die much later.
When?
Well, Later, when they're really old.
Does everybody have to die?
Yes.
- Absolutely everybody? - Yes, everybody has to die.
But not you, Anni?
Me, too. Everybody.
- But not Father? - Father, too.
Me, too?
You, too. But not for a very Long time.
AII of us, but only after a very Long time.
And there is nothing to be done about it? It has to happen?
Yes, but not for a Long time.
And Mother?
She didn't go on a trip.
Is she dead, too?
Yes, she's dead, too.
But that was a Long time ago.
Klara!
Martin, are you coming?
Karli?
- You can come in. - What is it?
- What do you think? - I don't know.
It's a boy.
What? Don't you want a brother?
You're lucky your father didn't hear you.
I'm sorry.
They knew it was dangerous for her.
What do you want? Do you want to sue the Baron?
Or murder the steward?
Go and cut off his head with your scythe!
It won't bring your mother back to life.
- Father, you loved our mother. - Shut up!
After those two days in July,
life in the village got back to normal.
The daily harvesting chores exhausted everyone.
Most of the children pitched in to help their parents.
I took up the steward's offer
to be his secretary during the harvesting,
as I hoped it would enable me to see the young girl again.
I couldn't get her out of my mind after our meeting.
But she rarely came out of the manor house.
The doctor was still in the hospital.
Anna and Rudolph, his two children,
were cared for meanwhile by the midwife.
After the farmer's wife’s funeral, attended by the whole village,
both accidents were forgotten.
Until the end of the summer
when the harvest festival reunited the whole village,
first in a joyful mood,
then in horror and perplexity.
My thanks to you all. You have worked well.
The heavens have been kind and the barns are full.
So the beer can flow, and you won't starve today.
Three cheers for the Baron!
Hip, hip, hooray!
Most honourable Baron
and Baroness,
dear merrymakers,
let us hear on this festive occasion Psalm 145, Verse 15,
"AII eyes look hopefully to you, Lord,
"You give them food when they need it."
In the name of the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Now enjoy your meal.
Eat and drink your fill. You've earned it.
You promised us a chorale by your pupils.
Ask the pastor, Baroness.
We're still practising for the confirmation ceremony.
That's in spring. This is autumn.
Our little singers aren't all very musical. I'm sorry.
So, you two mothers?
Not taking part in the festivities?
It's so nice here in the shade.
- Our son seems to be enjoying that. - Yes.
I can imagine. Who wouldn't Like it?
Georg!
What about you?
Aren't you bored of caring for other people's children
with all those young lads over there?
No, sir. I like being with the children.
- How old are you anyway? - Seventeen, sir.
Seventeen!
Wouldn't you rather hold a suitor than the Baroness's children?
- Leave her alone, Georg! - What did I say?
Won't you get us something to eat, Emma?
If you’ll mind the children a moment, I'II go.
He was drunk but they couldn't stop him.
Leave Frieda alone!
You can put it away!
I'm the rooster on the tower!
Someone cut the Baron's cabbages.
What?
Someone's cut the Baron's cabbages!
- I never learned. - Neither did I.
You have to count out loud.
One, two, three.
Your pupils will laugh when they see us dancing, sir!
They'd better not!
And stop being so formal with me. Am I so old?
- See? It's coming along! - Well. . .
Don't Look at your feet.
Quite a job, eh?
It's disgraceful.
There's an old saying: "Harvest's done, pay everyone.
"If we don't get our due, your cabbage will be sliced for you."
Well, they sure gulped down enough.
Come in.
What do you want?
A favour, Father.
Yes?
I found it. It's wounded.
- And? - May I keep it?
- How will you go about that? - We'll heal it.
And when it's healed?
Won't you be attached to it then?
Will you Let it fly away?
Peepsie still lives in a cage.
Yes, but it grew up in captivity.
This one is used to freedom.
Will you set it free, once it's healed?
- Have you asked Mother? - Yes.
What did she say?
That it was for you to decide, Father.
Really? That's what she said?
Will you really take care of it?
Yes.
You do realise that's a heavy responsibility?
You will be its father and mother.
We’ll have to find a cage for your patient.
Did you do it, or didn't you?
- Seems somebody saw you. - So what?
They're Lucky they still have their heads!
I have to tell you, Father, I'm proud of it!
Sit down!
What did you think you were doing?
Tell me.
Come on, tell me.
You know what, Father.
Because of your mother?
You think they caused her death?
Is that what you think that?
That I'm not man enough to settle it? Is that it?
Do you know what your actions may mean for us all?
What if Frieda loses her job,
which keeps us alive all year Long?
What if we can't work there in summer?
Do you want to marry and run the farm in two years?
Can you feed everyone without the help of the estate?
How do you know they're responsible?
How do you know they're innocent?
I don't know.
But I also don't know the opposite.
- What do you mean "not there"? - He's disappeared. I've looked all over.
He can't have disappeared. When did you last see him?
- Around two o'clock. - Around two?
- Do you know what time it is? - I know, Baron.
- What does my wife say? - She sent me to you. She's terrified.
I can imagine. You're an idiot, Huber.
Why do you think you're here?
To take care of one child! Is that so hard?
- I'm so sorry, Baron. - You can keep your excuses.
Where did you Last see my son?
Here. He Left to play with the other children.
- Where? - He didn't say.
And my wife noticed nothing, either?
The cabbage heads affair upset her. She retired, indisposed.
- Indisposed? - Yes, a terrible migraine attack.
This is a madhouse!
- Have you seen my son? - No.
Ask your sons. Sigi has gone off with some other children.
- What do you mean? - That he's disappeared, damn it!
The steward's children said they'd only seen Sigi very briefly,
that he'd gone off with other children. They didn't pay much attention to it.
The search began shortly after midnight.
The searchers, tired, some still drunk,
split up in to two groups:
one searched all the buildings on the estate,
the other combed the countryside.
Around 2.30 am, the siren sounded again,
calling the men back to the estate.
Sigi had been found.
He was in the sawmill, tied upside down.
His trousers were pulled down,
his buttocks bleeding from lashes.
He was in a state of shock, unable to walk.
Lying on his belly,
he was carried home on a makeshift stretcher.
Next Sunday, after the service, the Baron asked the pastor
to let him speak.
City policemen questioned many of you this week,
to no avail.
At first I thought my child had been tortured
by those who cut off my cabbages,
to get even.
For what?
Apparently, it was my fault their mother died in the sawmill,
which is absurd.
At least, young Felder told the police
that was his motive for his "reaping feat".
I've always helped the Felder family.
But people aren't always grateful.
It takes character.
Don't run away, Felder!
It's your honour I want to salvage!
It turns out the "valiant" Max Felder
boasted of his feat to his fiancée. Then the coward
hid among his family,
so he didn't have time to torture my son.
As for his father, he'd bite off his tongue
rather than cover for his wayward son.
I'II remind you of a fact that most of you may have forgotten.
Two months ago, our doctor had a riding accident,
and is still not back from the hospital.
This accident was caused by a wire strung in his garden,
with the explicit intent of bringing him down.
There, too, nobody knows, saw or heard anything.
We all know it: those who injured my son,
and the doctor,
are here among us, in this room.
I will not Let such crimes go unpunished,
and I hope nothing Like this happens to any of your children.
That's why I call upon you all:
help me find the culprit or the culprits.
If we fail to find out the truth,
our community will no longer be at peace.
The landowner's speech frightened the locals.
The Baron wasn't popular,
but as a powerful figure and employer of half the village,
he was respected.
His comment on the peace of the community
didn't bode well.
And the mysterious nature of these criminal deeds
awakened the age-old mistrust of the farmers.
Come in.
Eva!
May I come in?
What a question! Of course, come in.
What's happened?
What's wrong?
They sacked me.
What do you mean?
Nothing. They just sacked me.
The tutor was also sacked.
I don't know where to go.
- I'm afraid on the road alone. - Don't worry. Calm down.
Come, sit here.
Calm down and tell me what happened.
Well?
What happened?
The Baron's son isn't at all well.
His parents are desperate and angry.
Now they say the tutor and I are to blame,
because we didn't pay enough attention to him.
But I'm only there for the twins.
I've always taken care of them very well.
When you and I were dancing,
the Baroness had given me permission.
- I haven't done anything wrong. - I know, come on. Now stop crying.
Where can I go now?
My family needs my earnings.
You'll find something else.
You know, the Baron is quick-tempered. But his bark is worse than his bite.
No, it's all over now, I know it.
The Baroness doesn't want to see anyone.
She wants to take the children with her to town
or to her parents' estate.
I'II try to talk to her.
We used to play piano together, four-handed.
But I wasn't very good.
Now she's got the tutor, who studied the flute in town.
- He doesn't play that well. - That's true.
- Who would do such a thing? - What?
Beat a child Like that.
I don't know.
Can I stay here tonight?
Don't send me away, sir, please.
How could you think that?
I'II just wait for daybreak, here in the classroom.
Then I'II leave.
At home they won't understand this.
They'll think I did something wrong.
- Do you want me to go with you? - What?
Tomorrow, after school?
I'II find a carriage, I'II be back by evening.
Why would you do that, sir?
Stop being so formal.
Why would you do that?
Come here, I'II play something for you.
If you want.
Good morning, Father.
I'm back again. They set me free.
I can see that. So what?
Won't you forgive me, Father?
Forgive you for what?
The fact that the estate won't give me any work?
That Frieda was sacked in disgrace?
That your brothers and sisters have nothing to eat?
Or what?
The next day, after school, I went to the estate
to inquire about Sigi's health
and to approach them about Eva's reinstatement.
I was told the Baroness had left that morning with her children.
Reluctantly, the steward lent me a carriage to take Eva home.
As we left the village, we passed the doctor.
A few days after Thanksgiving,
Rudolph, his four-year-old son, had suddenly disappeared.
This had upset everyone, in the light of previous events.
The boy was finally found on the main road,
scantily dressed for a trip, walking eagerly towards the town.
When asked where he was going, he said he wanted to visit his father.
He fought tooth and nail against being taken home.
The doctor was told about this and, due to be released soon anyway,
he decided to cut short this stay at the hospital.
- Rudi? - He was in the Living room.
- What do I owe? - 3.50 marks.
- Thank you. - Good day.
Rudi, where are you?
Hello, Rudi.
Won't you say hello to your father?
No?
I heard you wanted to visit me at the hospital.
And now you lock yourself in?
Fine.
Then I don't want to see you, either.
I'm going away now.
Stay in the toilet, if you want.
Take care, Rudi.
Your office is ready. Mrs Wagner did it all.
- Why do you tell me that? - I don't know.
I thought you'd Like to know.
- Did she take good care of you? - Yes.
How old are you now?
Fourteen.
It's amazing. You Look so Like your mother.
Your mother and I are very worried about you.
Think carefully. Do you sleep badly?
Are you overtired?
No.
Do you have problems at school I don't know?
No, Father.
You don't understand why we worry.
I'II explain it to you.
As you know, I'm also the pastor for Birkenbrunn.
One day, a mother came to see me,
as her son, about the same age as you,
had the same symptoms
that you've been showing for some time.
The boy suddenly seemed extremely weary.
His eyes were ringed, he was depressed and joyless.
He avoided looking his parents in the eye,
and soon was also caught lying.
This lasted about half a year.
Then everything went very fast.
He lost his appetite,
couldn't sleep any more, his hands began to shake,
his memory started to fail,
his face became covered with pustules,
then his whole body.
Finally, he died.
The body that I had to bless Looked Like an old man's body.
Do you understand now why I'm worried?
What do you think caused these changes
that led to that boy's miserable end?
I don't know.
I think you know very well.
Won't you tell me?
No?
Then I'II give you the answer.
The boy had seen someone
who was harming the finest nerves of his body
in the area where God has erected sacred barriers.
The boy imitated this action.
He couldn't stop doing it.
In the end he destroyed all his nerves and died of it.
I just want to help you.
I Love you with all my heart.
Be sincere, Martin.
Why did you blush, listening to the story of the poor boy?
Blush?
I don't know. I felt sorry for him.
Is that all?
I think there's another reason.
It's written on your face.
Be sincere, Martin.
Why are you crying?
Shall I spare you that confession?
Have you been doing what that wretched boy did?
Yes.
My arm!
I'm glad that you're back. About time.
You could say that.
It was hard with the children, without you.
I know.
He doesn't Like me.
- Who? - Rudi.
He's at a difficult age.
Not really.
They're always at a difficult age.
Yes.
You didn't miss me.
What's that supposed to mean?
Nothing. I just said it because it's true.
Nothing Like a nice dose of self-loathing, is there?
What?
Nothing. Forget it.
Winter came early that year.
By Reformation Day, on the first Sunday of November,