Prologue
(Berlin, 1st May 1945. In the Fuhrerbunker. Artillery pounding in the background. The action is preceded by a radio announcement of the death of Hitler)
HASEK I need more petrol. There are only three of us left now. Magda, oh, sorry, Frau Goebbels, Dr. Goebbels himself, and me. Oh, I say there are only three of us left. I mean three adults. There’s also the Goebbels’ six children. I’ve been doing my best to entertain them, but I'm not very good with children. Hilde is having nightmares about the guns, and Heide’s still crying about the Fuhrer’s dogs. Helmut thinks he’s fighting the Russians with his toy Panzer tank. Dr. Goebbels is to inject them with strychnine while they sleep before going out into the bunker garden. He will shoot his wife and then turn the gun on himself. After that, it’s my job to burn the bodies so the Russians can’t identify them. It’s not the shootings that worry me, it’s the petrol, because quite frankly, we haven’t enough to burn a sparrow, let alone two people. A human being is mainly water after all, so Dr. Goebbels has instructed me to concentrate on incinerating his face. Dr. Goebbels has calculated the Red Army is only two hundred yards from us, so this is a matter of some urgency.
Scene One
(1929. Dr. Goebbels and Magda Quandt in his spartan office. He sits behind a small desk, she in front of it. She is immaculately dressed, his is attempting to look smart, but his suit is obviously worn out. Magda is seated, Dr. Goebbels is standing, having just entered the room …)
GOEBBELS I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?
MAGDA I’ve come about the advertisement in the paper for a librarian. Is this the right place? There was no one …
GOEBBELS Yes, yes. My apologies. We’re still understaffed at the moment. Have you any experience, Frau …
MAGDA Quandt. Frau Quandt. I was school librarian at the convent
GOEBBELS And since?
MAGDA Since then I’ve been married
GOEBBELS Frau Quandt did you say?
MAGDA Yes
GOEBBELS You wouldn’t, in any way, be connected to Herr Gunther Quandt?
MAGDA He was my husband
GOEBBELS Was your husband?
MAGDA Since I’ve been married, I’ve been divorced
GOEBBELS I hadn’t heard
MAGDA We’ve lived entirely separate lives for two years now, but the press can be so intrusive, Gunther thought it best to be discreet. I have my freedom, he has his ball bearing factories. We’re both very happy
GOEBBELS Do you see much of him?
MAGDA Only concerning my allowance
GOEBBELS Is he generous?
MAGDA Yes, I must confess. But Berlin is so expensive these days. He keeps talking about recessions, and reparations, and inflation, which is all very well, but one’s chauffeur has to be paid
GOEBBELS Indeed. (Pause) Frau Quandt, it’s very good of you to come here, but I think I should be frank. The position of librarian is very junior. It hardly suits a woman of your stature
MAGDA Why not?
GOEBBELS Well, I had in mind someone young …, younger, an eager, unemployed student I suppose. Someone willing to work long and hard for very little, and committed to the cause
MAGDA What is the cause?
GOEBBELS National Socialism. Patriotism. The greater good of greater Germany
MAGDA Then I fail to see on what grounds I am disqualified
GOEBBELS Frau Quandt. The post is unsalaried
MAGDA Money is of no consequence, Herr …
GOEBBELS Goebbels. Herr … Dr. Goebbels. Perhaps I could ask some more questions. What are you interests, hobbies …
MAGDA Opera. Theatre. I’m reading some books about Buddhism at the moment
GOEBBELS I see. Religion
MAGDA Well, Buddhist poetry actually. Dr. Goebbels, may I ask some questions of you? If the post is voluntary, it seems only fair
GOEBBELS Of course, please. Ask away
MAGDA Who are you?
GOEBBELS Me? Well, I’m a journalist, a writer of sorts, a doctor of philosophy, I’m, I’m National Socialist Workers’ Party member No.5. A founding father
MAGDA And I would be working directly for you?
GOEBBELS Me and me alone. It’s my job to collate newspaper reports about Herr Hitler
MAGDA Ah. Your Fuhrer
GOEBBELS The Fuhrer. I need help you see, because we’ve just expanded into foreign news. Do you have any languages?
MAGDA I’m fluent in Spanish, English, French, Italian …
GOEBBELS I have smatterings myself
MAGDA And from when would the post commence?
GOEBBELS In truth, we’re behind already. Frau Quandt, you can’t possibly be still interested. Delightful though this interview has been, I feel …
MAGDA Dr. Goebbels. If I wasn’t still interested, I would have already left, I assure you. Do you want me, or don’t you?
GOEBBELS (Pause) Yes, yes. Frau Quandt, I am indebted to you
Scene Two
(1933. Pastor Niemöller’s church. Pastor Niemöller preaching from the pulpit, facing out to the audience. Hasek and Liza Bardoff sit silently listening)
PASTOR We live at a time of great trial and uncertainty for our nation. Before our eyes, the very foundations of Germany seem daily to crumble before us. We have seen our currency and savings rendered worthless, our democracy reduced to the butt of beer keller jokes and Communist insults. And now by the cowardly act of arson, the Reichstag, the seat of government itself, has been set to flame. The godless may despair in these times, and in these times a few most evil godless men may believe that they and their evil causes will profit from the mayhem. But we must not lose heart. Our stability shattered, once more must we place our trust in the great stoical virtues of Frederick the Great and Count Bismarck. Fear not my children, the strengths that once made Germany great shall see her rise again. For Christ did say he that hath faith shall be given faith. Our Lord … (Goebbels and Magda enter, Hasek, Liza and the Pastor looking round. Hasek makes space for Goebbels and Magda to sit down) … Our Lord will not desert those that stand strong in His faith and true to His love. (Pastor Niemöller reads from the Bible) “Jesus was then led away by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the Devil. For forty days and nights he fasted, and at the end of them he was famished. The tempter approached him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread’. Jesus answered, ‘Scripture says, “man cannot live by bread alone; he lives on every word that God utters”’. The Devil then took him to the Holy City and set him down on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God’ he said, ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says, “He will put His angels in charge of you, and they will support you in their arms, for fear you should strike your foot against a stone”’. Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says again, “You are not to put the Lord your God unto the test”’. Once again, the Devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. ‘All these’, he said, ‘I will give you, if you will only fall down and worship me’. But Jesus said, ‘Begone, Satan! Scripture says, “You shall do homage to the Lord your God and worship Him alone”’. Then the Devil left him; and angels appeared and waited on him”. Let us pray for our deliverance from turmoil. Let us pray that the soul of our great mother country shall be reborn. May she and the Lord protect us from the evil in our midst. (Pastor Niemöller turns, and goes to the back of the stage. Immediately after the Pastor has so turned, Hasek, Magda, Liza and Goebbels appear one by one in front of the altar in the order given. Hasek and Liza exit as soon as they have said ‘Amen’)
HASEK (Simply and sincerely) Amen
MAGDA (Tritely, but not insincerely) Amen
LIZA(Unbelievingly) Amen
GOEBBELS (Chillingly) Amen. Pastor Niemöller, may I congratulate you on such an uplifting service
MAGDA It was quite wonderful …
GOEBBELS I trust we’re not keeping you
PASTOR After your reviews of my book, I’ve been expecting you. And I thank you for them, but I have no wish to be so publicly lauded. We don’t often attract National Socialists to this church …
GOEBBELS Your book Pastor Niemöller beckoned me here. From U-Boat To Pulpit is exactly what I’ve been looking for. It perfectly embodies what the German clergy must aspire to. Together, we can lead our people to a brave and prosperous future
PASTOR I simply wrote an autobiography Dr. Goebbels. I’m not Moses
GOEBBELS We live in portentous times. If only you could have seen the Reichstag fire. It was a beacon incinerating the old and illuminating the new
PASTOR You take comfort from the strangest sources Dr. Goebbels
GOEBBELS I know when destiny calls me. Was the Weimar Republic what you fought the Great War to achieve? Did you sweat in you U-boat for that milk-livered sham of democracy? You, one of the German navy’s finest commanders?
PASTOR You flatter me Dr. Goebbels. I simply …
GOEBBELS Oh, I know what’s said about us, that the Reichstag fire was the work of the Nazis, that we’re thugs, murderers, gangsters, but it’s all lies! Slander let loose by democrats who every day shake more in panic and trepidation
PASTOR The democrats mean well …
GOEBBELS They mean nothing. It is we who are the true believers Pastor. I ask you to join us in the rebuilding of our nation
PASTOR And what does this rebuilding entail?
GOEBBELS Faith. We must fuel the flames of rage in our hearts until they consume the injustice done us
PASTOR But what will we be building? Faith is not anger
GOEBBELS ‘Begone Satan!’. Surely Christ was angry when he said that. And did not Christ Himself minister to an oppressed people? You can breed faith from anger, but you’ll breed nothing from people cowed into submission by Jews and capitalists. Hitler’s hour is at hand. Our visions are the same Pastor
PASTOR I’m not even sure I have a vision. Just a few old hopes I’ve managed to hold on to
GOEBBELS Even so, you share my faith. It is your book which speaks of a ‘national revival’ Pastor
PASTOR I hope for one, but I don’t presume to know its secret
GOEBBELS The secret is before you, in Christ’s casting off of temptation. And the secret can be unlocked through the Reich Church. Together we must stand firm against evil. I ask you to accept the honour of first Reich Bishop
PASTOR Dr. Goebbels, neither as a Catholic nor as a politician do you have the authority to tamper with the Lutheran church
GOEBBELS But I will have. Within days Pastor, I shall be the Minister for Propaganda and Enlightenment, the spiritual physician of the Nation. We live at the start of a new age, and we need a new church to sing its praises
Scene Three
(1936. Dr. Goebbels’s office. As the lights go up, Liza Bardoff is standing prominently in Goebbels office, wearing stylish, but slightly cheap clothes. Goebbels is sitting at his now large desk, but stops writing as she speaks. He listens to her without looking at her. Hasek is present throughout at his small desk)
LIZA Dr. Goebbels. I despise you utterly and everything you and your gruesome bunch of criminals stand for. Before we go any further, it’s only fair to tell you I think you’re the greatest source of evil in the world today. (Pause) I think you should know that
GOEBBELS Fraulein Bardoff, how good of you to come. Have a drink. We run a very frugal operation here, but I think we could offer you a schnapps, or maybe some wine
LIZA It’ll get you nowhere trying to be nice to me
GOEBBELS We can talk later
LIZA I’ll start talking now
GOEBBELS Now, what will it be?
LIZA Dr. Goebbels, I’ve had the great misfortune to observe yourcareer for several years now, and in my opinion …
GOEBBELS Are you going to have a drink or not? If not, you can get out now. And if you don’t, the greatest source of evil in the world today will have you thrown out without you ever knowing why he called you here in the first place
LIZA (To Hasek) How can you work for him? This man is the most sophisticated fiend of his time
GOEBBELS There’s so much being written about us nowadays, that I’ve had to take on extra staff. Now, Fraulein Bardoff, if I could be so bold as to interrupt …
LIZA (Pause) I will, thank you, accept a small schnapps
GOEBBELS Hasek, you heard what this charming lady said. And the same for me (Hasek exits to organise the drinks)
LIZA Now I haven’t got long. Why did you send for me?
GOEBBELS To tell you that, in my opinion, you are, without doubt, the worst and most horrendously over-rated actress it has ever been my misfortune to see perform on a German stage. How on earth you were cast as the Queen of Spain in Don Carlos is beyond me. Schiller must be spinning in his grave
LIZA Good day Dr. Goebbels (she gets up to go. As she nears the door, her path is blocked by Hasek returning with the drinks)
GOEBBELS And what’s more, if you leave this room now, I shall personally make it my business to see you never work again. (Liza sits down again. She takes her drink from Hasek’s tray, as does Goebbels) Relax. I have great plans for the German arts Fraulein Bardoff – Liza – but it is essential we root out everything vulgar and degenerate. Don’t you agree?
LIZA Schiller isn’t vulgar or degenerate
GOEBBELS Oh, no Liza. But a great playwright demands great actors
LIZA Absolutely. And a great nation demands great leaders
GOEBBELS I knew we’d see eye to eye eventually. I propose a toast
LIZA To what?
GOEBBELS Our friendship
LIZA I don’t know you
GOEBBELS I thought you’d been following my career for several years. Or was that rehearsed tirade no more than the secondhand mouthings of a third rate communist you’ve overheard in a theatre bar? It does a woman of your talents scant justice
LIZA I thought I was talentless
GOEBBELS I give as good as I get. Some times better
LIZA Perhaps I was a little hasty
GOEBBELS Let’s forget the entire episode. At least you weren’t scared of me. (Raising a glass) To friendship
GOEBBELS Ah ha. I like you Liza, and to be frank, I need your help. You see, it’s very easy knocking some order into the press, but to what end? How long do we remember a newspaper report? An hour, a minute, a day at the most. But a play, or a film can become part of you for life. Isn’t that true? (Feigning) Forgive me, forgive me, you must listen to so many frustrated writers
GOEBBELS They’re not normally Reich Minister for Propaganda. Liza, quite simply, I called you here to tell you that no one who has seen your Queen of Spain will ever forget it
LIZA Thank you
GOEBBELS As one sophisticated fiend to another, I was astounded. Imagine, though, my frustration that night in the theatre. I’m no actor, the six pounds of shrapnel in my leg have seen to that …
LIZA I thought it was polio
GOEBBELS As I say, I’m no actor, but I know talent when I see it. There you are, illuminating the entire stage, yet denied you rightful place in the firmament of stars by a film industry run entirely by Jews. To become the idol of millions, an actress of your talent has no option but to leave for America like Dietrich
LIZA Dr. Goebbels, nothing could be further from my mind
GOEBBELS It’s only natural you dream of fame. My dream is of a German cinema worthy of a Dietrich herself. Liza, I beg you to stay
LIZA I’m not going anywhere
GOEBBELS Can you really mean that?
LIZA I give you my word
GOEBBELS Thank heavens I spoke with you in time. I’ll send you some scripts within the week. If you want bigger parts, I’ll have bigger parts written. Anyway, I mustn’t monopolise your time any longer. Hasek (Goebbels gets up. Helps Liza put her coat on). The company of actors gives me such joy. (Hasek enters) Until we meet again Liza. Hasek, will you see Fraulein Bardoff gets a cab (Hasek and Liza exit. Goebbels goes back to his desk and sits down. Lights a cigarette, and puts his feet up on the table. A broad grin covers his face). “The most sophisticated fiend of my time”. “The single greatest source of evil in the world today”. Was ever a woman in this humour wooed? (Hasek enters) Hasek. D’you know who that was? The most famous German actress of the next ten years, that’s who. And d’you know how I know? The Minister for Propaganda told me. Your collar’s dirty
HASEK I changed it this morning Dr. Goebbels
GOEBBELS Then change it again for this afternoon. Discipline and order Hasek. Inculcate those, and you can hypnotise millions, but you can’t even keep your clothes clean. The Lord, he moveth in mysterious ways. If you were seducing a woman, a very attractive woman, how would you go about it?
HASEK I don’t know Dr. Goebbels. That sort of woman would never be interested in me
GOEBBELS Come Hasek, believe in yourself more! How, for instance, d’you think I went about wooing Frau Goebbels? (Silence) Alright then, how would you seduce Fraulein Bardoff?
HASEK I’d find out what she was interested in first. If she wanted to go to the cinema, then that would make it easier. If it was the theatre, I’d have to save up first. If she wanted …
GOEBBELS Would you telephone her?
HASEK No, no. I’d be too nervous. I’d buy some flowers, and send them with a letter. If it was summer, I’d probably ask her to go for a walk. That wouldn’t cost much
GOEBBELS A walk? With a picnic?
HASEK It’d have to be a small one, but then if she loved me, that wouldn’t matter
GOEBBELS True. Flowers, a letter, and then an outing of some kind. A sound proposal Hasek, but the strange thing is, once you’ve got the lady in your sights, I often find insulting her beyond measure to be the most effective method of all. And florists can be so unreliable. (Gives Hasek some envelopes) See that these get posted. Oh, and Hasek, if my wife should ask you about Fraulein Bardoff, tell her I like her. Tell her I like her a lot