I thought, for my first post, I’d put for comment a scene from my newest, yet oldest play. It’s called NIGHT AND FOG and I first wrote it almost twenty years ago. Recently, mostly because of the encouragement of a dear friend, I’ve returned to it and reworked it considerably. It concerns a journalist named Kevin Riley who was posted to Berlin in the early 1930’s just at the time of the Nazis’ rise to power. During his time there, he became very close friends with a man in the Propaganda Ministry named Ernst von Helldorf. It is now 1948. The war is over, the Nazis gone. There is a new war…a Cold one…and Berlin is under seige from the Soviets, kept alive only by the Berlin Airlift. Kevin Riley returns, not to cover the Airlift, but because Ernst von Helldorf is about to be hanged for war crimes. And because there are ghosts in his own past that need to be faced.

In this scene…which closes the first act…Ernst’s wife, Ilse, comes to Kevin to beg him to use whatever influence he might have to save Ernt’s life.

ACT ONE

Scene 3
(The same, the following morning)
(At rise, the stage is empty)
(Enter HEINZ LEUDTKE and ILSE VON HELLDORF)
(LEUDTKE is in his early forties, short, squat and balding. He wears a business suit and carries a battered leather briefcase)
(ILSE is in her late forties, an icily beautiful woman who might, on first inspection, pass for ten years younger. There is a cold remoteness about her, an icy unapproachability. She is a woman used to privilege and position. She has not adapted to the changes in her world. Nor will she.)
LEUDTKE
(exasperated)
I want it known very clearly that I oppose this. There is nothing to be gained here. We are on a fool’s errand.
ILSE
You have made your objections well known, Herr Leudtke. I grow weary of them. My husband grows weary of them.
LEUDTKE
Our time is precious and this American journalist can do nothing for us. I do not…I cannot…understand the Baron’s obsession with this man.
ILSE
You do not know Kevin Riley.
LEUDTKE
No, I do not. Nor do I wish to. He is a journalist, nothing more. I beg to remind you that we have but thirty-six hours before…
ILSE
I am perfectly aware of how much time remains!
(For a moment, there is a crack in her icy veneer, but only for a moment; then the remoteness returns)
LEUDTKE
My apologies, Baroness. I understand how difficult your position is. I was merely attempting to point out…
ILSE
You understand nothing, Leudtke. When this is over, what have you lost but a case? It is not you who will hang. It is not you whose life will be destroyed. You will remember that, please.
LEUDTKE
I am sorry. You are right, of course. But I do not see what we are to accomplish here. It is beyond me.
ILSE
There are many things beyond you. Saving my husband’s life was beyond you.
LEUDTKE
If I had been allowed to defend him as I wished…
ILSE
Defend him! You did not defend him! You know only grovelling and toadying…to the Americans, to the English…even to the Bolsheviks!
(She spits on the floor at his feet; he draws back as if struck)
ILSE (cont’d)
My husband would not grovel. He would not beg and you were left without resource. My husband is to hang because you kiss the feet of the conquerors.
LEUDTKE
(angry)
This is not so! I will not permit…!
ILSE
You will not permit? You will not permit…what? You are a weak, timid little man. My husband is not. How is it that his life is to be taken while a worm like you prospers?
(LEUDTKE turns away, white and thin-lipped with rage. For a moment, it seems he will strike her, but he restrains himself… with difficulty)
LEUDTKE
You forget yourself, Baroness.
ILSE
I forget nothing.
LEUDTKE
Ja! You forget! You forget where we are and who we are. You forget we are a defeated…yes, a conquered people. You forget whose airplanes fly over our heads. You forget who holds the power in Germany today. It is not the von Helldorfs, Baroness! It is no longer the von Helldorfs!
(He pauses for breath)
You forget, too, that were it not for a certain weakness for baccarat and the other…shall we say?…diversions of Monte Carlo, the Baron would not have been captured and we would not be here now, begging an American journalist for his life. You forget…but I don’t. So let us not speak of who is weak and who is not.
(SILENCE)
(Enter PAUL, from the office)
PAUL
What the fuck is all the noise…
(He stops, sees ILSE)
Frau von Helldorf?
ILSE
Herr Scanlon. How very nice to see you again.
PAUL
I didn’t expect to see you here.
ILSE
Nor did I expect to be here. But it has come to that.
PAUL
I’d forgotten.
ILSE
I assure you, you are not alone. Many have forgotten. But some have not. Some are not permitted to forget.
PAUL
Is there something I can do for you?
ILSE
I would like very much to see Kevin Riley. The matter is, I fear, quite urgent.
PAUL
Kevin? How do you know he’s here? I just found out myself.
ILSE
I assure you, Herr Scanlon, I know he is here. How I know…well, is that really so important?
PAUL
I suppose not. But I’m still confused. What is it you think Kevin can do for you? Or your husband?
LEUDTKE
Exactly! Exactly my question! Perhaps she can explain it to you, Herr Scanlon. She cannot…will not…explain it to me.
PAUL
And you are…who?
LEUDTKE
Pardon. I am Heinz Leudtke. I am Baron von Helldorf’s… advocate.
PAUL
I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand what…
ILSE
I have come to save my husband’s life, Herr Scanlon.
PAUL
And you think Kevin can do that for you? Jesus, I knew he was good. I didn’t think he was that good.
LEUDTKE
I have attempted to explain to the Baroness that an American journalist, even one so prominent as Herr Riley, could not…
ILSE
Do not tell me what he can and cannot do! I have lived in America. I have seen the power of the American press. I know the power of a man like Kevin Riley. If he will do it, he can do it. This I know.
PAUL
I…see. I know the strain you’re under, Frau von Helldorf…
ILSE
Do you? Do you, indeed?
PAUL
Well…maybe not. But I think you’re exaggerating what Kevin can do.
ILSE
I exaggerate nothing. And I would like to see Kevin. Now, if you please.
PAUL
Well…maybe I please and maybe I don’t. But Kevin isn’t here. Fact is, I haven’t seen him yet myself. He might be a rumor for all I know.
ILSE
He is no rumor. And I am prepared to wait.
PAUL
Well, have a chair if you like.
(There is a uncomfortable silence. PAUL shuffles papers from desk to desk, pretending to read some, discarding others)
PAUL (cont’d)
You know, Frau von Helldorf, even if Kevin can do what you think he can…what makes you think he will?
ILSE
Why would he not? He was Ernst’s friend.
PAUL
That was a long time ago. And they didn’t exactly part well, as I recall.
ILSE
That was…another time. There were misunderstandings, this is true. But they were friends. Great friends. Surely Kevin has not forgotten this.
PAUL
I couldn’t say for sure what Kevin forgot and what he didn’t. But it’s just possible that he thinks someone else forgot.
(ILSE starts to speak, but is interrupted)
(Enter KEVIN and STRATTON)
(At first they don’t notice the others. STRATTON is reading from a sheet of paper)
STRATTON
Jesus Christ!
KEVIN
Not a bad story, eh?
STRATTON
Where did you get this stuff?
KEVIN
Like the man says…my sources are my sources.
STRATTON
I’m not kidding, Kevin. Some of this stuff is classified.
KEVIN
Really? That must be what I got from the Russians.
STRATTON
Smart ass!
KEVIN
Oh, shit, Greg, from what I hear the Russians know as much about this operation as we do and…
PAUL
And now the great god Riley has dropped from the sky and the sorry-assed Berlin bureau is saved. Shall we all get down on our knees, Kevin?
(KEVIN turns, surprised)
KEVIN
Hello, Paul.
PAUL
Don’t you fucking “Hello, Paul” me. You waltz in here, you take over half my bureau and you don’t even give me the courtesy of…
KEVIN
You don’t have to give yourself a stroke, Paul. It’s good to see you again, too.
(They laugh, start to shake hands, but then embrace)
PAUL
You could have let me know you were coming, you know.
KEVIN
Sorry. It came up kind of suddenly.
PAUL
I thought you weren’t here to write about the Airlift.
KEVIN
A story this big? It ought to be worth a line or two.
STRATTON
You’ve been in Berlin…how long?
KEVIN
Twenty-four hours, give or take.
STRATTON
Amazing.
KEVIN
So I’ve been told.
PAUL
Yeah, well, if you can tear yourself away, you’ve got visitors. Part of the story you did come to write, I think.
KEVIN
Oh?
(He turns to see ILSE and LEUDTKE)
Ilse?
ILSE
Hello, Kevin.
(There is a awkward silence)
STRATTON
I’ve got to be going. Look, Kevin, you’d better check that story or you’re going to be ass deep in alligators.
KEVIN
What’s new about that? It wouldn’t be the first time I pissed the Army off. It wouldn’t even be the first time I got kicked out of Berlin.
(Exit STRATTON)
KEVIN (cont’d)
(to ILSE)
How are you, Ilse?
ILSE
I am well…within limits. It was good of you to come all this way.
KEVIN
Uh, Paul, could we…?
PAUL
Sure, why not?
(To LEUDTKE)
Come along, Counselor. I’ll buy you a drink.
KEVIN
Better be a short one. You’re almost out of bourbon.
PAUL
(chuckles)
That fucking figures.
(Exit PAUL and LEUDTKE to the office)
ILSE
You haven’t changed, Kevin.
KEVIN
Nothing much changes. Except Berlin, of course.
ILSE
It is not much as it was in the old days.
KEVIN
You could say that.
ILSE
You were…where?… China?
KEVIN
Hong Kong, actually. I got kicked out of China. Again.
ILSE
Poor Kevin. You are forever being asked to leave, are you not? The Bolsheviks?
KEVIN
No, the Nationalists.
(Pause, smiling)
Again.
ILSE
Ernst had nothing to do with that.
KEVIN
So he wrote me. He said he was sorry for the…uh… “misunderstanding”.
ILSE
You never answered.
KEVIN
What was there to say? There was no misunderstanding, Ilse. He knew that. We both knew why he wanted me out of Berlin. We both knew eventually I would have found something, something your Foreign Office couldn’t get our State Department to kill. Ernst didn’t want that something to be him. And it probably would have been. So he needed me to be gone. And, truth to tell, I needed to be gone. I’d had a bellyful of Berlin by then.
ILSE
There are no pleasant memories? There were no good times?
KEVIN
You know there were.
ILSE
Ernst was your friend.
KEVIN
And I was fucking my friend’s wife. Aren’t those the good times we’re talking about?
ILSE
I would not put it so crudely.
KEVIN
No…you wouldn’t. But you loved it when I did.
(She glares at him for a moment, then softens)
ILSE
Those times. Yes.
KEVIN
Then I guess I wasn’t such a good friend, after all.
ILSE
He was your friend. What was between us was between us.
KEVIN
I always thought he knew. I always thought he did what he did because…
ILSE
It had nothing to do with that! He did his duty! He was a German doing what his country required of him. As you would have done. As any man would have done.
KEVIN
He was “following orders”?
ILSE
Yes! He was!
KEVIN
Then why didn’t he say that at his trial?
ILSE
Because he would not. He is a proud man and he would not crawl. Laugh if you want to. It is the truth. It is so easy for you, Kevin. It was not your country.
KEVIN
I suppose he didn’t know, either. About Auschwitz or…
ILSE
He had nothing to do with the camps!
KEVIN
But did he know?
ILSE
If you hanged every German who knew and said nothing, did nothing, you would have to hang every third one of us. You would have to hang me. Is that what you want, Kevin? To hang us all? To hang me?
KEVIN
No. That isn’t what I want.
ILSE
He doesn’t deserve to die. There are a hundred, a thousand, who did worse things than he did. The camps…they were other men’s work, not Ernst’s. Why must he die for it?
KEVIN
The teeth, Ilse. What about the teeth?
ILSE
Teeth? What has that to do with…
KEVIN
He took everything they had. Their houses, their money, their businesses. He took the clothes off their backs and the hair off their heads. And he took their teeth. For the gold, Ilse. He took their teeth for the gold.
ILSE
He did what was necessary.
KEVIN
And if it was necessary to drop gas pellets on two thousand cold naked Jews, he’d have done that, too. Wouldn’t he?
ILSE
Yes! He would have!
KEVIN
Then let’s stop the fucking game! He was what he was. There was Himmler and there was Heydrich and there was von Helldorf! And we both know it!
ILSE
What do you want me to say? What do you want me to do?
KEVIN
Stop the lies. That’s all.
(Pause)
What does he want from me?
ILSE
I don’t know.
(KEVIN laughs skeptically)
ILSE (cont’d)
It is the truth! I don’t know. I don’t think he knows himself.
KEVIN
And you, Ilse? What do you want?
ILSE
I want to save my husband’s life. Is that so difficult to understand?
KEVIN
No. It isn’t difficult at all.
ILSE
He was your friend, Kevin. Whatever else he was, he was that. Does it mean nothing to you now? Can you not help him now?
KEVIN
What do you think I can do?
ILSE
You have friends. You have always been able to…do things. Even here. Even in Berlin. You could always do things with a wink and a smile. That is what I ask of you now. If he ever meant anything to you…if I ever meant anything to you…
KEVIN
There’s nothing I can do.
ILSE
Nothing you can do? Or nothing you will do?
KEVIN
It amounts to the same thing, doesn’t it?
(Pause)
Yes, I have friends. I have powerful friends. I had powerful friends right here in Berlin in 1934. I ate with them. I drank with them. I even fucked one of them. But when I needed them, they played me for a sucker and kicked me out of the country. So much for powerful friends. And so much for Eric Schreiber. Maybe you’ve forgotten him. I haven’t.
ILSE
A Jew? This is about a Jew?
KEVIN
Just that. A Jew. One Jew. Someone else can worry about the six million-odd others. I’m here about just the one.
(SILENCE)
ILSE
So. This is what it comes to. You’ve come to revenge yourself on him.
KEVIN
You’re the second person who’s said that to me. It isn’t true. I haven’t come to get even. I have nothing to get even for. What he took didn’t belong to me. It belonged to others. They’ll have to pardon him. I can’t.
ILSE
Then it is truly hopeless.
(She looks at him, desolate. Involuntarily, he begins to reach out for her, then draws back)
ILSE (cont’d)
I’m sorry you’ve come so far for nothing.
KEVIN
Maybe it was for nothing. Maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know yet.
(ILSE starts for the door, then stops)
ILSE
You were not so innocent yourself in those days, you know. He could have had you shot. He could have made you disappear so you would never be heard from again. He did not. Perhaps you owe him for that, Kevin. Perhaps you owe him…something.
(Exit ILSE)
(KEVIN takes a step after her then stops)
(Enter PAUL and LEUDTKE)
PAUL
It wasn’t a success, I take it.
KEVIN
It wasn’t a success.
LEUDTKE
My apologies, Herr Riley. I have tried for days to convince the Baroness that there was nothing you could do. But once something takes hold of her…well, she is a determined woman. It was foolish of her to hope. It will be a century before the Nazi madness is forgotten.
(He takes paper from his coat and hands it to KEVIN)
Baron von Helldorf would deem it a privilege if you would visit him this afternoon. I have brought you this pass. I fear there may not be many more opportunities for old friends to meet.
(Pause, he waits as if he expects a response, but KEVIN says nothing)
I had best take my leave. It has been a great honor to meet you, Herr Riley.
(Exit LEUDTKE)
PAUL
Well, Kevin? Was it worth the trip?
(BLACKOUT)