Daniel J. Geduld
501 E. Grimes Lane
Bloomington, IN 47401

Judzirkus

By Daniel J. Geduld

 

1. SFX: CLICK OF TAPE RECORDER
2. DONALD: Are we rolling?
3. ENGINEER: Yeah, Don.
4. DONALD: Great...(HE CLEARS HIS THROAT) Good evening and welcome to ABN Radio's Ear on History. This is your host, Donald Robertson. I'm speaking tonight with Mr. Mendel Feinman, possibly the oldest living survivor of the Holocaust, the terrible killings of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others considered to be the enemies of Nazi Germany. Mr. Feinman has just celebrated is one-hundred-and-second birthday this month!
5. OLD FEINMAN: One-hundred-and-third.
6. DONALD: Pardon me, one-hundred-and-third. Mr. Feinman, what our listeners would most like to hear may be painful to you. Are you ready to tell it?
7. OLD FEINMAN: Of course, young man. I was always known for my ability to tell a good story...
8. DONALD: Very well. Mr. Feinman, tell us...what was it like exactly in Dachau?
9. OLD FEINMAN: It was...thrilling...
10. MUSIC: CIRCUS CALLIOPE
11. OLD FEINMAN: Standing there...the roar of the crowds...
12. DONALD: Crowds, sir?
13. OLD FEINMAN: We were the big entertainment for the evening, you see...
14. DONALD: Mr. Feinman, I don't think that-
15. SFX: CROWD ROARS
16. OLD FEINMAN: remember it like it was yesterday...the sights...the sounds...the smells.... (FADE OUT ON OLD FEINMAN'S VOICE)
17. RINGMASTER: Laaaaaaadies and Gentlemeeeeen! May I have your attention please! In the center ring, for your amazement and amusement, we present to you: The Flying Feinmans!
18. MUSIC: DRUM ROLL
19. SFX: CROWD OOHS AND AHS, THEN APPLAUDS
20. MUSIC: CALLIOPE STARTS UP AGAIN AND SLOWLY FADES
21. OLD FEINMAN: And they loved us! They loved us!
22. DONALD: Mr. Feinman, what the people really want to hear is-
23. OLD FEINMAN: Dachau! Yes...Dachau...I remember now...I get confused sometimes...
24. DONALD: I understand. Please go on.
25. OLD FEINMAN: It began on the train...
26. SFX: THUNDERSTORM
27. OLD FEINMAN: It was raining when they put us onto the train...
28. SFX: LOUD THUNDERCLAP, LARGE CROWD OF PEOPLE, UPSET...SOME GUARDS YELLING.
29. GUARD: (OFF MIKE) Into the car! Schnell! Schnell!
30. SFX: MEN GETTING INTO THE CAR
31. FEINMAN: Where do you think they're taking us?
32. MAN 1: I've heard that they're deporting us.
33. MAN 2: No, that's not what I hear. My friend Karl insists that we are to be sent to the POW camps to work...
34. FEINMAN: And we couldn't work in Dresden?
35. MAN 2: (HE LAUGHS) My friend, no Jews work in Dresden. Didn't you know? It's a paradise for the lazy...
36. MAN 3: It's not the work camps we're going to, gentlemen. My friends in the resistance have told me. It's much, much worse.
37. SFX: BOXCAR DOOR CLOSES...TRAIN STARTS AND WHISTLE BLOWS
38. OLD FEINMAN: (OVER WHISTLE) The train...always exciting...
39. SFX: ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
40. RINGMASTER: Do you think you can keep her quiet, Mendel?
41. FEINMAN: Keep Colossus quiet, Mr. Eltern? And next you'll be wanting me to stop the sun from rising, is that it?
42. WOMAN: Mr. Eltern? Where are we going? Why all the secrecy...and why in the elephant car?
43. OLD FEINMAN: We were packed so tightly...no room to breathe with that elephant and so many of us all together...
44. RINGMASTER: It's all right, everyone. Just calm down. We're going to our winter quarters, but they've been changed this year.
45. SFX: SOUNDS OF PROTEST
46. RINGMASTER: Everyone quiet down! Look, we had no choice. Money is hard everywhere, you know.
47. SFX: TRAIN AND PROTEST SOUNDS FADE
48. DONALD: (HE SIGHS) Mr. Feinman, maybe you could tell us something about the camp itself. Do you think-
49. OLD FEINMAN: Of course! Yes. Did I tell you I was always a good storyteller? That's how I kept the spirits up on the train to Dachau. I told my stories...
50. SFX: TRAIN MOVING, CONTINUE THUNDERSTORM
51. FEINMAN: (AFFECTING VOICE CHANGES WHEN NECESSARY) And so, one day, the rain poured on the Shtetl of Chelm, worse even than the rain falling outside this car. turning the loose ground into deep, deep mud. That night, the rains stopped, the sky cleared, and a bright full moon rose. And on that night, Rabbi Katz walked across the courtyard in the center of town, wading through the knee-deep mud. There, in the courtyard's center, he saw old Moishe, the baker, on all fours searching desperately for something. "Moishe!" called the Rabbi to him, "what are you doing crawling around in the mud at this hour?" "My coin purse," said Moishe. "I dropped it in the shuul during services this evening! All of my money, lost!" The Rabbi stroked his long beard thoughtfully and said, "but Moishe! If you lost your purse in shuul, why are you looking for it out here?" "Are you crazy?" asked Moishe. "It's dark in the shuul! I'd never find it! But out here, with the full moon lighting the courtyard, I'll be certain to see it!"
52. SFX: NERVOUS LAUGHTER
53. MAN 1: What's wrong with all of you schmendricks? The man just told a funny story and all you can do is titter like nervous schoolboys? Are these the men of Dresden I know?
54. MAN 3: Shut up, will you? Can't you see they're all scared? We've been on this train for hours... there's been no food, no water other than what comes through the hole in the roof...no toilets, and you want us to laugh?!
55. FEINMAN: Laughter always calms the soul.
56. MAN 3: (OMINOUSLY) When we get where we are going, friend, pray that you still have a soul.
57. SFX: TRAIN WHISTLE AND FADE OUT...
58. DONALD: Mr. Feinman, the camp-
59. FEINMAN: Ah, yes. The camp. It was a very dreary place indeed.
60. SFX: CRICKETS, FAINT. SOUND OF MANY PEOPLE AND BEDS CREAKING.
61. FEINMAN: This is where we're spending the winter this year?
62. RINGMASTER: It was the best we could do!
63. FEINMAN: You expect my poor wife and daughter to sleep here, do you? And away from me in another building, on the other side of the fence?
64. RINGMASTER: Mendel, the money...there's simply no money! When we lost the big top...
65. FEINMAN: But bunk beds and fences, Mr. Eltern? And nothing to eat but this horrible stew. How I long for the days when we stayed at the best hotels.
66. RINGMASTER: As do we all, Mendel. As do we all.
67. GUARD 2: You! Jew! Come here!
68. FEINMAN: Me, sir?
69. GUARD 2: Don't answer back!
70. SFX: PUNCH, FEINMAN GRUNTS
71. FEINMAN: (TRYING TO CATCH HIS BREATH) Yes, sir.
72. GUARD 2: Now take this hammer and follow me. (PAUSE) Come along! Come along! This is not a place for rest!
73. SFX: CRICKETS LOUDER...HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF PEOPLE WORKING HARD AND LOTS OF ANIMAL NOISES, ELEPHANTS, LIONS, HORSES, ETC.
74. FRANZ: Get up, Mendel! Time to raise the tent!
75. FEINMAN: I'm coming, Franz.
76. SFX: LOUD HAMMERING, STAKE INTO GROUND
77. FRANZ: Can't you get that stake in any faster?
78. FEINMAN: You want I should hammer my foot by mistake? Then where would the act be?
79. FRANZ: You don't need your feet to use the trapeze, you know.
80. FEINMAN: No? Then how do I climb the ladder?
81. FRANZ: (LAUGHING) Like Bertha, the acrobat, of course! Put the pole between your legs and pull yourself up!
82. STRONG MAN: (LAUGHS CONDESCENDINGLY) Look at them! Little girls with their toy hammers!
83. FEINMAN: I don't trust him, Franz...
84. SFX: ANIMALS FADE OUT. HAMMERING CHANGES PITCH TO NAILS ON A BOARD
85. GUARD 2: Are you finished with that yet, Jew?
86. FEINMAN: Almost, sir.
87. GUARD 2: Almost is not good enough for this camp!
88. SFX: CRACK OF RIFLE BUTT AGAINST FEINMAN'S HEAD. FEINMAN PASSES OUT AND DROPS, CRICKETS FADE OUT.
89. OLD FEINMAN: That was what it was like there. They always had you working, no time for rest. If you didn't do what they wanted, they beat you. Sometimes, they beat you even if you did do what they wanted.
90. DONALD: And they abused you like that all the time?
91. OLD FEINMAN: No, not always. Only when they were in the mood for such things, you see.
92. DONALD: I see. Did you lose a lot of friends at the camp?
93. OLD FEINMAN: Friends? Yes...Friends...
94. MUSIC: DRUM ROLL
95. RINGMASTER: (OFF-MIKE) And now, the Flying Feinmans will attempt a feat so daring that it has been banned across the continent! Without the aid of a net, we present to you: the double-backflip double-catch!
96. FRANZ: I'm scared, Mendel. Papa is too old to catch.
97. FEINMAN: Nonsense! I've never seen him look so strong in his life!
98. FRANZ: But Mendel! You always do this trick! Not me!
99. FEINMAN: That's why it's your turn!
100. FRANZ: Are you sure this is safe?
101. FEINMAN: Of course! Now get out there and steal the show!
102. FRANZ: All right. If you think it's safe... (FADING OUT AS HE'S SWINGING) Wish me luck!
103. SFX: DRUM-ROLL STOPS. GUNSHOT, MAN'S SCREAM AND BODY FALLING. DISTANT LAUGHTER.
104. FEINMAN: (WITH NERVOUS FEAR) Franz?
105. GUARD 3: (OFF-MIKE) You up there! Get back to work unless you want to join your friend!
106. OLD FEINMAN: Franz was dead. Do you know what it is like to see your own brother die in front of you? No, of course not...but I did. I never went up on the trapeze again...
107. MUSIC: CALLIOPE, CLOWN MUSIC
108. RINGMASTER: Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting the whimsical antics of Schlemazel the Clown!
109. SFX: SLIDE WHISTLE AND BELL; AUDIENCE ROARS WITH LAUGHTER- SUDDEN CUT TO CRICKETS
110. GUARD 2: Get off the ground, Jew! We do not tolerate laziness here!
111. FEINMAN: (DAZED) Yes, sir.
112. GUARD 2: Back to work!
113. FEINMAN: Yes, sir!
114. SFX: HAMMERING
115. OLD FEINMAN: Of course, if you didn't get up, they sent you to the big building.
116. DONALD: The big building?
117. OLD FEINMAN: With the ovens. Those who went in never returned.
118. DONALD: I see.
119. OLD FEINMAN: We all knew what was in there. We could smell them, those fires.
120. SFX: SCREAMING AND PANIC, LOUD FIRE RAGING
121. WOMAN: Run! The big top is burning down!
122. RINGMASTER: My circus! My beautiful circus!
123. GUARD 3: Stop staring, Jew! Sweep the floor!
124. SFX: FIRE DULLS, AS DOES SCREAMING. SLIGHT ECHO EFFECT.
125. FEINMAN: Yes, sir!
126. SFX: SWEEPING
127. GUARD 3: You're interested in those doors, are you? You know what is behind those doors, don't you, Jew?
128. FEINMAN: No, sir.
129. GUARD 3: Behind those doors is what happens when you don't work. Do you understand, pig?
130. FEINMAN: Yes, sir!
131. GUARD 3: Then sweep!
132. FEINMAN: Yes, sir!
133. SFX: FIRE GETS LOUDER, AS DOES PANIC
134. RINGMASTER: How? How could this have happened?
135. FEINMAN: These things are sometimes inevitable....
136. RINGMASTER: Inevitable? How could this have been inevitable?! This was no accident, you know. This was due to cruelty...the cruelty of men.
137. FEINMAN: What do you mean?
138. RINGMASTER: I shouldn't keep this a secret from you any longer, Mendel. Certain...people, they hate you for who you are and they hate me even more for protecting you. One of them did this. I know it.
139. FEINMAN: Then if I am to blame for all of this, I will take the punishment. I'll leave immediately, of course.
140. RINGMASTER: Mendel, are you crazy? You would never survive out there...there are too many of them out to get you!
141. FEINMAN: They're out to get me here too, Mr. Eltern.
142. RINGMASTER: But here, my boy, you are under my wing. No, Mendel, I could never allow you to be put in danger. You are...like a son to me. As long as you are part of this circus, you are special...unique.
143. SFX: FIRE AND SCREAMING DULLS DOWN AGAIN
144. GUARD 2: (SCREAMING AT MENDEL) You think that there's something special about you, Jew?
145. FEINMAN: No, sir.
146. GUARD 2: And I suppose you think that since you're special, you shouldn't have to sweep the floor, is that it?
147. FEINMAN: No, sir!
148. GUARD 2: Get out of here, swine. If you are too special to sweep the floor, we'll see how you do digging the graves!
149. SFX: SOUNDS STOP
150. OLD FEINMAN: The next three men they had in there to sweep the floor were put into the ovens, you know. They didn't clean well enough, we were told.
151. DONALD: You must feel lucky that you came so close to the ovens but survived.
152. OLD FEINMAN: Lucky? No, I wouldn't call it lucky.
153. DONALD: Why not?
154. OLD FEINMAN: If they had put me in the ovens that day, I wouldn't have had to endure two more years of Dachau.
155. DONALD: How did you survive there so long?
156. OLD FEINMAN: I have always been a survivor. I survived the death of my Papa and my brother, I survived the circus burning down, I survived when they came for me in the end...but in Dachau I had a secret.
157. DONALD: A secret?
158. OLD FEINMAN: The circus, you know, was a dangerous place.
159. DONALD: What was the secret, Mr. Feinman?
160. OLD FEINMAN: We never realized it until Franz died...
161. SFX: AUDIENCE GASPS
162. RINGMASTER: Please don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen! It is simply a minor accident. However, we will have to end our show tonight. But! If you return tomorrow with your ticket, we promise to treat you, for free, to the greatest spectacles your eyes will ever witness!
163. SFX: AUDIENCE LEAVING RELUCTANTLY. RINGMASTER RUNS...
164. RINGMASTER: What happened?
165. PAPA: I...I dropped him...
166. FEINMAN: It's my fault, Papa! My fault!
167. PAPA: No, Mendel. Your Papa is to blame. I wasn't strong enough. I should have listened when you said that I was too old for this.
168. FEINMAN: But I always go first! It should have been me! Franz! Oh, Franz!
169. PAPA: Mr. Eltern, please take care of dear Franz...
170. RINGMASTER: Where are you going, Mr. Feinman?
171. PAPA: I have killed my own son. My flesh and blood. (HE WALKS OFF) My own son!
172. RINGMASTER: Mr. Feinman!
173. FEINMAN: Papa? Papa! It was me! My fault! I-
174. RINGMASTER: Mendel!
175. FEINMAN: If I hadn't told him it was safe...I mean, it wasn't safe! Papa, I- Papa! Please come back! It was me! I-
176. RINGMASTER: Mendel, it wasn't your fault!
177. FEINMAN: Of course it was my fault! Don't you see? I- Oh, my god! Franz! Franz! My brother! My best friend! Franz, how could I have- (HE BREAKS INTO LOUD SOBBING)
178. RINGMASTER: Mendel! Get ahold of yourself, damn it! It was an accident! Accidents can happen to anyone!
179. FEINMAN: (COLLECTING HIMSELF) I- I'm sorry. I'll go see to papa.
180. RINGMASTER: Never mind that, Mendel. I'll see to him. Please, go into town and get an undertaker.
181. OLD FEINMAN: Papa hanged himself that night. We buried their bodies with the others...
182. SFX: SHOVELS
183. GUARD 2: Keep digging! It is still not deep enough!
184. ISAAC: Mendel, I can't go on...the fumes from those bodies!
185. FEINMAN: Keep digging, damn it. If they see you drop, you'll go in the hole with the rest of them.
186. ISAAC: The rest of them, he says! My uncle is one of them! I watched them shoot him right in front of me, Mendel! Right in front of me! And now, they have us dig their grave and when they're done with us, we'll probably go into it anyway, so why don't I just drop? Eh?
187. FEINMAN: Shut up! Don't think about it! We've all seen friends and family die here, but if you do what they tell you, you survive!
188. ISAAC: They call themselves men. What sort of men would-
189. GUARD 2: No talking! Dig!
190. SFX: SHOVELS FADE OUT
191. OLD FEINMAN: Isaac...the man digging with me...he died of sickness a few months later. Typhus, maybe. I've heard many of those who died did so from typhus.
192. DONALD: But you escaped illness?
193. OLD FEINMAN: No, we were always sick, all of us. Somehow, I survived the sickness, though. Some didn't have to die of sickness or in the ovens. Some didn't even survive the train...
194. SFX: TRAIN WHISTLE, TRAIN SLOWS AND STOPS, DOOR SLIDES OPEN.
195. GUARD 4: Out onto the platform! All of you!
196. SFX: MEN SHUFFLE OUT.
197. MAN 2: Look! Two of them are dead!
198. MAN 3: Wish you were one of them. Maybe soon, you will be.
199. MAN 2: What are you talking about? This looks just like any other work camp...
200. FEINMAN: Look at the men. Starving. This is no work camp.
201. SFX: TRAIN WHISTLE
202. DONALD: Tell us a little about the food in the camp.
203. OLD FEINMAN: We ate terrible food. Stews made of god knows what, watery soup made of half-rotten potatoes, maybe a piece of stale bread if we were lucky. You might have gotten sick, but no one complained. If you complained, and were lucky, they would simply ignore you. If you were unlucky, they would shoot you, or worse, take your food cup away and you would starve to death. But we endured it...all together. We were a family.
204. SFX: PLATES AND GLASSES CLINKING, LOTS OF CONVERSATION.
205. FEINMAN: At least we have something to eat.
206. RINGMASTER: Do you think I would forget food? Maybe the conditions are only so-so, but I always make sure my employees are well-fed.
207. FEINMAN: But Anna and little Mari...why don't they eat with us?
208. RINGMASTER: They are in the other camp, remember?
209. FEINMAN: Oh, yes. Yes they are.
210. ISAAC: They call this food? I call it slop. (HE COUGHS HARSHLY)
211. FEINMAN: You need to eat it, Isaac. You're looking worse every day.
212. ISAAC: How can you tell? We all look like we're circus freaks.
213. WOMAN: Mendel, have you seen my new act yet?
214. FEINMAN: New act?
215. WOMAN: Yes. I got tired of the plain old sword- swallowing, so I've taken to fire-eating too!
216. FEINMAN: Do you hear, Isaac? Fire-eating!
217. ISAAC: I don't care about your damn circus stories! I'm dying, I tell you!
218. FEINMAN: You won't die if you eat!
219. ISAAC: Every time I try to eat, it comes back up again.
220. FEINMAN: Then force it back down. If you give up, you die. Look at me! I've been here for three years now and I'm still alive.
221. ISAAC: How do you do it?
222. SFX: SOUNDS STOP
223. DONALD: How did you survive so long? You were saying you had a secret?
224. OLD FEINMAN: Yes, but I'll tell you that a bit later.
225. DONALD: All right. Tell me, did you ever think it would all end?
226. OLD FEINMAN: I could never tell. Sometimes, it seemed as if it would go on forever and ever and other times...
227. SFX: AIRPLANE FLYING OVER, OUTDOORS
228. MAN 1: Did you see that? American bomber!
229. FEINMAN: There are more of them flying over every day. Do you think....
230. MAN 1: It's spreading through the camp that the guards are scared. No one knows if they will even stay here much longer. There is talk of a camp in Poland...
231. RINGMASTER: Why is it, Mendel? Why have we lost the audience? We were once so loved...
232. FEINMAN: It's the trapeze act, Mr. Eltern. How can you have the circus without the trapeze?
233. RINGMASTER: You know better than anyone why we don't. Too much of a risk after...what happened.
234. FEINMAN: It's been ten years now. I ceased mourning a long time ago and you should too. We need a better act. It would get us out of winter quarters like these!
235. MAN 1: I've been told they're moving us somewhere else. This Polish camp, like I said. Maybe the beds will be nicer there, do you think?
236. FEINMAN: I don't think that there are nice beds in this world anymore.
237. SFX: OUTDOOR SOUNDS STOP
238. DONALD: He was talking about Auschwitz, wasn't he?
239. OLD FEINMAN: I believe so. Somehow, news of Auschwitz leaked to Dachau.
240. DONALD: And they moved you to Auschwitz?
241. OLD FEINMAN: No, by that point they couldn't even afford trains for their own men, let alone a collection of dying prisoners. They kept us there until the liberation, but there were always rumors.
242. DONALD: But the airplane gave you hope.
243. OLD FEINMAN: Mostly, it scared me. With American bombers came the bombs and they were just as likely to bomb the camp as they were the cities...
244. SFX: AIR-RAID SIREN, BOMBS EXPLODING IN THE DISTANCE, NERVOUS CHATTER.
245. MAN 2: That last one was close.
246. MAN 3: What does it matter? We die by bomb, we die by gun, we die by sickness, or we die by oven...is there a difference?
247. SFX: THE CHATTER BECOMES MORE PANICKED
248. MAN 1: (QUIETLY) They're scared, Mendel. Tell them a story to calm them...
249. FEINMAN: A story? Hmm...(RAISING HIS VOICE OVER THE CROWD) Did I ever tell all of you the time that the circus played before the King of Sweden?
250. SFX: BOMBING AND MEN SLOWLY FADE
251. MARI: Tell me the story, papa! Tell me the story!
252. FEINMAN: There we were, in Stockholm at the king's palace.
253. MARI: Was it beautiful?
254. FEINMAN: More beautiful than all the jewels of India.
255. MAN 2: And you met the king?
256. FEINMAN: I met the king.
257. MAN 2: What was he like?
258. FEINMAN: Kind, but stern...and he looked very nimble. Franz thought that he would make a terrific tight-rope walker. Wouldn't that be a sight? A king on a tight-rope?
259. MARI: (LAUGHING) And the queen would tame the lions!
260. FEINMAN: Yes...the king and queen of circuses.
261. MARI: Could I be the princess?
262. FEINMAN: Could you be the princess? Why, my dear turtledove! You are the princess! The princess of the circus!
263. MARI: The princess of the circus...
264. SFX: TRAIN AT STATION
265. MARI: (OFF-MIKE) Papa! Papa, help us!
266. FEINMAN: Mari! Anna!
267. GUARD 1: Quiet, Jew! Get on the train!
268. FEINMAN: (QUIETLY AND HELPLESSLY) Little princess...
269. SFX: SOUNDS FADE
270. OLD FEINMAN: It was always good to keep their spirits up with a story. That was how we saw freedom even before we were truly free.
271. DONALD: And when you were truly free...I mean after the liberation...there were only a few of you left and most of them died soon afterwards.
272. OLD FEINMAN: Yes, from hunger, from sickness and from sadness.
273. DONALD: Sadness?
274. OLD FEINMAN: You are taken out of the camp into what you think will be a better world, but what do you find? More death. All the places you knew and loved are gone, bombed out of existence. All of your friends and your family are dead, or they have emigrated, or they claim they don't know you because they think you suspect them of showing the Nazis where you were hiding. Suddenly, there were no more princesses, no more circuses, no more places to hide...
275. DONALD: And where were you hiding- before, I mean?
276. OLD FEINMAN: I didn't need to hide. I was in Zirkus des Eltern and Mr. Eltern made sure to forge all of our papers.
277. DONALD: But you were taken to Dachau anyway.
278. OLD FEINMAN: Yes. Certain people in the circus didn't sympathize with Mr. Eltern's views.
279. SFX: CONVERSATION, INDOORS
280. STRONG MAN: Get out of my way, Jew!
281. FEINMAN: I didn't-
282. STRONG MAN: Quiet. The less of your kind in this circus, the better. Eltern should get rid of the lot of you.
283. RINGMASTER: Did I hear my name?
284. STRONG MAN: You did indeed. I'm sick of these filthy pigs destroying our circus and stealing our pay.
285. RINGMASTER: Are you saying that you're not getting enough money?
286. STRONG MAN: I'm saying that until you get them out of here, I'm not going to perform.
287. RINGMASTER: Good! We don't need you or your kind anyway! Take your things and go!
288. STRONG MAN: This is not the last you'll hear of me, Eltern.
289. OLD FEINMAN: The strong man, for that's who he was, was true to his words. It was not the last, nor even close to it. He burned down the big top, of course...and worse...
290. RINGMASTER: I'm sorry about this, Mendel, but your trailer is so big and the Kusmits have lost theirs and-
291. FEINMAN: It's all right, Mr. Eltern. I understand. If you'll excuse me, I need to work on the boxing routine.
292. RINGMASTER: Of course, Mendel.
293. SFX: MENDEL STARTS TO WALK OFF
294. FEINMAN: Mr. Eltern? There's a man outside the tent to see you...I think we both know him.
295. SFX: GUN SHOT
296. STRONG MAN: That's what happens to filthy Jews who don't know how to keep their mouths shut! The rest of you, get back to work! I want to see this floor spotless!
297. SFX: SCRUBBING AND GROANS
298. STRONG MAN: And not another sound or the rest of you end up just like him!
299. SFX: SOUNDS STOP
300. OLD FEINMAN: It was the Strong Man again of course, and all because Mr. Eltern fired him. He was the one who turned me in. The others? I don't know. They slowly disappeared one by one before me. I lasted until 1940 with the circus. Longer than the big top and longer than Mr. Eltern. The strong man had hunted him down and shot him in cold blood the year before.
301. SFX: GUN SHOT
302. DONALD: I'm a little confused about something you said a moment ago. The guard shot a man because you recognized him?
303. OLD FEINMAN: It was the Strong Man once again, that guard. He was new to the camp and I told the man scrubbing next to me that this guard was the man who turned me in.
304. DONALD: And he actually spoke up to the Strong Man?
305. OLD FEINMAN: He had a reason. He was dying and he knew it...he wanted the death to be quick, not slow, so he decided to get some revenge before he died with someone who had hurt his friend.
306. DONALD: So people did stick up for one another?
307. OLD FEINMAN: No, that was a unique occurrence. Usually, it was every man for himself.
308. SFX: BEDS CREAKING, CRICKETS. SOUNDS OF SOMEONE SEARCHING.
309. FEINMAN: Who's there?
310. YOUNG MAN: I didn't take it! I just wanted to look at it!
311. FEINMAN: Trying to steal my food cup, are you?
312. YOUNG MAN: No! I-
313. FEINMAN: I ought to tell the guards.
314. YOUNG MAN: Please! You can't tell the guards! I was only looking at it! They...they took mine away! (PAUSE) All I did was ask for some bread without mould!
315. FEINMAN: You're new here, aren't you?
316. YOUNG MAN: Yes. I arrived yesterday...on the train. I don't-
317. FEINMAN: I pity you, friend. I truly pity you. (SIGHS) All right, get out of here. Don't ever try it again.
318. SFX: GUARD STOMPS UP
319. GUARD 4: What is this, a secret meeting?
320. FEINMAN: No, sir. This man was trying to steal my cup.
321. YOUNG MAN: No! I-
322. GUARD 4: A thief, eh? You know what we do with thieves?
323. YOUNG MAN: I'm not a thief! He- He forced me to do it!
324. FEINMAN: He's a liar and a thief.
325. WOMAN: What do you mean, thief? My husband has never stolen in his life!
326. FEINMAN: He tried to steal from me!
327. WOMAN: Now what would Kurt want with your clown outfit?
328. FEINMAN: You know very well how much he could get for those silver buttons.
329. WOMAN: And I'm telling you he was just looking!
330. STRONG MAN: Do you think I would touch any of your filthy Jewish silver?
331. SFX: GUNSHOT
332. GUARD 4: That's what we do with thieves. You! Get back to sleep!
333. SFX: SOUNDS STOP
334. DONALD: And you didn't care that the guard shot the man right in front of you?
335. OLD FEINMAN: When you see it happen almost every day for years, you get used to it. You say to yourself, "he would have died anyway." You're conditioned to think that way, you see.
336. DONALD: And you didn't feel guilty about turning him in?
337. OLD FEINMAN: When it comes down to your life or theirs in the camp, you choose yours. We couldn't stick together and fight them! They had the guns!
338. DONALD: But I know there was resistance in the camps.
339. OLD FEINMAN: Sure, we had resistance. But you'll notice that most of the people resisting didn't survive while those of us who did what we were told lived on.
340. DONALD: So it was easy to survive in the camp if you followed their orders?
341. OLD FEINMAN: It's always easier if you follow orders. When Papa told me to do the trick that eventually killed Franz, I followed his orders. Not every time, of course, but always when I knew it would be better. There were times, of course, when I followed the orders of no one...
342. SFX: DISTANT GUNFIRE AND CHEERING, BIRDS CHIRPING
343. U.S. SOLDIER: Hey! You...speak...English?
344. FEINMAN: Yes.
345. U.S. SOLDIER: Tell these men that they're free now. The war is over!
346. FEINMAN: (PAUSE) Where- Where is my wife?
347. U.S. SOLDIER: Hell, I don't know. All I know is I have orders to get all of you out of here.
348. FEINMAN: My wife. Where is she?
349. U.S. SOLDIER: I told you I don't know, buddy! Come on, get these men to follow me.
350. FEINMAN: I want my wife.
351. U.S. SOLDIER: Listen, you crazy ass! You're free! You seen the women on the other side of this camp? They're good as dead. Your wife wouldn't even recognize-
352. SFX: PUNCH; CROWD CHEERS AND LAUGHS
353. RINGMASTER: Schlemeel and Schlemazel the fighting clowns, ladies and gentlemen! See the most hilarious boxing match in history!
354. SFX: BOXING RING BELL
355. U.S. SOLDIER: Hey, buddy! What the-
356. SFX: ANOTHER PUNCH
357. FEINMAN: They hide my wife...my daughter from me for five long, miserable years...and now you say I cannot see them? You...you...(HE STARTS TO CRY)
358. U.S. SOLDIER: Easy, buddy! Calm down! Man, they really did a number on you, didn't they? Really did a number...
359. SFX: SOUNDS STOP
360. DONALD: You punched the soldier?
361. OLD FEINMAN: He was...I thought he was...hiding her from me. He told me I was free, you see. What was free? I didn't know. After five years, you don't remember free.
362. DONALD: But why did you think he was hiding your wife?
363. OLD FEINMAN: You don't know what to think when someone tells you that. He tells you you're free and the first thing you think is, "I can finally see my wife." Then he says he doesn't know where your wife is...do you believe him? Of course not. You can't believe anything else he says, so why believe that?
364. DONALD: He forgave you, of course.
365. OLD FEINMAN: Of course. I didn't even hurt him with my punches. My years in the camp made me far too weak to punch anyone, let alone an athletic soldier. He and I became friends, incidentally. It turns out he was in the circus too...Ringling Brothers...as a clown. Isn't it strange? You would expect what? John Wayne? No, a clown, a man who shared more with me than almost any man in Germany, came to my rescue.
366. DONALD: That's truly amazing.
367. OLD FEINMAN: Amazing? Yes...amazing...that's what the circus is, you know...amazing...
368. MUSIC: CALLIOPE, SLOWLY BUILDING IN VOLUME AND INTENSITY
369. PAPA: Do it now, Mendel! Go!
370. FEINMAN: But-
371. PAPA: I said go! The audience is waiting!
372. FEINMAN: I it isn't safe, Papa. Your age-
373. PAPA: Damn my age! We're not in a safe business, Mendel! Now stop complaining and go!
374. GUARD 3: Do as you're told!
375. PAPA: Come on, Mendel. It's easy. You've seen me do it a thousand times!
376. FEINMAN: But...
377. GUARD 3: Are you arguing with me, Jew?
378. FEINMAN: No, sir!
379. GUARD 3: Go on then! Why are you waiting?
380. FEINMAN: I- I'll get Franz.
381. FRANZ: I'm scared, Mendel! It's not safe!
382. MENDEL: Of course it's safe, Franz! You've seen me do it a thousand times!
383. RINGMASTER: Mendel! Load the animals onto the train! We have to hurry!
384. FEINMAN: But-
385. GUARD 1: On the train!
386. RINGMASTER: It's not the greatest camp, I know, but...
387. FEINMAN: It's horrible, Mr. Eltern!
388. PAPA: Franz? What are you doing? This is Mendel's-
389. FRANZ: Wish me luck!
390. SFX: GUNSHOT
391. ISAAC: Always having us work, work, work. No rest! Never any rest! I'm dying! I need to rest!
392. FEINMAN: Why won't you eat?
393. RINGMASTER: You have to eat to keep up your strength!
394. FEINMAN: Exactly.
395. STRONG MAN: He's a Jew. Working in the circus. The ringmaster forged his papers and took him under his wing, but now the old fool is dead. (PAUSE) Keep scrubbing those floors!
396. WOMAN: Have you seen my new act?
397. FEINMAN: No.
398. WOMAN: It'll be a knockout.
399. SFX: RIFLE BUTT AGAINST SKULL
400. YOUNG MAN: I wasn't stealing!
401. FEINMAN: But you broke the rules.
402. GUARD 3: And we all know what happens when you break the rules...
403. SFX: GUNSHOT.
404. MUSIC: CALLIOPE GRINDS TO A HALT
405. DONALD: Mr. Feinman? Are you all right Mr. Feinman?
406. OLD FEINMAN: All right. Yes...I'm sorry...I get a bit caught up sometimes...in the memories...I've told you something I have never told anyone. Were it not for me, Franz would still be alive.
407. DONALD: You can't blame yourself for that!
408. OLD FEINMAN: Can't I? Was it Mr. Eltern who convinced Franz of the safety because he wanted the show to go on? Papa because he wasn't convinced of his age? What about Kurt, the strong man? Did he, out of bitterness for being accused a theif, through his hatred of the Jews who worked in the circus, kill my brother? No, it was me, a brother too scared to do his duty. You want to know something? I have always been a coward. This was why I always followed orders. The one day I broke out, didn't do what I was told, it caused the death of the two people closest to me.
409. DONALD: Mr. Feinman, I would like to talk with you more about this, but I'm afraid we're nearly out of time. I would like to ask you one more question. (PAUSE) Mr. Feinman, what was your secret? How did you survive the camp? Surely, you can't claim it was due to cowardice. A coward would never have lasted-
410. OLD FEINMAN: Cowardice? No, that did not help me survive. Isaac, my friend in the camp, he was also a coward and he let it get to him which is how he finally lost to the illness. The camp? It was...horrible. No, not horrible. That is too simple a word to describe it. If you wanted a better description, I couldn't give you one. It is not something one could put into words. You see, something else happened when I realized I was to forever remain a coward. I learned that no matter what happened, no matter how terrible it became, I always had one thing. The Circus. It always was and always will be a part of me. The only times I ever felt truly in control, truly stable, was when I heard the crowd and could feel the smiles, the awe, on each and every one of their faces. Even now, when I hear the music...the calliope, I can still feel the crowds, see their faces, hear their cheering. It was an amazing feeling there, you know? Then, one day, they took it away from me. It was gone. Suddenly, I was in the camp unable to find my circus, my greasepaint, my ringmaster. Unable to kiss my wife or hold my daughter. All of it was lost. But I kept some of it with me. You are wondering how I survived? I kept the circus with me the entire time. Five years I was in Dachau and I would not have lived through it if I hadn't heard the roar of the ringmaster...
411. MUSIC: CALLIOPE
412. RINGMASTER: Laaaaadies and Geeeeeentlemen! Dachau Camp is proud to present: The amazing Mendel Feinman!
413. SFX: CROWD CHEERS
414. RINGMASTER: And now, Mendel will perform his greatest feat- before your very eyes, he will overcome sickness! Gasp as he evades the ovens! Cheer as he gets beaten and gets back up to work! Gasp in awe as they starve him, yet he comes through time and again!
415. SFX: LOUDER CHEERS, THEN FADING.
416. OLD FEINMAN: It has been many years now...But I still hear the ringmaster in my dreams and memories. The circus has always stayed there with me, helped me through the difficult points. When I am scared, Franz tells me that it's safe. When I am sick, Mr. Eltern tells me I must eat. Now, I am one-hundred- and-three and my time is long-since due, but I hear the music...the calliope. It tells me that there is still some time. When the calliope fades, my time will have come. It faded for my wife, my daughter, my brother, my father, all of them. That is when you know it is your time. (HE TAKES A DEEP BREATH) I am so very tired. May we end now?
417. DONALD: Of course. Thank you very much, Mr. Feinman...for everything. This is Donald Robertson, ABN Radio. Good night.
418. SFX: CLICK
419. DONALD: Did you get everything?
420. ENGINEER: Yeah, I think so. It came through real clear anyway...
421. DONALD: Great. Thank you for your time, Mr. Feinman. (PAUSE) Mr. Feinman? Are you all right? Mr. Feinman? Mr. Feinman?
422. SFX: FADING UP OF CALLIOPE AS DONALD SPEAKS, CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS, THEN IT ALL SLOWLY FADES INTO NOTHING.
423. ROLL CREDITS
424. END