And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Listen now to Breakthrough, starring Adelaide Klein and Philip Stirling,
and written especially for suspense by William N. Robeson.
Mother, hurry up, we don't have all day.
Oh, Willy, I don't know if I should leave.
Mother, you have to.
Oh, it is not easy.
Of course it isn't.
Ah, would you know, Willy, you are young, you have your whole life ahead of you.
But my life has been lived here, in this flat.
Your father brought me here as a bride.
There in that bedroom I had my children.
And here I brought them up to be men.
Dead men.
Your brothers died for their country.
For country.
For which fatherland did they spill their blood?
Oh, don't try to confuse me with politics, my son.
Your brothers died, yes, but they died honorably.
Not as it may be.
Honorably.
And now you are all I have left, my son, you and the memories which live with me in these rooms.
You no longer have me, mother, unless you come with me now.
Oh, Willy, please.
You must make your decision.
I've already made mine.
Martha is over there waiting for me, and the baby, they're safe.
They come first, don't they, Willy?
Of course they do.
They should.
Go to them.
That's where you belong, with them.
Now, mother.
You go on.
Be with them.
I will stay here with the memories of men who cared for the old day.
Now, mother, listen to me.
Just be quiet and listen.
I came back for you, didn't I?
I came back last night to get you, didn't I?
Yes, you did.
And you begged me to let you spend one last night here with your memories, and I did, didn't I?
Yes, Willy.
All right.
Now understand me, mother.
I'm leaving now.
I cannot risk another minute.
The way things are, they may close the border any time.
I cannot take any more chances.
Mother, I want you to come with me.
Martha wants you to.
Your little granddaughter, she wants you.
She needs you.
We all do.
Now will you come?
All right, Willy.
Good.
I just have to get a few things.
No, mother, nothing.
You'll take nothing.
You'll come the way you are.
But Willy, they are...
I...
Aren't you even going to lock the door?
What difference does it make?
The neighborhood, it has changed.
So you cannot trust your neighbors anymore.
What do you care?
You will never see them again.
Ah, good morning, Housemaker.
Oh, their wives, good morning.
Don't start to talk.
Keep going.
Well, where are we off to so early this bright Sunday morning?
To church?
We're going to church.
At night.
A pious and beautiful son off to early church with his mother.
Still working on the other side of the city, Willy.
You know it's forbidden.
Yes, I know.
I wonder if you did.
If you'll pardon us, hereby.
Get in, mother.
Yes, indeed.
Mustn't keep the pastor waiting, must we?
Or vice versa, eh?
What... what does he mean by that?
Who knows?
Oh, he is a godless man.
He's one of them.
Don't look back, mother.
Remember what happened to Lot's wife.
Oh, Willy.
I will tell you when you can look back.
When, Willy?
When we get through the Brandenburg Gate.
Then you can look back.
And you can thumb your nose at them if you want to.
And you are sure I will not turn into a pillar of thorns?
I guarantee it.
Where are we now, Willy?
Friedrichstraße.
Oh, it has been such a long time since I have been downtown.
Oh, they haven't rebuilt it much.
I don't think they ever will.
Wait. Wait until you see the other side.
Oh, just wait.
It's a whole new city.
A shiny new city.
The Unterleben Linden.
It was wide open for what so it seemed when I was a girl.
Oh, is the Brandenburg Gate up ahead?
It probably looks the same, eh?
Not quite.
There was no barbed wire or soldiers.
Barbed wire?
And a barricade?
We're too late.
Oh, the soldier.
It's pointy as gun, Willy.
He's motioning you to stop.
I...I...what is this?
The gate is closed.
Closed?
As you can see.
Why?
Orders.
But I've got to get through.
My wife and baby are over there.
I cannot help you.
Look, I took them over two days ago.
Then I came back from my mother here.
That's just the trouble.
People like you, hundreds of you, thousands, going over to the west and not coming back.
Not any longer.
Nobody goes, nobody comes.
The wife and kids stay there.
You stay here.
Would you care to bet on that?
This gun says you stay.
You...you would shoot a countryman?
If he doesn't obey orders.
What kind of a German are you?
A citizen of the Dürges Demokratische Republik.
A stooge.
A communist stooge.
Willy, be careful.
Take him out of here, lady, before I shoot him.
I'm warning you.
You better turn around and go back.
Come, Willy.
Don't you understand what this means, mother?
They're closing the sector.
They're splitting the city in two.
We are trapped here.
Or I'll never get back to Martha and the baby.
If only you had come with me last night.
I'm sorry, Willy.
And you are right.
Just because I am a silly, sentimental old fool.
Well, let me try.
Here, police.
What are you going to do?
I am going to talk to this policeman.
Peter?
We must get across to West Berlin.
You will please let us by.
I'm afraid that's impossible.
My son here has already taken his wife and little baby across.
They are waiting for him at Marie and Ferner.
He only came back to fetch me.
You shouldn't tell me these things.
Why not?
You are implicating your son.
I could arrest him for aiding the escape of our people.
Your people?
You don't own us.
Your Communist Party doesn't own us.
We are free people.
I could also shoot him for an enemy of the state,
and I might if you don't get him out of here.
What we want to get out?
We want to cross over.
Oh, we must.
Here, I will give you money.
It is not much, but I...
Imelte, you needy girl, don't fight to bribe me.
This is a crime for which I can arrest you.
But you wouldn't arrest...
Ferner, attention!
Yes, what is it?
What is it, a
That old man, he refuses to help.
You there, halt!
Halt, I say!
Or I'll fire!
I'll use the fan!
You shot him.
Freedom, he shouted.
Everything for freedom.
And you shot him.
I have my orders.
Yeah, so I see.
Come, Deνη, let us do as this man says.
Turn the car around, and let us go home.
Mubbe...
opoly?
Before he changes his mind.
Ainz?
Jawohl, Werner.
Lend me your motorcycle.
Take it.
You stand by here.
Where are you going?
going after that car I think we should know more about these people
Oh, back so soon?
Oh, have I?
The pastor didn't have much to say this morning.
No, no it was a short service.
Ah, all the better. It gives you more time to enjoy the fine weather.
Take a drive over to West Berlin maybe.
Why do you say that?
Oh, no reason, no reason.
But there are some lovely places to drive in West Berlin.
The Wannsee, the Carlendorf.
Really, really please. Help me up to the apartment, yes?
What's the matter with her?
She's upset.
Something the pastor said?
No, something your communist did.
You should be more careful, my boy.
Come mother.
I'm sorry Billy, very sorry.
No, no mother.
I think I know. I did not realize how bad it was.
I did not think they would really close us off.
It's all right mother, we have to try to find another way.
How Billy? They will shoot you.
They will shoot you down like they did that poor man.
And all he wanted was freedom.
The door is unlocked?
Yes, yes, we left it that way.
Don't you remember? We were never coming back.
Oh, Billy, please, please forgive me.
All right mother, I forgive you.
I don't.
Carl, what are you doing here?
Where were you last night?
Billy, who is he?
Excuse me mother. There's a Carl Dietrich. My mother, Carl.
Rauschwitz?
I am glad to meet you Carl.
Carl is a friend of mine. We worked together at the office.
I promised to pick him up last night and drive him over to West Berlin.
Yeah, what happened to you?
Well, I...
Carl, I will tell you what happened.
I would not leave and he would not go without me.
It was my fault and I am sorry.
There's no use crying about it now.
I thought you would go on across the line when I didn't show up.
I tried but it was too late.
But midnight they were already stringing by at the Brandenburg Gate.
I tried by now, Strausser. They were starting to build a wall.
Wall?
Big concrete slabs.
And new begot.
Everywhere along the line of ovopos with Stengun.
I know, I know we saw them use one.
How about the Tepelhof canal?
At three o'clock this morning there were thick as frogs along the canal.
Or they mean business this time, Billy.
They warned us. You can't say they didn't warn us and we were fools enough to let ourselves get caught.
We're not caught yet, but I nearly was.
Where?
I realized I couldn't get across the line. I went back home.
And guess what?
Ovopos? What else?
That's right, waiting for me outside the building.
I got away as fast as I could and I came here.
The only place I could go.
The door was open.
It's all right.
Did anyone see you come in?
There was a fat man sitting on the stoop next door.
Oh, he would be.
Really?
Yes, mother.
Come to the window.
What is it, mother?
Look down there.
That Polifi. He just rode off on a motorcycle.
That's the same one who stopped us at the gate.
He's asking here why something.
And why is it pointing up here?
Stand back from the window. He will see us.
Who is that fat one? The neighborhood informer?
That's about it.
The Polifi, he's coming up here.
Billy, they must do something.
What can we do? He's got a gun.
I've got a knife.
No. No, Carl.
Yes, Carl. Use it.
Kill him as he kills that poor man out in the square.
Mother, mother.
Yes, I mean it, really.
Oh, you are shocked to hear such words from your mother?
I am shocked to say them.
They come strange and bitter on my tongue, but they must be said.
I did not know before.
But I know now, hearing you talk, seeing them kill,
the guilt belongs to all of us.
For it is the times we live in that make us murderers.
Yes, Carl. Use the knife.
I'll get down the door.
You two will be out of fight.
Just a minute, I am coming.
Yes?
You are the Frau Schmidt?
Yes.
You recognize me?
Why, I do not think so.
My acquaintance among the Polifi is very limited.
I stopped your car on the Unter den Linden a half an hour ago.
Oh, yes. And you shot a man.
I was only doing my duty.
Oh, I am sure of that.
What do you want?
What do you want here?
I want to talk to you and your son. Where is he?
In the back room.
What do you want from us?
Your identity cards. I want to see them.
Oh, come in, please.
For my height.
For freedom.
He is dead.
Good.
Mother.
No, really.
We were right to kill him.
Usually the Germans are wrong.
We listen to the wrong people.
And like dumb animals, we do what they tell us to do.
And when we kill, we kill the wrong people for the wrong reasons.
But this time, we were right.
Mother.
Mother, I...
I don't know you.
You're like that stranger to me.
Am I really?
Am I my son?
Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I am.
Oh, I have been asleep for such a very long time.
A long time.
But once I was awake,
there was a time when I stood up against the world and said what I thought.
I guess maybe that is why your gentle father fell in love with me.
Ah, but I soon learned that in Germany you could not have an opinion
and also have your freedom.
So for the sake of my husband and my children, I gave up having opinions.
I did not know that I was giving up freedom, too.
They have an opinion for you.
They feed them to you like pretty little sleeping pills.
They're pure, old-rich.
What difference does it make?
They keep you half asleep with their manufactured opinions.
But this morning I woke up when I saw that man die for freedom.
Oh, that is shocking, my son.
No, no, Mother, but...
Really, give me a hand here.
What are you doing?
I'm trying to relieve this cough, sir, this is his uniform.
You have a plan.
I fear someone should.
Yes, I have a plan.
What is it?
A Volkspolizei came up to this flat.
A Volkspolizei will leave it if he can get into this uniform.
He will have under a Sprouche-Mittenaus-Tan.
Good, ganz gut.
You will get into the car and drive off escorted by the same Volkspolizei
and apparently under his gun.
But why go through the trouble of this masquerade?
Why don't the three of us just go down the stairs and drive off?
Forget your neighbors, the informers.
Oh, yes, then here, why?
A uniformed escort just might be able to get you across the line to West Berlin.
Where?
I think we'll try the Friedrichstrasse checkpoint this time.
There. Remarkably good fit, don't you think?
Like it was made for you.
A Schmitt?
I am ready, Carl.
Remember, you are my prisoner.
Just do as I tell you and pray your neighbor doesn't recognize me.
This time, Billy, lock it.
Why, Mother?
We do not want our guests to be found too soon.
That is right.
Well, well, well, what is this?
What is the problem, Frau Schmidt?
You should know. You've told him where we live.
He asked. I had to. It was my duty.
Get in the car. Ladies, distance the back. You drive.
Is there anything I can do?
You have gone enough already, have I? Quite enough.
I was not talking to you, Frau Schmidt.
What else can I do to serve you, Herr Polizei?
Keep your eye on my motorbike. Stand guard until I come back for it.
Do not leave for a minute.
Jawohl, Herr Polizei.
All right, let's get out of here.
Oh, just a minute, Herr Polizei.
Ja, what is it?
There was another one.
Another one?
Ja. Before Frau Schmidt and her son came back,
a young fellow asked for them and then went up to their apartment.
Yes, where is she?
I did not see anyone else.
But he has got to be there. I saw him go up. I did not see him come down.
Well, I did not see him.
Come on, Billy, let's get out of here.
Hey, hey, wait a minute. He must be...
Wait a minute.
You are not the Polizei. You are that same fellow.
But if you are not the Polizei, where is the Polizei?
Is he here?
What have you done with him?
Three of the Schauser's checkpoints coming up.
Herr Gott, look at the wall they had built already.
But there is still an opening, a sort of gateway with barbed wire stuffed into it.
What do we do now, Carl?
Keep going until they stop us.
Then I don't know. I'll play it by ear. Try to bluff us through.
Are you with me?
Yes, I...
To the end.
Don't say it that way, Mother. It sounds so final.
It is, my son.
Slow down, Billy. There is the Vopo flagging us.
Halt! What's the matter with you? Can't you read?
Don't you see the signs? Read this clue.
I'm sorry, officer. I was just doing what this officer here told me to do.
Oh, I didn't see you.
I have orders to escort these people across the line and deliver them in West Berlin.
Let me see the orders.
They are verbal orders. You see, this is a top secret mission.
These are very important people.
Who issued these orders?
The Oberleutnant.
What casern are you?
Johannesstrasse.
Then you should recognize your comrades.
These are the men of Johannesstrasse on duty here.
Why, so they are.
And there's the Oberleutnant.
You won't mind if he repeats these verbal orders to me, will you?
Oberleutnant, come into here, please.
All right, Billy, let's get out of here.
Don't you think they'll crash the gate?
All right, Billy, don't go back. Go ahead.
But there's wires there.
It's redwood. There's no point in that now, Billy.
They're shooting at us.
No, Father.
It's going, Billy. Let it slide on.
Holy Toledo, what a crash.
The car is getting fired.
Come on, you guys, on the double.
Let's get them out of there.
Take it easy, man.
It's going to be all right.
Mother.
My mother.
She, uh, she didn't make it.
And, and the car?
You mean the other guy?
He didn't make it either.
But you made it. You're a free man now.
You're a free man.
A free man.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Breakthrough, starring Adelaide Klein and Philip Stirling,
and written especially for suspense by William N. Robeson.
In a moment, a word about next week's story of suspense.
Fact or fiction?
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is run by a civilian agency.
It's a fact.
NATO's top policymaking body is the North Atlantic Council,
made up of foreign, defense, and finance ministers, plus a permanent representative with a rank of ambassador.
NATO's main goal is the preservation of peace.
Suspense is produced and directed by Bruno Zorotto Jr., music supervision by Ethel Huber.
Featured in tonight's story, where Bob Dryden as Vice, Danny Ako as First Vopal, Alan Manson as Carl,
Louis Van Roeten as Third Vopal, Guy Rett as Second Vopal, Doug Parkhurst as the GI, and Sam Raskin as the escapee.
Listen again next week when we return with Feathers, written by Jonathan Bundy,
another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
Suspense has come to you from the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Suspense.