A Night Divided

Viktor remains in the apartment with Mama and Gerta as the other officers search nearby apartments. Mama offers Viktor some tea and tries to appeal to Viktor’s emotions, reminding him of how close he and Fritz used to be, but it’s no use: Viktor’s allegiances are clearly to the state now. Finally, left with no other option, she takes the keys to the Trabant that Oma gave to her and places them on the table, where Viktor can clearly see them. Gerta knows what Mama is doing: “Bribery was a form of currency in the GDR,” she inwardly reflects, and even the most beat-up automobiles are highly valuable and hard to come by. Viktor notices the keys. He pauses a moment and then announces that he’s going to investigate something in one of the apartment’s other rooms—implicitly giving Mama and Gerta a chance to escape. 

Mama and Gerta immediately leave the apartment. But their escape is more difficult now, since it’s past curfew and nobody is supposed to be on the streets. But Gerta, in her recent efforts to avoid Frau Eberhart, has found the most discreet ways to navigate the streets, and she urges Mama to follow her lead. Finally, after haphazardly jumping over the irrigation ditch that surrounds the garden patch by the Welcome Building, Gerta and Mama make their way inside the building and down to the basement, where Fritz is waiting for them. When he asks what took them so long, Mama admits that they “had some trouble.” 

Fritz leads Gerta and Mama into the tunnel and explains that Officer Müller, Frau Müller, and their baby are already there. Papa wants to give the earth more time to settle to ensure the tunnels won’t collapse, but Mama insists that they have to connect the tunnels immediately: it won’t be long before the Grenzers figure out that Mama and Gerta are up to something. Officer Müller interjects to say that he “bought [them] some time,” having called in to his command center and told them that he already investigated the area around the Welcome Building. Still, they have to hurry. With that, everyone sets to work digging as fast as possible, widening the opening between the two tunnels.  

But before the opening between the tunnels is large enough for anyone to travel through it, Gerta hears voices upstairs. She cries out that they have to move—now. Gerta, for her part, would rather die in the collapsed tunnel than be shot or sent to the Stasi prison. Müller goes up to try to hold off whoever is upstairs. But just then, Gerta recognizes the voice—it’s Anna, who has come with her parents. At long last, she tells Gerta, she has “figure[d] out why Peter wanted to leave.” Gerta is overjoyed that she will have her friend with her in the west after all, but there’s no time to celebrate just yet: there are flashlight beams outside, meaning the Grenzers are nearby.