- Major Grau: One of them is a... a murderer.
- Inspector Morand: Only one? But murder is the occupation of Generals.
- Major Grau: Then let us say what is admirable on the large scale is monstrous on the small. Since we must give medals to mass murderers, why not give justice to the small... entrepreneurs.
- General von Seidlitz-Gabler: [to Morand] I've always felt that even in war, gentlemen, though they may be on opposing sides, still have much in common. It was everyone's misfortune that Hitler was not a gentleman.
- Liesowski: But what happens if the murderer really is a general?
- Major Grau: What happens? Well, justice is blind, my dear Inspector. Justice cannot see the red stripe or the gold braid, but justice can sometimes hear the cry of a murdered woman.
- Inspector Morand: Welcome, Colonel Grau, to the spider's web.
- Major Grau: How did you know it was me?
- Inspector Morand: What other German Colonel would enter unannounced?
- Major Grau: Any SS Colonel would.
- Liesowski: Her name was Kupiecka. Maria Kupiecka.
- Captain Engel: Kupiecka? Oh, yes, she was a prostitute. And a good friend to us!
- Liesowski: She was also a German agent.
- Major Grau: Killed by a Polish patriot?
- Liesowski: Providing the Polish patriot was also a sexual degenerate.
- Major Grau: Patriotism has been known to have its vicious side.
- General Kahlenberge: You're to stay with him every minute of the day. Twenty-four hour call, do you understand?
- Corporal Hartmann: Yes, sir.
- General Kahlenberge: He may want to go out at night. Do you know anything which might interest General Tanz? Nightclubs or girls, that sort of thing.
- Corporal Hartmann: A few, sir, but, uh... I don't really know what the general's taste is, sir.
- General Kahlenberge: Let us hope that whatever it is, it is not you, Corporal.
- [Hartmann looks at him in shock]
- General Kahlenberge: However, if it should be, remember that you're serving the fatherland.
- Corporal Hartmann: ...I'll try to remember, sir.
- Major Grau: Preliminary investigation has established that each of you was... well... unaccounted for last night.
- General Tanz: To whom should we be accountable, Major?
- General Kahlenberge: General Tanz, forgive me, but, uh, just as a matter of curiosity - what do you feel is the exact purpose of this exercise?
- General Tanz: You've read the memorandum.
- General Kahlenberge: Oh yes. Yes, I have indeed...
- General Tanz: And what does the memorandum say?
- General Kahlenberge: That Phase One is intended to intimidate the population, to search houses, to find and arrest resistance.
- General Tanz: Then that is the exact purpose of the exercise.
- General von Seidlitz-Gabler: An excellent plan, by the way - much like my own when I first came here, only I was never given the ultimate authority to implement it.
- General Kahlenberge: But, um... am I to understand that if there is resistance during Phase One, you would then go to Phase Two, and even Phase Three, which would mean the destruction of the entire city?
- General Tanz: You are to understand exactly that.
- General Kahlenberge: Well, uh... isn't that somewhat... excessive?
- General Tanz: Excessive.
- [goes to map]
- General Tanz: You will be aware that we are thirty miles from Moscow. We are moving ahead on a 5,000 mile front. Every available soldier is needed if we are to conquer Russia. Yet here in Warsaw, three divisions are rotting, because of a few thousand criminal Poles and Jews hiding in slums. It is... excessive to permit this state of affairs.
- Colonel Mannheim: Above all, Major Grau - not too much zeal.
- Major Grau: I have a zealous nature, sir. I can't help it.
- General Tanz: [complaining about his orderly] Filthy pig. Last week he offered me an unwashed glass, now he enters my sight looking as though he just exhumed his grandmother with his bare hands! Absolute cleanliness, that's what I demand from the people around me, do I make myself clear?
- General Tanz: You've been a satisfactory orderly, and companion.
- Corporal Hartmann: Thank you, sir.
- General Tanz: Except for the bath water this morning.
- Corporal Hartmann: I'm sorry, sir.
- [at the museum, General Tanz can be seen viewing a portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. As he looks at it, he begins to have a seemingly manic reaction to it. While watching, Hartmann becomes concerned. After a few seconds, he suddenly grabs Tanz by the arm. Suddenly, Tanz comes to his senses before glaring intensely at Hartmann]
- General Tanz: [sharply] How dare you touch me!
- Corporal Hartmann: [nervously] Excuse me, sir, but... but...
- General Tanz: *Never* do that again!
- [General Tanz can be seen sitting with Corporal Hartmann at an outdoor café in Paris. As they each have a drink, they can be seen talking]
- General Tanz: Tell me, when it comes to the final choice... who is more important? You? Or I?
- Corporal Hartmann: A General is more important than a Corporal, sir.
- General Tanz: Of course. Never forget that, no matter what happens.
- [at a café in Paris, General Tanz can be seen speaking with Corporal Hartmann]
- General Tanz: Give me your wallet, Corporal.
- [Hartmann looks surprised by the sudden command as he reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out his wallet]
- General Tanz: I shall take a short walk.
- [Tanz takes a wallet of his own and pulls out some money. Which he places on top of Hartmann's wallet. As he's doing this, he notices that the latter's wallet contains a picture of Ulrike]
- General Tanz: You have good taste.
- [Tanz puts his wallet away and stands up]
- General Tanz: Pay the bill and leave an adequate tip. When I return, I may wish to study further details of Parisian nightlife.
- Corporal Hartmann: Yes, sir.
- [Major Grau can be seen descending a staircase. Waiting for him at the bottom is a man in a Captain's uniform. This is Captain Engel]
- Captain Engel: Well, what happened? Did you see them?
- Major Grau: Generals Gabler and Kahlenberge are in conference and cannot be disturbed.
- Captain Engel: [smiles] I told you they wouldn't see you.
- Major Grau: [puts on his coat] Where's General Tanz?
- Captain Engel: Look, why don't we forget about this? It's not as if we don't have other things to do.
- Major Grau: [repeating] Where's General Tanz?
- Captain Engel: In the old city, conducting a tactical exercise.
- [Major Grau and Captain Engel can be seen arriving at the soiree]
- Captain Engel: I dislike being a bore, Major.
- Major Grau: You never bore me, Engel.
- Captain Engel: But I... can't help wondering what you're trying to prove. Just what do you think you're doing?
- Major Grau: My job.
- Captain Engel: But if you say anything to any of them, he'll know... the murderer will know that you're after him.
- Major Grau: That's the point of the exercise.
- [as Engel and Grau approach the entrance to the soiree, a sergeant stands at attention and salutes]
- Major Grau: Good evening, Sergeant.
- [Captain Engel and Major Grau are at the soiree. Grau can be seen ready to ascend a staircase]
- Captain Engel: But look, sir. Why do you care who killed that bitch? She's better off dead anyway.
- Major Grau: Have you ever heard of the Eumenides?
- Captain Engel: [confused] The what?
- Major Grau: Greek mythology. A number of disagreeable ladies. Sometimes known as the Furies. They believe that spilled blood calls out for vengeance. That's how justice began.
- [Grau removes his coat and hat and hands it to a man behind a nearby counter, who takes them and tags them with a number]
- Major Grau: Well, we don't want it to end, do we? Just because there's a war on?
- [Grau turns to look directly at Engel]
- Major Grau: Wait for me here. I'm afraid I won't be long.
- [Engel watches as Grau ascends the staircase. After a few seconds, he takes off his cap and places it on the counter]
- Captain Engel: Mad.
- [In the years after the war, Inspector Morand can be seen talking with former General von Seidlitz-Gabler]
- General von Seidlitz-Gabler: You must have noticed, my daughter and wife are not on good terms. In fact, they haven't spoken to one another since the war.
- Inspector Morand: That's sad.
- General von Seidlitz-Gabler: I myself only see my daughter once or twice a year. And very briefly at that. She lives on a farm near Munich. We meet in a railway station with her child. It's the only way I can get to see my grandson.
- Inspector Morand: Your daughter is married?
- General von Seidlitz-Gabler: Yes. To a farmer named Luckner. She was never the same after the war. Poor girl. Something happened to her, I don't know what. It's hard to help children, isn't it? Particularly if one's wife... well, it was impossible after Paris. Anyway, that's all I see of her. But why do you wish to see her?
- Inspector Morand: In Paris, many years ago, she knew a young man.
- Major Grau: When things were going well, the generals enjoyed the war quite as much as Hitler. Now that we're losing, they want to save their own skins.