A Generation Page #2

The Germans, or what?

Is it from the Germans?

You'll only get burned

accepting anything from the Germans.

We give it to him.

Us? Really now, Mr. Sekula.

We've been giving for ages, Stach.

But it won't be much longer.

It's simple arithmetic.

How long did it take you

to fit those doors?

Two hours.

And what's your weekly pay?

Thirty-six zlotys.

So you take home six zlotys a day?

And Berg charges 12 zlotys

for fitting one door.

It takes you two hours to do the job,

so your day's pay is covered

in one hour.

He gets 12 for one door?

Twelve divided by two is six,

and six zlotys is a day's pay for me.

So in fact you work eight hours

for the price of one.

Right?

Let's go on.

Supposing you spend all your time

fitting doors.

You do four a day.

Berg gets 48 zlotys for them

and pays you six.

So he's making 42 zlotys off you,

day in and day out.

Off you, off me, off all of us.

Day in and day out.

There once was

a wise bearded man...

by the name of Karl Marx.

He once wrote

that workers

were paid just barely enough

to renew their strength.

These days we don't even get that.

We have to scrounge to survive.

Can't we workers do anything?

If you only knew, my friend,

how much blood has been spilled

over this simple arithmetic -

among other things.

Workers fight for their rights.

They always have.

What about now?

Even now.

Mr. Sekula,

you say the workers are fighting.

What about you?

What about me?

Well... do you... you know...

fight?

You...

What?

Listen, my boy. We've established

that we're both workers,

so call me by my name.

Don't call me mister.

The "misters" around here

have all fled the country.

Hell, I gotta run!

- Where to?

- School.

Berg says I've got to attend.

Says it's mandatory.

So I go... but not often.

- Skipping classes?

- Well...

Don't do it, Stach. Study.

What kind of school can it be

if the Germans allow it?

It is what it is.

Don't waste your chance.

Don't be a smart-aleck.

Learn wherever you can.

In these sad times,

our Catholic faith,

refuge and mainstay for us all,

ought to shine in our souls

with special strength.

Because we know

neither the day nor the hour

when only our faith will remain

of the things we now possess.

I'd like to get to know all of you.

I'm going to ask a simple thing.

I'd like someone to recite

the Apostles' Creed.

You, perhaps.

Jacek, isn't it?

The Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God...

I believe in God...

I believe in God...

You can do it.

I don't know it.

I can learn it if I have to.

On your papers

there's a box marked "religion. "

Doesn't it say "Roman Catholic"?

- Yes.

- Well, then?

- What?

So tell me about your religion.

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