Rosita Clarke - Author
‘LIESBET’
(Treatment)
Author: Rosita Clarke
Address: Raven Cottage, Clift Lane,
Toller Porcorum.
Dorchester
Dorset DT2 0EJ
Tel: +44 7961161024
Website: www.iwillfilm.co.uk
WGAW registration: 2169553

LOGLINE:
During the final months of WW2, a young ambitious Dutch woman is forced to endure the consequences of her decisions and struggles to escape her involvement with the Nazi party.

‘Liesbet’ is inspired by the true story of my mother.
It is set in Occupied Holland, Germany and Poland 1944 - 1945
Characters:
Liesbet, young ambitious Dutch woman living in occupied Holland, with plans to become a teacher, who enjoys the benefits that being a Nazi supporter brings to her lifestyle. A survivor.
Corrie, her younger sister, rather wayward, head strong, up for a good time, rather naïve.
Johannes. Their father, unscrupulous and dominating antique dealer. Leading member of The Dutch National Socialist party.
Hugo: A young Luftwaffe pilot and later SS. Officer who was forced into the Luftwaffe because he has German ancestry, a reluctant recruit, deserter and then survivor.
Klara: A French SS Guard who was deported from France because she slept with German soldiers to earn money to support her poverty - stricken sister and baby niece.
Anna: A very young Polish girl who fought with the home army in Warsaw but was arrested and taken as a political prisoner.
Gerda: A German woman who enlisted as a guard because she could earn more money than working in a factory. Ruthless.
Treatment
It’s 1944 and in Normandy, France, Doctor Franz Fischer who serves in an SS Panzer Medical Division stands severely injured and bleeding in the opening of a medical tent. It’s raining and distant battle sounds are heard.
At the same time in occupied Holland, Liesbet Van Den Ijell, a young woman dressed in floral summer clothes secretly lets her rather wayward younger sister, Corrie, into their house, chastising her for coming in so late and for also letting her heart rule her head in such difficult times because Corrie has been with her boyfriend, Josef Hesselberg, who is Jewish and whose parents run an art shop but are in hiding. The following night Liesbet stands on her balcony, peers across the rooftops and sees the outline of a parachutist falling to earth. There is the sudden roar of a rapidly descending Luftwaffe aircraft which crashes into the maternity hospital and explodes.  At the same time in the basement of the Hesselberg’s shop, Abe is wrapping up two small Rembrandt paintings, part of Rembrandt’s early collection, called ‘The Senses’, which Abe is particularly proud and protective of. Abe’s wife, Esther, watches, is worried about their son, Josef, being out with ‘that girl’. She is fully aware that as Jews in hiding they are in danger of being discovered.  They hear the crash and explosion of the aircraft. They hear boots thump across the high window grille, cries, screams and bells clang. Corrie and Josef who are secretly liaising in an alleyway are also aware of the noise. Such a commotion.
The following day Liesbet intends to go and look for the German parachutist but suddenly remembers she has to play hostess to her father, Johannes’, N.S.B. meeting with the mayor and other members of the party. Johannes is an unscrupulous and dominating antique dealer as well as a Nazi sympathizer but because of this, the family enjoy a comfortable life in comparison to most other Dutch civilians. Johannes loves opera, particularly Wagner. The mayor pays Johannes for disclosing the whereabouts of the Hesselbergs. They toast the Fuhrer and hope for victory. Johannes is proud of his daughter, Liesbet.
Liesbet discovers the injured pilot, Hugo, and tenderly nurses him back to health but she is unaware that he is, in fact, a German deserter. Liesbet, intelligent and ambitious, Corrie, naïve and caring and their father continue to live an otherwise settled life in occupied Holland, hiding Hugo in the attic.  They are despised by the Dutch resistance and even Corrie becomes hostile towards her father when she witnesses Josef and his parents being physically escorted from their shop.  Corrie loses her first love at the same time Liesbet becomes romantically involved with Hugo. Liesbet and Corrie give Hugo conflicting views as to how their younger brother died in action near Leningrad. Johannes enters the Hesselberg’s basement and takes Abe’s two Rembrandts. Liesbet disapproves but does not stop him. Johannes hides the paintings in his cellar. Liesbet, Corrie and Johannes on the mayor’s request, visit injured and demoralised German soldiers hospitalised in their city, to boost their morale. Johannes talks conspiratorially with injured patient Doctor Franz Fischer.
Then suddenly their prosperity and relative tranquillity is turned upside down with the announcement of the forthcoming liberation of Holland by the allies. September 4th 1944, Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday). German soldiers flee the city on mass. Johannes and his family have no choice but to flee their home also. The Germans lay on trains for N.S.B. members and their families. The Dutch celebrate and rejoice in the streets. Liesbet carries in her case the two Rembrandt oil paintings, for safe keeping, Johannes says. He has in his waistcoat pocket many gold coins. Their front door is locked and with Hugo posing as the brother, the four figures mingle with the other families and head for the station where chaos and threats abound.
At the border with Germany, in Westerbork transit camp Abe is seen to actually be working as a processor. He treats Liesbet with indifference. Corrie asks after Josef and Esther. Not there. Abe identifies Hugo who is taken from his overnight barracks by an SS Officer. The following morning the family queue for their train to take them to Germany. Liesbet asks where Hugo is. A Nazi Official approaches Johannes, who flatly denies hiding Hugo and discretely pays him gold coins. Liesbet glances at Hugo, who stands beside Abe, but she also denies knowing Hugo when asked, chooses loyalty to her father, puts her own interests first.
A shot rings out. Corrie is shocked. Liesbet freezes, boards the train, does not look back.
In Celle, Germany, Corrie and Liesbet sit with other women in a recruitment centre. Corrie is shocked to see that Liesbet has in her case the two Rembrandts, realising that they must have been stolen from Josef’s parents. She questions Liesbet about them and about how she feels about Hugo being killed. Liesbet with tears in her eyes affirms that they must now always put themselves first, make the best of the situation, no going back. The women are recruited into the SS. Corrie is led away in one direction and Liesbet, at gun point, in another.
Now separated from her sister, Liesbet is reluctantly made to marry Doctor Fischer, an arrangement which Johannes had previously instigated while Fischer was in hospital in Holland recovering from his wounds. For her protection, he says, it will give her prestige, respect. This has some appeal for Liesbet. To Johannes’ horror, Liesbet then declares she has left her case in the recruitment centre and rushes to get it, because Johannes pays gold coins to Fischer which allows her to retrieve the case.
Liesbet and Fischer arrive at the sanitorium close to Ravensbruck camp which is where Liesbet will work as a nurse Fischer says, to help and support him. On arrival in the bedroom, Liesbet puts her case in the wardrobe which is full of women’s clothes including a nurse’s uniform, says she will sleep on the couch but Fischer demands she do her duty as a wife. Liesbet closes her eyes.
Meanwhile Corrie works as an office administrator in Belsen Camp and is befriended by Klara who is a guard and shows Corrie around. In the Star compound Corrie recognises Josef. They are both so happy that they are safe, touch fingers through the wire. Josef says he thinks his mama, Esther, might be there too. Klara warns Corrie not to let on she knows a prisoner.
Liesbet works under the direction and influence of female guard Gerda Hoffman but on one occasion on a ward round, Liesbet is asked to inject patients with phenol although she doesn’t really know what it is but assumes it’s lethal. She surprisingly recognises her first patient as Esther. Esther is wounded, beaten about and very frail. Liesbet cannot bring herself to give the injection so fakes it and the phenol runs down the paper mattress. On returning to the apartment that night Fischer has already been told by Gerda that Liesbet has disobeyed orders. Because of this he says he has arranged for her to start training as a guard. Liesbet wants to stay nursing, feels she can do some good so Fischer says that it is her choice but she must carry out everything Gerda asks her to, everything, if she remains in the hospital. The next day Liesbet smooths out the guard’s uniform which she wears with an element of pride, she takes from her case one of the Rembrandts, strokes and kisses it while Gerda injects Esther with the phenol.
In Belsen, Klara reveals to Corrie that she is French and works at the camp because she was deported from Paris for sleeping with German soldiers to get money for her sister’s starving child. She vows to make the best of everything. Corrie says she sounds just like Liesbet.
As a guard, Liesbet still finds herself working under the command of Gerda. She witnesses terrible atrocities as more and more women arrive at the camp. Fischer is unsympathetic and demanding of Liesbet. He is curious about why Liesbet keeps such a tight hold on her case, and while he is alone he opens the case and discovers with absolute delight the oil paintings. Later, Liesbet asks if she can live in the female guard house to complete her training. Fischer agrees with her request.
Corrie becomes friendly with Peter, an SS Officer with whom she shares an office and questions the disappearance of Klara. Corrie asks to be transferred to Ravensbruck where Klara was sent but Peter says she is a good worker, he needs her there.
The Star Compound barracks is on fire because of a misdirected Canadian attack. The wind howls and fuels the flames. Corrie is given a list of the missing men. Josef Hesselberg is first on the list.
At Ravensbruck, as the new guards sit and wait to watch a propaganda video, Liesbet coincidently meets Klara, who says she knows Corrie, worries about her because she was being too friendly with one of the prisoners. Klara told Corrie that she should keep a lower profile. Liesbet and Klara become friends, share a room, and Liesbet begins to harden to her surroundings and what she sees going on in the camp. When ordered by Gerda to beat a young girl, Anna, a Polish political prisoner, Liesbet loses control completely as Gerda, shouts, taunts, and threatens her. Liesbet beats Anna mercilessly with a baton. Klara is shocked and later that night questions Liesbet who says nothing but that she has early roll call in the morning when she has to accompany the prisoners to the marshes where they are ‘apparently’ digging roads.
Corrie is distressed by the camp conditions, overcrowding, smells and strikes a deal with Peter over the Rembrandts, that is, if Peter can find Liesbet.
Liesbet is faced with many choices to get through her ordeal, some defensible but many not and gradually as we see the prisoners cruelly dehumanised, the SS personnel only obeying orders so we see Liesbet gradually degenerating, her one consolation the two small Rembrandts she knows she must keep safe and might be her ticket home one day.
In the hospital ward, next day Liesbet begins to tell Klara about her experience in the marshes, it is not a nice place says Liesbet, ‘and this is’ says Klara. Liesbet says she has had a warning but then Liesbet and Klara are ordered to take all the dead women to the washroom by Gerda. Some patients are not dead but Gerda insists that they are all dragged, dead or alive to the pile of corpses. Klara is unable to do this and Liesbet covers for her as Klara hurriedly leaves the ward. Liesbet says to Gerda that Klara is sick. Liesbet takes a deep breath and drags a corpse off the bed.
For encouraging Klara to leave her duties, Liesbet is ordered to give Klara fifteen lashes. The weather is cold, frosty. She goes back to Fischer’s apartment to live with him again as he has demanded. On arrival she throws her case on the cabinet and starts to open it, but Fischer, panicking, quickly distracts her.
Meanwhile Corrie with her friend Peter, travel to Ravensbruck, passing the marshes, the burning pyres and the stinking trenches. Now it snows. In the office Peter’s old friend, the commandant, tells Corrie about the ‘incident’ and that she has returned to live with her husband, much to Corrie’s complete surprise. The Commandant offers them hospitality. It’s Christmas.
Liesbet discovers her Rembrandts are gone, frantically searches for them. Goes to see Klara, explains to Klara about what happened in the marshes that caused her to get a warning. That she actually reconciled with Anna. They were just surviving. That she had no choice in the matter. Klara tells Liesbet that Corrie is here and wants to see her. Liesbet says she can’t and runs off. Returns to Fischer and confronts him about the missing paintings. Fischer says he has just put them in a safe place, that’s all, and is then called away to the infirmary. Liesbet, thinks, puts on her heavy coat, picks up her shoulder bag and searchlight and goes out into the heavy snow. On reaching the camp safe house she persuades the guard to let her in, finds an envelope with Fischer’s name on it, feels it and puts it in her shoulder bag. But now she has broken camp protocol.
She calls on Klara where surprisingly she also finds the girl, Anna, who has volunteered to become a Kapo so she can help her fellow prisoners. Liesbet asks Klara to escape with her that night. Anna demands to go with them. Liesbet is reluctant for Anna to come but the three women leave under cover of night, in the snow, into unsafe territory, into Poland, into Danzig, arriving cold, hungry and exhausted at the Stutthof Camp Gates.
It's 1945 and there, in the watchtower is Hugo, very much alive, now an SS Officer. Liesbet and Hugo fall into each other’s arms. Liesbet is sorry. Hugo is forgiving, their relationship starts over.
As Corrie and Peter have been told by Fischer that Liesbet just took off in the night, they leave Ravensbruck too. Peter says he has also found their father, Johannes. They head for Berlin.
Stutthof increasingly comes under attack by Russian aircraft and bombs. Conditions for the prisoners are appalling. Germany appears to be on the back foot. Allied armies are advancing from the west and east. Liesbet tells Klara and Anna she has a way out of the camp, a plan to get them all home. Her Rembrandts remain her glimmer of hope, her ticket back to Holland.
Hugo and Liesbet spend a lot of time together, share a bed, give each other comfort. Hugo tells Liesbet that it was Abe Hesselberg who was killed at Westerbork and explains that he is really Polish, explaining the circumstances of his recruitment into the SS.  The Russians are closing in. Germany is losing its grip on the war. Thousands of refugees are fleeing east to west. The sky is black with bombers, the air thick with smoke, the ground white with snow. A striking coldness encircles everything, the camp, Liesbet’s mind, her senses. Germans are retreating, orders are given to evacuate all prisoners and destroy all incriminating evidence. Liesbet asks Hugo how much it would cost for her to have an escort home. Too dangerous he says. Liesbet tells Hugo about her Rembrandts.
In her frozen world she commits unspeakable acts of cruelty against the prisoners. Liesbet sinks very low. Hugo notices, urges her to get on the ‘Willem Gustloff’, a liner recommissioned to take German personnel and refugees west. He sees that Liesbet is not herself anymore. Hugo is assigned to accompany the prisoners. Liesbet loses her mind and helps with the gassing of sick hospitalised women too weak for the march. Liesbet declines to spend a last night with Hugo after this but in her hurry to get away she leaves her shoulder bag with the paintings in Hugo’s room. Hugo investigates the shoulder bag.
The next day when Hugo is leaving, Liesbet remembers she left her bag and the paintings in Hugo’s room, rushes to retrieve them. She opens the bag slides one painting out and sees it is just a blank panel of wood. Devastated, she curses Fischer who she believes swapped them for blanks.
When Liesbet, Klara and Anna are in charge of collecting gold rings and putting bodies from the gas chamber into the fires, Liesbet loses all humanity. She takes the rings she has cut off the corpse’s fingers and pockets them for her own gain. Klara and Anna are aghast.
Klara persuades Liesbet to come with her to the dockside where the ‘Gustloff’ waits and thousands of people vie for a place. But as the boarding gates clank shut and at the very last minute Liesbet chooses to run back, scared of what looked like obvious overcrowding on the liner. The fog horn blares. The two women return to Stutthof, later to find out that the Gustloff was torpedoed and sunk with a devastating massive loss of life.
Back at Stutthof, Anna questions Liesbet about her choices and why she left Holland in the first place. Liesbet says that all she ever chose, was to stay alive.
In Berlin, Corrie and Peter meet with Johannes. He says he will find Liesbet. While In Ravensbruck, Fischer is packing a bag, preparing to leave. He sniffs one of the Rembrandts.
Hugo returns to Stutthof. Hugo tells Liesbet that on his arrival at the coast he is forced at gun point to participate in the mass execution of prisoners as they are driven into the sea. Liesbet tells Hugo that the Gustloff was sunk. They are both glad to be alive, but changed. Liesbet also explains that the Rembrandts are gone along with all hope. She accuses Fischer of the theft.
Liesbet is reunited with Corrie, briefly. Corrie says that father demands that Liesbet join them in Berlin. Liesbet knows that it is really the paintings he wants and chooses not to join her sister or father, where in reality she would be safer.
She decides to find Fischer and asks Hugo to arrange a car. Hugo warns her of the dangers. Russians are too close. The roads are part demolished. But Liesbet is obsessed with finding Fischer, get a divorce, retrieve her paintings. Hugo gives Liesbet his Luger for protection. Shortly into the journey the car is ambushed by Russians. Liesbet is violently raped over and over, left for dead in the middle of the road. Russian soldiers drive off in the car with Liesbet’s shoulder bag.
Hugo waits for Liesbet’s return as the camp is evacuated of all personnel. Liesbet crawls back to Stutthof and into Hugo’s arms.  The camp itself is burning. The war is as good as over for the Germans. Everyone must leave, go home. Liesbet is a broken woman, her path of self – preservation is over. Hugo provides all the necessary papers for Liesbet, Klara and Anna, gives the unresponsive Liesbet a photograph of himself with a message. The three women join the thousands of refugees heading west. Liesbet is going home, back to the Netherlands. She passes but doesn’t recognise Fischer also fleeing. But Fischer is mugged by American soldiers and they seize and run off with his bag
Ravensbruck is liberated by the Americans. Gerda is hanged.
The three women trudge on.
Nine months later in the final moments of the script, Liesbet gives birth to a baby girl, in Holland.

It is never clear who actually had the Rembrandts or where they ended up in the end. One of the five senses is still missing to this day.
‘Liesbet’ is part of a trilogy. The second will explore the consequences of Liesbet’s war and her dark past on the upbringing of her children and her own mentality in the 1960’s.  The third will explore Liesbet’s dementia and how the truth always come homes to roost.

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