Rudolph Wegener quotes from The Man in the High Castle

Rudolph Wegener

[in German, as he embraces and carries Otto] It is far from easy to be a good man. In fact, as one gets older, it becomes more and more difficult to know... what a good man is. Yet it also becomes increasingly important... [looks at Katharina] to at least try.

John Smith

You find yourself a good woman Joe.

Rudolph Wegener

And until then, find as many bad ones as possible.

Reinhard Heydrich

Colonel. You look rested.

Rudolph Wegener

Hardly.

Heydrich

You've had time to reflect on your situation.

Wegener

I have. This is a list of names, not just my wife and children, but her father and the rest of her family.

Heydrich

Ten lives in exchange for yours.

Wegener

That's the deal.

Heydrich

You need not worry, Colonel. Come. You have a rocket to board.

Wegener

Where am I going?

Heydrich

Berlin.

Wegener

What is it you expect me to do there?

Heydrich

I thought it was obvious, Colonel. The Führer is old and ill, standing in the way of the empire he built.

Wegener

Am I meant to talk to him?

Heydrich

No, Colonel Wegener. You're meant to kill him.

I know Heydrich sent you to kill me [faces Wegener] and I don't believe that you are capable of doing it. Of killing anyone, ever again. You were lost, Rudolph, the moment you lost faith in the Reich. Not to me, but to yourself.

Rudolph Wegener

I was lost the moment I committed evil in your name.

Killing me might reconcile you with your past, but it will also prompt the people who sent you to attack Japan immediately. You must take responsibility for the one, or the other.

Wegener

I know that the sins are my own.

Your only sin is your weakness, but you can still choose to die honorably. You will spare Otto and Klaudia your shame, and I will spare their lives.

Wegener

[shaken at Hitler's stipulation] God forgive me.

Nobusuke Tagomi

Hello. Is that Mrs. Wegener?

Who is this?

Tagomi

This is Tagomi Nobusuke. I met the colonel last year in Stockholm at a trade convention. Would it be possible to speak to him?

Wegener

[German] My husband... is dead. He [cries]

Tagomi

Mm... May I ask what happened?

Wegener

They say he shot himself. He was a traitor.

Tagomi

You must know. Your husband died trying to make the world a better place.

Wegener

And did he? Trying is not enough, is it? [hangs up]