Rose Bernd (1919)

Rose Bernd, a kind-hearted and virtuous farmer’s daughter, devotedly cared for the gravely ill son of the wealthy Flamm family until he died. Over time, his father, the local magistrate Flamm, became increasingly interested in the young woman and consequently pressured Rose relentlessly. At last, she gave in to the persistent advances of the married man, who was much older than she was. Flamm’s wife was also very ill and knew nothing of her husband’s advances. Eventually, Rose Bernd became pregnant by the old Flamm. To make matters worse, the young woman also fell into the clutches of Arthur Streckmann, a sturdy, burly, brutish man of depraved character, who had seen Rose and the old Flamm together with his own eyes and now demanded that Rose give him “his due.” He threatened to expose her “forbidden” affair with Flamm publicly and blackmailed her: she was to submit to him sexually. Rose stood firm, whereupon Streckmann brutally raped her. A third suitor for Rose Bernd’s affections was the devout bookseller August Keil. He formally asked Rose’s father for her hand in marriage, but his courtship fell on deaf ears with the young woman. Meanwhile, Streckmann spread rumors about Rose Bernd in an attempt to discredit her. In response, her father and the old Flamm reported Streckmann for slander and defamation. The case went to trial. But Rose Bernd, deeply ashamed of what had happened, denied in court both her affair with Flamm and her pregnancy, and, out of shame, even committed perjury. In a final act of profound inner turmoil and despair, Rose ran into the woods and, with her last strength, gave birth to her child. Then she strangled her newborn and returned to town, shaken by feverish convulsions.