Original subtitles

AFTER THE TRUTH

Feb. 16th

Woke up with the usual headache - another bad night.

A bad dream about an unsuccessful experiment with tablets.

The uncertainty of the situation caused excruciating pain.

Nov. 8th:

Coffee with Elsa, an informative conversation about her family...

including criminal members.

Genetics isn't empty madness after all.

Oct. 20th:

Repulsive essays about Germany's past.

Truths, half-truths, lies...

Natural and cultural history made easy.

German history hacked up into flippant journalist jargon...

Fried into smug burgers.

The only great Germans were Heine, Freud, Marx

and a few other names.

Are you deaf?

I said thanks.

Ezer Mahmud's job was selling heroin in schoolyards in our city.

His motives are inexcusable.

It was pure personal profit and cringing to orders.

Propose a sentence of 4 years.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, prosecutor.

Does the defense wish to interrupt? - No, why'?

�Cringing to orders" Duckmausertum.

Does that word exist in any other language?

Like 'staying clean' - Only Germans can do that.

Mr. Rohm, enough. Make your point.

Want to explain how my client managed to stay clean,

yet failed as a person.

Leave me alone. I can get out on my own.

Get the stuff out of the trunk.

Does he live here? - No.

Why's he sneaking around here? - No idea.

He really doesn't know?

No, it's a surprise. I didn't say a thing.

When's he coming? - When he's finished at court.

Mahmud was only given two years.

There was a drug death last night downtown.

Can you still sleep in peace? - Ask the judge, not me.

Didn't sentence him. - Why did you take on the defense?

Told you - I'm a lawyer.

How's your book about Mengele coming along?

It's coming out in January. It's called One of Us.

We're almost finished processing the final data.

Isn't that a bit provocative? - I don't think so.

Come from the same town as Mengele. Somehow he was our neighbor.

He could've come from here. That's the point, isn't it?

Hi, honey.

Hi, Mother! - He knew all along! You told him!

Happy Birthday, Petzi. I love you.

Don't call me Petzi. I love you too.

Where are the presents?

Thanks, Mother. But what is it?

Know it's a long way off.

This is great, Hillmann. Thanks.

Where did you get it?

Here.

I don't know that shop. Rebecca, we have to go there.

This is the last one. - Who's it from?

I don't know. It was in front of the door.

The stork must have brought it.

Mother, it's your big day. There's probably a baby inside.

Oh, my God. Is it real?

There's very few left.

Most of them were burned by their owners.

The badges of rank are missing. You can still see the stitches.

Those things had serial numbers

so they didn't get mixed up at the cleaners.

Where?

Look inside the right cuff.

Weren't we celebrating a birthday?

4-3-9-7.

It's incomplete. Those are the last digits.

How about some wine'?

Thanks. - I need to make a call.

Daniel. Peter, here.

Peter Rohm? Is that you?

How are you?

I haven't heard from you both for over half a year.

I thought you'd drowned in paperwork like we are here.

How's Rebecca? How's the book?

Good.

Listen, you must have registration numbers for SS uniforms, right?

What do you think we do here? Tell me.

I think it's only the last digits. - What's the number?

4-3-9-7. - 4-3-9-7.

Sounds like you have a new clue. - Very likely.

Can you find anything? - Wait.

Bingo, buddy.

Is that Mengele's uniform? - It might be.

Where did you get that number?

From a uniform in front of me.

I'll be there tomorrow, all right? - Sure!

See you tomorrow. - Yes.

It might be. - What?

Mengele's uniform. It might be Mengele's uniform.

You know what? You're possessed.

Do you know what this means, Rebecca?

It could've been a nice evening.

It's a piece of old cloth. It's not a holy relic.

If it's really his uniform then it can wait till tomorrow.

You're acting as if it was your birthday.

Up yours!

But it's our book!

It's your book! Just write it!

We researched it for years the world over.

Won't let it become our lifetime job!

What's stopping you from writing it?

Don't wait for me.

Are you nuts? You drove into me.

What is this shit?

Peter, what's wrong? - The asshole drove into me!

Stop, asshole.

What's this?

Hello!

Mr. Rohm. Glad you could come.

What's this all about? Who are you?

Call me Schmidt. Is that acceptable?

Or how about Muller. How do you like Muller?

I don't give a damn.

Oct. 27th, '89. Dear Mrs. Holtz:

Unfortunately you still haven't replied to my request to meet.

It would mean a lot to me to talk to you about former classmates.

It would mean a lot to me to talk to you about former neighbors,

former colleagues, fellow students, etc.

Where did you get those letters?

Reputable citizens the country over received them for the last 8 years.

Always the same sender.

Always requesting information about a certain prominent person.

A hero of the last World War.

What do you want from me?

Why so many questions, Mr. Rohm?

Why are you possessed by long-forgotten things?

Yes. I think you'll do it.

Do what?

Hail Hitler, Mr. Rohm.

You're finally awake.

How are you? Do you have a headache?

You're finally here.

I'm Job... and you're my Redeemer.

It's a reprint of the so-called Euthanasia Bible from 1920.

Destroying Unworthy Lives. What's this all about?

The book's not important.

But the epilogue is. Get it?

Not really.

It's a contemporary essay written by a British historian.

It's about Mengele.

Mengele merely practiced euthanasia in Auschwitz.

An attempt to offer new arguments for defenders of Auschwitz.

The sole German Mengele expert disappears at the same time.

Do you see the connection now?

Mr. Ginsberg, by all due respect,

you and your club's cognitive tunnel vision surpasses our means.

What about the SS uniform?

Is that also a product of cognitive tunnel vision?

Cut it out. My husband's disappeared!

What are you going to do?

Believe me, there was ho other way to get you here.

You've researched for years...

trying to write the ultimate book about Mengele.

But you never wrote it.

Why not?

Which questions were you unable to answer?

Now you can ask them.

If you think I'm a liar or crazy...

won't force you to stay here.

Go back to your wife and your well-assorted archive.

You didn't bring me here to give me a ticket home.

Said...

Go or ask me.

Excuse me. Are you Mr. Peter Rohm?

My name is Geppert, LKA. You're under arrest.

Please come with us.

Are you crazy? I was kidnapped!

Don't worry. A mere formality.

Please come with us.

Baumgarten? Mr. Heinz Baumgarten?

No. Mengele.

Dr. Josef Mengele.

That young man is Peter Rohm.

He'll represent me in court.

He's lying. He's lying!

Won't represent him!

That's the lawyer.

Wait outside. I'll see you outside.

Think you owe me an explanation.

Wrong. Completely wrong!

You owe us an explanation

I'm Heribert Voigt, senior public prosecutor.

Yes, know. - Dr. Meyer.

Please listen carefully. I don't want to tell this twice.

36 hours ago, was drugged and smuggled into Argentina.

There met Mr. Baumgarten who talked confusedly for hours,

and then let me go. Now I'm here.

It's the biggest farce I've ever experienced.

The motives are a total mystery to me.

Let me make myself clear.

Anything Mr. Baumgarten does, says, or thinks has nothing to do with me.

Do you understand? - Mr. Geppert.

Sit down.

An Argentinian passport from 1956: Mengele, Josef.

A Paraguayian passport from 1959: Mengele, Josef.

Here, the lab reports from Auschwitz. All are authentic.

Mengele's signature. Didn't they come from you?

This is the first time I've seen them.

You didn't happen to organize the press outside either?

Weren't you listening?

Just explained was kidnapped.

My wife's waited hours for me outside and now--

Mr. Rohm, this isn't only your nightmare - it's also mine.

I'm the senior prosecutor.

It could be the entire nation's nightmare.

So do us a favor. Don't play the diva!

Whether you like it or not, you're in deep.

What is your name? - Josef Mengele.

Your parents' names? - Karl and Walburga Mengele.

Your first wife's name? - Irene Schonbein.

My family didn't like her. She was too Protestant.

You have a comment?

Ask him about Muller or Schmidt, not about his mother.

One thing after the other.

We're strictly following procedure.

Please turn the tape back on.

Am Josef Mengele.

These bones, as you call them,

belong to my cousin Gerard Sladky. He drowned swimming in Brazil.

We resembled one another.

Gerard lived by his own discretion in Sao Paulo.

Friends buried him...

in Embu after the accident.

Then they broke into my dentist...

exchanged his papers for mine, and had my peace, initially.

When my pursuers were close on my heels, these friends...

led the police to Josef Mengele's grave.

The hunt was over. It was that easy.

Where are your dental records?

At my dentist. Where else?

If you want, I'll give you his address.

But that's all I'm saying...

until I've spoken to my lawyer.

Go or ask me.

Why did he do it?

It was his duty - as a person.

That's nonsense.

If you want your questions answered...

then get off your high horse.

Act more modestly.

Let's assume he's taken to court in Germany...

and you're his lawyer.

What would you do?

Wouldn't be his lawyer. I'd be his prosecutor.

Then you'd be as dumb and clever as ever.

If you treat every answer as a lie, the question still remains.

So you'd be his defense.

How can anyone defend someone like him?

See?

That's a more sensible question.

Let's assume he's still alive.

Let's assume...

he surrenders...

to the German authorities in order to tell the truth...

his truth.

Doesn't he deserve a good lawyer?

The best?

Deserve?

No. He'd be entitled to one.

Let's say theoretically you were his lawyer.

What would you ask him?

I'd ask him: Why did you do it?

Yes.

Why...

I'm Mrs. Rohm and want to see my husband.

Can't tell you anything else.

My husband is being held without a warrant.

I didn't think that was possible in our constitutional state.

Maybe your husband volunteered to help the authorities.

After all, he found Josef Mengele.

My husband is not there by choice. And Mengele is dead.

Of course know Mr. Rohm.

I'm a publisher, he's ah author. Naturally we know one another.

I'm not an author, I'm a lawyer! He kidnapped me!

I did not.

Do you know Heinz Baumgarten?

Never heard of him.

Is it true plane tickets to Buenos Aires were booked in your name?

Yes.

Asked Mr. Rohm to research locally, which he did successfully.

He's twisting the facts! Wasn't there voluntarily!

Mr. Rohm, don't be silly.

Kiss my ass! What a farce!

No one in the Dept. of the Interior wants to commit right now.

The public prosecutor denies Josef Mengele's proven identity.

Experts will be presented with a DNA analysis today.

The Israeli government has requested extradition.

German officials are currently examining this request.

The world is watching our nation.

See the minimal difference in the arched line.

A normal development over the years.

Professor, we need results.

If it's a fake...

it's the best I've ever seen.

The dental records need to be compared.

The story with the cousin could be true.

The aim:

To compare exactly defined facial points...

measuring every difference.

An X-ray of Baumgarten's skull.

How many measurable differences are there?

I didn't find any.

Otherwise we'd all be home by now.

Ladies and gentlemen...

What choice do we have?

Please unlock it.

Josef Mengele?

Dr. Josef Mengele.

I'm the investigating magistrate, Ewald Kurten.

You're under arrest.

Plead not guilty, Your Honor.

That's not the issue here.

You are in custody pending trial.

You have the right to a public defender.

My defense is Peter Rohm.

Please inform him that wish to speak to him.

ID, please.

Over to the wall.

Hands up.

Clean.

So you came.

I won't take on your case.

Why not?

Know too much about you.

Then why are you here?

Voigt asked me.

What do you owe Voigt?

Why me?

Because you're a renowned lawyer...

No, not at all.

Because you want to be one of those rare specimens...

an honest person.

Thank you.

I want to tell you something.

Only came back for one reason:

To tell my story. The whole story.

What exactly did in Auschwitz and why.

No one's ever done that.

Josef Mengele's not the type to come back 50 years later to confess.

Not to confess. To tell the truth.

The whole truth? The selections?

The excessive acts?

The senseless, sadistic pseudo-experiments?

Mengele doesn't deny anything.

You mean he'd take responsibility for all these crimes?

Crimes?

You call those crimes?

How else would you call it?

Compassion.

Know the Jews said...

mutilated their women...

and children.

They called me the angel of death.

A butcher.

But I'm a doctor, a person with heart and compassion.

So you mutilated them out of compassion?

Is a surgeon a butcher because he uses a knife?

Because he removes a diseased organ

in order to save the rest?

That's not butchery...

that's medicine.

I'll tell you everything so you can finally write your book.

But not here. Not now.

Enemies are listening.

They're listening, right?

They hear everything we say.

I tell you for the last time:

I want to speak to my lawyer alone, as the law dictates.

I'm not your lawyer.

Everyone has the right to an adequate defense.

Those are your own words.

Understand that monsters are exceptions to this rule.

But I'm here...

Right in front of you...

and I'm a human.

Flesh, blood, eyes, nose, mouth.

A human.

I demand, like the lowliest of your clients, a lawyer.

Or is this no longer a constitutional state?

Will you defend him?

When I was five, I played in the garden with my friend.

We had a tree house. His father built it for us.

He was a carpenter.

When I think of my childhood,

think of the tree house and the carpentry.

One day many police came and simply took his father away.

He was involved?

Years later my mother told me he was an SS man in Treblinka.

Now you expect answers? You won't get any.

I've hunted this man for decades -

from 1975 to 1985 when the bones were found.

Know him as well as you do.

His answers consist of lies and deceit.

The best we can expect is a show trial

revealing his lies and self-deceit.

Then lock him away for the rest of his wretched life.

What if it's not so simple?

It will be simple.

What bothers me about your analysis isn't your perception of Mengele,

but that you simply assume we are better human beings.

It's not hard to be a better human than Mengele.

You want to accuse Mengele of his crimes before a jeering public and lock him up?

That's like Nazi justice.

Know.

I'm merely the public prosecutor.

And who are you?

I'm merely a lawyer.

Together we'd be a good team, don't you think?

Wouldn't bet on it.

The point isn't that someone has to do it.

If don't do it, someone else will.

But he wants me.

I don't know why I shouldn't do it.

He's Josef Mengele! That's reason enough!

This was confiscated from a demonstrator half an hour ago.

An anti-fascist.

There you go. Take it and go shoot Mengele.

You'd be a hero and we'd spare the trial.

Would that be better?

No, not you. Maybe you or you?

Cut the nonsense!

Nonsense?

But denying Mengele a defense is OK?

What qualifies you? Wyatt Earp?

Two reasons.

First: Everyone has the right to a defense.

Oh, God, son.

Second: I come from Mengele's hometown

and know his biography better than anyone else.

What does your wife think?

Leave my wife out of this!

Congratulations. - Why?

It's a sure fire thing. I checked the car.

Everything's fine. Only there's still the dent.

Hillman, you can still quit. You've no obligations.

I'll find someone else. - No, no way.

I'm still learning.

My second exam wasn't so good and this is big.

I'm staying, sure thing.

You know there's only the basic fee for a public defender.

Not a buck more, from no one. Understand?

Yes.

See you tomorrow.

Shit.

Get out of the way!

When does the trial start?

No comment.

Is it true right-wing publisher Muller patronizes Mengele'?

No comment.

Do you have a trial strategy? - Is there any defense for him?

No comment.

Nazi Pig!

Go on home!

Is that what you wanted?

Where's mother?

She did the right thing. She went home.

She said that's his problem.

And? Is it my problem?

You're asking me now? Why didn't you ask me earlier?

Couldn't get hold of you.

You didn't want to because you knew my answer.

I know what you want, but it's not worth it.

You don't really believe I'm doing it for career reasons.

Saw the press conference. You get a kick out of it!

That's absolute bull. I need your help!

Can't help you! I don't want to be involved.

You're no longer a researcher. You've no idea what's at stake.

You said you understand me.

I don't understand why you're so hard on me.

You want more of this crap? - The truth!

The truth!

When it's all over, you'll be a changed person.

Can't help you. No one can help you then.

So what now?

I'll try to start earlier at the Tagesspiegel.

So now you want to work against me?

We're grownups. I'll do what think is right.

OK.

Hello.

Felix Hillmann, my assistant.

Pleased to meet you.

Really?

You won't be able to sleep at night after shaking this hand.

You really want to risk it?

Only talk to you, Mr. Rohm. Alone.

Said, he's my assistant.

Want this envelope sealed by a notary... today.

To be opened upon my death.

All right. What's in it?

You'll find out soon enough.

Probably before die.

Fine.

Let's get started on this.

Witnesses testify you injected dye into patients' eyes

while they were fully conscious. Is that true?

Oh my...

Coincidence rules.

So what?

Are you familiar with the medical customs of that era?

Did you inject numerous conscious patients in the eye with dye?

Can list the medical experiments.

But medical history's relevant.

Josef Mengele tacked prisoner's eyeballs to a board

like a butterfly collection. Did you have that collection?

Medical studies require a collection of specimens.

In the Thirties-

Josef Mengele personally selected

300,000 men, women and children for death by gas.

Did you send these people to the gas chamber?

Thought you wanted to understand?

Did you send them to the gas chambers?

Yes, I did.

I did all that.

Admit it.

Come, let's walk a bit.

Destroying Unworthy Lives

A doctor must kill out of compassion.

All of my colleagues understood this message back then -

scientifically and practically.

That's your defense?

Auschwitz was a popular medical trend?

If I'm supposed to defend you, you better come up with better.

You know what a life in Auschwitz was like?

Hell!

Hell where children, aged and ill suffered horribly...

Without a chance of survival.

Offered the only way out.

Don't be so naive, Peter.

Medicine will never conquer every disease.

There will always be situations where doctors must kill.

That is my defense...

The Death Angel's defense.

Why now of all times?

Because believe the time is right...

to understand my motives.

You don't really believe that.

I did a general checkup.

He's in exceptional good health,

apart from his arthritic knee and heart insufficiency.

Can he stand trial?

Absolutely. Got a lot of fresh air.

Thank you, Dr. Fuglein.

So when's showtime?

We got a letter from the Federal Chancellor.

They don't want us to lose time.

Why are they involved? - They're nervous.

Tuesday is in 4 weeks all right?

Right. - It'll be OK.

Mr. Rohm? - Yes.

I've decided to allow TV coverage due to public interest,

except for the witnesses. I know it's unusual,

but think it's within my discretion.

It serves the purpose. So keep this in mind.

Mr. Rohm, you have the hardest job of all.

Understand if you don't feel comfortable.

But our entire judicial system is being put to a test.

If I catch you not doing your job I'll pull your license.

Understand?

Yes, understand.

Any more questions?

Hello, Rohm. May I speak to Dr. Karl Gross?

A few questions from 1942--

Mr. Heinrich Knaup?

Yes. It's about the Mengele trial.

Not exactly, we know.

But you worked for Dr. Hans Nachtsheimm in 1943 -

for epilepsy experiments. Remember?

May correctly assume in 1944 you went with Prof. Strugholt

to San Antonio, Texas as an air force doctor?

Are you willing to tell the court about your duties in Dachau?

You were at Tubing University with Dr. Rubenstroth-Bauer.

It would help us if... But we...

No, fine. Thanks.

Come on, let's go.

I don't stand a chance, no matter how well defend him.

If do a good job, I'm a bad person.

If do a bad job, I'm a bad lawyer.

If don't do it, I'm a coward.

You're not a coward.

You can choose between being a bad person or a good lawyer.

It's the same thing for me. Otherwise wouldn't be a lawyer.

Did he kick?

Why always he?

What if it's a girl?

Who cares. As long as it's healthy.

I don't know if can represent his view in the least.

Must be an asshole.

He's lying! I'm not his lawyer!

Please rise.

Please be seated.

Hereby open the 27th court.

The defendant is Josef Mengele.

This is our last warning.

If you don't obey, we'll clear the square.

The prosecution's charges are admitted to the trial.

Will the prosecutor please read the charges.

Nazis go home! Nazis go home!

Police line, get out your clubs! Police line, forward!

Josef Mengele is charged in numerous cases

of murder with bloodthirsty motives.

Murder by treacherous, cruel and dangerous means...

of attempting to kill or inciting others to kill or as an accomplice.

Water cannons, forward!

In detail: Josef Mengele is charged,

in May 1943, Nov. 1944...

in Auschwitz of selecting children, elderly, the sick and handicapped...

Weak and pregnant persons in 74 cases as unemployable.

Thereby sentencing them to a cruel death by gas in the gas chamber.

Josef Mengele is charged with personally leading 40 children

to the crematorium in Auschwitz in July 1944 to their death.

Josef Mengele is charged with dissecting a one-year-old triplet.

Josef Mengele is charged with injecting 14 twins with chloroform

in the summer of 1944 in order to perform autopsies.

Josef Mengele is charged with throwing a baby in the furnace.

Josef Mengele is charged...

Josef Mengele is charged...

Do you wish to testify?

Yes.

Please answer into the mic.

Yes, of course want to testify.

We will now question you chronologically about your life,

in order to form a picture.

You were born March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg.

Yes, precisely.

But we could shorten the biography.

The events after 1930 are relevant for this trial.

Let us decide what is relevant and what is not for your own sake.

I don't understand now my childhood can be relevant.

We neither. But maybe we'll find out.

How long have you had this problem?

Since this morning. Yesterday was mad.

Now with them outside it's simply quiet.

Never imagined Nazis as bodyguards!

I demand police protection!

Can send a patrol every 2 hrs. - Shit!

When did you meet your scientific mentor, Mr. von Verschuer?

Oh, much later...

In 1937.

May I point out the book Destroying Unworthy Lives

by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche was published in 1920.

It was already a bestseller when Mengele was in grade school.

Even Mr. von Veschuer didn't come directly from hell.

All these men were children of the times.

Mr. Rohm, you're confusing cause and effect.

These men are their nation's children,

influenced by the times.

We're talking about crimes that never should have happened -

at any time.

If you're playing with prejudices, then we're wasting our time here.

Thought we wanted to find out why and under which of society's influences

someone did something to let justice prevail?

Don't we all want answers to these questions?

Posh, posh.

Don't worry. It's on us.

Your room key. - Thanks.

It's real over-budget, but the city's booked out.

Peter's waiting downstairs.

Read the daily paper or ask your lawyer about any side effects.

I'm not in the mood for jokes.

So you're now Claire from the Brandenburg paper.

You've got your method of finding the truth and I've got mine.

Main thing is, we don't get in each other's way.

Come, let's walk a bit.

Ingenico by Schuco, 1958. There's only a dozen left.

How much? - Let's say DM 800.

DM 600!

It's not that late. You can still quit.

Still haven't got what want. I want to understand him.

Want to know what we have in common.

Whoever says nothing, is making things too easy.

Is it Muller? - What are you getting at?

800! - 600!

800!

Why don't you go lower? - I won't take less than 800.

Why didn't you start with 1,000? - Because it costs 800!

Forget it!

Nice day today, Mr. Rohm.

This is the defense strategy:

Our only option is to weaken the witnesses' testimonies.

That will work to a certain degree.

But there's still one problem: Why should I do it?

Because you're my lawyer.

As your lawyer it's my duty to tell you this file's full of shit.

You haven't changed my opinion at all in the last 4 weeks.

You didn't fulfill your part of the bargain, Mr. Mengele.

What can say?

I honestly think you did your best.

Maybe we should part ways now.

But first want to tell you a story about a small girl...

A small, pretty, bright girl who always knew what she wanted.

She wanted to help, she wanted to be a nurse,

maybe a doctor.

She became a trainee nurse here in the psychiatric clinic...

the Dr. Wurzbach Clinic, a psychiatric clinic.

It still is.

She worked there for two years, was very eager,

got good grades.

Then suddenly she quit.

She went to Stuttgart and became a children's nurse.

Later a pediatrician.

What do you know about my mother?

She worked on her grandparents' farm.

She did go to Stuttgart when she was 20.

But she never worked at Dr. Wurzbach's clinic.

That's the official version.

You know so many files were destroyed in the war.

Many people couldn't resist changing details from their past.

Why should she?

T4.

Don't you know what T4 means?

4 Tiergarten Street.

That's a damn lie.

Dr. Wendler?

I don't know who you are,

but this is my first half hour off since 5:30 am.

I'm Peter Rohm.

It won't take long. I want to ask a favor.

I've heard of you. You're famous.

I'm curious what you want.

I'd like to look in your archives from 1937 - 1942.

That's not possible.

Or do you have a search warrant?

Do you have anything to hide? - Checkmate.

Mr. Rohm, We're a small, renowned institution

with a good reputation.

My patients' families... - It's a private matter.

Hello?

Petzi, my son! What's wrong?

I didn't want to wake you up.

I hear everything. Somethings the matter.

No, everything's fine. Just fine.

I'll call you, OK?

Sleep well.

In June 1941 you were sent to the front in Hungary

with the "Viking" division of the SS medical corps.

Yes, that's correct.

You cared for the injured.

According to your own records,

you decided whether the injured should be treated or left to die.

That's also correct.

Losses were higher than expected.

You let seriously injured soldiers perish in the mud.

Not that I'm comparing this to Auschwitz...

But you had no pangs of guilt?

No, was awarded the Iron Cross.

Quiet, please.

While we're at it, let's not forget Mengele risked his life

to save 2 comrades under enemy fire

from a burning tank and treat them.

He was also wounded in the war.

Who decided if you should live or not when you were wounded?

God decided.

Quiet, please.

You were moved back to Berlin at the end of 1942 -

to the so-called race and settlement headquarters.

Correct.

Did you know back then about the mass extermination camps?

Knew about the concentration camps.

Concentration camps.

Vast amounts of human material concentrated in confined quarters.

A great chance to conduct human experiments in a big way?

Yes, of course it was.

You came to Auschwitz in May, 1943.

How would you describe this camp?

It was a mass extermination camp.

But you know that.

Continue questioning. I've no objections.

Could you repeat that?

It was a mass extermination camp...

designed to exterminate Jews, gypsies and political enemies.

They were gassed - all of them - sooner or later.

The bodies were burned in huge crematoriums.

How does one say today?

Disposed of.

The chimneys spewed huge clouds of smoke visible 20, 30 km away.

Traitor.

You contributed to the mass extermination.

You're mixing things up.

Never served the Nazis.

Never was a Nazi in the ideological sense.

I simply came to terms with them. I served under the Nazis,

as millions of people did. - Stop splitting hairs.

I don't care what you personally thought of Hitler.

You practiced race-hygiene for him. You were a Nazi.

One of the worst.

Everything you did in Auschwitz was done on your own initiative?

Without an order from above?

Yes. I was free to do as chose.

I honestly never expected such frankness.

This is a unique opportunity to bury the Auschwitz lie forever,

with the testimony by one of the main culprits.

I propose a break of 2 days to re-organize my questions.

Please come to the bench. Mr. Rohm.

I don't think we should discuss Auschwitz's purpose here.

That's already been done. - By all due respect.

Listen to what is being said.

The incorrigible still find open ears.

Millions of people are following this trial.

Some expect more lies from Mengele.

Want to give them a chance to hear the truth from him.

Assure you, the defense won't question the purpose of Auschwitz.

In accord with the prosecutor's proposal,

this trial is re-scheduled for the day after tomorrow, 11:00 am.

Knew it.

There was an autistic woman who always sang:

What kind of trees are these

where big elephants stroll without taking their toll. ..

Again and again.

Got used to singing along.

Then the singing stopped.

Asked: Where's Greta?

They said: Greta died last night.

More kept dying. Always at night.

More kept dying.

But you...

was 17.

Was assigned to the night shift.

In Dec. 1940 more than 50 persons died from cardiac arrest.

I did it.

What?

Twice.

Took the needle from the doctor.

I didn't know what was in it.

Gave the injection.

He said, you do that well.

The next morning she was dead.

Said, "I can't do that!"

He said, "No problem. You don't have to, Miss Hellweg."

My God, do you know what you did?

You knew it the whole time. - I'm sorry.

Never told your father.

Asked myself for years: What should do?

What was I to do?

You lied to me!

By concealing it from me, you lied to me!

I'm sorry!

What for? That found out?

Does that make you sorry?

You've no idea.

What do you know about living with such guilt?

I did have the right to burden you with it?

Yes, damn it!

Are you sure? Fuglein?

Thanks. See you.

Mailbox 0171-8182133.

Please leave a message. Bye.

After a 2 day pause, Mengele trial recommences tomorrow.

After unexpected confessions from Josef Mengele,

radical right-wing demonstrations abruptly ended.

However, more violence is expected from the neo-Nazi scene.

New clashes with the police appear imminent.

Those bald monsters with baseball bats...

are really scary.

Playing like overgrown children.

So easy to manipulate, yet impossible to control.

Heribert Voigt, here. We must urgently meet.

Mengele's confession must mean trouble for men behind the scene.

The entire radical right-wing scene has disappeared.

You're so quiet today.

Know what you're doing requires considerable concentration.

Mengele is in acute danger.

We replaced the staff in the high-security ward.

We need to discuss all else alone in person.

What's that?

A vitamin cocktail.

Peter, Daniel here.

Muller has a buddy in the high-security ward:

Dr. Fuglein.

You're not the only one Mengele talks trial strategy to.

Once there was a man who made a deal with another man.

About the truth.

One man wanted to change the truth and the other man had lied to him.

He said, "if you help me tell the truth, I'll help you change it."

A bit like the fable about the frog and the scorpion.

The scorpion asks the frog to take him across the river.

The frog says:

"Why should I, you'll bite me."

don't think the scorpion will.

There's a 10-page sworn affidavit about the men

who were kind enough to enable this trial.

Exactly those men whose ambitions I betrayed.

Dr. Mengele?

That's the young man gave the envelope to.

I hope you kept it safe.

Yes, did.

How's your mother?

Feel so sorry for her.

Now you know.

There's no metamorphosis

between the neighbor and monster.

It's one and the same person with the same convictions.

The difference lies in the situation alone.

You're critically ill, aren't you?

Yes.

It's not rheumatism or arthritis.

It's bone cancer.

I've been pumped up with morphine...

ever since we met.

We made a deal, Mr. Rohm.

Don't forget.

You want the truth and want a lawyer.

Coming from your mouth, truth is a rotten word.

We made a deal, Peter.

Please.

Mengele has cancer.

He was on morphine the whole time.

Who else knows?

Dr. Fuglein, probably Muller, me and now you.

Make sure no one finds out.

Muller will keep quiet...

if the envelope contains what Mengele says it does.

He's not fit for trial. We have to postpone the trial.

Are you serious? The trial's too important.

The world is watching us.

This is a historic occasion to settle the account.

You want to miss this chance because you're a coward?

It's my duty to inform my client that under the circumstances

the trial must be stopped-

You know that's not true. Mengele wanted the trial from the start.

You did too.

What's wrong with you?

Want to prevent any complaints if do my job too well.

Stop showing off.

What a pile of shit.

Normally selected healthy ones.

Even though you were a doctor?

Because was a doctor.

You sent the ill to the gas chamber because you were a doctor?

Maybe you should let him finish.

I didn't invent Auschwitz.

Wanted to help. Understand?

But the possibilities were limited.

There were 140,000 prisoners crowded into the tightest space.

Couldn't help everyone.

Should have let old women suffer in a hell-hole of epidemics?

Or let small children starve to death?

No, was doing them a great favor, putting an end to it.

You personally conducted the selections.

Of course. I had the authority to.

What was supposed to do?

Have you ever seen a child gassed to death?

They don't die easily.

We had to come up with other alternatives.

Here, help yourself.

Are you afraid?

Dr. Fuglein is identical with Rudiger Fuglein,

who wrote articles for the National-Anzeiger regularly.

What about?

Mostly about the study of races.

I'm supposed to say hello from Muller.

Don't worry.

He's not accusing you. You made the right choice.

He wants you to fear the right people.

Dr. Fuglein, will you cooperate?

How did he become senior doctor and the court's expert witness?

Muller's got friends in the Department of Justice.

He's got friends everywhere.

We begin tomorrow at 10:00 with witnesses and experts.

No cameras are allowed during the questioning of witnesses,

for reasons of objectivity.

Important for Kolbenhjeyer's philosophy...

Parallels between Lorenz and Kolbenheyer are clear.

Lorenz compared modern civilization to good pets.

Mu came with his family.

Talks about mescaline.

Evening talks with G about the current political situation.

The military, industry and syndicate is behind the president.

Only the international exponents are yapping:

Freemasons, Jews, the clergy, Communists.

They get away with it because they dominate the press.

The government is attempting to take control of the media.

That's the key to everything.

Let's assume you were his lawyer.

How can anyone defend him?

The SS pushed us out and we had to line up.

Dr. Mengele stood there whistling.

Can still hear him...

Dvorak.

One hand in his uniform like Napoleon.

He conducted with the other.

Most had to go to the left.

When he saw Rosa and me, he stopped whistling.

We were twins.

We know for sure that Mengele didn't set the death rate.

He sent us to his barracks.

Our mother and baby sister, off to the gas chamber.

He decided!

You must have had fun. Whistling, conducting.

Always smiling.

I was taught not to show emotions.

Like the prosecution: I know you hate my client.

But you seem calm and reasonable.

Your analysis of my state of mind borders on malicious insinuations.

Mr. Rohm. - I beg your pardon.

Was a prisoner and doctor. So had to work for Mengele.

What type of work?

I was a pathologist. I mostly did dissections.

Mostly on twins.

What were the results?

Arm and leg amputations...

removal of organs.

Willful typhus injections.

Acute anemia from excessive loss of blood.

Head wounds.

We were supposed to study...

if the twins reacted differently.

Did you see Mengele commit any of this violence to twins?

Or see him kill them?

No, never saw that.

Witnesses have sworn Mengele personally killed children.

You know that! - I'm not doubting the witness.

But Mengele wasn't the only one to kill for German science!

But he killed!

Mr. Varadi, what results were pertinent to the accused?

There were no usable results.

There was no justification from a scientific viewpoint

for the children's cruel death?

No. None.

There was a pair of hunchbacks.

The SS came and picked them up.

We thought we'd... never see them again.

Tell us what happened.

We saw them again. An SS man brought them back.

They were sewed together... Back to back!

Their wrists as well. Sewn together!

It stank of dying flesh. The wounds were dirty.

They didn't scream - they cried.

They cried all night until they died.

You mentioned SS men.

Was Mengele one of them?

Did Mengele personally sew the children together?

Think so.

Do you know for sure? - No.

Could it be another SS man conducted the operation

and Mengele had nothing to do with it?

I don't know.

Please answer precisely. The question's simple.

Is it theoretically possible?

Maybe.

Thank you. No further questions.

Except, Mr. Kerbel, you survived. Did your brother survive?

Yes. We have a shop in Brooklyn.

Yes, know.

Excuse the question, but why did you survive?

We were twins.

Mengele picked us.

Personally? - Yes.

He needed us for experiments.

He chiseled into my brother's right thighbone

and rammed a pipe in...

to get to the bone marrow.

We're cripples.

We were healthy, now we're cripples.

But you survived.

You survived because Mengele chose you.

Right?

Yes. - Thank you.

You goddamn pig!

You're no lawyer!

You're just as perverted as that pig there!

I'm supposed to warn you if notice you're changing.

Asked you to be patient. - That's asking quite a lot.

If Mengele hadn't killed the children this way,

would they have been gassed?

He killed them in order to dissect them.

Please answer my question.

Would they have been gassed?

Can't say.

May put the question to the accused?

Yes.

Mr. Mengele?

This assumption is correct.

All the gypsies were gassed - without exception.

Please explain why you killed the children.

Simple...

I wanted to spare them unnecessary suffering.

And succeeded.

No, Mr. Mengele!

You killed them to cutout their eyes, intestines and hearts!

Already explained.

They were doomed anyway. I spared them being gassed.

They were of great use to my scientific research.

Did these children give you their prior permission?

Of course not.

They had no idea of their fate.

If had explained they wouldn't have understood.

Do you know what?

I'm fed up hearing how Mengele and his defense

disguise every proven crime as a humanistic death benefit.

Can hardly dictate the defense's presentation of the case.

But humanist ethics condemns such behavior as

abhorrent, barbaric and inhuman!

Cut the humanist ethics!

In every history book it says:

Whatever happened back then is unfathomable to the human mind.

We're here to try and fathom it.

How can you claim our current ethics forbid certain behavior

in the Third Reich when you're not willing to try and find out.

What the medical ethics of that era were?

Dr. Fuglein, may speak to you for a moment?

Could help you. - Who are you?

I'm the one who ratted on you. - Leave me alone.

You won't be left alone! Listen to me!

You're the lawyer's wife, right?

I'm a journalist. I need your information.

My paper will pay you DM 100,000 cash and a trip to any destination.

Call me tomorrow...

3 p.m. At home.

Will.

Quiet, please.

Please concentrate on the trial or I'll clear the court room.

Mr. Voigt, what was your last question?

Please repeat it.

What did he do to you?

He scraped out bone marrow without anesthetic.

But didn't have anesthetic!

Please listen to me briefly...

A doctor diagnoses gangrene but has no anesthetic.

What does he do? He amputates without it.

Do you call witnesses who tell how the surgeon sawed flesh?

Or how the blood spurted? Or how the patient screamed?

Continue questioning the witness.

In the early 70s, you said in a NBC TV show,

you performed for prominent SS.

We had to perform. We were a circus family.

That was in 1944, you said.

Yes.

Heinrich Himmler was among them.

I said that, but it wasn't Himmler.

Himmler wasn't in Auschwitz in 1944 He was a year earlier.

What's the purpose of these questions?

I want to make the witness unsure.

Or make clear to her that she's not sure herself.

How dare you!

Interrupt these proceedings for 15 minutes.

Prosecution and defense - To my chamber, please.

That's symptomatic of her. She was mistaken before.

Now she says Mengele gave her eye drops.

She didn't say that in 1976 at the Shoah Research Center.

Why's she saying it now?

She can't keep repeating every detail.

She has been till now! In 1965 she said:

"There's only one reason why I survived."

"To tell my story over and over, tell every detail..."

"so nothing will be forgotten."

She said that herself!

She's told her story over and over again.

She's heard other people's stories.

She started adding things here and leaving out others.

Whatever suited her best. She's polished her story over the years.

My job is perfidious enough.

You're making it worse by not doing your homework.

No memory remains intact after 50 years.

What should do?

Tear me apart, tear Mengeles apart. But not like that, Mr. Voigt.

Mrs. Chairman? - Yes?

The proceedings are interrupted.

A decision to continue will be made tomorrow morning at the earliest.

Mrs. Rohm's room? - Room 1.

The baby's unharmed.

I'm quitting.

It will never be the way it was.

Hilda told me.

Peter, want to testify.

What?

Want to confront it.

You can't.

You're after the truth.

I'm part of his truth.

He's a part of my truth.

Peter, please.

Let's do it together.

Let her testify, Peter.

One day my daughter Clara came out of Mengele's laboratory...

deathly pale. He'd sterilized her, too.

We said nothing, just hugged.

Thought, how strong one must be to endure and survive all this.

She softly said, "Mom, pray with me."

To God.

Said, "You know what?"

We always prayed to the 3 angels at bedtime.

She looked at me with her big eyes.

I held her tiny hands. We kissed and hugged.

Then prayed to the 3 angels that we'll both go to heaven.

When got to the third angel, realized the child was dead.

We installed a room there.

What kind of room?

A small room - maybe 20 square meters.

Airtight... Like a big shower.

One pipe system entered the room, another one led out of it.

You installed the pipe systems? - Yes.

We built the entire room. We checked the seals.

That was real important. No leaks, they always said.

They? Who are they?

The doctors.

Do you know what you built?

Of course asked. But no one gave me a real answer.

Then someone said it's for an experiment.

You found out what kind of experiment it was?

Not the first time...

but the second time when they called me.

Why were you there again? Was there a leak?

No, no. I did good work.

They called to have me dismantle it.

When was that? - Two months later.

Amazing. Only 2 months later,

in August 1942, you figured out what it was for.

I was only a plumber! I only did what they told me!

Please tell the court where you delivered this chamber.

Please answer the question.

To the East.

Auschwitz? Did you take it to Auschwitz?

Yes.

Euthanasia is forbidden without exception in our system of laws.

Yet you're familiar with the topic.

Euthanasia is practiced daily in Germany.

A vast legal gray area.

Please be more precise. Where?

In hospitals.

Doctors are confronted with the decision daily...

Whether to disregard the principle of life-support

in order to free hopeless cases from great pain.

One lets them die? - Yes.

Does euthanasia occur without the consent of the patient or his relatives?

They've loosened up over the years in tiny steps.

For moral reasons, but the real reason is economical.

Statistically seen a dying patient's last 30 days are the most expensive.

Money spent when it is needed elsewhere.

Other countries discuss this much more openly.

Figure in the next 10-20 years, euthanasia will be legalized.

But no one would go so far as

to condone testing new drugs on dying patients.

That's a leading question of the first degree.

Knew I'd be asked such a question.

It happens.

Several cases are on record where patients were misused.

Misused meaning, they didn't give their consent.

Why not?

One doctor justified himself, "They'll die anyway."

That's a quote.

That was Dr. Lutzmann on trial in 1986 in Kassel.

Where did Dr. Lutzmann work?

At a home for the mentally and physically handicapped.

His guinea pigs weren't dying, they were handicapped.

Most of them were healthy.

He tested a new tranquilizer on them.

One of them died,

it was proven, from an overdose.

Dr. Luzmann was fined DM 4,000 and allowed to practice further.

When did you work in the Wurzbach Clinic?

Please follow protocol.

The defense should use the polite form when addressing the witness.

She's my mother. I don't know what's the point.

Continue.

When did you work there?

From 1940 to 1942. I was a nurse trainee.

What was your job?

Tended the handicapped, adults and children...

The usual care.

We learned how to use syringes.

The drugs came from the doctor on duty, of course.

But I gave the injections.

In at least 2 cases I gave patients a deadly overdose of Evipan.

Did you do so voluntarily?

I didn't know what I had done. I just gave them an injection.

They were dead the next morning.

I told Dr. Beckmann...

"I don't want to do it.

I refuse."

I never again had to.

I thought for weeks about it, for months.

More patients kept dying -

simply dead the next morning.

There was a new chamber installed in Hall 3.

The whole building stank faintly of fumes.

That went on for 2 weeks.

Two weeks. Then what'?

Then it suddenly stopped.

Why did these killings stop?

They didn't want to any more.

Who? Who didn't want to?

Everyone. The people.

They knew what was going on.

Knew... It wasn't normal.

It was horrible and was in the midst and didn't understand.

Then you quit?

Yes.

After the war lied.

Erased those 2 years.

I didn't want to remember.

Because the chamber was used for such a brief period...

the Wurzbach Clinic was never officially declared an euthanasia institution.

Thank you, mother.

Mrs. Rohm? Do you feel guilty?

Yes.

High Court, Ladies and Gentlemen:

German law is based on a great achievement of civilization:

Maximization of context.

We have done our duty.

In this trial we've examined each charge from every possible viewpoint.

What was the point?

The worst criminal of all times sits over there.

What really happened here...

was a gradual minimization of the context,

turning the unfathomable crimes committed my Mengele

into a topic of euthanasia.

This is a great achievement by the defense, Peter Rohm.

But do not reproach him.

He defended his client well.

He pointed out the difference between Mengele and many others,

with his mother's testimony.

She feels guilt because she didn't know better.

She had to live with this guilt.

But Mengele feels no guilt.

Only bitterness towards the accusations against him.

He is well aware of his crimes.

How can he not feel guilt?

No regret? No compassion?

Why doesn't it tear him apart?

Why doesn't he scream in pain for his deeds?

It doesn't play a role if he was a Nazi or not.

He wasn't a politically motivated person.

His personal motives were primitive and egotistical.

He was a lousy doctor, an arrogant, incompetent scientist

who used the system for his career.

Throughout the trial he never let us doubt...

he was pleased with what he did until February, 1945.

This allows only 1 conclusion:

Josef Mengele is one of the most cruel,

power-hungry psychopaths this country has ever faced.

He is intelligent and cunning enough to hide his true, sick self

behind pseudo-scientific and pseudo-humanistic motives.

He is well aware of his guilt, but it leaves him cold.

He enjoyed humiliating people, torturing, killing...

gloating over the suffering and deaths of his victims.

That was back then.

Now an old man sits here, satisfied how he's become a myth.

His name a symbol of horror burned in our collective consciousness:

The Death Angel of Auschwitz! What triumph!

But Mr. Mengele is bitter.

He spent half a century in poverty, lonely, deserted -

unable to enjoy his fame.

I kept wondering why he turned himself in.

Now know:

He could only win. He had already won.

During the trial he reaped what he had sown in Auschwitz.

His own legend became human flesh and blood.

Congratulations, Mr. Mengele.

Call for the maximum sentence.

Know he'll spend the rest of his life content in prison.

Three daily meals and with comforts he never had in Argentina.

Even if he is so sentenced...

this man has already conquered us.

Defense Counsel? Your summation.

High Court, Ladies and Gentlemen:

This was a standard book in the Third Reich and earlier.

Every German doctor had a copy.

For the Destruction of Unworthy Life.

The authors maintained: Not all life is worth living.

Doctors must take not save lives under certain circumstances.

Let me briefly explain.

Imagine you're a doctor and you have an 85-year-old patient.

She will die within 1 week from bone cancer.

Bone cancer is extremely painful.

You give the patient morphine again and again.

You know it's not enough. She suffers incredible pain.

You can't increase the dosage - it would kill her.

You explain this to her and she begs you for more.

A small step from healer to killer.

This book advises doctors to take this step.

In the course of this trial we learned

this happens daily here and now.

What if the patient was 75 years old instead of 85?

Or 55?

She too suffers unbearably.

She too asks for more.

Could you refuse?

A further small step.

Your patient is 30 or 15. Or only 5 years old.

Then we have a problem:

A child doesn't realize the consequences.

But its parents ask you:

Please, doctor. Give her more!

Could you refuse?

One further small step.

But we're not talking about a hospital and a dying patient in this trial.

We're talking about Auschwitz and what happened there.

Let's think one small step further.

Euthanasia as an act of grace in a concentration camp.

You're a doctor there.

Many people, including children, suffer incredibly.

They're not hospital patients.

No. They were carted there like livestock for days in railway cars.

Suddenly they're in these infested, inhumane barracks.

You're a doctor. It's not your fault.

Now what? You're a doctor.

How can you deny these people what you already gave others?

After taking all those steps?

Why am I telling you all this?

So that you see...

Mengele was a victim of circumstance...

created by the era he lived in.

Mr. Rohm?

What do you call for?

How do you plea?

Defended Mengele for 2 reasons:

First, I wanted to know the truth.

Second, I wanted to be a good lawyer defending justice.

Tried to understand Mengele's deeds...

in their context in time.

Instead had to hear...

Mengele doesn't comprehend that what he did back then

in Auschwitz belongs to the worst crimes anyone can imagine.

We had to endure his excuse...

that these crimes were committed out of compassion.

Mengele hasn't shown the slightest signs of remorse until now.

A greater contempt for mankind is inconceivable.

No one else has murdered so perversely and cold-bloodedly.

This trial...

has shown us how susceptible we all are.

It's also shown us how small the step to loss of human values is.

Josef Mengele is guilty.

Call for a lifetime sentence.

If there is a God, then he knows the truth.

Am innocent.

The truth always hides behind the facts.

Killed... Of course killed.

For the benefit of mankind, because was a good doctor.

A good scientist.

A scientist can't afford to make mistakes.

The best doctors must kill daily.

Today they have rats and mice, apes...

and waste precious time.

We didn't waste time back then.

One more year and we'd have revolutionized medicine.

It's all been delayed.

We laid the foundation for what medicine achieves today.

Truth tolerates no mistakes.

We repeated our experiments again and again and again...

to assure absolute certainty.

Almost became a professor -

like my teacher and mentor, von Verschuer.

We'd have a better position in a medical court.

These ignorant bureaucrats haven't a clue what medicine can do.

The future is decisive.

We will see.

I'm optimistic.

What do you see?

Do you at least see a bit of yourself in me?

Josef Mengele never had to appear in a German court.

He died on February 7, 1979, in Brazil.

Dear Goetz, dear Kai:

Many thanks for your exceptional involvement.

This film wouldn't have been possible without the hard work

and material sacrifices of all the contributors

before and behind the camera. My heartfelt thanks go to all of you.