The Eichmann Show

This programme contains some strong language and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

September 2nd 1945. The war is over. 50 million dead, including six million murdered Jews.

As leading Nazis are captured, one name slowly rises to the top

of the most wanted list -

Adolf Eichmann, the SS officer accused of planning

the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.

It will take the Israeli secret service 15 years to track him down

to his hiding place in Argentina.

On 11th May 1960,

a man living under the name Ricardo Clement is kidnapped

and taken to a safe house in Buenos Aires to be interrogated.

What is your name? Your name.

What is your SS number?

Your name.

-ON TAPE:

-'Eichmann.'

-Say it.

'Eichmann. Eichmann.'

Say it.

My name is Adolf Eichmann.

SPEAKS IN HEBREW

In capturing the man...

in capturing the man responsible...

..responsible for the execution of the final solution of the Jewish problem,

you have done something truly extraordinary.

Eichmann will be judged in Israel.

To tell the world...no, to show the world, show the world

what the Nazis did...

to show the world what the Nazis did to the Jewish people.

Let's use television to do this. Let's use television to do this.

Only television can do this.

And...

in granting permission for Capital Cities

to film the trial of Eichmann on Israeli soil...

..you will become a part of

the most important television event in history - past, present and...

Yeah, why not? ..future.

The Prime Minister will see you now.

-Prime Minister.

-PHONE RINGS

-'Mr Hurwitz?'

-Speaking.

'Milton Fruchtman. I'd like to talk to you about a job.'

You do know no-one's hiring me right now?

'Yes, but I'd like to change that.

'Adolf Eichmann, it's going to be the trial of the century.

'How would you like to film it?'

The papers call him a monster.

Sure. Because monsters sell more papers.

This says you're officially off the blacklist.

Yeah, well...it's the unofficial ones you need to worry about.

-You're working on the trial?

-Yes.

We should have put a bullet in his head in Buenos Aires and left him there.

Welcome to Israel.

Thank you.

Leo Hurwitz?

Well, you're holding a sign that says Leo Hurwitz, so I guess.

-Pleasure to meet you, Mr Hurwitz.

-Leo.

I'm Perry, as in Como.

A pleasure to meet you, Perry.

-How was the flight?

-I managed to get some work done.

Lucky you. Coming over was my first time on a plane.

Puked so much they locked me in a toilet till we touched down.

That's great, Perry.

Without cameras we can't film.

We have to find a way. Of course I'm going to tell him.

We're working around the clock

-to make sure that...

-KNOCK ON DOOR

He's arrived.

Yeah, I'm literally about to offer him my hand to shake.

We'll talk later.

-Leo.

-Milton.

Leo Hurwitz, I cannot tell you how relieved I am

-to finally have you here. You have cases?

-In the car.

-Drop them off at the hotel, would you, Perry?

-Sure.

I say hotel, it's not really a hotel as we would know it,

but it's clean, they have rooms, serve food.

Meet Judy, my secretary.

-Hi.

-And Alan, my production assistant.

You join us from a kibbutz, right, where you've been working on...

A small documentary.

And, if I'm being completely honest, a particularly beautiful girl.

-But, yeah, mainly the documentary.

-It's a pleasure to meet you, Alan.

-Alan, have the team meet us in the courtroom in ten minutes.

-Right.

How's that looking?

That's excellent.

We should talk about that.

Come and meet David.

Leo, I'd like you to meet our lawyer, David Arad.

David, we finally have our director.

-Mr Hurwitz.

-Leo, please.

It's wonderful to meet you at last.

You got a problem, David'll fix it in five different ways -

one of which may or may not involve the use of a gun.

Most issues can generally be resolved by understanding the position of the other.

-The issue with the judges, however...

-There's an issue?

Milton, there's an issue with the judges?

As you know, we have a contract

with the Israeli government to film this trial.

But there is a condition.

The three trial judges must give their permission.

And we don't have permission?

Yesterday they came to inspect the cameras.

-And...?

-And they found them too loud and too visible.

-I flew 5,500 miles and you don't have permission to film?

-Yet.

Yet. I find that so reassuring(!)

Look, I know this is a shock, but right now we need to press on.

Come.

Leo, this is Ron and Roy, our terrific Marconi engineers from England.

-Terrific's perhaps overstating the point, but...

-We're well-trained

-and at your disposal, Mr Hurwitz.

-Leo, please.

We're having a bit of trouble with the contrast.

Well, that's not really going to be an issue unless we find invisible cameras.

Come on, I'll show you the courtroom.

-Thank you, gentlemen. Carry on.

-Thanks.

The court will be connected to the control room

by cables running between the two roofs.

So, in addition to the trial being relayed live

to Israelis in the streets, there is also going to be

live coverage every day on the radio.

What about television, Milton?

We don't even know if we're going to be able to film.

What alternative do we have?

-Well...

-I'm glad you're so positive.

-What else would I be?

The press room.

We got phones, telex, typewriters, a direct feed to the courtroom

allowing hundreds of people, from reporters to philosophers,

to scrutinise, decipher and judge

every inch of your footage as it unfolds.

-If there is any footage.

-There has to be footage, and there will be.

-C'mon, let's meet your cameramen.

-My cameramen?

-Here we go.

Milton, I pick my own team.

-Jesus, it's a theatre.

-Ah...

Mr Hurwitz is here, so I'll bring him over. ..Leo.

I'd like to introduce you to your camera operators.

This is Rolf, Yaakov, Millek, and Fred.

On behalf of my colleagues, I'd like to welcome you to our country.

It's a great honour for us

to work with the distinguished director of such documentaries

as Native Land and the anti-fascist masterpiece Strange Victory.

It's a pleasure to meet you gentlemen...

It's shameful that an artist of your stature and humanity

should be blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

It's frightening what these guys know.

They even knew I worked with Rita Hayworth.

These gentlemen are the creme de la creme of the Israeli film industry.

-Yeah, well, they'll need to be.

-Milton, your taxi's here.

Thank you. Excuse me.

It's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen.

You'll like the Israeli press attache.

He's like the sphinx, only Jewish.

-Thanks, Judy.

-We don't have time for PR, Milton.

This isn't PR. We have a contract with the Israeli government.

They're concerned the judges won't ever give us permission to film.

And what if they don't?

If they don't, Capital Cities lose the half million dollars

they've spent on the production,

37 countries we promised footage to will never see the Eichmann trial

and, well, our names become the punchline

to an industry joke told for decades to come.

Why are we meeting the Israeli press secretary at an Arab cafe?

Because the coffee is out of this world.

The newspapers describe this as the trial of the century,

but my superiors see it as something far more important.

They see this trial as an opportunity for a Jewish Nuremberg.

Survivors of the genocide are very often

held in low regard here in Israel,

as if they were complicit

in the crimes that they endured.

Israel and the world

needs to hear what happened to them

from the mouths of the survivors.

So...we will broadcast it live on Israeli radio,

but it is essential that the world must also see it

in their homes on their television screens.

You said you could film this trial.

So the judges must give us their approval.

Your superiors couldn't quietly insist the judges give it?

Unlike Nazi Germany, Israel does not undermine or compromise

the independence of its judiciary.

We've done all we can to address the judges' concerns.

-Clearly not.

-Well, we're working on it.

In the meantime, you leave us in a very difficult position.

The decision to televise was a very great gamble.

Now it must pay off. Many necks are on the line.

Are you talking to other companies about taking over the production?

We would be unwise not to have a fallback, would we not?

However you do it, the trial must be filmed.

You have three days.

-Three?

-You told me five.

Three days, gentlemen.

Mmm.

You should try the honey cake, it is the best in Jerusalem.

In the control room, you said... What did you say?

Milton, I'm so tired I can't remember what I said 20 seconds ago,

-let alone an hour ago.

-You said

something about a invisible camera.

Leo, that's it.

That is it. We hide the cameras from view.

We make them part of the fabric of the courtroom.

Put them in the wall?

Yeah, then put a window in the wall so they can see through.

-All right.

-No, this could work.

-So the cameras need to be able to move.

-OK, fine.

Jesus, we're going to need

every carpenter and plasterer in Jerusalem for this.

And we've got three days to do it in.

Just here on the left, please.

Leo...get some sleep.

I may feel well enough to get the first plane back to New York.

See you tomorrow.

-Yes?

-Hurwitz.

Ah, yes, Mr Horowitz.

Hurwitz.

As I said. You are tired, yes?

Very.

-You are Jewish?

-Uh-huh.

All Jews sleep well in Jerusalem, Mr Horowitz.

Hurwitz.

'Gentlemen, as you know, the judges will be returning in two days,

'and when they do, we need to be working as a team.

'Because if we fail to get permission,

'well, we'll all be going home.

'I believe that in my absence you've been familiarised with

'the technical aspects of our television cameras.'

Those cameras must now become extensions of your own eyes,

so that you can become extensions of mine.

Right, right, right. OK, stop.

'Now, we have three days to become a team.'

To act...to act...to act as one.

All right, let's give this a shot, shall we?

'As you film, I will edit directly onto a master tape.'

I'm going to need 100% of your concentration.

Ready, camera two.

This is going to be mentally and physically challenging.

Most likely the most interesting thing you ever do.

Got it.

Take two.

Our objective is to use images to reveal the events of that courtroom.

Ready on the auditorium. And cue.

Take two... Take three.

Good.

The camera bridges distance.

Better... 'It will show detail...'

Take four. '..of Eichmann's face, his hands...' Take one.

'..the expressions of the judges, the counsel.'

Camera one on the judges' bench. Thank you, nice and smooth.

Take two. Take two, take two.

OK, stop. Stop. Stop.

I need you to switch immediately.

'I want shots of Eichmann as he speaks and reacts

'to things said and done at the court.'

Let's go again, gentlemen, until we get this running smooth like water.

'Feelings that he may try and mask emotionally may manifest themselves

'in a way that he cannot physically suppress.'

You want us to climb into the glass box with Eichmann

-and ask, "What kind of man are you?"

-Exactly.

Gentlemen, I don't believe in monsters,

but I do believe that men are responsible for monstrous deeds.

What transformed this ordinary man into someone who was capable

of sending hundreds and thousands of children to their death

while going home every evening and kissing his own children goodnight?

A human being like any one of us.

He is not like us.

I am not Eichmann, Mr Hurwitz.

Under the right circumstances,

anyone is capable of fascist behaviour.

Not...I.

Yaakov, anyone is capable.

Not...I.

PHONE RINGS

Fruchtman.

'Mr Fruchtman, listen carefully.

'You will close production down and leave Israel immediately.'

Who is this?

The trial of Obersturmbannfuhrer Eichmann will not be allowed to take place.

'If you don't leave, Mr Fruchtman, your wife, your children -

'I will kill them all.'

PHONE RINGS

-Hello.

-Honey...I won't make it home for supper tonight.

-'I have some things to run through here.'

-OK.

-How are the kids?

-The kids? Fine.

How are things there? How's Leo getting on?

He's putting them through their paces.

-'How are you?'

-Fine. We're good.

-'The kids?'

-Yeah, the kids are good.

-'How's the apartment?'

-The apartment? In what sense?

Generally.

I think the apartment's fine, Milton.

You want me to go and ask it?

You have got these calls before?

I received a few in New York

when it was announced that I was to produce this show.

A couple of crank letters to Capital Cities office. Nazi bullshit.

Should I warn my people?

It would alarm them unnecessarily.

I will add to the security presence in your building.

And my family?

-I will take care of it.

-How?

By taking care of it.

I want to talk to you about your cameraman, Millek.

OK, gentlemen... and lady, ssh, thank you.

As some of you may know,

this afternoon we learnt that the Israeli authorities have revoked

their permission for Millek to operate in the courtroom.

-Why?

-I am a member of the Israeli Communist Party

who may, in their mind, wish to attack Eichmann.

Who in their right mind wouldn't want to attack the bastard?

-Doesn't mean they will.

-I might jump from my box with a knife between my teeth.

All right, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have tried to explain at great length

that Millek has no desire to attack Eichmann

and every desire to see him stand trial for his crimes.

But to no avail.

So, tomorrow morning I start looking for a replacement cameraman

and hope to find someone by lunchtime tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Millek will work alongside Leo in the control room.

Excuse me.

Did he say control room?

Leo?

We can't just accept this stupid decision about Millek.

Their paranoia is through the roof, as we know, so you and me,

we bite several bullets and get on with what we're here to do.

Do you want me to tell you what it was like

-being blacklisted for ten years under McCarthy?

-Be my guest.

Then I can tell you how difficult it was to hire you

when everyone said don't, precisely because you'd been blacklisted.

Jesus, you getting me?

Look...

..I know there were easier names you could have gone to.

-Good names.

-Mm-hm, but not the best name.

We'll talk to them about Millek,

but right now our focus has to be on the judges coming, first thing.

Without them we're screwed anyway.

I'm going to go back in.

Milton...

..when the judges come tomorrow,

bring them straight to the courtroom.

Don't mention the cameras.

We will sell this.

CAR HORN BLASTS

HE SIGHS WITH RELIEF

It's the judges. They'll be here in two minutes.

They're on their way. Ready?

As ready as we'll ever be.

'Gentlemen, as you know, the scale of this operation is unprecedented.

'But, as I said to the Prime Minister,'

this trial is a unique global event.

Work is clearly taking place. We are here to re-examine the cameras.

But you do not appear to have prepared for us.

The cameras are not present.

Gentlemen, would you follow me?

-Alan, could you run the VT, please?

-Of course.

Gentlemen, as some of you may know,

we will be sending nightly video packages to over 30 countries.

The scale of this operation is...

You were filming us? From where? I don't understand.

We've taken the cameras out of the courtroom and we've hidden them.

But how they will see in?

We've rebuilt the walls of the courtroom

to create space to hide our cameras.

We've built slits into the walls which the cameras can track along,

giving a range of positions from which to film.

The slits are covered with chicken wire

-to reflect the courtroom lights.

-This way, please.

This enables the camera to see through the wire into the court

while still being masked from sight.

We hope that this has addressed all of your concerns.

If the judges say no cameras a second time?

There won't be a third.

-Well, even to get this far...

-No,

there's no consolation prize, Eva.

I'll be the guy who dropped

the Eichmann show.

They'll hang me out to dry.

I'll have to send you out to work

on the streets to support us.

KNOCK AT DOOR

Get dressed. Wait with the children.

-What?

-Just do it.

-KNOCKING

KNOCKING CONTINUES

Who is it?

KNOCKS AGAIN Milton, what's happening?

Who's there?

David Landor.

I hope I'm not disturbing you.

Please...

KNOCK ON DOOR

Leo?

If you're asleep, wake up. Leo!

What's happening?

Read.

"Where there is no publicity, there is no justice.

"It keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial.

"The security of security is publicity."

We did it. We're going to film the trial

of Obersturmbannfuhrer Adolf Eichmann, Nazi Party number 889895,

SS number 45326. Christ, Leo, this is really happening.

It's great.

HE EXHALES

I left Eva in the bath.

Right.

-See you later.

-Right.

I'm standing in front of the building

where in only a few hours' time

what is being described as the trial of the century will begin

and the eyes of the world will fall upon Adolf Eichmann,

the Nazi responsible for organising

the mass murder of six million European Jews.

It isn't only Eichmann who will be on trial

over the next few days and weeks.

The state of Israel will also be under intense scrutiny

as it attempts to mount a fair trial

of the man tasked with destroying the Jewish people.

This city, this country, the entire world,

is under a state of heightened anticipation.

The stakes could not be higher.

'In televising this trial, the state of Israel hopes to show

'many of its own people across the world the full horror of what befell

'those of their faith who lived in Europe through the Nazi era.

'Israel hopes to impart to a new generation an understanding

'of the cunning cruelty employed by the Nazis to lure their people

'to their deaths through the lie they were being sent to work camps.

'And it is also seeking to impress on the consciousness of humanity

'that these crimes, which have no precedent in the entire history

'of man on Earth, were committed in an enlightened age,

'on Jews this time,

'but could be committed against others in the future.

'To show the world that, in the end,

'this is a crime that affects every one of us.'

All right, gentlemen. This is it.

Moment of truth.

-What are you thinking at this precise moment?

-Hmm?

Of everything that could go wrong.

DOOR ENTRY BUZZES

All right, gentlemen, rehearsal is over.

Camera three, ready.

Take three.

Camera four, ready.

CLERK INSTRUCTS COURT

Stay on the bench for the judges.

Camera four, ready.

On Eichmann. Take four.

Adolf Eichmann, rise.

You are accused before this court according to the indictment

which includes 15 counts...

Wide on the auditorium.

Adolf, son of Adolf Karl Eichmann, is accused hereby, first count.

Nature of offence - crime against the Jewish people.

Particulars of the offence -

the accused, together with others during the period of 1936...

-Take two.

-..to 1945 caused the killings of millions of Jews

in his capacity as the person responsible for the execution

of the Nazi plan for the physical extermination of the Jews,

known as the Final Solution of the Jewish Problem.

Here ends the first count brought against you.

Close on Eichmann.

CHARGES READ OUT

Adolf Eichmann,

do you plead guilty or not guilty to count one of the indictment?

SPEAKS IN GERMAN

TRANSLATOR: In the spirit of the indictment, not guilty.

And now the most important trial of the 20th century begins.

TRANSLATOR: In the spirit of the indictment, I am not guilty.

..crime against humanity.

In the spirit of the indictment, I am not guilty.

In the spirit of the indictment, I am not guilty.

Take four.

-Take two.

-Do you plead guilty or not guilty

to count 15 of the indictment?

SPEAKS IN GERMAN

TRANSLATION: In the spirit of the indictment, not guilty.

-NEWSREEL:

-At the conclusion of the afternoon's sessions,

the important job begins of distributing the tapes

of the day's proceedings around the world.

Copies of the tapes are required by broadcasters

in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney.

Then to the shipping, not by ship, but by air, of course.

It is sent by one of the many airplanes

departing daily from Lod Airport,

90 minutes fast driving from Jerusalem.

Then directly onto the television screens in all our homes

in this exciting new age of mass media.

When I first arrived, I had doubts that we'd make the beginning

of this day, let alone the end.

But thanks to your hard work, we did it. And...

CHORUS OF APPROVAL

..I very much appreciate it.

But just how tired and exhausted you feel right now

is an indicator of how big the job at hand is.

We have a tremendous responsibility.

In showing this trial to the world, we invite them

to ask not only how Eichmann did it, but why?

-But great work today, then. And a toast to good work.

-To good work.

-ALL:

-Good work.

HE STRUMS GENTLY

# I know a song, it goes like this Do you know it too?

# Oh, yes, I do, yes, I do It goes one, two, three, four... #

DOOR OPENS

SINGING CONTINUES INSIDE

Whenever I see you outside of the control room, you're always looking around.

What are you looking for, Leo?

I'm just trying to understand this place.

It's one and a half million people trying to stay alive.

Don't you think it's ironic that, if it wasn't for Eichmann

and the Nazis, we wouldn't even be having this conversation?

The idea of Israel existed long before Eichmann and his associates.

The idea, but not the reality.

I do not write history, Leo.

Before I came here, I went to see a friend in Brooklyn,

the editor of the Jerusalem Post,

and I talked to him about writing a weekly editorial

of the Eichmann trial to try and promote

conversation between Israelis about the...

nature of fascism.

It's an idea worth being vigilant about, wouldn't you say?

And did your friend take you up on your kind offer?

He was embarrassed by it.

Are you really so surprised?

There's too much to contend with in the present to keep looking back.

But my point is, fascism didn't die when Hitler blew his brains out.

Wherever people set up house, fascism can exist.

Israel is a newborn calf, Leo,

still struggling to its feet.

All in good time.

You were in Auschwitz, weren't you?

Yes.

As a survivor, what do you think of Eichmann when you look at him?

I should get back inside.

The wind is picking up.

# ..Four, five, six, seven, eight! #

One more for the boss!

# I know a ditty Do you know it too?

# Oh, yes, I do, yes, I do It goes one, two, three, four... #

Morning, guys.

Oh, don't you look lovely? Mmm!

They know where we live.

OK.

You two?

Go and play in your room.

Come on, up.

Thank you.

Eva, the police have a security detail outside.

How good are they if it didn't stop this?

What if it had been a bomb? This isn't the first time, Milton.

They're just trying to frighten me into pulling the production.

How can you be sure it's just intended to frighten you

-and not to warn against worse to come?

-I can't.

If you want me to stop, I'll stop.

And give the bastards

the satisfaction?

I'll see you later.

Hey...

..I love you.

Go to work.

On behalf of us all, Attorney General, do not fuck this up.

I'm nervous for him.

Does he seem nervous?

Well, he does have the eyes of the world on him.

Start wide on Hausner, take three.

And zoom in as he begins.

HAUSNER SPEAKS HEBREW

TRANSLATOR: When I stand before you, the judges of Israel,

in this court to accuse Adolf Eichmann...

Take one.

..I do not stand alone.

Shouldn't he go in tighter on Hausner?

We need to establish him as a main character.

I'm not directing a soap opera, Milton.

It's evident that he's a main character.

Here with me at this moment stand six million prosecutors,

but, alas, they cannot rise

to level the finger of accusation

in the direction of the glass dock

and cry out, "J'accuse,"

against the man who sits there.

Because their ashes have been piled up in the mounds of Auschwitz

and the fields of Treblinka,

or spilled into the rivers of Poland.

And their graves are scattered

throughout the length and breadth of Europe.

Their blood cries to heaven,

but their voice cannot be heard.

Thus it falls to me to be their mouthpiece

and to deliver the heinous accusation in their name.

Early this morning, Adolf Eichmann...

Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you do,

remember April 1961.

The month the Cold War got hot in Cuba

and men finally defied gravity to blast into space.

The solar system got a whole lot nearer,

but the chance of peace, light years further away.

Contrary to what you believe, we see real and widespread interest.

Thank you, Frank, thank you.

How can Eichmann compare with, say, Gagarin?

People bore of spectacle very quickly.

I think it's ridiculous to compare the two.

But isn't your problem

that people may choose to watch one over the other?

Why would they? They're entirely unrelated.

You don't think one represents the dark past

and the other our glittering future?

My wife is right.

Very little can compete as a spectacle

with the first man in space.

Also, isn't it inherently ridiculous to try one man

for the deaths of six million?

I'd be inclined to agree with that.

Then why else should people watch?

To learn.

Excuse me.

Let's go.

-Goodnight, Leo. See you tomorrow.

-Goodnight.

-Don't stay up too late.

-I won't.

-See you in the morning.

Hey...

you're not letting them get to you, are you?

I just don't need the distraction.

-This is bullshit.

-Maybe.

What, you think they have a point?

We only have control over how we film the trial,

not how the network sells it to the public.

Once the excitement of seeing a real-life Nazi on trial goes away,

who's to say we won't lose the audience, hmm?

-See you in the morning.

-Yeah.

Er, Scotch, please.

..would not be used on the Western Front.

And accompanied by Bandi Grosz, on Eichmann's orders...

David...

..they can't all be watching Gagarin.

No. He isn't and she isn't.

Most called away to cover Gagarin have not returned.

And those that have are following developments in Cuba.

My children have a longer attention span.

Journalists, they're like magpies, Mr Fruchtman.

They're quickly drawn to the shiniest object

in their field of vision.

You promised the Prime Minister an audience.

Hausner has just spent three days delivering a dry-as-dust lecture

on Israel's right to put Eichmann on trial.

-He's boring the shit out of me.

-Well...

Are you surprised that people are going?

Is there nothing we can do to make his oration more compelling?

Off the top of my head, just one - tell him to stop.

'While his agents in Kistarcsa loaded 1,200 Jews into a deportation train

'and sent it on its way.'

Whatever you have planned for today,

scrap it and think of something better.

Shoot tighter, cut quicker - whatever you do, add more pace.

-Milton...

-Gagarin and the Bay of Pigs are killing us.

We need to respond.

We are responding - by holding our nerve.

We can die holding that, Leo. No-one's fucking watching.

Listen, you hired me because of my experience.

That's what I'm trying to give you.

That would be enough in a perfect world.

But it's not perfect, Leo.

It's a world with a Russian in space

and counter-revolutionaries running amok on a Cuban beach.

We need to compete with that.

But we can't.

Not until the witness testimony starts to come in.

What if we've lost everyone by then?

Milton, I need my producer to be visibly calm.

We all know you're anxious, and none of us needs to see it.

We've got your back, trust us.

When the witness testimony starts, the audience will come back.

Mm-hm. And what if they don't?

Then you hired the wrong guy.

In the building where Eichmann is being tried,

the Israelis are trying to place before the conscience of the world

the full facts of how the Nazis and Germany

tried literally to exterminate

millions of the Jewish people in Europe.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

INTERPRETER: We heard how the people were told to go to the bathhouse.

Take one.

They all passed through the door into a long corridor.

We did not know exactly what was happening.

We were in the basement, in the cellar.

But there were SS men with great sticks,

and they beat the people and forced them to board the trucks.

But do you know now what these trucks were?

Yes, now I know what they were.

They were trucks where people were locked up inside

and then gas was piped into the trucks.

Gas was piped into the trucks.

Stay in close on Eichmann.

Copy.

'What happened to you on the next day?'

We, five of us, were taken from the cellar.

More people were put into the trucks.

We heard screams from the trucks, and the engine began working

and the gas flowed in.

Then the shouts died off.'

Take three.

And on the following day,

you yourself went to work in the wood

and saw what was taking place with your own eyes.

There were 25 people there, and they were all digging pits.

Ever seen anything like this?

Never.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

You dug graves, and then the trucks...a truck arrived,

on one of those trucks...

When the trucks arrived we still were not permitted to approach them.

We had to wait until the truck had stopped for a few moments -

two or three minutes.

And fumes were...coming out of the trucks,

and we had to wait.

And then five or six people opened the doors

and...take the bodies and place them near the pits,

right near the trenches.

Were the people dead?

All completely dead. No-one was alive any more.

And, in the third truck, some bodies arrived whom you knew?

This was after I had been working there for some time,

when all the people of my town came.

And who was amongst them?

My wife and my two children.

My wife and my two children.

And you saw them whilst they were being removed from the truck?

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

I lay near my wife and two children and I...

wanted them to shoot me.

Have you ever heard anything like it?

We should eat.

CHATTERING

Still bored?

No, it's tremendous that it's having this impact.

It helps that Servatius isn't going to cross-examine...

Sorry, no, no. No...

What's that?

I don't know what is this.

VOICES ECHO

Idiot.

I don't think I'd have the strength to do it.

Hey, identify yourself.

Hey!

Oh!

..and it is just horrifying.

ALARM RINGS

HE GRUNTS

He's got a grenade! He's got a grenade!

I'll call you back.

Have you got him?

GUN COCKS

You are spreading lies to the world.

Jesus!

Back inside! Close the door and go under your desk!

You received my letter?

Back inside!

You fucking Jews, you have no right!

You call this protection?

We could have been killed - every single one of us.

You let him come to my door?! Jesus Christ.

There will be others after me!

MUFFLED SHOUTS

Heil Hitler.

Gentlemen.

Thank you all for staying behind after yet another long day,

when bars and restaurant and beds are waiting.

I wanted to have us all here to say two things.

The latest audience research reveals

that our films are being watched nightly by...huge numbers of people.

In the US, South America, Europe, Australia -

ordinary people are being moved and shocked by what they're seeing

and hearing, because of our work.

What was unknown, either wilfully or by ignorance,

is becoming known.

What was unspoken is being discussed and questioned.

Which... brings me to my second point,

which will not surprise any of you.

Personal security. Do not take it lightly.

As we saw today,

there are people out there who would love to stop this trial.

Stop us.

Be vigilant.

Check under the car.

When you're setting out in the morning,

check you're not being followed.

If you have any issues - and I mean any -

contact our head of security.

Vigilance, please.

All right, sermon over.

Go and enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank you.

Why didn't you tell me you were being threatened?

You had enough on your plate.

We eat from the same plate, Milton.

If it happens again, let me know.

BELL RINGS

Sure.

RINGING INTENSIFIES

VOICE ECHOES: There will be others after me!

Hey.

Hey, it's bedtime.

Sleep well.

Night, Dad.

Goodnight, Daddy.

Sleep well.

Go on up to bed.

-Sorry, I fell asleep.

-We all do.

-You OK?

-Yeah, you OK?

I think so.

OK.

-I'll put them to bed.

-Yeah, I'll be in.

Mmm...

CLOCK TICKS

CROCKERY CLATTERS

Mrs Landau...

..I want to ask you a question.

Ugh, my feet are too tired for questions.

Just...just one.

What?

You were a refugee after the war?

From Czechoslovakia.

So?

You like it here?

I would prefer to be running the King David.

Oh, no, I-I didn't mean this hotel - I meant Israel.

I fought in the war for independence...

against the British, and then the Arabs.

Right, the Arabs.

But this was their country.

We wanted it more.

So Israel is your home?

The world gave it to us.

It is my country now.

But...

what is it about it that you love so much?

Here we breathe a free air.

You are a Jew - you must feel this.

All done?

Yeah. Thank you.

WOMAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

-INTERPRETER:

-Some of the young people tried to run,

but they were shot. They were shot right there.

Judge Landau - how did you survive through all this?

We... We were driven.

We were already undressed.

The clothes were removed, taken away.

Our father did not want to undress. He remained in his underwear.

We were driven up to the grave...

YAAKOV GASPS

Milton...

I need to stop.

Yaakov, are you OK?

I cannot breathe.

Yaakov? Yaakov?

Leo, Yaakov's in trouble.

I need to go get him out.

Our father was beaten...

Yaakov, stay with the camera.

Milton's on his way.

I'm not so good, Leo.

..he wanted to keep his underclothes,

and he was shot.

Camera four ready.

Let's go close on Eichmann.

No, no, not the witness - Eichmann.

We were already facing the graves.

I felt him take the child from my arms.

The child cried out and was shot.

Get close on his eyes.

And then he aimed at me...

How can you sit there and watch this?

He held on to my hair and turned my head around...

Do something.

Get close on his eyes.

Get close on his eyes.

And he aimed the revolver at me.

And ordered me to watch,

and then turned my head around and shot at me.

Then I fell.

I tried to move and felt that I was alive and that I could rise.

I heard the shot,

and I was praying for another bullet

to put an end to my suffering.

But I felt that I was choking.

Climbing towards the top of the grave above the bodies.

I rose, and I felt bodies pulling at me with their hands,

biting at my legs, pulling me down...

How can you sit there day after day and listen to this?

With my last strength, I came up on top of the grave.

So many bodies.

I wanted to see the end of the stretch of dead bodies...

-YAAKOV COLLAPSES

-..but I could not.

Yaakov?

The, er...

the camp I was in provided...

..slave labour for a...

..a Messerschmitt factory.

How they expected us to work on the rations we got,

I-I do not know.

We were skeletons covered with skin, and, er...

..with bruises from the beatings we were given

for the slightest mistake.

When I washed myself,

I could not recognise my own body

by touch.

My ribs were like the keys of a piano.

I-I don't think it's right to expect him to continue this work.

No, it's important.

I want to do it.

But not at the expense of your health.

For...

for the first time, people who were there

feel they have permission to speak. I...

We see these witnesses in a place called the witness stand,

and for the very first time

they look into the audience

and they see people leaning forward listening to what they have to say...

..not turning away.

Yaakov, in the control room we're all deeply affected

by what we're hearing, and we're removed.

You don't have to do this to yourself.

I'm not going to let you do this to yourself.

I feel I am letting you down.

It is us who'd be letting you down.

HE SOBS

Mr Hausner showing the witness a suit of striped clothes.

Is that what you used to wear there at Auschwitz?

Yes.

This is the garb of those who lived on the planet called Auschwitz.

If I am able to stand here in this court before you

and retell the tale of this planet,

if I fall out of that planet,

am able to be here at this time, then...

Is he OK?

..I believe, with perfect faith...

He's a poet.

..that this is due to the oath I have sworn to them there,

the oath I have sworn to them.

They gave me this strength.

They gave me the strength.

What's Eichmann doing?

Could I, perhaps, Mr Dinur, put a few questions to you,

if you will consent?

Now, go close on Eichmann.

Please, listen to Mr Hausner

and to me... COLLAPSES TO FLOOR

Did we get that?

No, we were on Eichmann.

THEY SHOUT IN OWN LANGUAGE

President of court - I'll have to stop this session

unless the witness recovers.

Mr Hausner - I do not expect this, of course, to happen,

and I think...

Did you get it?

We got almost everything, but I think we missed the collapse.

You missed the collapse? Jesus, Leo.

We might have got a couple of seconds of it,

but it's impossible to anticipate something like that.

I'd have put money on it.

Fuck you, Alan. Get the fuck out.

Hey.

Gentlemen, would you give us five minutes, please?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Will you shut the door, Millek?

That was a stand-out moment, Leo.

Like someone crying out in the auditorium.

This is talking points, human drama.

That's a real damaged life in there, not a fucking TV show.

AND a fucking TV show! AND! And!

I'm sorry if that doesn't sit with your artistic sensibility,

but while we're here on Israel's dime that's exactly what it is.

Christ - you're supposed to be filming the trial as a whole.

But you're obsessed with Eichmann.

And I can't understand why you're not.

Don't patronise me.

Your job, your fucking job, is to film what happens in that courtroom,

not to conduct a personal investigation

into the nature of evil.

Why can't it be both?

Because one gets in the way of the other.

And that's not going to happen - not on my production.

Well, I beg to differ.

I don't give a fuck what you beg.

I'm paying you wages, Mr Hurwitz. Differ in your own time.

DOOR OPENS

DOOR SLAMS

In Paris, they were all deported

in the second half of August and the beginning of September,

in the space of about two weeks,

in convoys consisting of 1,000 children and 500 adults

taken from Drancy.

I saw them. They arrived in four transports of 1,000 children.

This live cargo would be taken off the trucks rapidly

to make room for other buses.

This was done swiftly, and the unhappy children,

mixed up and scared,

came down in groups quietly.

There were small children of two, three or four years of age

who did not know their names,

and it was impossible to identify them.

HITLER SHOUTS IN GERMAN

We found girls carrying discs with boys' names

and boys with girls' names on their discs.

Let me just ask you this, Mr Wellers.

In 1944, when you came to Auschwitz,

did you then see any one of these children alive?

No, I did not.

There were four transports

arriving every few days,

1,000 people in each transport -

1,000 children, 200 adults on each transport,

and in all four transports 4,000 children.

There were many who died during the summer of '42...

I estimate the number of suicides about 100...

-Want me to switch away?

-Stay on Eichmann.

-Leo...

-Stay on him.

Alan, switch to the witness.

TESTIMONY CONTINUES

Come on, do something.

-KNOCK AT DOOR

-Leo.

DOOR OPENS

Leo, there's some people to see you.

I'm not expecting anyone. Tell them I'm busy.

Well, they want to see you.

Just tell them I'm busy.

-They said you'd say that.

-Leo, would you just go?

I got this.

We wanted to surprise you.

Right.

Right, how was your journey?

Good.

Did you enjoy flying?

Sure.

What?

You look old.

I AM old.

We were working there with those... Rollenwagen,

which we were driving.

You entered the crematorium?

Yes, I entered the crematorium.

We had to go there in order to take the wood, which was...

To the witness.

..to be used for the burning.

Take one.

We had to take...

Number four, stand by.

..some of the wood to the camps from the crematorium,

when there was still time and when it was very cold.

The kapo of the Sonderkommando took pity on us

and said, "Children, it's very cold outside,

"perhaps you can warm yourselves in the gas chambers."

The gas chambers were not operating then.

And you would go into the crematorium to warm yourselves?

-So sometimes...

-Tommy?

-..we would go to the side camp...

-I'm fine.

..or even to the gas chambers

-where it was much warmer...

-Is this all true?

-Mm-hm.

-Sometimes it would happen that,

when we arrived at the crematorium...

He was the same age as you.

..they said, "You can't possibly go in because there are people inside."

And Eichmann just sits.

..in August 1943.

And Eichmann just sits.

Camera two, stand by.

Did you use ashes of human beings

to spread it on the roads?

-Yes.

-What for?

So that people could walk on the road and not slide.

So they do not slip...

..in the camp?

Yes, in the camp.

SOMBRE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

LIGHTER CLICKS

BIRDSONG

What I want is that single spotlight directly on Eichmann

as he's watching the camp footage.

The rest of the auditorium is completely dark.

That allows the audience to observe Eichmann

as he reacts to what he's watching.

The audience or you?

Leo?

Bringing him face to face with the visual consequences

of his actions will finally make him crack.

-It has to.

-Leo?

Eichmann attended mass shootings for the SS elite.

To show that you could stomach the most brutal bloodshed

was a badge of ideological superiority.

How likely is it he's going to show weakness now,

before his Jewish captors?!

Sitting alone in that chair,

watching the worst atrocities known to mankind,

it will be impossible for him to deny his participation.

Leo?

-Leo!

-What?

I'm taking Tommy to Greece.

-Why?

-I don't want him here.

Don't you think he should see this?

I don't want him watching this

eight hours a day, day in, day out

for God knows how much longer.

Which is what he'll do, because that's what you're doing.

Am I doing the right thing?

Do you think I'll get him?

-Look after him, won't you?

-Mm-hm.

MUSIC: Runaway by Del Shannon

# As I walk along

# I wonder what went wrong... #

I want to be honest with you, Leo.

I'm under instruction from Milton

-to not talk about Eichmann on this trip.

-Aha.

It's to give you a rest from the trial.

Yeah, I understand.

To give you a rest from Eichmann.

I understand.

What are you thinking?

About Eichmann.

# ..I'm a-walking in the rain,

# Tears are falliin' and I feel a pain

-# Wishing you were here by me... #

-Where did these people come from?

Wherever they want to.

The Bedouin do not perceive borders or governments.

They side with no-one, threaten no-one...

..and they're left alone to roam freely.

Where do I sign up?

When you watch him, Millek, what do you think of him?

A dog refusing to betray his master.

Till people see him react...

..the way they do to this testimony,

they'll not truly understand that men,

not monsters, create fascists.

Why must people see this?

So that they understand that we're all capable of it and...

..to resist the temptation.

Well, if the witness testimony does not make Eichmann crack,

perhaps he never will.

When the prosecution makes him sit...

..and watch the film from...

..Auschwitz-Birkenau,

Belsen,

the actual documentary footage of the atrocities -

the shootings, the gassing, the mass murder -

it'll just be impossible for him to subvert his subconscious.

This is the unique power of film, is it not?

This is what you believe.

This is what I have learned...

..in my years as a film-maker.

While he watches...

..we'll be watching him.

Only then will we see the real Eichmann.

SEABIRDS CRY

MUSIC: Symphony No.3 Opus 36 Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs by Henryk Gorecki

WOMAN SINGS IN POLISH: # O Mamo... #

CAMERA WHIRS

Close on Eichmann.

# ..Mamo

# Mamo

# Nie placz

# O Mamo

# Nie placz nie... #

Was that a smile?

I don't think so.

CAMERA WHIRS

# ..Niebios Przeczysta Krolowo... #

I'm... I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave the room.

If anyone else has to step outside, there's no permission required.

# ..Ty zawsze

# Wspieraj mnie... #

I'm going to go.

# ..Ty zawsze

# Wspieraj mnie

# Ty zawsze

# Wspieraj mnie... #

How can you just sit there?

How can you not turn away?

Not even flinch?

Where are you?

Where the fuck are you?!

# ..Ty zawsze

# Wspieraj mnie. #

MUSIC FADES

They've got a problem with the cable to the press room.

What's up?

I'm thinking of leaving.

-Er, you go ahead.

-OK.

What are you talking about?

I'm thinking of leaving.

Hausner is about to start his cross-examination.

It doesn't matter, Hausner won't crack him.

Then film Eichmann not cracking.

You could do that. Or Millek.

No, this is a Milton Fruchtman production, directed by Leo Hurwitz.

This is a Capital Cities production.

Without me, they wouldn't be within a million miles of this trial.

Without you, they'd not have a tenth of the audience that they do.

You don't want to finish what you've started?!

What? You think you've failed, is that it?

Yes.

By my standards, I think I've failed.

Why? Because YOU couldn't locate the humanity in Adolf Eichmann?!

Jesus, Leo, what if it's not there?

What if you couldn't find it because he doesn't have it?

I'm sorry, I just can't believe that.

That's too bad.

If Eichmann wants to world to think that he was a small cog

in a vast machine of death, let him.

-Milton?

-In trying to prove that,

he will allow Hausner to dissect and expose

that machine and its legacy, and WE will have it ALL on record.

I really thought that we would find him today.

I really thought that, if nothing else,

we'd see a chink in his armour,

we'd see the slightest hint of humanity in the man.

Leo, it doesn't matter.

Because from this point until...for ever,

whenever anyone tries to deny

what happened to the Jews of Europe under the Nazis,

they can be sat down and invited to watch Obersturmbannfuhrer Eichmann

describe in minute detail how it was done.

Now, that is NOT nothing. In fact, that is...quite something.

Think about it. You're staying, Leo.

Walk with me.

Where are we going?

We're laying the cable past Eichmann's cell.

They allowed that?

They had to, or no show.

There. OK.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Mr Fruchtman?

Oh, give me a second.

-Er, Milton?

-Mm?

I never got the chance to thank for you

for going out on a limb and hiring me.

You don't have to do that.

Nevertheless I'm glad you did.

Me too, Leo.

Yeah, me too.

-Shall we?

-Mm-hm.

OK, what's the problem? We have to get this cable issue fixed

in time for tomorrow's session.

Give me two minutes, Leo.

Well, our current route is just too long.

We have to find a shorter route...

GUARD: Move on.

APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS

It was good.

Thank you.

We listened all day, on the radio.

When we first arrived, Mr Horowitz...

Hurwitz.

..we did not speak about what had happened.

But people ask us, "Who are you? What happened to you?"

And so we told.

And they say, "It cannot be true.

"You invent this. Such things are not possible."

I say, "If I could make up such things I would be in Hollywood...

"..not running a cheap hotel in Jerusalem."

But they do not believe, and so we stop speaking about what happened...

..except to whisper it in our sleep.

Since the trial begins, I see them listen now.

On bus, in shops, in cafeteria, they listen.

I go to market this morning and a young girl asked me about my number.

And they watch, yes?

All over the world.

So I'm told.

Because of you.

Well, no, I...

Because of you.

Because of YOU.

SHE SIGHS

Mrs Landau, I can't. Really.

Please.

Thank you.

Mmm...

BELL TOLLS

Good morning for it.

Finally Hausner gets to go toe-to-toe with him.

Eichmann cross-examined by a Jew in the heart of the Jewish state.

It is a great day.

Now, we need to be at our very best today, gentlemen.

HAUSNER IN TRANSLATION: I'm going to read what you said. Listen to this.

Camera three stand by.

"And this is how it was with the Jews..."

Take three, close up on Hausner.

"..who were like a newborn baby, unprepared.