To kill Rachel and her Mossad team (failed).To escape from them much as he can for deny his terrible war crimes against humanity (failed). By Jordana Horn Only how to die." Back at the safe house, where rain drips atmospherically into buckets, the unrepentant prisoner spews venom about Jewish passivity in the camps while the Israelis stuff food into his uncooperative mouth. Although Mengele was initially registered under his own name, he was not identified as being on the major war criminal list due to the disorganization of the Allies regarding the distribution of wanted lists, and the fact that he did not have the usual SS blood group tattoo. Rachel becomes romantically entangled with both men, and although they take care to stay incognito during the mission, they randomly break character for a night out at a German pub, calling one other by their real names. He has been a long-time employee of the German Military History Research Office (MGFA). Sam Worthington as the young David meshes believably with Hinds as the older version of himself, and the fiery performance of Marton Csokas as the young Stefan (looking like a younger and even angrier Russell Crowe) outshines even Academy Award nominee Wilkinson. [8] He completed high school in April 1930 and went on to study philosophy in Munich,[9] where the headquarters of the Nazi Party were located. This research was carried out at Auschwitz Concentration Camp by SS-Obersturmfhrer Johann Paul Kremer, M.D., Ph.D., professor at the University of Mnster, where he lectured on anatomy and human genetics. hide caption, With: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas. Historian of Nazi Germany They have been sent to track down and kidnap Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel, the "Surgeon of Birkenau", played by Bond baddie Jesper Christensen. The subjects were photographed, plaster casts were made of their teeth and jaws, and their fingerprints and toeprints were taken. Yet the movie's feverish hyper-plotting and grandiloquent overacting deplete all efforts at gravitas. [55], Mengele's eye experiments included attempts to change the eye color by injecting chemicals into the eyes of living subjects, and he killed people with heterochromatic eyes so that the eyes could be removed and sent to Berlin for study. An elderly Vogel dies after having a poisoned syringe plunged into his back, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [4] Many of his victims were dispatched to the gas chambers after about two weeks, and their skeletons were sent to Berlin for further analysis. [123] Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center was glad to see the diary fall into Jewish hands. Describing the encounter to Stefan over the phone, Rachel declares she will not continue to lie about the 1965 mission. Before their bodies were cold, they were subjected to autopsies and slides were made for Kremer of the liver, spleen, and pancreas. The agents are left with no choice but to bring Vogel to their apartment and plan a new extraction. Evil-doer But the connections run deeper than that, a theme that recurs in the film. [20], Mengele joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and the Schutzstaffel (SS; 'Protection Squadron') in 1938. [40], Mengele used Auschwitz as an opportunity to continue his anthropological studies and research into heredity, using inmates for human experimentation. Organs and even complete heads of children were preserved and sent in jars to institutions including the Medical Academy in Graz, Austria. Under interrogation, they revealed the location of Mengele's grave[117] and the remains were exhumed on 6 June 1985. [9][12] In 1935, Mengele earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Munich. You have permission to edit this article. [31][32], In early 1943, Von Verschuer encouraged Mengele to apply for a transfer to the concentration camp service. Later, at David's flat, Stefan provides evidence that Vogel now resides at an insane asylum inUkraine, and is soon scheduled to be interviewed by a local journalist. The so-called Surgeon of Birkenau, Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), escaped justice at the end of the war. [83], Mengele's name was mentioned several times during the Nuremberg trials in the mid-1940s, but the Allied forces believed that he was probably already dead. August 26, 2011, An Injection of Class: Helen Mirren excels as a former Mossad agent in ?The Debt.? They succeed in the abduction, but fail in bringing him to the west side. Continuing newspaper coverage of his wartime activities, with accompanying photographs, led Mengele to relocate again in 1960. The violations go on and on: Vogel has seen inside her. Ruth Elias was pregnant when she was transferred from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. In 1941-1944, SS camp physicians Friedrich Entress, Helmuth Vetter, and Eduard Wirths carried out clinical trials of the tolerance and efficacy of new medications and drugs, with such ode names as B-1012, B-1O34, B-1O36, 3582, P-111, rutenolu, and peristonu, on Auschwitz Concentration Camp prisoners. To see is to believe. To escape from them much as he can for deny his terrible war crimes against humanity (failed). [10] He attended the University of Bonn, where he took his medical preliminary examination. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). [73] He moved into an apartment in central Buenos Aires in 1953, used family funds to buy a part interest in a carpentry concern, and then rented a house in the suburb of Olivos in 1954. Wiesenthal claimed to have information that placed Mengele on the Greek island of Kythnos in 1960,[109] in Cairo in 1961,[110] in Spain in 1971,[111] and in Paraguay in 1978, eighteen years after he had left the country. Regardless, the movie is an absorbing tale with genuinely thrilling moments and an intriguing perspective on the price of deception -- and truth. Helen Mirren co-stars as the present-day Rachel, still dealing with the legacy of the mission that made her famous and changed her life. Claubergs experiments killed some of his subjects, and others were put to death so that autopsies could be performed. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Nicholas D. D'Angelo, an attorney from Niagara County, will serve six months in jail and also will be placed on sex offender probation for 10 . Origin It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Three Mossad agents Rachel (Jessica Chastair) Stephen (Martin Csokas) David (Sam Worthington) set out in 1965 to capture a Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) the surgeon of Birkenau but when the film reverts to 1997 Rachel is Helen Mirren, Stephen is Tom Wilkinson and David is Ciaran Hinds. [79][80] When he returned to Argentina in September 1956, Mengele began living under his real name. Their mission is to captureNaziwar criminalDieter Vogel infamously known as "The Surgeon ofBirkenau" for his medical experimentsonJewsduringWorld War IIand bring him toIsraelto face justice. He initially lived in and around Buenos Aires, then fled to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil in 1960, all while being sought by West Germany, Israel, and Nazi hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal, who wanted to bring him to trial. The younger versions of the characters have scenes that are intrinsically more exciting, but the actors playing the older versions are more interesting. Their mission is to capture Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Christensen) - infamously known as "The Surgeon of Birkenau " for his medical experiments on Jews during World War II - and bring him to justice in Israel. If you replay the actual events in your mind, you realize all the suspense is created with editing, camera angles and POV. Josef Mengele held a Ph.D. and a medical doctorate. Dr. Lothaire D. Voegele is a Thoracic Surgeon in Aiken, SC. In fact he escaped and is now taking credit for his work at Birkenau in a hospital in Ukraine. Within several weeks, the fallopian tubes grew shut and were blocked. While Rachel is in charge of monitoring, Vogel manages to cut through his bonds using a shard of the broken plate and ambushes Rachel with the shard, leaving her with a permanent scar on her face. This latter disease,widespread in theso-called Roma Family Camp,where Mengele had had a laboratory, had been previously almost unknown in Europe. Goals He was hoping to track down Mengele so that he too could be brought to trial in Israel. Front and center: Rachel's role in the 1965 dispatch of former concentration camp doctor Dieter Vogel. Laurie Sparham/Focus Features [90], Despite having provided Mengele with legal documents using his real name in 1956 (which had enabled him to formalize his permanent residency in Argentina), West Germany was now offering a reward for his capture. The Debt, by contrast, explores nothing, preferring to stake out positions through stock characters declaiming expository dialogue. The film switches back and forth from the present day, as Rachel struggles with David's death and the secret that has weighed on her for decades, and 1966, as Rachel, David and Stephan (portrayed in their younger years by Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas) carry out their mission to get Vogel. In the thriller The Debt, a triumvirate drawn from the cream of British cinema Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds pools formidable talent to play retired Mossad agents living off the glory of a long-ago mission. Right, Dr. Mengeles OB-GYN examining room, in his stirrups. [102] Rolf, who had not seen his father since the ski holiday in 1956, visited him at the bungalow in 1977; he found an "unrepentant Nazi" who claimed he had never personally harmed anyone and only carried out his duties as an officer. Because the film jumps the rails toward the end, it might be worth mentioning the good parts. (Known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, he's modeled on Josef Mengele). However, each has his or her own strength, and you root for them anyway. [3][4] With Red Army troops sweeping through German-occupied Poland, Mengele was transferred 280 kilometres (170mi) from Auschwitz to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp on 17 January 1945, ten days before the arrival of the Soviet forces at Auschwitz. He performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp, where he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be killed in the gas chambers,[a] and was one of the doctors who administered the gas. New arrivals that were judged able to work were admitted into the camp, while those deemed unsuitable for labor were sent to the gas chambers. [13] His thesis on the subject earned him a cum laude doctorate in medicine (MD) from the University of Frankfurt in 1938. Front and center: Rachel's role in the 1965 dispatch of former concentration camp doctor Dieter Vogel. The Surgeon of Birkenau (Jesper Christensen), in East Berlin. The couple bought a farm in Nova Europa with the help of an investment from Mengele, who was given the job of managing for them. Their father was founder of the Karl Mengele & Sons company (later renamed as Mengele Agrartechnik[de]), which produced farming machinery. I suspect this movie would have been more effective if it had it remained entirely in the past, especially given all we know. [6] His two younger brothers were KarlJr. and Alois. Concertgoer Allegedly Orgasms While L.A. Philharmonic Plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Melanie Lynskey, Seth Meyers, and More Support WGA Amid Negotiations. [122], In February 2010, a 180-page volume of Mengele's diary was sold by Alexander Autographs at auction for an undisclosed sum to the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. And now I understand that I must tell the truth. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Dr. Mengele allegedly did surgery for the purpose of torturing the prisoners at Birkenau. If the rest of the year keeps up at this pace, podcasting will be in a good creative place. There's nothing intrinsically sacrilegious or vulgar about framing a Holocaust story as a thriller. As they prepare to load Vogel onto the stopped train he suddenly awakens and sounds the horn of the stolen mail van where he is being held, alertingEast German guardsto their presence. [37] In contrast to most of the other SS doctors, who viewed selections as one of their most stressful and unpleasant duties, he undertook the task with a flamboyant air, often smiling or whistling. . "The Debt" weaves a tangled web of lies and deceptions around a seemingly heroic raid in 1965 carried out by three agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency known for more ability than it exhibits here. Find Dr. Voegele's phone number, address, insurance information, hospital affiliations and more. Stefan and David arrive dressed asparamedicsand make off with the unconscious Vogel in a faux ambulance, barely ahead of the real ambulance team. At the Block No. SS Physicians Friedrich Entress, Helmuth Vetter and Eduard Wirths. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. They have been honored in their country by their action for more than 30 years. [34] If one twin died from disease, he would kill the other twin to allow comparative post-mortem reports to be produced for research purposes. Many of them were at the point of exhaustion, in the Musselman state, in the final stages of starvation to death. These preparations were given to prisoners suffering from contagious diseases, who had in many cases been deliberately infected. [105] His body was buried in Embu das Artes under the name "Wolfgang Gerhard", whose identification Mengele had been using since 1971. AI Singers Are Unnervingly Good and Already Ubiquitous, Liveblogging the 2023 Met Gala Red Carpet. High intelligencePsychological manipulationStrengthEvasionSkilled doctor at the times of WWIISkilled knifeman The most gripping TV drama of the year is happening behind closed doors. They stay with him in an apartment building; he escapes, but the trio of young Agents lies to their government and tells them that Rachel killed Vogel while he was running away. He served in this capacity at the gas chambers located in crematoria IV and V.[39], When an outbreak of nomaa gangrenous bacterial disease of the mouth and facestruck the Romani camp in 1943, Mengele initiated a study to determine the cause of the disease and develop a treatment. In 1965, three Mossad Agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Their inquiries in Paraguay revealed no clues to his whereabouts, and they were unable to intercept any correspondence between Mengele and his wife Martha, who by this time was living in Italy. The film opens with the agents being welcomed on their return home to Israel. While I may be overly sensitive on this point, the film seems to be focused on the lie the Israeli characters allowed to exist rather than on the unutterable evils perpetrated by the person they are hunting. In some cases, he ordered these prisoners photographed. In the ensuing shootout, David sacrifices his chance to escape in order to collect the compromised Rachel. [114], On 31 May 1985, acting on intelligence received by the West German prosecutor's office, police raided the house of Hans Sedlmeier, a lifelong friend of Mengele and sales manager of the family firm in Gnzburg. The film catapults between the mission and the present, in which there is ambiguity as to whether or not the mission actually succeeded, and that ambiguity needs to be resolved. [23][24][25], In 1942, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), originally intended to house slave laborers, began to be used instead as a combined labour camp and extermination camp. Unfortunately, the contrast between her skills and those of her younger version, Jessica Chastain, reflects poorly on the latter. The agents take turns monitoring and feeding Vogel, who attempts to psychologically humiliate and intimidate them. They did so on commission from IG Farbenindustrie, and particularly from the Bayer firm, which was part of that cartel. The makers of the old comedy record When Youre in Love the Whole World Is Jewish (Steve McQueen is Jewish, would you believe it? After rescuing two German soldiers from a burning tank, he was decorated with the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Wound Badge in Black, and the Medal for the Care of the German People. The exposure to radiation produced severe burns on the belly, groin, and buttocks areas of the subjects, and festering sores that were resistant to healing. Rachel Brener is one of 3 young Mossad agents team who caught "The Surgeon of Birkenau" - a Nazi monster who was never brought to trial in Israel. 28 clinic in the main camp, he carried out assessments of prisoners attempting to gain admission to the hospital. Also furrowing madly is Rachel's former colleague Stephan (Wilkinson), now Rachel's estranged husband and a high-up in the Israeli government. Consider putting your feet in the stirrups for the Surgeon of Birkenau. The Mengele-at-large myth turns up in more complicated form in the new thriller The Debt, a remake of an Israeli film in which the doctor is used to explore/exploit the way Jews tend to live and re-live the capture of Nazis in their fantasies. [14] (Both of his degrees were revoked by the issuing universities in the 1960s. Following his recovery, he was transferred to the headquarters of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office in Berlin, at which point he resumed his association with VonVerschuer, who was now director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics. (There is no one better than Mirren at signaling discomfort with her eyes.) To be sure, the older actors get some excitement of their own, but by then, the plot has lost its way. [76][81] Mengele's business interests now included part ownership of Fadro Farm, a pharmaceutical company. The third, David (Ciarn Hinds), unheard of since the sixties, has just turned up, too, looking dark, distraught, in a panic. The German physicians who ran SS and Wehrmacht medical institutions, along with medical personnel at lower levels, participated actively in carrying out Nazi extermination plans. Their mission: Enter East Berlin with secret identities, kidnap a Nazi war criminal and bring him to Israel for trial. Assisted by a network of former SS members, he used the ratline to travel to Genoa, where he obtained a passport from the International Committee of the Red Cross under the alias "Helmut Gregor", and sailed to Argentina in July 1949.