The Reader Page #4

Professor Rohl will be here

in a moment.

Well,

we seem

to be quite a small group.

A small group and a select one.

Really, this is going to be

a unique seminar.

We are going to start

with a reading list, gentlemen.

Karl Jaspers...

And ladies.

The Question of German Guilt.

So, this is where you are.

Yes.

Come in.

You take work seriously.

I don't know.

You're rather a serious boy.

It's how I was brought up.

What about you?

Are you serious?

Sure you want to work tonight?

Yeah.

But I won't work every night.

See you tomorrow.

Do you need a hand?

Why all the police?

They're worried

about demonstrators.

For or against?

Both.

Wow, it's a circus.

All rise.

All photographers

are now asked to leave.

This court is now in session.

Please sit down.

First I'm going to hear motions from

each of the defendants' lawyers.

They argue that there is no reason

to keep their defendants in jail

until the outcome

of their trial.

- I'll take it case by case.

- Want a pen?

I've got a pen.

Hanna Schmitz.

Your name is Hanna Schmitz?

Yes.

Can you speak louder, please?

- My name is Hanna Schmitz.

- Thank you.

You were born on October 21, 1922?

Yes.

At Hermannstadt.

And you're now 43 years old?

Yes.

You joined the SS in 1943?

Yes.

What was your reason for joining?

You were working

at the Siemens factory at the time?

Yes.

You'd been offered a promotion.

Why did you prefer to join the SS?

Objection.

I'll rephrase my question.

I'm trying to ascertain

if she joined the SS freely,

of her own free will.

I heard there were jobs.

Go on.

I was working at Siemens

when I heard the SS was recruiting.

Did you know the kind of work

you'd be expected to do?

They were looking for guards.

I applied for a job.

- And you worked first at Auschwitz?

- Yes.

Until 1944.

Then you were moved

to a smaller camp near Krakow.

- Yes.

- Are you OK?

- You then helped move prisoners...

- Yes.

To the west, in the winter of 1944,

in the so-called "death marches"?

So what did you think?

I don't know.

It wasn't quite

what I was expecting.

Wasn't it?

In what way?

What were you expecting?

I thought it was exciting.

Exciting?

Why? Why did you think

it was exciting?

Because it's justice.

Societies

think they operate

by something called morality,

but they don't.

They operate

by something called law.

You're not guilty of anything

merely by working at Auschwitz.

8,000 people worked at Auschwitz.

Precisely 19 have been convicted

and only six for murder.

To prove murder

you have to prove intent.

That's the law.

The question is never

"Was it wrong?",

but "Was it legal?"

And not by our laws.

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