The Reader Page #5

No.

By the laws at the time.

But isn't that...

What?

Narrow?

Oh, yes, the law is narrow.

On the other hand,

I suspect people

who kill other people

tend to be aware that it's wrong.

Miss Schmitz,

you're familiar with this book?

Yes.

Parts of it have already

been read out in court.

It's by a survivor,

a prisoner who survived,

Ilana Mather.

She was in the camp

when she was a child, wasn't she?

- She was with her mother.

- Yes.

In the book, she describes

a selection process.

At the end of the month's labor,

every month,

60 inmates were selected.

They were sent from the satellite

camp back to Auschwitz.

That's right, isn't it?

Yes, that's right.

And so far,

each of the defendants has denied

being part of that process.

Now I'm going to ask you.

Were you part of it?

Yes.

So you helped make the selection?

Yes.

You admit that?

Then, tell me,

how did that selection happen?

There were six guards,

so we decided

we'd choose 10 people each.

That's how we did it every month.

We'd all choose 10.

Are you saying

your fellow defendants took part?

We all did.

Even though they've denied it?

Saying "We", "We all" is easier

than "l", "I alone",

isn't it, Miss Schmitz?

Did you not realize

that you were sending these women

to their deaths?

Yes, but there were new arrivals.

New women were arriving

all the time.

The old ones had to make room

for the new ones.

I'm not sure you understand.

We couldn't keep everyone.

- There wasn't room.

- No.

What I'm saying is...

Let me rephrase.

To make room,

you were picking women out:

"You and you have to be

sent back to be killed".

Well,

what would you have done?

Should I never have signed up

at Siemens?

Ms. Mather, they're ready for you.

Go, go, go, go.

- Where's Michael?

- I don't know.

In your book you describe

the process of selection.

Yes.

You were made to work and then,

when you were no longer any use,

they sent you back to Auschwitz

to be killed.

Are there people here today

who made that selection?

Yes.

I need you to identify them.

Can you please point them out?

Her.

And her.

Her.

And her.

Her.

And her.

Thank you.

Please continue.

Each of the guards would choose

a certain number of women.

Hanna Schmitz chose differently.

In what way differently?

She had favorites.

Girls, mostly young.

We all remarked on it.

She gave them food

and places to sleep.

In the evenings,

she asked them to join her

and we all thought...

You can imagine what we thought.

And then we found out

she was making these women

read aloud to her.

They were reading to her.

At first we thought:

"This guard is more sensitive,

she's more human".

"She's kinder".

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