Clauberg developed a method of non-surgical mass sterilization that consisted of introducing into the female reproductive organs a specially prepared chemical irritant that produced sever inflammation. In close collaboration with the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Genetics, and Eugenics, he studied the phenomena of twins, as well as the physiology and pathology of dwarfism. [58] Alex Dekel, a survivor, reports witnessing Mengele performing vivisection without anesthesia, removing hearts and stomachs of victims. The sterilization experiments consisted of exposing the womens ovaries and the mens testes to X-rays. The myth of Mengele-at-large and the fantasy in which he gets his agonizing comeuppance is central to Jewish-penned paranoid thrillers like Marathon Man and The Boys From Brazil (in which Mengele is busy trying to clone der Fuhrer), and the bad doctor is surely the model for the extraterrestrial in Cowboys & Aliens that performs gruesome experiments on earthlings. Others, on the repugnance of their villains. Front and center: Rachel's role in the 1965 dispatch of former concentration camp doctor Dieter Vogel. They have been sent to track down and kidnap Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel, the "Surgeon of Birkenau", played by Bond baddie Jesper Christensen. August 26, 2011, An Injection of Class: Helen Mirren excels as a former Mossad agent in ?The Debt.? Helen Mirren and all of the others in this great film are fantastic. [66], After several months on the run, including a trip back to the Soviet-occupied area to recover his Auschwitz records, Mengele found work near Rosenheim as a farmhand. The film falters at the very end, with an unnecessary and unlikely fight scene. The film opens with the agents being welcomed on their return home to Israel. [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. Of the Hungarians who arrived in mid-1944, 85 percent were killed immediately. In an article that he sent to Himmler in April 1944, titled The Effect of X-Ray Radiation on the human Reproductive Glands, Schumann expressed a preference for surgical castration, as being quicker and more certain. They conducted criminal medical experiments on prisoners and committed other acts that violated medical ethics. Hobby Because it flips between two eras, two people play each character: one older and one younger version of the same person. [42] The twin research was in part intended to prove the supremacy of heredity over the environment in determining phenotypes and thus strengthen the Nazi premise of the genetic superiority of the Aryan race. [3], When a typhus epidemic began in the women's camp, Mengele cleared one block of six hundred Jewish women and sent them to their deaths in the gas chambers. The film jumps timelines between 1997 and 1965, when a trio of photogenic Mossad agents are tasked with capturing Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christiansen), a notorious Nazi officer, uncreatively. She leaves a note for the journalist and prepares to leave, but suddenly spots Vogel in his 80s by now among the other patients and follows him to an isolated area of the hospital. Copyright 2023 The Forward Association, Inc. All rights reserved. 'The Debt': Getting in a little over its head? - Baltimore Sun Goaded by Vogel and distracted by sexual tension, his captors drop their professional guard and screw up. The unidentified previous owner, who acquired the journals in Brazil, was reported to be close to the Mengele family. Rated R for some language and violence. How could he possibly be allowed to get away? It was a rare moment of triumph near the end of an unimaginably painful journey. This research was still ongoing when the Romani camp was liquidated and its remaining occupants killed in 1944. (Known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, he's modeled on Josef Mengele). Separately, elaborate timing is used to allow a border crossing at a closed Berlin transit station. Within several weeks, the fallopian tubes grew shut and were blocked. Dieter Vogel, also known as The Surgeon of Birkenau, is the main antagonist in the 2010 remake of The Debt. There is still a love triangle here as well as a terrible secret that is eating them alive. In June 1943, Clauberg wrote to Heinrich Himmler: Like Clauberg, Horst Schumann was searching for a convenient means of mass sterilization that would enable the Third Reich to carry out the biological destruction of conquered nations by scientific methods through depriving people of their reproductive capacity. Consider putting your feet in the stirrups for the Surgeon of Birkenau. [60] Witness Vera Alexander described how Mengele sewed two Romani twins together, back to back, in a crude attempt to create conjoined twins;[53] both children died of gangrene after several days of suffering. 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. [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. The Debt (2010) - Helen Mirren as Rachel Singer - IMDb 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. Goals These books give us a record of our times via the moments best comic minds. Antagonizing Rachel and her team. [c] The Stammers later bought a bungalow in the Eldorado neighborhood of Diadema, So Paulo, which they rented out to Mengele. 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. Image by Focus Features. [96] This potential breakthrough was reported to Harel, but the logistics of staging a capture, the budgetary constraints of the search operation, and the priority of focusing on Israel's deteriorating relationship with Egypt led the Mossad chief to call off the manhunt in 1962. This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Since April 1944 Perl had been imprisoned in the Hungarian Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was . 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 . Also furrowing madly is Rachel's former colleague Stephan (Wilkinson), now Rachel's estranged husband and a high-up in the Israeli government. Dovid Braun is appointed YIVOs Academic Advisor in Yiddish. He has seen inside other Jews. 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. The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations. [92] Gerhard had initially told the Stammers that the fugitive's name was "Peter Hochbichler", but they discovered his true identity in 1963. Under cover of night, the trio attempt their exfiltration atWollankstrasse Station, on a railway line along the sector boundary between East and West Berlin, and next to a mail depot. In 1965,Mossadagent Rachel Singer arrives inEast Berlinto meet with fellow agents David Peretz and Stefan Gold . Most recently, in the 2010 filmThe Debt(directed by John Madden), we hear the fictional Nazi Dieter Vogel, known also as the "Surgeon of Birkenau," insidiously proclaim: "You Jews never knew how to kill, only how to die. 1966. The best geopolitical thrillers to watch He was forced to return to work without painkillers. The Surgeon of Birkenau (Jesper Christensen), in East Berlin. 5-Down, Eight Letters: Show that gave us New New York. Several hundred Jewish women from various countries lived in two large rooms on the second floor of the building. This is Thesecret1070. This password will be used to sign into all. 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. The later scenes involve the publication of a book about the famous raid by Rachel's daughter. [67] He eventually escaped from Germany on 17 April 1949,[68][69] convinced that his capture would mean a trial and death sentence. The majority of the story is set in the earlier time period of 1966 where three Mossad agents (Marton Csokas, Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington) come together to bring the Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel back to Israel to stand trial. Ruth Elias was pregnant when she was transferred from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis on JSTOR To let Mengele/Vogel go would be too much to bear in a society so driven by the need to exorcise the specter of victimhood. The original motion picture, Ha-Hov (The Debt) (2007), directed by Assaf Bernstein, was nominated for four Ophir Awards, the Israeli equivalent of the Oscars, but didnt garner much of an audience internationally. To be sure, the older actors get some excitement of their own, but by then, the plot has lost its way. What was the official certification given to The Debt (2010) in Italy? Gerhard persuaded the couple not to report Mengele's location to the authorities by convincing them that they themselves could be implicated for harboring a fugitive. He marvels at how little they resisted as they were herded into camps by the millions. [54] Nyiszli recalled one occasion on which Mengele personally killed fourteen twins in one night by injecting their hearts with chloroform. The young actors perform admirably, and their mission intrigues, but the plot struggles. 'The Debt': History's Burden, And A Moral Calculus : NPR Dr. Lothaire D. Voegele, MD | Aiken, SC | Thoracic Surgeon | US News If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. As she limps from the asylum, Rachel's note is discovered and read by the journalist. The Debt is adapted by British screenwriter Matthew Vaughn (with Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan) from the award-winning 2007 movie Hahov, which probed the morality of Mossad's pursuit of escaped Nazis a tender topic for the State of Israel and for Jews worldwide ever since the abduction and prosecution of Adolf Eichmann. Amazon.com: The Debt : Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, John Madden The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel Singer (Dame Helen Mirren) and Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David Peretz (Ciarn Hinds). And yet its still gripping. In the first phase of his experiments, Mengele subjected pairs of twins and people with physical handicaps to special medical examinations that could be carried out on the living organism. Jesper Christensen's performance as Vogel stands out as chilling, an eerie mixing of grandfatherly charisma and cold hatred. Kremer selected prisoners who struck him as particularly good experimental material, and questioned them just before their deaths, as they lay on the autopsy table awaiting injection, about such personal details as their weight before arrest and any medicines they had used recently. Many subjects died from complications. 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. Yet they carried out a daring mission: They captured and killed Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), known to the world as the Surgeon of Birkenau, a man who committed almost unbelievable. Unfinished business; Israeli agents hailed for killing a Nazi war criminal confront a long-kept secret. Schumann applied various intensities at various intervals in his search for the optimal dose of radiation. My problem with this adaptation, however, goes far deeper than quibbles with the Hollywood paradigm that the most attractive actress is the best one, and into the story itself. Minutes into the movie after a rousing flashback in which Hollywood It Girl Jessica Chastain (as young Rachel) gets to show off some nifty Krav Maga moves one of the three present-day Mossadniks has an unhappy encounter with a truck. [45] His research subjects lived in their own barracks, where they were provided with a marginally better quality of food and somewhat improved living conditions than the other areas of the camp. The Debt movie review & film summary (2011) | Roger Ebert [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. If you replay the actual events in your mind, you realize all the suspense is created with editing, camera angles and POV. Three characters, six actors, and although the woman is always presumably Rachel, I was sometimes asking myself which of the two men I was seeing when younger. Stephan investigates and finds that Dieter Vogel is apparently alive in a hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, and will be interviewed by a journalist. There's nothing intrinsically sacrilegious or vulgar about framing a Holocaust story as a thriller. Before the war, Mengele received doctorates in anthropology and medicine, and began a career as a researcher. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. But the connections run deeper than that, a theme that recurs in the film. On Mengeles orders, children suffering from noma were put to death in order for pathology investigations to be carried out. Find Dr. Voegele's phone number, address, insurance information, hospital affiliations and more. Terry Pegulas ask was simple, direct and humble: The Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres owner, speaking in a recorded video message, asked fans. [43] Nyiszli and others reported that the twin studies may also have been motivated by an intention to uncover strategies for 'racially desirable' Germans to reproduce more twins. Some movies get by on the strength of their heroes. Crimes [72] After a few weeks, he moved to the house of a Nazi sympathizer in the more affluent neighborhood of Florida Este. The plan goes awry leaving them stranded in East Berlin with Vogel aka The Surgeon of Birkenau. The Debt (2010) 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. Now, Im not a purist I dont always believe that original versions of films are better (although actually, when I think about it, I cant think of a single remade version of a film that surpasses the first). Stephan Gold : I thought I'd been punished already. 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. [83][91] He stayed with Gerhard on his farm near So Paulo until a more permanent accommodation could be found, which came about with Hungarian expatriates Gza and Gitta Stammer. Vogel Starring Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas, Jesper Christensen. Detlef Vogel - Wikipedia Yet the movie's feverish hyper-plotting and grandiloquent overacting deplete all efforts at gravitas. If the real man didnt die at the hands of Jews, well Wouldnt it be pretty to think so? He and Wiesenthal pressured the West German authorities into starting extradition proceedings, and an arrest warrant was drawn up on 5June 1959. A teacher working in theSpringville Griffith Institute School District was charged Friday with possessing child pornography. Many of them were at the point of exhaustion, in the Musselman state, in the final stages of starvation to death. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Evil-doer [106] Other aliases used by Mengele in his later life included "Dr. Fausto Rindn" and "S. Josi Alvers Aspiazu". You have permission to edit this article. Through November 1944, SS doctors undermined their efforts through selection, which sent the sickest prisoners (only Jews after August 1943 . Eight of the photographs include Mengele. He was portrayed by Jesper Christensen, who also portrayed Mr. White in the James Bond films. . He goads, wheedles and whispers to each by turn, commenting on their personalities and relationships and pushing them to react. Now Rachel must travel to Kyiv to conclude what they should have done 30 years ago. [41] Mikls Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jewish pathologist who arrived in Auschwitz on 29 May 1944, performed dissections and prepared specimens for shipment in this laboratory. [51], Twins were subjected to weekly examinations and measurements of their physical attributes by Mengele or one of his assistants. Part of Block No. Every so often, several dozen Jewish men and women prisoners were brought in. Heres What Will Happen to Your Fave TV Show If Theres a Writers Strike. Most of the camp medical records had already been destroyed by the SS[62][63] by the time the Red Army liberated Auschwitz on 27 January. [1] Vogel was a contributor to two volumes of the seminal work Germany and the Second World War from the MGFA. [112] He insisted as late as 1985 that Mengele was still alivesix years after he had diedhaving previously offered a reward of US$100,000 (equivalent to $300,000 in 2021) in 1982 for the fugitive's capture. Photo: Laurie Sparham/?Miramax Film Corp. All Rights Reserved. The agents take turns monitoring and feeding Vogel, who attempts to psychologically humiliate and intimidate them. Josef Mengele held a Ph.D. and a medical doctorate. 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. [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. (Known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, he's modeled on Josef Mengele). Amazon.com: The Debt [Blu-ray] [Region Free] : Movies & TV 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. The killing of prisoners was also accompanied by research into the changes that occur in the human organism as a result of starvation in particular, liver atrophy (braune Atrophie). Organs and even complete heads of children were preserved and sent in jars to institutions including the Medical Academy in Graz, Austria. Aware that the publicity could lead to his Nazi background and wartime activities being discovered, he took an extended business trip to Paraguay and was granted citizenship there in 1959 under the name "Jos Mengele". Arent you tired of lying? One character tells another, speaking of Vogels alleged death. We are immediately presented with Rachel reading a selection from the book. I am an admin of this site. [48] In his 1986 book, Lifton describes Mengele as sadistic, lacking empathy, and extremely antisemitic, believing the Jews should be eliminated as an inferior and dangerous race. Now playing. The SS physicians who carried out pseudo-medical experiments in Auschwitz included: Carl Clauberg experimented with sterilization in the camp. Based on entries in Mengele's journals and interviews with his friends, historians such as, Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, "Ultra-Orthodox man buys diaries of Nazi doctor Mengele for $245,000", "Scientists Decide Brazil Skeleton Is Josef Mengele", "Revisiting Mengele's Malignant "Race Science", "Wiesenthal Center Praises Acquisition of Mengele's Diary", "In the Matter of Josef Mengele: A Report to the Attorney General of the United States", "Mengele an Abortionist, Argentine Files Suggest", "Discovery, development, and current applications of DNA identity testing", "Why One Auschwitz Survivor Avoided Doctors for 65 Years", "Remains of Mengele Rest Uneasily in Brazil", "Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's bones used in Brazil forensic medicine courses", "The Ethical Legacy of Nazi Medical War Crimes: Origins, Human Experiments, and International Justice", "Bemerkungen zum Lebenslauf von Josef Mengele unter besonderer Bercksichtigung seiner Frankfurter Zeit", "Historical Analysis of 20 Name Files from CIA Records", "Skeletons in the Closet of German Science", "How Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele cheated justice for 34 years", "His secret out, Rolf Mengele talks about his father", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Josef_Mengele&oldid=1151778207, This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 05:19. Front and center: Rachel's role in the 1965 dispatch of former concentration camp doctor Dieter Vogel. The software that cloned Drake and the Weeknds voices is easy to useand impossible to shut down. 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 enlisted the assistance of prisoner Berthold Epstein, a Jewish pediatrician and professor at Prague University. The term surgeon is used in the movie The Debt to describe the character named Dr. Dieter Vogel, who is based on the real-life Dr. Josef Mengele. In the wings, looking equally woeful, is her sometime lover David (Hinds), a tortured soul who's returned to Israel after wandering abroad for years. 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. If you are experiencing difficulties logging in or are a subscriber getting a paywall, please try one or more of the following steps. Settling A Tab? The script, credited to Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman [sic] and Peter Straughan, might not rank high on the plausibility scale, but it sets up one tricky sequence after another.
