Murer: Anatomie eines Prozesses (2018) - full transcript

Austria, 1963

As a witness,
I'm not allowed to be in the courtroom, am I?

At least the children should be with you.
- But I don't want that.

They should see all the meanness
their father has to bear.

Children always make an impression on jurors.
The younger the better.

You're not going to wear that tomorrow, are you?
- Why not?

Almost new.
Made by a Viennese taylor.

Too ceremonial, too citified.
And above all, don't wear any buttons.

What if some of the jurors are socialists?

You brought his old woolen jacket, madam.

But it's so worn.



Perfect.

I can't let my husband go to court like that.

We're wealthy, not a bunch of...
- I'd be happy to have your worries.

Mrs. Murer, believe me, a worn jacket...

means work.

And homeland.

You should remember one thing:

don't lose your head.

Austria is free!

We all have to do our duty.

It's like Yom Kippur.

And one was too...

Only those who change
can remain true to themselves.

After Eichmann named Murer
during his trial,



the judiciary just couldn't ignore the case.

Murderer!

A murderer!

Here comes Dad!

You swear to God to carefully examine the
evidence brought for and against the accused,

to ignore expressions of affection or antipathy,
fear or malicious pleasure,

and to make a decision solely
on the basis of the evidence...

brought for and against the accused
impartially and firmly in such a way...

that you can answer to God
and your conscience.

Mrs. Hertha Weissenfeld?

I swear...

Mr. Karl Schönauer?

I swear, so help me God.

Maria Apfelthaler?

I swear, so help me God.

Friedrich Ableidinger?

I swear, so help me God.

Hubert Achleitner?
- I swear, so help me God.

Norbert Krumbichler?

I swear, so help me God.

Franz Barenfeldt?
- I affirm.

Julius Kloiber?

I swear, so help me God.

And lastly, the alternate juror,
Hermann Fleischauer.

I swear, so help me God.

According to the indictment,
the defendant, Franz Murer, is accused of...

committing crimes in his function...

as deputy of the territorial commissioner's office
in Vilnius in the years 1941 to 1943...

for which he will have to answer here.

Charge 1: shooting of a Jewish glove maker
who was attempting to hide at Spital Street 7.

Charge 2: shooting of a Jewish police officer
who had lured Jews from their hiding place.

Charge 3...
- That must be the Murer children.

...Jewish man of about 25 years of age
who met the defendant on the street one night.

Charge 4: killing of a Jewish girl of about
16 years of age, who was found with bread.

Charge 5: shooting of an unknown Jewish man...
- Charge 12: shooting of Chaja Pilowska...

Charge 13: shooting of the unknown
Jewish mother of an unknown child.

Charge 14:
shooting of a boy of about 16 years of age...

who tried to enter the ghetto
with a group of workers.

Charge 15: shooting of Jewish police officer
Shimon Gordon.

How does the defendant plead?

Not guilty.
To all charges.

Dr. Feigenberg,

what was your position in the ghetto?

I was head of the department of urology
and gynecology in the Jewish hospital.

And I was also a member
of the first Jewish Council.

Were you familiar with the defendant,
Franz Murer, at the time?

Certainly.

Everyone knew him.

He was called the Butcher of Vilnius.

Objection!
That's a generalization based on hearsay.

Please continue.

He demanded that the Jewish Council pay him
five million rubles within two weeks as a war tax.

When we were only able to give him two million,

the entire Jewish Council in Ponary
was liquidated.

Only by coincidence did I survive.

Where is this Ponary?

Seven kilometers from Vilnius.

Before the war it was a popular vacation spot.

100,000 were murdered there.

Irrelevant.

Dr. Böck! Please!

When did you encounter
the defendant in person?

I believe it was at searches at the ghetto gate.

I personally saw how women were forced to
disrobe before him,

and then he said,

"You Jewesses are still too fat."

Objection!
That's not relevant to any of the charges.

Dr. Schuhmann, please.

The defendant came to see you in person.

Yes, at my hospital.

And what was the reason for this visit?

He told me that every doctor
who delivered a baby would be liquidated.

The Jews were no longer permitted
to have children.

Pregnant women had to have abortions.

Women in the late stages of pregnancy
were to be shot on sight.

In those years I performed over 1,000 abortions.

How would you describe the defendant's
relationship with the ghetto's residents?

Relationship?

When he rode through the ghetto
in his white coach,

people said,
"There's death in his coach".

Dr. Feigenberg, you could be described
as a man with literary ambitions, correct?

"Vilnius under the Yoke of the Nazis."

A documentary report.
I wrote that in Landsberg in 1946.

Death rides in an allegedly white coach
through the ghetto...

Murer's coach was white.

In addition, you claim that the defendant was
the most feared individual in the ghetto,

who had the power over life and death.

Then I ask you, Doctor,

how often is the defendant's name
mentioned in your book?

I can't say for sure.
- No?

You can't say?

But I can tell you.

Not a single time!

And did you count the number of times I used
the term territorial commissioner's office?

That referred to none other than Murer.

They were one and the same.

This is not about the commissioner's office,

but a single individual
who's being accused of terrible crimes.

Which he committed.

No one denies that horrible things
happen during a war.

The question at hand, however,
is whether this person,

Franz Murer,

is the individual you believe
to have talked to.

Of course,

I certainly did speak with Murer.

There's nothing I can say about that.

I've never seen Dr. Feigenberg.

How do you explain the fact that
Dr. Feigenberg claims to remember you?

He must be confusing me with someone else.

My duties in Vilnius involved
completely different matters.

I was responsible for supply
and agricultural issues.

As you know, I'm a farmer.

That's why it was thought I could be useful
in that position.

Since the witness Miriam Werbin was unable
to come to Graz for health reasons,

her sworn testimony
will be read before the court.

I, Miriam Werbin, born in Vilnius, Lithuania,
on January 25, 1911,

reside at Ester Hamalka 23, Tel Aviv.

The incident with the yellow work permits?

That meant that everyone who didn't have
a work permit would be arrested and shot.

I didn't have one, so I had to hide.

After three days...

I suddenly heard...

a cry in Yiddish from the street:

"It's over,

you can all come out."

It was a...

Jewish ghetto policeman...

called...

Schlomo...

as first name.

But they came out from across the street.

From the basement.
After being crammed in there...

for days.

Fifty people.

But I stayed in my hiding place.

Had a bad feeling about it.

And then I saw...

Murer's green uniform through a crack.

All the Jews were rounded up
and put onto a truck.

They were all fooled.

And they were sent to Ponary to be shot.

And then Murer went over
to the Jewish policeman,

who assumed that Murer
wanted to say something to him.

But Murer just pulled out his pistol...

and said,

"You did your job."

"You did your job", and he shot him.

To me, the statement seems...

well...

somewhat fantastic.

But even if the events took place as described,

I would like to address a concrete issue...

that clearly indicates
a case of mistaken identity.

Mrs. Werbin mentions a green uniform.

As we know,
Mr. Murer's uniform was actually light brown.

I would've liked to question the witness
about this inconsistency,

but she apparently has more important matters
to attend to.

My husband didn't have a work permit...

and was shot during the second incident.

After that I was alone with the children.

And I had to feed them by myself.

I'm not very strong.

I used to be a teacher,

then I had to carry rocks.

What little I made,

what little I made
was used to buy bread from farmers.

They would have starved otherwise.

And then...

they took...

my children away

and they were taken to Ponary.

They shot my children there.

Hannah Arendt suggested that
as a justification for Eichmann's sentence.

I don't think much of that woman.

Please, Mr. Wiesenthal.

Well, that was a coincidence...

and involved Yom Kippur.

Is that the strange thing...

when a rooster's sacrificed for every man
and a hen for every woman, Mr. Wiesenthal?

Precisely.
In 1947, some orthodox Jews...

were housed in Admont, Styria,
as displaced persons.

And they wanted to celebrate Yom Kippur.

But just after the war,
all chickens were registered...

and none of the farmers were willing
to trade them...

because they were afraid
of the Allied authorities.

Then someone told the pious Jews,

"There's a farmer with two thousand chickens,

and a few certainly wouldn't be missed.
Ask him.

But he might throw you out when you ask,

because he was a big Nazi."

I heard this story.

And all I could think was:
"Eichmann."

So I went there,

and look at that: it wasn't Eichmann,
but Franz Murer,

the Butcher of Vilnius.

He was living in plain sight
and under his real name.

Oh, excuse me, I didn't know...

Great, the more people we have the better.

I just wanted to tell you that Leon Schmigel

has already checked into the hotel in Graz.
- Why in Graz?

What a shame.

Now I have to go to Graz.
I wanted to avoid that.

Do you mind if Jacob stays here?
He's helping me in the Murer case.

And he's also one of
the most important witnesses.

So, Murer was extradited to the USSR.

Why wasn't he executed there?

At his trial in Vilnius,
he was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor.

That was the maximum.

No death sentences
were issued in Lithuania.

Why did the Russians release
him after six years?

That involves the State Treaty of 1955.

One of the things it settled was the return
of Austrian prisoners of war.

Strangely enough, it also applied to
war criminals who had been found guilty.

In Murer's case, the Soviet Union...

added the condition
that he would finally be put on trial in Austria.

And why didn't that happen?
- Well, there's an article...

when someone spends the majority
of their sentence in a foreign prison,

their trial won't be reopened in Austria.

But...

6 years out of 25?

I was told officially...

that one year in a Soviet prison...

counted for 5 in an Austrian one.

Murer had a significant career
after he returned.

Member of the Austrian People's Party...

and the District Chamber of Agriculture's board.

He was even honored for his service
to the Republic of Austria...

in the presence of government representatives.

You write for an American newspaper
and speak German?

My family emigrated from Germany in '33.

First London and then America.

My ghetto,

you're my home,

and you, my dearest yellow permit.

My dear, my yellow permit,

without you I have to go to Ponary.

Jews, tell me, who stands at the gate?

Jews, tell me, what will we do today?

I think it's Franz Murer,

our best friend.

Mr. Schuster, I must remind you
that you're in a court of law.

Please limit yourself to your testimony.

Three thousand people lost their lives...

during the first incident
with the yellow work permits.

After that I knew...

they were going to kill us all.

They let us believe that we were indispensable
for supplying the army.

Since I didn't have a work permit,

I hid in an attic for those 3 days.

Then I heard a scream,

the kind of scream
when it's a matter of life and death.

I looked up and saw someone being dragged...

from a house across the street.

Murer was standing in the street
and shot at them.

A woman in a green coat...

fell down on the ground.

Dead.

Horror stories!

Quiet!

I won't permit any outbursts
in the courtroom.

I would like to point out to the witness...

another contradiction
with earlier testimony involving the date.

I would like to ask whether
you still maintain...

that this incident took place in 1941
and not 1942.

1941.

I'm telling the truth.

I saw it all with my own eyes.

So you stand by your statement.

Can you state the color of Mr. Murer's uniform?

No, I don't remember.

That was over 20 years ago.

And before I make an incorrect statement...

No.

But you claim to remember
all the other details so clearly.

That's strange.

I wonder...

what could have motivated Mr. Murer
to commit such an act,

although it provably wasn't part
of his responsibilities.

Murer,

he would've murdered his own mother.

He's not human,

he's an animal! An animal!

The next witness, please.

We ran as fast as we could.

Neither of us had a yellow work permit.

Then there was a shot,

and I saw the other man fall down.

I ran to a building's entrance
and hid in the attic.

The next day I heard that the man I was with,
a young cobbler,

25 years old, had been shot by Murer...

...had been shot in the head by Murer.

And was dead right away.

They found potatoes in my son's possession.

And Murer ordered that he
be whipped as a punishment.

He was a different person afterwards.

The whipping made him schizophrenic.

Now he's helpless, pitiful.

There's no hope for a cure.

In light of the time, I ask that...

the next witnesses
be questioned after the break.

In light of the many delays,

we should hear the next witnesses first.

At the ghetto gate...

in winter 1942,

a woman...

who was probably hiding something...

tried to get past the checkpoint.

But Murer said, "Stop."

Then the woman panicked and ran away.

Murer...

shot her.

Just like that, in the head.

Then he turned to the policemen and said,

"Take her away!"

Whenever you saw...

Murer's white coach,
you knew...

that someone was going to die.

I survived only
because I worked for a German woman.

That was...

Murer's girlfriend.

She liked me, Miss Freese.

She got me a pass...

signed by Murer.

I'm ashamed...

that I have a murderer to thank for my life.

Because...

Murer is a murderer...

who enjoyed...

killing.

There are stories about him...

I ask you, Mrs. Akin, to refrain from telling stories,
just relate the facts you were witness to.

I...

collected edible refuse...

at a restaurant...

and wanted to smuggle it into the ghetto in a box.

Murer was standing at the gate.

"Search her", he ordered.

The next thing I knew,

he hit me in the face...

and I fell down.

First I spat out blood, then my teeth.

Then he kicked me with his boots.

And then Jacob Gens was standing...

next to me in the hospital and said,

"Girl, stop crying.

You're lucky to be alive...

and that he didn't just shoot you."

In your statement you mention
a certain Jacob Gens.

Who was that?

Jacob Gens was the chief of police.

And he was one of you.

A Jew.
- Of course he was a Jew.

All the ghetto policemen were Jews.

And so the Jews themselves were responsible
for searches and maintaining order in the ghetto?

Yes, but they had no other choice!

The Germans ordered them to do that!

Just like a thief...

doesn't admit to stealing,

a murderer...

doesn't admit to his murder.

And Murer, you're both.

A murderer!

A murderer!

I certainly did not
knock the witness' teeth out.

I repeat,
I never took part in searches at the ghetto gate.

That was the job of the police,

which was controlled by
the Jewish administration.

Whatever they did to their own people
is none of my business,

and I'm not responsible for it.

The witness must confuse me
with someone else, first of all...

because I never had a girlfriend in Vilnius.

There are no Nazis in Austria.

Everyone was in the resistance
in their hearts.

And only followed orders on the outside.

Though they were often more thorough
than the Germans.

In other words,

Murer won't be charged for
the Ponary massacre?

Solely new and previously unknown facts
and witnesses will be taken into account.

It will be like everything else
never happened.

As if it never happened.

I need witnesses...

who saw a murder with their own eyes.

A murder that hasn't been dealt
with in court yet.

Neither during the first proceedings
nor at the trial in Vilnius.

That makes you
my most important witness, Leon.

Don't mess it up.
That's all I ask of you.

Graz isn't Jerusalem.

Even Eichmann would've been acquitted here.
Our people...

I don't have a people!

Do you know what we survivors
are called in Israel?

Soap.

Thank you!
- You're leaving? You're not staying with us?

That wouldn't be good for the trial.

I'm not popular in Austria.
The jurors...

Why don't you live with us in Israel?
- Yes, why not?

I'd be out of a job there.

There aren't any Nazis in Israel.

I had a permit to work as a woodworker.

One day, Murer arrived...

and they started
separating the Vilnius Jews from the others.

I realized what was going on.

I hid and was able to watch everything.

The Vilnius Jews were driven
into some barracks.

Rachel Levy,

I knew her fairly well.

She worked in the kitchen.

She tried to escape.

Murer ran after her,

grabbed her hair and...

killed her with a shot to the back of the neck.

They threw the body down the old well.

Then Murer and the Lithuanians
threw hand grenades into the barracks.

As far as I know, nobody survived.

Everyone who was left, like me,

needed more than just a miracle to survive.

It's pure luck...

that we're still alive.

Once...

there was a search.

He shot a man...

because he was wearing high boots.

"Jews aren't allowed to wear boots like that."

It turned out that Murer had seen
a Jewish woman...

talking to a Pole on the way.

The gang leader said to Murer,
"She was only begging for bread.

For her children."

Murer turned red.

And the woman had to step forward
and stand in front of him.

Murer yelled at the gang leader,

"You Jews are all speculators
and don't want to work,

just make deals.

If that happens again,

I'll shoot the entire work gang
with this pistol."

Then he turned the woman and said,

"I'll give you some bread."

And he shot her.

Just like that.

A panic broke out.

He got even madder
and started shooting at us.

Into the crowd, without aiming at anyone.

There were four dead.

Three of them were women.

One was named Eva Luna.

The others were both called Chaja.

The last name of one was Pilowka,

and the other...

was my little sister Chaja.

Do you think it's true...

that he sent home
all those valuables and gold...

that belonged to the Jews?

No. It's just envy,
because the Murers have done well.

They said the same thing about my business.
But everything was legal.

We had to pay for it all
so that Mr. Mandelbaum could go to America.

Oh, you're a sacristan?

Ha, you don't look like one.

Yeah?

What does a sacristan look like?

Who's our Spencer Tracy?
- Spencer Tracy?

"12 Angry Men."

Henry Fonda!
- Right. Henry Fonda.

I always get them mixed up.

One plays priests
and the other cowboys.

I wonder how the children feel,
seeing their father this way?

What I'd like to know is
why Mr. Murer would do something like that.

It looks good.

What do you have?
- Roast pork with dumplings.

In America,

the 12 jurors have to
reach a unanimous verdict.

And their decision, it's irrevocable.

A simple majority's sufficient here.

A rabbi and a priest, a Catholic priest,
are talking.

The rabbi says, "I can tell you.

Once I broke one of our laws and tasted ham."

But there are eight of us.

What happens if there's a tie?

A tie's considered an acquittal.

The priest says,
"I'll make a confession, too.

Once I broke one of ours
and slept with a woman."

Unless the judges disagree,

then the jurors are told
to deliberate once again.

There's a special term for that,
a "Moniturverfahren."

And the rabbi asks,
"It was better than ham, wasn't it?"

But what if we insist on keeping our verdict?

Then the judges can suspend the verdict
and pass it to a different jury.

A people's verdict
with a state emergency brake.

Aren't you hungry?
- Sure.

But pork doesn't agree with me.
I have stomach problems.

Do you want it?

Does anyone want some brandy?

Hi, I'm Maria.
Throwing it away would be a waste.

Julius.

Yeah, I know your grandma.

We're even related, but distantly.

This will calm her down.

They're strong.

It's what I take when I can't sleep.

And ever since he's been here,

he screams at night and hits in his sleep.

What is that?

It's just Chanel No. 5.

Chanel No. 5?

Soda water?

The Germans even need gas for their water.

It's strange, walking down a street
and hearing everyone speak German.

It's all coming back to me.

But you hardly saw Germans in the ghetto.

But when you did, it was usually...

the last thing you saw in this world.

And how is she, doctor?

I gave her something,
and she's beginning to calm down.

Don't you speak Yiddish?
- Sorry, no.

At home we spoke Russian and German.

Listen.

I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Jacob Gens,
and neither would you.

If he hadn't,

I have only one thing to thank him for,
that they put my wife on the list.

Excuse me.

And that nice Mr. Arnold
let it go through again.

I feel like Hansel in the fairy tale,

being fattened up before the slaughter.

Minister...

Mr. President of the Farmers Association...

Can I have a word with you,
or are you a music lover?

A New Year's concert
has all the Strauss waltzes I need.

It's about the Murer matter.

Do you think we're happy about this trial?

If Murer were a socialist...
- That wouldn't change anything.

After Eichmann named Murer during his trial,
the judiciary just couldn't ignore the case.

Murer's now a confirmed democrat
and a practicing Catholic.

If we condemn the ones who've reformed,

what will we do with the incorrigibles?

Before you get out a shovel
to fill in the graves of '34,

I assure you that
we don't disagree in this matter.

I'll do everything I can to prevent it from
becoming another Eichmann show trial.

Mrs. Reizmann.
- Rajzman!

You've provided a truly gripping account
of an incident in summer 1943.

What do you say to the fact that my client...

was no longer in Vilnius in summer 1943,

that he had been transferred
long before that?

Can you tell us the color of the uniform
worn by the man...

you assume to have identified as Mr. Murer?

I don't remember what color his uniform was.

You don't remember.

It was dark,

dark brown, I think.

But my client's uniform was light brown.

He wore a light-brown uniform.

And why did you...

mention a green uniform
in your statement of December 15, 1962?

Light brown,

dark brown,

why does it matter?

I don't remember, after such a long time.

How much is based on hearsay,

and what's from personal experience?
That's the question.

Please, that was over 20 years ago.

Who can remember details like that?

I don't even know the color
of the suit I wore yesterday.

Are you making fun of us?

A uniform has a consistent appearance...

and isn't alternately brown, green, then black.

And I ask you,

if you can forget details from 20 years ago,

how can you be sure of a person's identity?

Black.

It was black.
Like all the SS men wore.

In Vilnius I usually wore the uniform of the
Ordenburg training centers. It was brown...

with a red swastika armband,

and had a stripe on the sleeve
with the word Krössinsee.

Do you want it?

The doctor's wife gave it to me.

I'm sure it's expensive.

That's what the German woman I worked for
in the ghetto smelled like.

It always makes me sick.

Chanel No. 5.

The witnesses are here.

The judges sit here. The jury.

The spectators are here.

The devil of a prosecutor's here,

and Murer's here, in the middle.

Thank you.

Is the soup kosher?

There's no pork in it. We made sure of that.
- But is it kosher?

Where would they get a shochet
for kosher butchering?

Graz was the first Jew-free city.

There are Bibles in all the rooms.
But only the goy part.

You've survived a lot worse.

It's not important to you secular people,
I know that.

You promised me the front page!

Haven't you given that up?

To this day, I can't sleep...

without hiding a piece of bread in the mattress.

So that I can grab something to eat
when I wake up at night.

Yeah, I used to do that, too.

But my family made me stop,
because it attracted mice.

And I can't throw food away.

Even if it's rotten,
it makes my hands tremble.

And I smoke every cigarette down
until it burns my fingers.

And whenever I see a butt on the street,

I want to pick it up.

But luckily, I can stop myself, now.

And we're...

still here...

We look into the distance,

the sky's blue again.

New times are coming,

we're waiting...

for them patiently.

The day's coming,

the hour strikes,

then the guilty will fall.

The hour strikes,

we're here,

we look into the distance,

the sky's blue again.

New times are coming...

You're not going...

to eat here!

But this gentleman's staying here
as a court witness, just like you!

Fine.

Come on.

The man next to Lackner...

is Hochreiner the Werewolf.

After the war ended, that nice gentleman
had problems with Hungarian Jews.

He shot them.

Mr. Lackner!

"New York Times."

What do you have to say about
your former superior officer's trial?

No comment.
- But, Mr. Hochreiner:

is Mr. Murer guilty?

I don't talk to the lying American press.

That's Ephraim Schuster!

The cobbler who's a tailor.
It's me, Jakob.

Schlomo Kagan's son.

Kagan.

The naughty boy with the loudest mouth
on the whole street!

And Schuster the tailor,
who was always too slow to catch me.

And it's never too late.
Look, I can give you a wallop now.

And I thought you were dead.

Thanks, I thought you were too.

Excuse me...

If I might ask, how old are you?
- Thirty-seven. Why?

Just like my son.

He might have gone to the same school.

Avi Schmigel?

Sorry.
I can remember two Avis,

but not Avi Schmigel.

I read your article on the train.

I thought, man, can she write.

And said 'wipe it up!'.

An eye for an eye.

But Murer doesn't have 80,000 eyes.

His children are in the courtroom.

And I've heard that they're having
a good laugh at the testimony.

They'll stop laughing...

when I stab their father in front of their eyes.

The children haven't committed any crimes.

My son didn't do anything wrong either.

I thought that if we worked...

they would let us live.

It's not your fault.

It is.

I was a coward.
I didn't let him join the partisans.

Then he would've been dead anyway.

It's better to die fighting...

than for Murer to kill him like a dog.

You can't change what happened,

but you can do the right thing now.

And you know what the right thing is?
- Yes, testify.

And help convict Murer.

We can't all kidnap Eichmanns.

But their children should...
- I don't care about them!

When you're attacked because you're a Jew,

you have to fight back as a Jew.

And we'll all be blamed for what you do here.

It's not your private battle, Leon.

It's all history, girl.

The next witness, please.

Mr. Heinz Lackner.

Well, look at that...

Hochreiner, our werewolf.

Mr. Lackner, file number 218.

Sorry. 219/IV.

Is the witness present?

Good.

I must say: I knew nothing about mistreatment
or murders in the ghetto.

What was your function in Vilnius?

Staff manager and
head of the political department.

And you were a trainee at Krössinsee,
like Mr. Murer?

That's where we met.

You shared an apartment
with the defendant in Vilnius.

That's correct.

What was your personal opinion of
the mass executions in Ponary?

I first learned about them after the war,
from a newspaper report.

Yes,

we had a coach, and it was white,
that's correct.

But, as I remember,

it was used late in the ghetto period.

To save gasoline.

Please try to remember exactly.
When this sinister white coach was used.

Yes, now that I think about it, I'm sure...

that it was after Bruno Kittel took command.

Are you absolutely sure?

Not before fall 1943?

Yes, I'm quite sure.

In other words,
after my client had left Vilnius.

That's correct.

So the fact that several different witnesses
have testified...

to seeing Mr. Murer ride through the ghetto
in the white coach...

That must be mistaken identity.

It would seem that you were the man in the white
coach that the witnesses were talking about.

I ask the public prosecutor to refrain
from making such polemic remarks.

We...

were both unjustly sentenced to 25 years.

I never heard him make a derogatory comment
about Jews, Russians or the judiciary.

Did you discuss Mr. Murer's time in Vilnius?

Of course, often.

As I've already stated,
we became quite close in prison.

We talked about everything.

Including the bad things that happen in life.

Did he mention anything about shooting Jews
in the ghetto?

Never.

May I tell you about something else?

By chance I had an opportunity to read the files,

and I read why Franz was sentenced.

There was nothing about shootings.

Franz was sentenced because
he requisitioned food,

machines and hay for the German army.

I remind the witness that he has sworn
to tell the truth.

I can only say what I saw.

We have heard several concurring
eyewitness reports...

that Mr. Murer was sentenced for
the murder of Soviet citizens.

The defendant's reputation?

You can ask anyone, and no one will have
anything negative to say about the Murer family.

As the police chief, you came into contact
with Mr. Murer, correct?

That's correct.

I was involved in the investigation after the war,
and in my opinion the charges were unfounded.

This wasn't your first contact
with Mr. Murer, was it?

You were stationed in Vilnius, weren't you?

That's correct.

But I didn't have any direct contact...

with Mr. Murer
in the course of my position there.

But you knew each other.

Two Styrians in a foreign country?

I see.

What was Mr. Murer's reputation
among the ghetto residents?

Reputation?

Well, I never received a complaint about him.

Were you involved in the incidents
with the yellow work permits?

No.
I didn't hear about that until after the war.

And Ponary?

Ponary?

Oh.

You mean Ponar.
- Yes, that's right, Ponar.

The mass executions in Ponary!

I didn't hear about them
until after the war either.

These matters were top secret,
and as a simple soldier...

Please, Mr. Watzka, why so modest?

After all, you were a first lieutenant!

And you didn't hear anything at all about it?!

Don't worry about it.

When my father had a difficult case,
he never talked.

When he defended the man who murdered
a child, he even received threats.

"We'll kill your entire family."

Yeah, I know,

your dad was the greatest lawyer
in the entire world.

What did he use to say?

"Ik moet de beker tot of the botom trinken."

Are we insured for broken glass?

I will now read the sworn testimony
of Franz Engelmann.

As officer...

...in the German army,

I requested workers from Vilnius in fall 1942.

When the workers were delivered,

I was so taken aback
at their physical condition...

that I immediately contacted
the party responsible.

That was Franz Murer.

I demanded that he order an increase
in the amounts of food they received.

Mr. Murer refused categorically...

and brusquely replied,

"I have no potatoes for Jews.

If someone's unable to work...
- ...shoot them."

I never dealt with Mr. Engelmann personally,

and I'm unable to explain
why he could make such a claim.

It would seem to be a case
of mistaken identity.

Otherwise, I have to assume
that this is a malicious insinuation.

For whatever reasons.

In any case, I am not an anti-Semite.

This is a memorandum, dated April 7, 1942,

pertaining to the use of Jewish workers.
I quote:

"The Jew is our enemy
and wholly responsible for the war.

Therefore, there is no difference
between individual Jews,

they are all the same."

Are you familiar with this statement?

No.

Is that your signature?

I certainly did not write this.

It was drafted by the territorial
commissioner's office.

Probably by Hingst personally.
And as his deputy I was obligated to sign it.

And what do you have to say
about the contents?

That does not reflect my personal views.
It was the times:

A war was going on,
and we had to follow orders.

Everyone who served...

knows what I'm talking about.

And what are your personal beliefs
in this matter?

It's a shame that people
thought that way at the time.

I was at the Farmers Association
reception and talked to Wallner,

and he sends his warmest greetings.

I brought him a Malakoff Torte...

because I remember that he devoured some
the last time he visited us.

You and your cakes are really getting annoying,
do you realize that?

It's the way to a man's head...

Wallner came to an agreement
with Chancellor Gorbach...

and he's firmly on our side.

I'm not worried about our side,

but the justice minister,
he's as red as they come.

Oh, the red guard dog
is actually a pink poodle inside.

Wallner told me that several times.

And yesterday the APO correspondent...
- APA!

Austria Press Agency.

A charming person.
A patriot.

It seems that the justice minister
is under a great deal of pressure...

because of his Communist past.

Well written.
- Thanks.

For someone who normally doesn't drink...

What about the judge?

Did you find out anything about this Peyer?

Nope.

Well, I might be able to activate my sources.

You speak German?

If your journalist continues...

to harp about Murer's membership
in the People's Party,

we'll have to make a statement about your
State Secretary Rösch's Nazi past.

We agreed not to instrumentalize this case...

for political purposes, right?

You do know that the paper's editorial staff
is independent?

The only thing I can do is
try to talk to the journalist.

Certain things from the past...

should be left alone.

Especially when you're in a glass house.

The winters were the worst part of it.

And it was bitterly cold in 1942.

You can't survive on 125 grams
of bread a day.

You're constantly hungry.

All your thoughts revolve around
where you can get something to eat.

Every little case of the sniffles
turns into pneumonia.

But killing systematically
was the intention of the master race.

Please limit your testimony
to concrete statements...

concerning the matter at hand as they
involve the defendant, and don't digress.

I understood him.

But I'm not digressing.
It's important to understand...

that we had to smuggle to survive.

Please continue.

I arrived at the gate with my father,

and I saw him standing there.

Whenever Murer or Weiss
showed up in the ghetto,

people were frightened to death.

There were two kinds of members
of the master race.

And Murer was the kind that enjoyed killing.

Once again, I ask Mr. Kagan to refrain from
making general statements.

I saw Murer...

and immediately threw the firewood away.

I said to my father,

"Leave the meat, Murer's over there
and he'll kill us if he finds it."

He answered,

"Jacob, everything...

everything will be fine."

The people ahead of us got through the gate
without being searched.

Then I heard Murer's voice:
"Step out of the line!"

"Heraustreten!"

My father ran as fast as he could,

but he didn't get far.

Murer shot him without warning.

My father went down.

I tried to go to him, but didn't make it.

Someone held me back.

I saw my father lying there in the snow.
Blood.

He was still twitching.

But I couldn't get to him.

Murer said, "Take him away!"

Murer's bullet had grazed his heart.
He was dead two hours later.

I demand the death penalty for this man!
For the murderer of my father!

Please calm down.

And remember:

the death penalty has been abolished.

It's permitted solely under martial law.

Murer's uniform was light brown.

With a swastika armband.

The court has documents pertaining to another
case, in which the condemned Martin Weiss...

I'm familiar with Weiss.

Martin Weiss, who's serving a life sentence...

after being found guilty of a crime...

committed at the ghetto gate in 1942.

A man was shot dead while trying to escape.

I've met both Murer and Weiss.

They look nothing alike.

Do you really believe...

that a son can forget the face of the man...

who killed his father before his own eyes?

I could pick him out from a crowd
of a hundred thousand.

Sometimes you can only pray.

If only I could pray.

Praying always helps.

The Lord can understand everything,
and forgive anything.

Even murder?

After the war was over,

I was a werewolf.

I was 17.

And I wanted to be a German hero.

I understand.

I can't.

Once I was ordered to shoot people.

At first, I thought...

that they're the enemy.

But...

when they stood there...

Well, if you'd refused,
it would've been your neck.

No!

Pauli Ferstl said, "I can't do it."

We called him a coward and a traitor,
and threatened him. But nothing happened.

Even St. Peter denied Jesus three times.

But Peter didn't shoot three times.

If only I had at least aimed to the side.

But I was afraid that they'd know,
that's what a coward I was.

You were 17...

and in a war.

Look, my brother fell in Russia...

That doesn't help.
I know what I did.

And now I'm sitting in a courtroom
and they expect me to decide his fate.

We all have to do our duty.

Over the past few days we've heard testimony about
several German attacks on the local population.

Did the opposite ever take place?
- It did.

In January '42 there was even
an armed uprising in the ghetto.

Communist partisans,
but they didn't find much supporters.

There were arrests.

Then the Communist partisans
joined the Red Army.

So not everybody was
harmless and peaceful in Vilnius.

No.

Vilnius Jews even attacked Germans...

in front of a movie theater in 1941.

They were shooting from an ambush.
- And then you shot...

5,000 of us in Ponary.

Please remove this man.
- Five thousand!

You pigs!

Let me go!

He's a murderer!

A murderer!

Could we assume
that the searches were also necessary...

to maintain security in the ghetto?

When someone ran away,
they had something to hide.

Meat or a weapon.
The guards couldn't know which.

And sometimes their actions
could at times be considered... a reflex.

You're not seriously claiming...

that the shootings at the ghetto gate
were acts of self-defense?!

Thank you.

Mr. Peyer was a member of the
National Socialist party.

And sentenced deserters to death
in the war's final year.

Was temporarily barred from working
after '45.

The shenanigans involved in
getting him back on the bench...

would fill a detective novel.

I consider Mr. Murer,

both professionally
and in terms of his character,

exceptional.

After my father,
there's no one I respect more as a person.

According to my data,
you were the defendant's teacher.

I noticed him
when he was my student in school,

that he was particularly
bright and ambitious.

Can you tell us something about
the defendant's family life?

He grew up in extremely modest circumstances,

in a family with 13 children.

Is it true that, as a boy, Mr. Murer...

was accepted into Krössinsee
at your recommendation?

He earned that himself.

For everyone who's unaware,
Krössinsee was one of the three centers...

where the National Socialist Party elite,
its future leaders, were educated.

Austria's judiciary gave in to pressure...

and extradited him to the Soviet Union,

where Franz was sentenced to hard labor!

Wait a second.

He was back in Austria after six.

And since then he's been denounced
and persecuted.

There are unbelievable rumors that he
supposedly brought gold back from Vilnius.

It's all lies.

Franz Murer's an idealist.

Do you have any suspicions
as to who started these rumors?

Yes, I do.

It's well known that Wiesenthal the man hunter
is behind this smear campaign.

Mr. Eberdorfer.

DOCTOR Eberdorfer.

Excuse me.

DOCTOR Eberdorfer.

I remind you of the popular demonstrations
when he was arrested.

The Murers are a highly respected family.

Were you a member of
the National Socialist party, Mr. Eberdorfer?

I'm too young for that.

But isn't it true that you were listed
as a candidate...

in 1944, when you were 16?

That's possible.

I don't understand how this is relevant.

In the case of witnesses
who don't provide any Relevant information...

and only tell us about the exemplary
nature of Mr. Murer's past behavior instead,

asking about the validity of their testimony
is permitted, I assume.

Yes, that's correct,

I'm the sister of the unjustly accused man.

Please, madam.

It must have been in 1950.

My husband was working
as a prison guard at the time.

In Murau,
two fugitives jumped off a train transport...

to escape extradition to Israel.

One of them asked me for a washing bowl...

and repeatedly remarked that he's a Jew.

Then I said, "You don't need to keep saying it,
we can see that."

When he heard my maiden name,
he said, "Murer?

I knew a Murer, a Franz Murer...

from Lithuania.

He told us about a big show trial against him."

The Jew was convinced
that Franz Murer was an honest man.

During the trial,
nothing negative was said about him.

Only two witnesses had something bad to say.

My brother supposedly
knocked another man's hat off once.

And the other time, my brother gruffly ordered
some people who were cold to move around.

It might have been a little curt.

Nothing more was said.

"Such an honest man,"
the Jew kept repeating.

...and then the recently acquitted werewolf
Hochreiner appeared in the courtroom.

I couldn't believe it.

Well, that bunch sticks together.

Tell me, Nowak,

how long have we known each other?

Since '31,

when you almost broke up a meeting
of the Communist Youth Organization.

A real upper-class upstart who wanted to tell us
working-class goons how to start the revolution.

And you were the genuine voice
of Vienna's workers.

I've remained true to my principles.

Only those who change
can remain true to themselves.

Said the chameleon and switched from
Nazism to Austrianism.

By the way,
did you know that Presiding Judge Peyer...

joined the National Socialist party in '38?

Well, at least he wasn't an outlaw member in '33.

Someone else who stayed true to himself
by changing.

Plus a public prosecutor who constantly
makes a fool of him.

I know Schuhmann.
He's an excellent jurist. He'll go far.

With these jurors,
all he's going to do is get an acquittal.

The next fiasco after Hochreiner.

Why don't you get rid of jury courts?

And judges with skeletons in the closet?
Do they make better judgments?

I'm for jury courts.

The administration of justice
should mirror the people.

So you take into the bargain
that a mass murderer walks free?

Brandt in Germany,

and then a socialist Austria as a nerve center
together with Sweden and Denmark.

That's the future.
That's the historic opportunity.

You talked about historic opportunity
and revolution in the past,

and the Nazis came instead.

For the first time ever,

social democracy can come to power
across Europe through elections.

I won't let a Murer and a Wiesenthal
ruin this opportunity.

Proceeding into a new age,
hand in hand with old Nazis.

If we want to change Austria,
we have to win the election,

and unfortunately, that means getting
as many ex-Nazis to vote for us as possible.

What?

Someone who doesn't want to get
their hands dirty has no business in politics.

Modern criminal and family law's
more important to me than...

And Friedl Rabowsky and all the others?

Have you forgotten them?
- I haven't forgotten a thing.

I was in the resistance.

I almost had a rope around my neck.
I'm not just talking.

Your father wasn't in Mauthausen to...
- Leave him out of this, please!

Your pact with the devil will come back
to haunt you, believe me.

Possibly, Mephistopheles.

Denying the reality of the people
and just moralizing...

will make you politically sterile.

And eventually, the Nazi problem
will solve itself through biology.

Just beware the new Nazis' rope.

Moralizing isn't their problem.

And you should ask yourself whether
your well-intentioned articles are the solution.

The cheers of the left-wing,
liberal intellectuals...

won't help us a bit among the working class.

That's where elections are decided.

And not in fancy cafes.

Oh, with Böck defending you,

it's a sure thing.
- With this Jacob Kagan,

Böck didn't know what to do,
we stumbled there.

The newspapers see things differently.

Except for the Reds...

Who reads the Social Democrats' newspaper?

None of the jurors from Graz,
that's for sure.

But with Kagan, I could see
that the jury believed him.

My trial ended in a definite acquittal.

And things looked worse then.
Franz, they did.

My case was after the war had ended.
Three months after Hitler died.

I couldn't argue that I was following orders.

I swear, you'll walk out of here a free man.

Otherwise I'll eat my hat.

Weiss will testify.

What're you talking about?

They gave him a life sentence in Germany.

He's already in Graz.

And Böck has prepared him just right.

Mr. Weiss, you're currently serving a
life sentence in Straubing prison, correct?

That's right.

Could you please speak louder?
A battlefield injury.

You were sentenced,

among other crimes,
for the mass execution in Ponary.

I would like to point out
to the defense attorney...

that the incident at Ponary
is not the subject of this trial.

Yes, Your Honor.

Mr. Weiss, do you think it's possible...

that Mr. Murer,
who occupied a high position in Vilnius,

was unaware of the liquidations?

The matter was top secret.

And let's say that, in those days,

when you were lucky not to be involved,
you didn't really want to know.

What do you mean by lucky enough?

What do you mean by lucky enough?

When you weren't responsible for
security matters, like I was,

that was bad luck.

And the alleged appropriation of property
that Mr. Murer is being accused of...

would've resulted in summary execution.

No mercy was shown for property offenses.

No one should assume that there were no rules
and no order in the ghetto.

Still, such things did happen, didn't they?
- There are bad apples in every basket.

Still, I would like to state
that in the German army...

soldierly virtue and honesty were the norm.

Mr. Wulff Zawadzki accuses Mr. Murer...

of directing the incident
with the work permits...

and therefore being responsible for the death
of 5,000 Jews.

That's not correct.

Responsibilities were rigidly divided up.

The ghetto was like a state within a state.

It had its own police force,
courts,

secret police, health system, etc.

Everything was run by Jews.

And Mr. Murer was something
like the ghetto's mayor.

His responsibilities were
purely administrative.

Shimon Trabski reported a search
at the ghetto gate...

during which Murer allegedly shot a Jew to death
because he was wearing high Polish boots.

I'm certain that this was
a case of mistaken identity.

Mr. Israel Szelubski testified
that his son was whipped.

It's very unlikely that Mr. Murer
was present at such a punishment.

One witness, a certain Selig Shmilewitz...

Once again, searches were...

This witness...

claimed that that Mr. Murer
ordered the shooting of a young girl.

A case of mistaken identity.

Coming to the Kagan case.

The witness provided a vivid description of
how his father was shot before his eyes...

because he tried
to smuggle meat into the ghetto.

When was this supposed to have happened?

Winter 1942.

This seems familiar.

But Mr. Murer wasn't involved.

And how can you be so sure?

Someone else
has been sentenced for it.

How can you be so sure?

Because I was sentenced for it.

Could it be...

that the witness mistook you for Mr. Murer?

I assume that's the case.
Yes.

Were you involved in such shootings
at the ghetto gate?

Yes.

We had strict orders. An order is an order,
and my oath as a soldier...

We've heard that claim before.

So if you murdered Jacob Kagan's father,

why doesn't the victim's name
appear in your sentence?

I would like to remind Mr. Weiss
that he's under oath...

and perjury can lead to
additional prison time.

Well?!

I can't answer that,
but it was an extremely similar case.

Similar, but not identical!

Thank you, Your Honor.
No further questions.

Please enter the witness stand.

Mr. Schmigel?

It was September 15, 1942.

My son and I traded with the farmers,

sheets and blankets for a kilogram of meat,
some butter and five kilograms of potatoes.

When we arrived at the gate,

I saw that new guards were arriving.

It was too late to turn around.

That would've been suspicious.

I sent a quick prayer to heaven.

I passed without any problem,

but a guard made my son stop.

He's a brave boy.

He had hidden everything well.

But after I breathed a sigh of relief,

the potatoes fell to the ground.

"Come with us!" they said,

and we went to the commissioner's office.

To Murer in person.

He called me a thieving...

Jew pig...

and hit me until he knocked my teeth out.

"Can't you teach your son to obey the rules?"

I said I was sorry.

Then he said,

"I'll teach you a lesson...

you'll never forget."

My son...

had to kneel down...

and hold his hands on the back of his neck.

Like this.

But my son didn't show he was afraid.

He looked Murer...

straight in the eyes.

Murer...

drew his pistol,

and I thought it was only to scare him,

but he pulled the trigger.

He shot him,

before my eyes.

They carried him out.

And then Murer threw me a rag...

and said,

"Clean it up."

"Clean it up!"

"CLEAN IT UP!"

"CLEAN IT UP!"

Can you tell us the color
of the man's uniform?

Light brown.

I can still see him standing in front of me.

Just like he's sitting there now.

A sentence was passed
in a case that sounds quite similar.

Mr. Martin Weiss...
- I know very well who Mr. Weiss is.

He gave the order for my sick wife
to be taken to Ponary.

Where she was shot.

One of them has brown eyes,

the other blue.

You can't mistake them.

Why haven't you come forward until now,
after all these years?

Why not immediately after the war?

Is it possible that certain groups asked you...

to testify?

I read in a Jewish newspaper...

that Murer had been arrested.

And what's the name of this
Jewish newspaper?

I don't remember.

Do you often read newspapers
without knowing their name?

I don't read any newspapers.
But my neighbor knew that I'm from Vilnius.

He gave it to me.

And who did you contact?

There was a telephone number...

that I called.

And whose number was it?

Some organization, I assume.

Could it be the World Jewish Congress?

What does the World Jewish Congress
have to do...

with the truth of Mr. Schmigel's testimony?

You're probably on their payroll!

Yeah!
That's right!

I think it's highly relevant and important
to know the circumstances...

under which witnesses suddenly appear...

and can remember things
they haven't talked about for decades.

We've just received the news that our
Holy Father, John XXIII, has passed away.

Let us say the Our Father together.

Our Father who art in heaven...

...and forgive us our trespasses...

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Have a good meal.

Are you a Protestant?
- A heathen.

I didn't believe a word he said.

If you ask me, it's just a show.

That's not an appropriate topic
for the table.

Oh, just shut up.

Well, I'm allowed to express my opinion.
- And it's my opinion that you should shut up.

Not in that tone, please!

Killing people's fine,

as long as the tone's right.

Have a good meal.

I'll be happy when this is over.

I don't know what I should do, Grandma.

I just wanted to see what the mood's like
among the jurors.

It was settled until Kagan
and then Schmigel testified.

But now it's changed.

I'm sure about 3 of us.

But the others...
- You mean it could be 5 to 3 against Murer?

Unfortunately.

Julius Kloiber's the biggest problem,

he's stirring things up against Murer.

Our little Julius,

a Judas.

And the alternate?

Mrs. Murer.

Mrs. Murer,

I remind you that, as the defendant's wife,
you're not obligated to testify.

I want to testify, Your Honor.
- Fine.

Did you ever visit your husband in Lithuania?

Yes, I visited my husband in Vilnius
for three weeks,

but we were never in the ghetto.

I had the impression that my husband
was generally extremely popular there.

Because he has always been
very conscientious.

That's why it makes me angry
when certain people...

spread rumors
that he sent suitcases full of gold home.

In Vilnius...

300 witnesses testified
in my husband's defense.

I was personally invited to testify
at the trial in Vilnius.

Murer was convicted of killing Soviet citizens.

He was sentenced to the maximum penalty...

as the main perpetrator.

Everybody knows how...

the Russians treated our people.

But I would've waited 25 years for him.

And when he came back in '55,

that was...

the happiest day of my life.

He was so popular...

that they practically
forced him political office.

And as soon as things were looking up for us,
this Mr. Wiesenthal...

started causing trouble
and spreading slander again.

It's strange,

that the Austrian government permits
operation of a private lynch organization...

that has foreign secret services
kidnap people.

How often have I asked you
not to come to the trial?

And you still come again and again.
You're in the gallery every day.

Why are you so interested in the Murer case?

I haven't shown these to you.

I can't stand it here anymore.

Austria's...

I know, everything's better in the Holland,
not just the cheese.

You let Böck make a fool of you.

You're acting like an amateur.

Great, now you're stabbing me in the back too.
- No, I want to support you.

Böck's in a weaker position.
- Yeah, but public opinion...

That can't be decisive
for the outcome of a trial!

Can't you understand that this involves
an enormous amount of stress?

We aren't in The Hague.
We're in Graz!

Right!
The city of the uprising!

Stop it.

You don't understand the mentality of our jurors.

All of them have lost someone in the war.
- So?

So nothing!

It's a fact!
Just a fact.

Good evening.
- Hello.

Haven't you done enough to him already?

I understand your situation.

You were just a boy at the time.

And that's why they kept you out of it.

Nobody mentioned your name at the time.
In Trial 48.

Don't you think that you have a debt
to repay now?

I can't vote to acquit Murer.
I'd turn myself in first.

I can't ignore my conscience.

When Mr. Murer claims
that he knew nothing about what happened,

he's making things too easy for himself.

Not believing what they have seen Murer do...

would mean doing violence
to the evaluation of the evidence.

It's true...

that some of the witnesses made mistakes
and confused people.

However,
dismissing all the testimony as not credible...

would be irresponsible and unconscionable.

Franz Murer...

was a known
and feared person in Vilnius.

And because of that,

the possibility of mistaken identity
in the two cases,

when Leon Schmigel witnessed his son's shooting
and Jacob Kagan saw his father being murdered,

can be ruled out absolutely.

Witnessing your own child being killed
before your eyes...

would never be forgotten,

nor would the perpetrator.
I believe...

that the testimony of these witnesses...

is without a doubt sufficient...

to recognize Murer's guilt.

Over the past few days...

we've listened to dozens of witnesses...

describe the horrible crimes...

that were committed in Vilnius...

while the defendant, Franz Murer,
was in charge of the ghetto.

The defense repeatedly tried to minimize his role,

but the facts contradict this.

He was not simply an employee following orders,

no, he ruled the ghetto!

And of the 80,000 Jews in Vilnius,

once called the Jerusalem of the North,

only 600 survived...

this reign of terror.

And Mr. Murer claims that...

he was not involved in any way.

We've listened to witnesses
from around the world...

who have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt
that Mr. Murer is not only morally...

responsible for the crimes,

but committed them himself,
and that is the point of this trial!

I would like to mention at this point...

that the prosecution could've provided
even more witnesses,

but they were either contacted too late,

due to an organizational oversight,

or failed to receive reimbursement...

and for this reason were unable to appear.

Of the charges,
which are numbered 1 through 17,

contradictions have arisen
in the testimonies.

So we recommend that the jury vote...

to find the defendant not guilty
of those charges.

This involves charge 4,
charge 9,

charge 13,
charges 14 and 15.

Regarding other charges, 1, 2, 6 and 16,

the prosecution finds that there is considerable
evidence to justify a verdict of guilty,

though a few matters are cause for doubt.

For those charges,
we will permit the jury to decide.

With regard to 7 of the charges,

the prosecution finds that the amount of evidence
is so overwhelming,

it recommends the jury
find the defendant guilty.

This involves charges 3, 5,

7, 8,

10, 11 and 17.

In these cases, testimony was unambiguous
and without contradiction...

so that the defense was unable
to call it into question.

Thank you.

Austria is free.

Eight years have passed...

since we were finally able to rejoice.

And the nightmare of Nazi rule and occupation
came to an end.

But how was this day, May 15, 1955,

for those who were not permitted
to return home?

Who still faced an uncertain future
in Soviet camps?

"Austria is free"...

sounded much different to them.

It meant the end of imprisonment...

and suffering.

Franz Murer,

the son of a Styrian farmer,

had an unfortunate fate.

As a soldier he did his duty
like millions of others.

"Austria is free."
For him, that meant...

returning home to his family.

Running his farm.

Being among his own kind again, in peace.

Everyone who was imprisoned
knows what that means.

And then, after things had started to get better,

new accusations,

denunciation...

and then a judiciary...

that gave in to pressure.

Austrian taxpayers paid over 75,000 schillings...

so that Jewish witnesses from the USA,

Israel and other countries
could testify here.

And they told outrageous stories.

But one thing became certain:

The witnesses were obviously subject
to control and manipulation.

Did that hold up during the gathering of evidence
here in court?

No.

It was obvious that the witnesses were lying.

On the contrary, we became witnesses here,

witnesses to a conspiracy.

A conspiracy against Franz Murer.

The prosecution itself...

had to admit the unreliability
of its own witnesses,

and then asked...

whether it's possible
that so many witnesses...

were colluding or are mistaken.

I say yes.

They are mistaken.

Atrocities happen in every war.
That cannot be denied or glossed over.

War is war.

But what the Jewish witnesses themselves
testified shouldn't be forgotten.

There were armed Jewish gangs in Vilnius...

that laid ambushes...

and played into the hands of the Red Army.

In other words, we should question
the idea of the innocent victim.

But the matter here isn't assigning guilt
for the war.

An individual is being tried...

for something that he didn't do.

I have shown how witnesses lied,

and I'm astonished that the public prosecutor...

has not taken action against them for perjury.

And when the public prosecutor claims
that a father's unable to lie...

after witnessing his own son's murder,

I must counter,

he did lie.

For the Jews it was irrelevant
who committed the murder.

Their enemy is the man in a German uniform,

whether it was brown, green or black.

The idea of collective guilt
plays a subliminal role in everything.

But I remind you of something from
my introductory remarks:

Austria was Hitler's first victim!

Franz Murer is offered here as a scapegoat,

a target of the revenge of foreign interests.

However, Your Honor, members of the jury:

Austria is free!

Focus on the facts...

rather than manufactured evidence and biases.

For this reason I ask the jurors...

to acquit my client on all charges.

There can be only one verdict in this case:

not guilty.

Of all charges.

The "Austria is free" trick could backfire, huh?

It seemed to work with the jurors.

And not only them.

Fifty schillings says he's acquitted.
Even if the jurors vote for an acquittal,

I'm sure that the court will overturn the verdict.

It's a bet.

If you have any questions about the instructions,
now would be the time to ask.

If not, I will go over
each of the court's questions...

and then let you come to a decision.

Charge 1.
- Pardon me.

I can't.

I would like to declare myself biased.

But appointing an alternate juror requires
that the proceedings start over. Period.

Gentlemen, please.
This isn't a law course.

A new trial with the same result
would mean an unjustifiable delay.

But if we enter this gray area,

the trial's legitimacy could be disputed.

And the public prosecutor would exploit
this procedural error and then...

An agreement will be reached with him.

In my function as the jury foreman,
as determined by my fellow jurors,

I hereby open the deliberations
with the alternate juror.

Cut flowers?
- A bouquet.

It's my wife's birthday.
- We're all out.

Potted flowers or a funeral wreath.

I don't know what's going on today.

OK. Three votes for no.

How many votes for guilty?

But Maria, you can't be serious.

Since when are we on a first-name basis?

It's all up to you now.

I ask the jury foreman to read the verdict.

Defendant, please rise.

3 p.m.
This is Austrian radio with the news.

After a trial lasting ten days,

the Graz jury court
has just issued a verdict for Franz Murer.

who was charged
with several counts of murder...

allegedly committed in Vilnius during the war,
was acquitted of all charges.

On 12 charges,
the 8 jurors unanimously voted not guilty.

Despite a number of witnesses,

the prosecution was unable to convince the jury
of Murer's guilt beyond a doubt.

In his final argument, the defense spoke
of an externally controlled campaign...

against Franz Murer.

The public prosecutor's office immediately
requested annulment of the verdict,

claiming procedural errors.

The voting was close:

4 to 4 on two murder charges.

According to the Austrian code
of criminal procedure, a tie results in acquittal.

It's generally expected
that the appeal will be allowed...

and that Murer will remain in prison.

The petition of the public prosecutor's office
is denied.

Since there's no flight risk with Mr. Franz Murer,

he will be released immediately.

That was a memorable performance,
your closing argument.

Going to the jurors.

Addressing them individually.
Like in Hollywood.

Why in the world did you give up most of
your witnesses in your closing arguments?

To concentrate everything
on the two main charges.

Someone who's mistaken about 10 charges,
and only half right in 10,

can be mistaken about the remaining 2.

Why are you complaining?
You won the case,

and that's what matters, isn't it?
- Just curious.

From one lawyer to another.

What happened?

I do my duty and will continue
to do it in the future. But...

we can't always make our own decisions.

And you were brilliant.
Let's leave it at that.

I'm such an idiot.
Of course.

An order from Vienna?

You have my respect, Counselor.

Your mistakes were very believable.

Vienna always underestimates
the country's states.

If I were you,
I'd take the back exit to the right.

Otherwise you might run into
a few angry Israelites.

I'm so sorry.
About everything.

I just wanted to tell you that.

Come in.

Doctor.

We brought you a little something.

Sorry, but I can't eat that.
Diabetes.

But I'm sure the boy will enjoy it.

You were pretty sure about the verdict.

Dead sure.

And we know who we have to thank.

We could never have convinced the jurors.
Without you.

If you hadn't been certain of Franz's innocence...
- Innocence?

What in the world makes you think that?

And don't forget this.

I just did what any lawyer would do.

I was only doing my duty.

My husband's not a murderer!

A day will come when my brother's thanked
for his sacrifices.

We didn't start the war.

And it's not over yet, Dr. Böck.

Yes! Thank you!

Am I happy that I don't have to eat my hat.

Thank you, Richard!

Tell me, Franz.

Please tell me what happened in Vilnius.

Be honest.

Did you really have an affair
with that Miss Freese?

Until his death Wiesenthal worked
to have the trial reopened.

However, Murer was never tried again.
In 1974 all proceedings stopped.

That same year Hochreiner, the werewolf,

was elected mayor of St. Michael thanks to
the votes of the Freedom and Socialist parties.

In 1975, Broda, in a purely Socialist governement,
pushed through modern laws.

Franz Murer died in 1994,
surrounded by his family at his home in Austria.