The Odessa File Page #2

has stayed with me always.

After her death, my soul died inside me.

But my body and mind remained alive.

I was determined to survive...

...and one day tell the world

what Roschmann did to our people here.

Peter?

It's after 8:
00.

- Aren't you supposed to be at the club?

- I tried to call a taxi, but I couldn't get one.

A taxi? What do you need a taxi for?

Don't I always take you?

Between 1941 and the end of the war...

...over 200,000 German Jews

were brought to Riga.

400 came out alive.

In late 1944, we began to hear

the crump of mortar fire.

There were rumours that the Russians

had taken the suburbs of Riga...

...and that the German army

would be forced to retreat.

On October 11,

50 of us survivors were taken to the docks.

We were helping wounded soldiers

to go on deck...

...when Roschmann drove up

in a staff car...

...and gave instructions

that they should be brought ashore again.

He intended to commandeer the ship

for the SS.

The Captain was dead

before he hit the ground.

The medal that fell from him

into the snow...

...was the Knights Cross

with the oak leaf cluster.

Early in 1945,

a few weeks before the liberation...

...Captain Roschmann of the SS

made up his mind to disappear.

He slipped quietly away in a car

with two other officers.

He was wearing the uniform

of an army corporal.

I saw him go and I was determined

one day to bring him to justice.

But now I know I never will.

I bear no hatred nor bitterness

towards the German people.

Peoples are not evil.

Only individuals are evil.

If, after my death,

this diary should be found and read...

...will some kind friend

please say Kaddish for me?

Still awake?

Yeah.

Are you all right?

No.

I have a job to do.

You don't even know

if this Roschmann's still alive.

But if he were, say,

hiding out someplace and I found him...

...that would be worth your investment?

Dead Jews don't sell papers.

These people Roschmann killed...

...they weren't Russians or Poles,

they were Germans.

German Jews.

- But still Germans.

- Tragic.

It's a sick world, isn't it?

These are the best we can get

on Lady Bird Johnson.

And you think that's why

I should give you a commission...

...because the victims of Riga

were German Jews?

Yes.

People don't want to know, Peter.

It's a dead duck.

- Not to me it isn't.

- Take my advice. Drop it.

But, Peter, why?

Why do you want to do this suddenly?

It's over.

Nobody wants

these dreadful trials anymore.

It upsets people.

People shouldn't be upset by the truth.

What is the truth?

What do you young people really know?

You were too young to understand

what it was like.

I'll go and make the coffee.

Mother...

...what was it like for you?

For me?

We lived in Perfallstrasse then.

You were about that size.

There were bombings every night.

One night, we left the cellar

and the whole street was gone.

There were firebombs everywhere.

All I tried...

All I tried to do was hide your eyes...

...so you couldn't see

people burning like torches.

When your father came back on leave...

...it took him three days to find us,

because we'd moved.

We'd moved in with a family

on the other side of town...

...in Altona. You probably remember that.

What was my father like?

Was he something like me?

He was always...

...very sure of himself.

Maybe he was a little more secure.

Well then, I'll tell you something.

Father would have been

the first person to say, "Go ahead."

I don't like the press.

It won't be any trouble.

It's just a sort of story...

...human interest, you know?

You can't go up. I've re-let the room.

Did he have any possessions?

Possessions?

- They're out the back.

- Can I see them?

Possible.

Is this his wife?

I don't know.

Did he have any friends?

- Never saw anybody except old Marx.

- Marx?

They used to pick up

their old-age pension together.

Can you make a description of him?

Old. Thin. Long white hair.

Always wears a grey scarf.

Herr Marx?

May I sit down?

I'd like to talk to you about your friend,

Salomon Tauber.

- He's dead.

- Yes, I know.

Are you an official?

No.

Not from the authorities?

- The police?

- I'm a journalist. Peter Miller.

Before your friend took his life...

...he set down his experiences

at Riga Concentration Camp.

A diary.

You were at Riga, too?

Auschwitz.

In the diary, your friend

wrote about an SS officer...

...named Roschmann.

Captain Eduard Roschmann.

I want to find out anything I can about him.

Maybe even he's still alive.

Something.

Roschmann is still alive.

- How do you know?

- Salomon saw him.

Yes, I read that. That was in 1945.

That was three weeks ago.

Here in Hamburg.

Are you sure?

He saw him coming out of the opera

with some friends.

Why didn't he go to the police?

He did. He reported it.

But the police said he had no evidence.

That's why he killed himself.

You see, he'd come up against the Odessa.

The Odessa?

He should have been like me.

All I care about is getting a boat to Israel,

that's all I want.

Odessa? I don't know

what you are talking about.

Come on, Karl.

It's a secret organization of some sort.

How much have you heard about it?

Just stories, whispers, rumours.

Leave it alone, Peter, please.

Where is the diary?

- I've got it safe.

- I want it back.

What's the matter?

You're sorry you gave it to me?

I gave you it because I thought

it might make a human interest story...

...not an investigation.

You gave me the diary because you were

moved, and you thought I'd be moved by it.

- I am.

- It's police property.

You don't want me to follow it up

or to go after Eduard Roschmann?

Monika, we are busy.

The children just want to say good night

to Uncle Peter.

- Say good night, then. But quickly.

- Good night, Erik!

Good night, Uncle Peter!

- Good night, Uncle Peter.

- Good night, little Gretel.

Now, straight to bed.

I'll be up to put the light out.

Why are you so scared?

I'm telling you, don't get involved.

It's not your affair.

War criminals are a police matter,

but the police won't do anything about it...

...so I'm going to.

- State Attorney General's office.

- Which department?

- War Crimes.

- Second floor. Room 223.

Thank you very much.

Riga, and the name was?

Roschmann, Eduard.

What's going on here?

- This gentleman wanted...

- I heard him.

Who sent you here?

I'm a journalist.

Come into my office.

Can I see your card?

Why are you so interested

in Captain Roschmann?

Is there some investigation of him?

- Why do you want to know?

- It's a matter of public interest.

We investigate many things...

...but we cannot give information

concerning the progress of our inquiries.

I'm simply asking if there is an inquiry.

The matter is confidential.

I can't discuss it.

Yes? Put him through.

Herr General. What a nice surprise.

And it's good to hear you, sir.

Of course I'm coming.

I've got the invitation right in front of me.

The one evening in the year

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