The concept that a Nazi SS officer would go through trying to pass himself off as a Jewish concentration camp survivor. Hard to swallow. He would have had to immerse himself in Jewish culture/religion/Yiddish language/Hebrew language convincingly enough to fool the American Jewish community. C'mon.
shareI believe that there have been a few instances of persons who did that.
shareSomewhat spoiler:
from the Trivia section of this website:
"While in fact Nazi war criminals tried to hide by creating new identities for themselves in other (mostly South American) countries, there is not a single documented case in history, where a former SS member tried to 'hide' behind a fake identity of a Jewish Auschwitz survivor by tattooing himself with a prisoner's number. The reason why this never happened might be simply that it wouldn't have helped at all: They would still have been easily identifiable through facial recognition and official pictures. In fact, many Nazi war criminals were captured after WWII because former prisoners suddenly saw them in public. A new identity of a 'Jewish holocaust survivor', especially one living among other Jewish people, would have made it even more difficult to hide for a former Nazi. Therefore the basic premise of this thriller is questionable in its logic."
Since you present yourself as an historian, why don't you give us a few examples of people who did that?
shareThe concept that a Nazi SS officer would go through trying to pass himself off as a Jewish concentration camp survivor. Hard to swallow. He would have had to immerse himself in Jewish culture/religion/Yiddish language/Hebrew language convincingly enough to fool the American Jewish community. C'mon
What I think you are forgetting is that many, if not most, Germans fully agreed with Hitler's view of Jews. There was widespread hatred and contempt for them, which is why the Holocaust happened.
The point is, can you imagine a dark-skinned (but white) Ku Klux Klan member trying to pass himself off as black? Why not? Because he hated blacks, just as the Nazis hated Jews. It would be against his political/racial principals to do such a thing. Even once the war ended in Nazi defeat, I doubt there were any Nazis who thought it a good way to hide their complicity by pretending to be Jewish.
Consider the case of Adolf Eichman. He learned everything he could find about Judiasm, including how to speak Hebrew and he never attempted to pass himself off as Jewish after the war, although he probably could have even fooled some Jews.
^ Agreed. Good post.
shareThere may not be any documented cases like this....but that doesn't mean it couldn't have happened, perhaps they never were revealed for who they truly were. It's not so far fetched that one could say it's impossible. ..it's very possible.
Cake or death? Hmmmm I choose cake please.
This was a great film with unforgettable performances by virtually the entire cast. Atom Egoyan is a fine director, and if I recall correctly, both Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter had gotcha endings, too.
The FBI arrested an elderly woman several years ago in San Francisco who had been a concentration camp guard. She was married to a Jewish Holocaust survivor who died not knowing that his soon-to-be widow had been a wanted Nazi war criminal. Both neighbors and friends remarked afterwards that they looked like the happiest couple alive and seemed so in love. None of the husband's Jewish friends or relatives ever suspected a thing, and they had been wed for more than sixty years! Too bad he died in blissful ignorance.
Too bad he died in blissful ignorance.