People keep silent, just afraid to touch their own interests.
This is in line with the Chinese saying that more things are worse than less things, and less things are worse than nothing. Human nature always seeks advantages and avoid disadvantages. It's just how to calculate this "interest" relationship. For individuals, for society, for future generations, and for history, the weight, proportion, and balance of "stakes" will be different. If you think about the long-term, you will lose your immediate benefits, and if you only focus on the immediate, you will lose your long-term vitality. It's a switch of stakes. In a society, if most people only care about their immediate interests, they will surely lose the beauty of their children and grandchildren. Although they have ways to avoid this possible future harm, the stake itself always has an ironclad rule of cause and effect, which can be avoided for a while, but not forever.
As in the film, Frankfurt's top prosecutor Bauer said to his subordinate prosecutor Ludman, "This is a maze, please don't get lost." Hence the title of the German film The Labyrinth of Silence (2014). One has to flash back to 1958, when West Germany was going through the "era of economic miracles". No one is immersed in the shadow of war more than ten years ago, and people just want to forget it early to embrace a better life. In terms of human nature, most people prefer to forget an unforgettable history, rather than talk about it all the time. But there are always a few people who are obsessed with it. They want to reveal the truth in order to obtain a correct solution, such as Zhang Chunru who revealed the truth of the "Nanjing Massacre".
In "The Labyrinth of Silence", Radman, a handsome 28-year-old young man, is a full-time prosecutor in traffic accident cases. On this day, after hearing the traffic case of the beautiful woman Marlene, I accidentally saw the shouting of the young reporter Guenilka. He distributed leaflets to report Alois Schultz, a teacher at the Goethe-School of Arts and Sciences, who had been in Austria. The SS commander at Switzing was involved in the murder of Jews. Simon, the middle school teacher next to him, was extremely panicked as a witness. On the other hand, no one paid any attention to the brave reporter. They all laughed at him and told him that no one from this country had participated in the event more than ten years ago.
Only Ludman, who was silent on the side, picked up a flyer. He began work on the investigation of Schultz. He didn't even think of it himself, there were many obstacles. Even Simon, the victim who testified against Schultz, backed down, feeling that in such a society that doesn't value the truth, it is useless and will be retaliated against. Ludman asked the top prosecutor to allow his investigation. Fortunately, Ball was an open-minded and determined man. He supported Ludman's work, but kept it private, and asked the journalist Gnierka not to appear in the newspapers. This kind of request is also a last resort, because there is an airtight wall all around, whoever wants to publicly challenge this wall has only one death.
All three of them knew it. Ball told Ludman that only by finding the chain of evidence can the real truth be reached and people like Schultz be brought to justice. During the investigation, most people did not know about the Auschwitz concentration camp, let alone that hundreds of thousands of people were massacred there. The specific victims of the incident, witnesses, and testimonies are indispensable. Curiously, all of the Holocaust archives from 1939 to 1945 have disappeared. Some people say that these documents were burned by the Americans.
In addition to the investigation, Gurnica took Ludman to the family dance and introduced Ludman to everyone, "In this unbreakable jurist's chest, the soft flame of human nature has not yet been completely extinguished. Be more comfortable in the circle, get close to this small fire, and let it become a raging fire in the future." Here he meets Malena by accident. They can be said to fall in love at first sight, but on the surface, they are all reserved. They danced together and talked together. Of course, there will also be a big boulder that will come by surprise. This is an unexpected retaliation, warning them to stop here and not to investigate further.
But Ludman did not stop, and got Ball's permission to stop accepting traffic accident cases and investigate the case full-time. Mist as mountains. People can only cover up, escape and quibble, they just want Ludman to stop here and not take risks. Everyone is well aware that in the great torrent that participated in the name of national fascism, everyone was not immune, and everyone participated in it. No one can escape the blame. It is the whole society that needs to wake up, and only by uncovering the truth and shaking their hearts, maybe they will realize its true meaning.
The first painting Simon painted when he got out of the concentration camp was "Angel of Death". Obviously, he was frightened by the horror of the concentration camp, or the fear of death had been integrated into his blood. He did not believe that Ludman could uncover the truth of this murderous den. He said that his wife and twin daughters, who were used as experiments by Menger, a doctor known as the "Butcher," died there and that I couldn't do anything. Ludman understands the source of his pain, and he continues to grow stronger.
He found the first witness, Bichensky. He said my wife and son were killed in that "kill factory". Schmidt, a female clerk who never knew anything about the concentration camp, burst into tears when he heard it. But the top prosecutor kept objecting, telling Ludman, "You're going to pick up old scars, and this country is just healing, and you don't know yet, Ball is Jewish, he was in concentration camps, and I was a Marines, do you want to settle me too, young man, the Nuremberg Trials have ended this matter." "The Nuremberg Trials only tried the smallest part of it."
The senior prosecutor also questioned Supreme Attorney Powell, "The Prime Minister has said, we're going to put a stop on this page, and a trial like this that you're going to have is poison." Powell responded, "On the contrary, the silence of today is the It is poison, poisoning our young and weak democratic system, and it is I who decide when this institution will come to an end."
The intimidation of the senior prosecutor did not stop Ludman. Ludman went non-stop to the U.S. Garrison Archives, and the garrison officer said to him, "There are 10 million Nazi files here, and if you think you can get one of them to court, you are a child who believes in Santa Claus. Here are 600,000 SS materials, and there are 8,000 SS in Auschwitz, but you have to fish them out one by one yourself.” The pile of materials is like a sea of smoke. Ball brought Ludman an assistant, Haller.
Bauer was also threatened from all sides. He took out various warning letters and read to Ludman, "If you get lost, you will also be waiting for you in a gas chamber", "Dead or alive, Jew" . "So, we have to show the German people what is going on there, not just by Hitler and Hilem, but by ordinary people, these ordinary people, who did that," he told Radmann. because they believe they're right, we're going to take these people to court, with a big trial, and we're going to go down that road, trust me, that's your job."
Evidence and arrest are easier said than done. When arresting the concentration camp aide-de-camp, Captain Mulka, he even clamored to "should send you to the gas chamber". The members of the SS who were arrested one after another, including Schultz, who was already a teacher, all had a tough attitude, and none of them showed the slightest remorse. Because they think that few people in this country can really get away with it. Malena's drunken father was a member of the 211 SS vanguard, and even Radman's missing biological father, Gustav, was a member of the Fascist party. Ludman's mother remarried and asked her son to attend her wedding, so he told him. What made him even more horrified was that the journalist Gunika, who had been trying to uncover the truth, told him that at the age of 17, as a serving soldier, he was in Auschwitz, but he had rescued Jews in Poland, at least not. Involved in murder. The truth is uncovered because I am ashamed to watch from the sidelines, and I cannot bear to cover up such a truth.
This series of people and events around him provoked Radman to say that people in this country are criminals. He backed away. He resigned. The relationship with his girlfriend Malena, who has opened a fashion store, is also strained. His departure won the joy of the senior prosecutor. When he went to see Simon who was sick. Simon clenched his hand, hoping that Radman would go to the camp and recite Cady's poem, so his two daughters could feel it in the sky. He came to the concentration camp with Gnilka, recited Cady's poems, and fulfilled Simon's wish.
"I hope that these lies, and this silence, will finally come to an end." Radman felt that he could not give up halfway. He asked Ball for reinstatement and tore up his resignation letter, which made Haller and Schmidt, who were still holding on, very happy. "What matters is the victims and their stories, because this is the only answer to Auschwitz". In the end, just like the outcome of World War II itself, in everything they did, justice triumphed over evil. As Ball said as he watched Ludman enter the trial court, "History will be made today, and I'm so proud of you!"
At the end of the film there is a closing sentence: "The Auschwitz trials began in 1963. 211 Auschwitz and extermination survivors told their stories and were heard. In the largest criminal proceedings in the history of West Germany, 19 party members Members of the Guard went to court, and 17 defendants were sentenced. During the 20 months of the trial, the defendants never showed remorse or discernment. Bauer died of heart failure in 1968 and Mengele died in 1979. Brazil, who spent his entire life unaccounted for, Swimming died in an accident. This trial is seen as a turning point in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the crimes of the Nazi era can no longer be forgotten. This film is dedicated to the Attorney General Fritz Bauer , Joachim Köllerer, Friedrich Fogel, Gelderd, Prosecutor Wieser and journalist Thomas Geelka." From this, we can fully regard it as a documentary, Real and poignant, deeply thought-provoking and realistic.
It turns out that there are too many truths that are not known in this world. As the so-called "three-year natural disaster", tens of millions of people starved to death, and there are still people who openly deny it. Ten years of cataclysmic "Cultural Revolution", there are still people openly applauding. Those who participated in the implementation of the year, of course, will not feel the slightest guilt. Most of the people involved in these events are also ordinary people, so many years of silence, sealing and covering up will not make them feel the slightest sense of guilt.
How many truths are covered up, how many lies are needed to fill them up. This is the transformation of truth, goodness, beauty and falsehood and ugliness. In a society where fakes, evils and ugliness are prevalent, one cannot expect it to be truly honest, upright, honest and simple, and martyrs and clowns can only walk on the same path. To be ashamed of the villains, but to be in the company of them, is the tragedy of the whole society and the loss of good and honest people.
At least in "The Labyrinth of Silence", we really feel that in an imperfect society, the truth of history is always covered with dust or even deliberately buried. The human heart is not ancient, but there will be a day when it will be clarified, and the brilliance of human nature will always walk on the road. This is the continuation of human history. To find out the truth and demonstrate justice is just to avoid detours in the future, make people's lives more sincere, and let people feel that the real world they live in is pure and has not been shielded. As is often said in the film "life is really beautiful", but we dare not slack off and extravagant expectations.
2015, 10, 20
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