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Fifty years after the war Dagmar Ostermann, a former prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Hans Wilhelm Muinch, former Nazi and SS physician, talk face to face. In this rare interview Muinch--the only SS member acquitted during the 1947 Cracow war crimes trial refers to himself as a "victim," claiming that because he had to follow orders he was "no less a victim than his prisoners." The Meeting grew out of a documentary film in which Muinch was first interviewed by Viennese filmmaker Bernhard Frankfurter. As head of the Waffen SS Hygiene Institute Mi.inch had controlled hundreds of lives. Intrigued by Muinch's responses, Frankfurter arranged for Ostermann, whose mother was German and her father Jewish, to conduct a book-length interview, for which he provided a concluding essay. The dramatic structure of the discussion follows the events of the Nazi occupation chronologically. As Ostermann initiates questions regarding reasons for Muinch's involvement (Was it a conscious endeavor? Did he participate willingly?), the book adds important new information to the testimonial literature of the Holocaust.
About the author
Bernhard Frankfurter was an international film director whose documentary film credits include
Capitalism in Thirds (1975),
On the Road fo Hollywood (1982),
SS Nr . .. . Terminal Auschwitz (1984), and
Love Life-Live Death (1989). Before his death in 1999, he was also active as an editor, columnist, and scriptwriter, and he founded the Eastern-Western Media Network in 1994.
Susan E. Cernyak-Spatz is professor emerita of the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including
German Holocaust Literature and
Hitler's Gift to the Jews: Translation of Norbert Troller Diaries.
Summary
Fifty years after the war Dagmar Ostermann, a former prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Hans Wilhelm Muinch, former Nazi and SS physician, talk face to face. In this rare interview Muinch refers to himself as a ‘victim’, claiming that because he had to follow orders he was ‘no less a victim than his prisoners’.
