June Zero (2022) Movie Script

1
"JUNE 0"
Thieves!
Faster, faster!
They stopped chasing us!
Let me look at you.
Where did he get you?
Sorry, Israel. I'm so stupid.
We have to tell Papa.
We're not going to say anything
to Papa, you hear me?
He'll kill us.
Do you have it?
I have it.
We got it.
Let's go, we're late for school.
That's all we need...
Hey, hey, look what I got.
Another game, let's go.
Move. Get out of the way!
How much? What's this worth?
Can you tell me what this is worth?
I don't know, show it to Mossi.
She's like this girl from
my beach house in Caesarea.
You don't have a beach house
in Caesarea!
Of course I do!
Ask Adam. He's been there.
It's a palace.
Mossi?
Can't you see we're
reading important news?
More important than this?
This is crap.
Don't you even know what gold looks like?
This is brass.
Is it worth anything?
It's worth, I'd say...
Get to class!
It's worth this.
But I didn't...
Mossi, I didn't say yes...
Today,
as on the first day of the trial...
Eichmann entered the glass cell
bowed to his defense attorney...
and showed almost
no signs of emotion.
He listened intently
to the words of the judges...
and was careful not to look at
the crowd that filled the courtroom.
The audience
today watched for the last time
the man who commanded
the murder of millions of Jews
with a simple stroke of his pen,
Adolph Eichmann.
We should sentence Adolf Eichmann
to the punishment befitting,
at the very least,
the depth of evil,
the ocean of suffering
perpetrated on the Jewish people
in the course of one day...
- I got it!
- Silence!
Sir, I finished the task.
This is a historic moment. Listen.
This court is sentencing
Adolph Eichmann to death
for his crimes against
the Jewish people
and his crimes against humanity...
Papa, are you angry with me?
No. Not you.
Let's go.
Where?
To get you a job.
We've had enough of your games.
Israel, did you tell him?
I would never.
Come.
Papa, where's this job?
I can go by myself.
The school sent for Mama.
They think I did this to your brother.
Is that the reputation you
want us to have in this country?
What's it got to do with me...?
Shut up!
Your lies make me sick.
Israel, go home.
Mama's waiting for you, go.
The man we're going to meet
is a very serious person.
He's a famous fighter.
You show him respect, you hear me?
- Yes.
- Let's fix your hair.
Let's switch.
I'll take it.
- What is this?
- From school.
Mr. Zebco, sir!
Sir!
Ya'acov.
Yaki.
Remind me?
We met at...
At the...
At the union hall.
We... Up from Libya. A year ago.
My father drives the wagon.
He's reminding you that we
emigrated from Libya a year ago.
He hauls scrap metal for you.
You said need small... Skinny...
This is both both...
Yes, yes, yes.
Come. Come.
I'll bring him right back.
Thank you, Mr. Zebco.
Janek, come with me.
Ezra, come.
Here, the kid will clean
the kibbutz oven. No more bickering.
Take a break, let the kid do it.
Clean it!
On the inside, kiddo.
Tell me, Shlomi...
What are we going to do with a child?
They're skinny and cheap.
Ezra, remember when you were skinny?
I could still fit in there.
Right, so how've you grown so lazy?
Mr. Ezra? Do I get the job?
Doesn't look like it.
Mr. Janek? Am I hired?
Sorry, kiddo.
Where's Mr. Zebco?
Try upstairs, the office.
Mr. Zebco?
Okay Papa, let's go.
I did my best, but I don't think I...
Zebco said the job starts tomorrow.
Right after school.
- For me?
- It's a good job.
It'll give you a future in this country.
Don't do anything stupid.
Oh, no.
I did do something stupid.
What!?
I...
I didn't say thank you.
Just go. Hurry.
Go!
I'm already running late.
Actually, it's okay.
I'll do it tomorrow.
Interesting insight, Natan.
Ron, read us yours.
The Nazis and their accomplices saw
Jews as a race, not a religion.
Secular and observant Jews
were slaughtered equally.
Very good, Ron. Eichmann implemented this
doctrine with savagery and efficiency.
But, sir, are Jews not a race?
What do you think?
Race or religion?
Both?
Are all Christians European?
Are all Muslims Arab?
No.
Then why are all Jewish people Jews?
Now, that's a treasure.
- Where'd you snatch it?
- None of your business...
David!
Sorry, sir.
Tell me David, do you see
yourself as part of the Jewish people?
- Do you understand the question?
- Yes, Sir.
Then answer it.
I live here, yes.
Are you Israeli?
Me? Now? Of course.
Then why do you act as if our
discussion about Eichmann
has nothing to do with you?
- I didn't mean to. I'm sorry.
- Rightfully so.
Because every Israeli
Jew regards this moment
as a pivotal point in our
nation's history, except you,
considering you keep disrupting
your classmates so disrespectfully.
Did you prepare the work I assigned?
Yes, sir.
Please, then.
Tell me something about Adolf Eichmann?
It was a very controversial trial.
It raised a lot of moral questions.
We'll put him to
death for his crimes.
It's a big mistake if we kill him.
What?
I didn't have time...
My brother and I...
Is this what your father is telling you?
My father?
What's he got to do with...
It's a mistake to kill a Nazi?
God decreed in the bible,
"An eye for an eye."
Yes, but an eye is not a life.
You Arab Jews complain about
being treated poorly in our country.
But look at your attitude toward the
atrocities perpetrated on European Jews.
Not true, sir. My father was sent
to a Nazi camp in Libya.
The Italians handed over lots of Libyans.
I didn't know about Eichmann before.
But now I do.
I read all about it.
Where did you read it?
This is not a newspaper.
This is a tabloid.
Propagandist disinformation.
Neo-fascistic smut.
Where did you get it?
Where did you get it?
Do you know what's so sad here?
That you're too ignorant
to understand any of this.
Get out.
Get out!
Tamar, please continue.
What did you write?
Kiddo! We got a new brick shipment.
Come here. Come...
See Kookooricoo over there?
The guy sucking a lollipop?
Go to him!
Kookooricoo!
Take him, find him some work clothes.
Come, you arrived exactly for a break.
Thanks, thanks a lot, Kookooricoo
After the defendant had
been convicted on all counts,
The Prosecution demanded
the death penalty for Eichmann.
The German Defense
sought to reduce Eichmann's sentence
Saying, 'What happened to
the Germans can happen to any nation.'
Turkish coffee.
Take one.
Keeps you going at work.
Take it.
No, thank you, I don't feel like...
Thank you, bless you, thanks.
It's hot.
Enough with this!
Stop!
What were you thinking! You idiot!
Where's your head?
What happened?
What did he do?
Probably nothing,
but Ezra's worked here
long enough to know
getting yelled at is better
than getting killed for disagreeing.
Killed?
There's only one thing Shlomi Zebco's
killed more of than British soldiers.
Arabs.
So better watch yourself.
Me?
I'm Jewish.
You!
Me?
Are the tools in the truck, Kookoo?
Get on the truck.
Are you talking to me?
- Are you deaf?
- No.
Then move!
Tell me, what are you?
Excuse me?
Where are you from?
Your skin color is dark.
I'm Israeli.
Excellent answer. Well done.
Listen. We're almost at this
Yemenite cheapskate's place.
He's refusing to make a delivery,
even though he got paid.
If and when I tell you...
What's your name?
David.
If and when I tell you,
"David, inspect the tank."
You're going to climb inside
and punch a hole in the
bottom of the propane tank.
You want a tank with a hole in it?
Of course I don't want
a tank with a hole in it!
But it's too heavy and this
Yemenite won't let us use his crane.
We won't be able to
get it on the truck by ourselves.
I don't intend to pay this pig
for delivery and get nothing in return.
If I don't get the tank,
nobody gets the tank.
Wait here!
- You piece of shit!
- Shame on you!
I paid for delivery
and now you say I didn't?!
Ezra paid 30 Liras for delivery!
I told him 60, not 30!
Ezra is dumb!
David!
Yes, sir Mr. Zebco!?
Inspect the tank.
Grab it. Grab it!
Go in then.
One minute.
Do you have another ladder?
Think for yourself,
get another truck...
But I paid for delivery.
What does it say right here?
Excellent!
Oh, my dear boy, how nice!
It was my idea.
Clever. Clever boy!
Where did he find you, kid?
You steal parts, you steal money,
and now you want
to steal my best employee?
- Best?
- Let's go.
Take your child slave
and your second-rate ovens,
and never come back here
for anything ever again!
Your terrorist blood money
is no good here anymore.
Sit up front.
How did you come to me again?
My father, Yaki. Yaakov Saada.
- He hauls your scrap.
- Ah, yes, yes.
He said you got in trouble
with something.
Shoplifting.
What did you steal?
Nothing serious.
Chocolates, candy...
Everyone deserves a second chance.
I'll make a man out of you yet.
Oh, no!
I hope he's not here to arrest you.
What? For what?
How are you?
Good afternoon.
Rabies? What's the connection?
Why not rabies?
Think about it...
A rabies outbreak in the South.
Sharpshooters have to kill all
the rabid dogs, jackals and coyotes
leaving nothing to chance.
And we have this pile
of carcasses rotting in the sun.
Can you imagine? The smell alone!
We have to burn them.
- Just bury them.
- We can't.
- Why not?
- Because of...
Oh, yeah, because of the water!
- Water?
- Yes, the drinking water.
We can't risk burying the animals
and have the rabies
contaminate the well water.
We have to burn them!
There's no choice.
It's a complete bullshit story.
But if that's what you want me to say...
No problem.
Beautiful! Great, Zebco.
Thank you so much.
It's a done deal. Agreed?
When do you bring him here?
- Him, who?
- The rabid dog.
I can't bring him here.
Not him himself. His body.
What we're burning.
Bring Eichmann here?
No way, Zebco.
The oven has to be mobile.
Hayim, this is a gigantic oven.
More than two tons.
I don't give the orders,
I just deliver them.
You're still working for Ben Dov?
Thanks.
Commander Ben-Dov, to you.
That can't be right.
He runs all the
prisons in the country now.
Sends you his very best, by the way.
Why doesn't he come
and ask me himself?
He sends me messengers?
No, it's not like that, Zebco.
He knows we're friends.
Hayim... I'll build you the
oven. On one condition.
Tell Ben-Dov I want the dog alive.
I'll burn him myself.
Right here.
I want to hear his screams.
More beautiful than Wagner.
Hayim! Why are you so serious?
It's just rabid dogs, right?
Yes.
Yes... Rabies.
When will it be ready?
We'll get it done on time, don't worry.
Great, thank you, Shlomi.
I really appreciate it.
Let's raise a glass to the occasion.
No. I'm on duty, are you crazy?
Do you know what would
happen if I don't leave now?
Twenty reporters will be
waiting for me outside the prison,
competing for headlines about
the color of Eichmann's underwear.
I'd like to know the color too.
Don't worry. What's your drink?
I am worried.
His court appeal will be filed tomorrow
and if it doesn't go through,
the procedures will start moving fast.
- At home I drink Pernod.
- Pernod?
You'll have to settle for
some partisan Slivovitz.
My metal-cutter Janek makes it.
It's from plums, so good...
Goddamit!
- What happened?
- This son of a bitch!
Someone swiped my booze!
I have to start locking my door.
No big deal. I'm on duty anyway.
I have to go.
One second, Hayim.
I want you to tell my guys.
Better they hear the rabies story
from someone of your authority...
David!
Come here!
Come here, I want you to hear this!
David!
I want you to hear this!
David!
David! Come here!
Come here!
Where are you running?
Don't be scared.
Come over here. You misunderstood me.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
I'm not angry with you.
You know...
You heard too much.
It'll be very quick. No blood.
I'm just going to crush your throat.
What were you doing in my office?
What were you doing in my office?
Nothing, I swear to you.
I didn't hear anything, I swear.
That's not what I asked.
I was putting it back. I swear.
Listen.
The best thing about clever boys
is that they know they're clever.
So I know you know
that what you heard in my office
needs to be kept a secret.
Shlomi!
Shlomi, where are you!?
I'm here!
What is it?!
Come quickly! It's Janek!
Janek?
Janek, are you alright?
Janek. What happened?
I'm okay.
Give him some air. Back up.
What happened?
Where does it hurt?
Ezra, get him water!
Did anyone see what happened?
He just went down like a feather.
- Where does it hurt?
- I'm okay
- Did you hit your head?
- Did you see?
- I wasn't here. I just came running...
- No, no.
Did you see what they want us to build?
- The oven?
- Did you see the blueprints?
Down here. In the original.
Topf?
Topf und Sohn.
Topf and Sons. It's German.
It's the company that built the
crematorium in Auschwitz.
This model is called The Little One.
Shlomo,
why are we building
a Nazi crematorium?
Why?
Everybody back to work!
Hayim, they have to
understand what they're building.
They have to know.
Shlomi, I can't.
Ben-Dov will kill me.
Ben-Dov can go fuck his sister.
I'm not asking.
I guarantee my guys.
They won't say a word.
Ezra, David.
- Yes, Mr. Zebco, yes sir.
- Come
We need you too.
I'm coming.
Good evening, this is Yuval Friedman
reporting from Jerusalem.
Adolph Eichmann will file his appeal at
the Supreme Court tomorrow morning.
It's hard to imagine what
new evidence could be submitted
to the court to try
and exonerate the Nazi.
Should his execution be carried out
this will be the first case
of capital punishment in Israel
since its inception.
After approving the death penalty
based on British mandatory laws...
I told you not to loiter here!
You did, but it's still a free country!
You're not allowed to take my picture!
The army censor will tell
me if I can use it, not you, sir!
Keep it up and I'll throw you
over the prison wall here!
Please, Captain!
You'd make my job so much easier!
I know what you're looking for!
It doesn't take a mind reader.
Look out!
Did you see what happened to him?
Is everything okay?
Everything okay?
Yes, yes.
I didn't join the
Border Police to be a prison guard.
We'll hang the bastard, and
get out of this concentration camp.
Before we protect the prisoner
from others,
we need to protect him
from himself.
The prisoner is awaiting an appeal.
We'll be here for a long time.
Yes, Captain. Sorry, Captain.
His death sentence just
made our job twice as hard.
Stay alert!
Where's Commander Ben-Dov?
He already took the
big shots down to the annex.
They waited, but...
Dammit!
If the appeal is denied
and we execute the Nazi,
we'll cut a hole in the ceiling,
we stand eye-to-eye with
the Nazi up there and then we drop him...
Then, we let him swing for
twenty, thirty minutes.
And then...
We scratch our heads. What do we do?
It's not that complicated.
Take him to another country
where they do burn the dead.
We can't do it.
Jews aren't cremated.
But he's not Jewish.
Where does it say
we can't cremate a goy?
Burning a goy, I'm not worried about.
You told me we don't have a...
what-do-you-call-it?
Crematorium.
Throw his corpse in a ditch
in the desert. He did it to millions.
Good idea. But there's
a legal concern. Right, Micha?
Yes. The Attorney General's office
determined we have no legal recourse
to refuse handing the body
over to the Eichmann family.
In that respect, burial becomes
a method of storage, not disposal.
The Prime Minister
will not give the body up
and allow Eichmann's grave
to become a Nazi shrine.
Can you imagine?
A pilgrimage of Brown Shirts
to the grave of their martyr.
If the appeal is rejected
and Eichmann is hanged,
the best legal recommendation is,
the moment after execution,
before any claim for his body
can be filed,
we cremate the body.
Hayim should have news on this.
Hayim? Hayim!?
Hayim?
Avivi?
Avivi?
You.
- Who are you?
- I'm the barber.
No, you're not the barber. Avivi!
- Who let you in?
- The guard. He was right here.
Where did he go?
- He went to find someone named...
- Captain Amzalag!
Yes, you.
You abandon your post, Avivi?
Only to find you.
I heard you had an accident.
I just saw the car.
You never leave your post.
Who's this prince?
He's the barber.
- We work only with Yaish.
- We can't work with Yaish now.
- Why?
- He died.
- Yaish is dead?
- Yes
- Pas-possible.
- Please.
Who called in a barber
without talking to me?
Ben-Dov said to keep The Client
contented because of the verdict.
The Client asked for a haircut,
his wife is coming from Germany.
What?
She's what?
How do I not know something like that?
This Barber's on the approved list!
Stand next to him.
He doesn't move until I'm back!
Got it?
I'm warning you, Avivi!
Hayim! Where did you disappear to?!
What did Shlomi say?
Do we have an oven?
Zebco will build the oven.
But he has one request.
- Here we go!
- He wants The Client brought to him.
You all know Captain Amzalag?
Zebco behaves like he's the
only one who blew up the King David Hotel.
What a prima donna.
Zebco's a terrorist.
I fought alongside him in the Etzel.
Before I joined the Haganah, of course.
The most brilliant
military mind I've ever met.
But he's an animal.
Tell that savage, Eichmann burns here.
The Nazi only leaves this prison as dust.
Rabbi, does any of
this sound problematic to you?
As long as it is never
used to cremate Jews,
a religious opinion is unnecessary.
But, may I ask then, out of curiosity...
Why not just build a bonfire?
Eichmann's kidnapping Argentina was
illegal according international law.
The security services would like
everything else played by the book.
Okay, Gentlemen.
Sounds like we have our oven.
Hayim, you can go now.
Mr. Micha.
We met before.
Nice to see you again.
I'm Eichmann's bodyguard.
I recognize you from the courtroom.
I just wanted to tell
you I think you're a...
You're a true hero.
I was at the trial every day.
Hearing that witness tell your story...
While you were sitting
right there in the courtroom?
I think everyone should hear your story.
Micha, when's your trip to Poland?
Soon, I don't know exactly when yet.
Permit me to ask you,
are you a survivor?
Me, a survivor? No, no.
It's okay, you can tell me.
I was born in Kfar Saba.
- And your parents?
- Third generation in Israel.
- What's your ethnicity?
- Turkish.
- Turkish. Both sides?
- Yes.
You look European.
Is that a problem?
What? Looking European?
No, not at all.
See, it's a matter of caution.
You look European. Ashkenazi Jews
are not allowed to guard the Nazi.
I can't have survivors here.
I don't want anyone here from a
family affected by the Holocaust.
I don't want people getting...
emotional.
Middle-Eastern and
North African guards only.
As you can see,
I'm Moroccan.
You don't enter the cell
until I tell you to.
Once inside, you'll
immediately sit on a chair.
You will not stand
unless I tell you to.
Turn around. Hands on the wall.
- They searched me twice already.
- Okay.
If I'd known, I wouldn't
have accepted this job.
You'll use his comb.
I need my spray bottle.
You'll cut his hair dry.
Every time you're ready
to make a cut you tell me.
- Every snip?
- Every snip.
Open up!
Wait here.
Sir,
he shits.
The barber is here.
- Are you ready for your haircut?
- Yes.
Thank you, Captain.
Okay?
Go ahead.
Sorry.
You can stand up.
Leave me alone!
You okay, Captain?
Please let me go!
You Israel Police have it all backwards!
You're his prisoners!
You're not allowed to talk to reporters!
Leave him alone.
Son of a bitch!
What was it like
to hear the verdict?
It was...
It was like drinking
a glass of cold water.
What the hell is he doing?
He's been acting
strange since the accident.
Hayim, I searched it already.
I don't care if even
Ben-Gurion comes to see him.
Starting tonight,
we search the cell
twice after every visit.
Yes, sir.
- Yosef!
- Sir?
What does drinking
cold water make you think of?
That it's...
It's refreshing?
Right? Am I right?
Don't know, I don't know.
It's not that kind of question.
Should I call the doctor?
No, no.
It's okay! He's okay.
Son of a bitch.
Stop! Where do you think you're going?
Let him.
Okay, let's go.
Tell me, what in the world could
possibly happen outside this prison
at four in the morning
that's worth taking the bus and
camping out here like a hobo?
I came to see how you're doing.
It was a serious accident.
You could throw something my way.
A detail. Something small.
You shouldn't be so stubborn.
What's he reading?
What did he have for dinner?
Imagine, your face on the cover
of the "One World".
You'll get a promotion.
A raise!
A raise?
Two more Liras and a Major's rank?
Sit behind a desk all day?
I'll take anything. You can be
anonymous if you're scared.
Scared? Scared of what?
You tell me.
You're a hustler, a smut peddler.
I'm a journalist.
- You're a troublemaker.
- Thank you.
Don't you want to be part of history?
History can go to hell.
Your cigarette, sir.
You okay, Captain?
It doesn't hurt?
No.
I mean your eye.
My eye?
Someone should take a look at it.
Sir.
You're not coming to
court for the appeal, Captain?
No, it's my day off.
But you will be here tomorrow?
Yes.
Can you give this to my wife
in case I don't see her again?
You should give it to your lawyer.
I did. But just to make sure.
Please.
Please.
I already checked it, sir.
Good morning. Cigarettes?
Put it on my tab.
Can you get me back?
For me?
Still stubborn?
Still stubborn.
I must admit I'm a bit nervous
speaking to you all in English
and even more so to be in Poland
for the first time since
I survived Auschwitz.
And before that this very ghetto,
I lived here behind this window.
Alone.
I was 16 and I was lucky enough
to have a permit to work.
I was ordered to find
all the bibles in the ghetto
to gather them up
and bring them to be burned.
One morning, after weeks of trying,
I finally convinced an old widow
to part with her Bible.
She lived here. On the top floor.
I took her Bible,
and as I came down the stairs
stepping over sleeping people
huddled together on each step,
I notice the Nazi guard
who always had a dog on a leash
was not at his normal post
and instead was stalling with his wife.
I could smell her perfume as I passed.
Suddenly the Nazi grabbed me by
the back of the hair and throw me down
and dragged me all
the way across the street
and throw me on a bench
that was here.
Right here.
They had discovered
I hadn't been burning the bibles.
And now I would be punished.
The whip this Nazi used
cut the air like jet when I swung it.
When it landed on my back,
my mind, to my own surprise
did the strangest thing...
It counted.
One.
The number one.
Two. Three. Four...
Seems crazy to count.
Six. Seven. Eight...
I wished only 25 as I thought to myself
if there is a blow more than 25
I will be dead.
Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.
I fainted...
"Aufstehen!"
"Get up!" in German.
And I don't know to this day
where I got the power,
but I stood right up.
I didn't want to be shot,
and I knew he would shoot me
using my running as an excuse.
And then I thought maybe
he won't shoot me in front of his wife.
So I turned...
And I ran...
All the way and collapsed
between these buildings.
I know what some of you
must be thinking.
"It's not the worst story of the Shoah."
I'll add: "it's probably not even
the worst thing that happened to me"
But I tell it to you for a reason...
During the Eichmann trial,
I worked with the lead prosecutor
for the state of Israel,
Gideon Hausner.
I'm an investigator for the Bureau 6
Police Department in Jerusalem.
And we walked together
interviewing Eichmann himself,
in the flesh.
Adolf Eichmann
has been sentenced to death
and while we wait to learn
the outcome of his appeal
and if his execution will be carried out,
I thought it was important for you
to hear my story.
To the process I lost my understanding
of what justice meant.
How does it apply?
And what does it mean
for crimes of this nature and scale?
I couldn't figure it out...
Then one day
in a pre-trial interview,
a man told me he lived
in this very ghetto.
I said: " Me too."
He asked my name and I telled him...
told him: "Aaronson."
And he said "Aaronson?"
"There was a boy named Aaronson
that I saw with my own eyes"
"get whipped 80 times."
Not eighteen.
Or thirty, or fifty but eighty times.
"How do you know it was eighty?"
I asked him.
"I was there" he said.
"I counted them."
I counted...
He counted.
My understanding of justice in this
context was suddenly clear to me.
Order.
"They told us later this kid
"Aaronson" died". He then said to me:
And I shook my head
and I told him: "He's not dead sir".
"He's standing right in front of you".
Good evening.
Good evening.
I'm Ada from the Jewish Agency.
Yes, of course.
Is everything alright?
I gathered it was at 8. Isn't it?
Yes, but I wanted to prepare you
for the program at tonight's event.
Do you need another moment?
Two moments, if you don't mind.
No problem.
Micha, this way.
It's a shorter walk this way.
I can't stop thinking
about the story you told today.
I'll never forget it.
It must be difficult to
be back here again.
Thank you.
It is a very strange experience for me.
It's right here.
Two Vodkas please.
Was there something
wrong with the hotel bar?
Here you are.
Thank you.
Cheers.
I had to make up an excuse
to speak with you privately.
The hotel is teeming with delegates.
Are they plotting to poison me?
Shula and the Americans are going
to make you an improper proposal.
Improper?
I wanted to sit
with you on the bus today,
to tell you about it, but
I wasn't sure how it would look.
The tour through the
ghetto today was a trial run.
A successful trial run,
from their perspective.
They want to create an annual program
and turn the ghetto into a tourist
attraction. Formalize these delegations.
Sorry. Sometimes I'm not clear.
No, I'm just waiting for
the improper proposal.
They want to bring you
here on a regular basis,
to tell your story. Your testimony.
It's like letting you experience
the torture over and over again.
To describe the most painful,
most tragic moments of your life,
again and again, to strangers,
like you were some circus freak show.
They're not sanctifying the memory,
they're just commemorating the crime.
So you've actually kidnapped me.
What? Of course not.
Maybe it wasn't your intention,
but it's certainly
the outcome of your bold action.
And I, in spite of my suspicions,
followed right along.
I felt I had to warn you.
I wasn't thinking too much
about the "how", I suppose.
I'm trying to persuade
you to refuse the offer.
To convince you that your past is yours,
and it's private.
We all want to do our
part to help our country,
but this is too much.
You don't have to
rent out your pain for it.
It's pretty astonishing
what's happening here.
You're a Jewish Agency employee,
trying to sabotage
a Jewish Agency initiative.
It's bigger than that.
I don't want 'never forget'
to become 'only remember'.
They're using you.
If we buy in,
if we invest ourselves in this pain,
we'll become the
biggest ghetto ever built.
But this time we'll
have walled ourselves in.
I think it's better if I leave.
It's very rude to be
late for our hosts.
- Wait, please...
- I find your words offensive...
I'm sorry, it didn't
come out right, please.
I believe with all my heart,
that Jews have to be
masters of their own fate,
in a state of their own.
But why accept this anxiety of ours?
Should we have to
re-live the horrors of the past?
Re-live the past to justify the present?
To confirm that it happened?
It happened.
We don't need to
underplay our weaknesses
but we also don't need
to put on our mourning suits
to be proud and free in our country.
Look at the bar.
What do you see?
Drunk men.
When I finally came
to Israel, after the ghetto,
after Auschwitz,
after the Cyprus refugee camp,
I faced the immigration
officer of this new country,
my new country, which itself
was only a few days old.
And for the first time I told someone
what I'd gone through to get to Israel.
All this pain
and horror, bottled up inside me
for years, finally poured out.
I told him the same story
I told today on the ghetto street.
And the immigration officer looked at me,
and you know what he saw?
He saw a gaunt, desperate man.
Only skin and bones,
with horrible breath,
and a feeble voice,
and he concluded that
everything I'd told him
was a figment of my imagination.
Because one cannot grasp,
cannot deal with such a story.
It hurt me very much.
And I told myself I would
never speak about it again.
The gassing of my parents.
The murder of
my ten year-old little sister.
The 80 blows.
Because my own people's disbelief
was the 81st blow.
But when Eichmann was captured,
and was brought to trial in Israel,
and I was appointed
to be his interrogator,
and I sat up tall and straight
throughout the entire trial,
wearing the police uniform of Israel,
and watching the witnesses
take the stand in court,
swearing on the bible
and their stories
no longer dismissed as fables,
but as testimony bound by law.
Then I stopped feeling ashamed.
The entire country listening
to every word on the radio,
every day, on every bus, in every school,
as these events were put in order.
And all these people who
didn't know, or didn't want to know,
they heard it all.
And they finally believed.
I see that man at the bar,
and I remember that these atrocities
took place in his back yard,
in front of him, his eyes wide open.
And I know that he'd prefer
to let everything that
happened remain a fable,
a passing nightmare.
To deny it,
and then hopefully forget.
I've tried it myself.
And from his perspective
what else can you expect?
He's only human.
But I can't let that
happen in my world.
Not as long as I'm alive.
The Nazis thought
they were humiliating me
when they tattooed
a number on my arm.
But they actually gave me a purpose.
You're absolutely right to say
I'm not just a holocaust survivor.
I didn't just live through it. No.
I don't see it that way.
I am a fossil.
A remnant.
It's in every wrinkle of my skin,
every organ inside my body.
Don't forget, the bus leaves at 7AM.
I told Shula, since I'm not one
of the speakers, I'm not going.
Really?
I've already been to Auschwitz.
Of course.
Then this is the last
time we'll see each other.
I escort the Americans
to the airport tomorrow
and then I get on my flight.
I thought you're
based here in Poland?
I requested a transfer a while back.
The agency assigned me
to the Switzerland office.
Immigration department.
It should be a better fit for me. I hope.
If that's the case,
I wish you the very best.
Thank you.
And if you ever
come back to Israel...
And if you ever find
yourself in Switzerland...
The President has rejected
Eichmann's request for clemency.
In a scathing personal letter
to the condemned Nazi, he wrote,
"As thy sword hath
made women childless,
so shall thy mother
be childless amongst women."
It works!
It works!
Attach the chimney.
Let's test it out!
A little less pressure.
Beautiful, kiddo.
Press hard.
Is everything okay?
Everything's perfect.
- Arrogant kid.
- I told you so.
I wonder who he gets it from.
Come on, come on!
Don't you know how to work?
Push it!
Left, left, push it to the left.
Take it there.
It's time.
It's closed!
It should be ashes, no?
What do you think?
I think it smells pretty good.
Oh, no, Ezra. This is
the end. You're finished.
Don't worry. It will be all right.
What's the problem?
Unless the Prime Minister likes
his Eichmann medium-rare,
I think we're going to
need a bigger burner.
Ezra, you're an Idiot!
I did exactly what was
written in the plans.
The plans were only for the structure!
You knew that!
We're going to need another burner.
It's impossible to
build a burner in one night.
It's locked from inside. Can't get in.
Okay, come David.
See that opening?
Can you climb up there?
We can go to Hatuka's house
and ask him. He'll understand.
Stealing from a thief isn't a crime.
Kookoo, stand there.
He'll climb you.
What if we get caught?
I don't get caught.
If you get caught...
Put your hand out.
Close your fingers.
Wrap your thumb around.
Strong.
Now give me one right here.
Go ahead.
Very good.
That's it?
That's it. You can do it
a few times if you need to.
Until you put the man to sleep.
Kookoo, let's go. David.
You know what you're getting, right?
Yes.
Go. We don't have much time.
I'll catch you, don't worry.
I have something heavy,
throw me the rope!
- What's this?
- I took everything that was attached.
I think the oxygen
makes it burn hotter.
Yes, it does.
Did you know that, Ezra?
Give the kid a compliment.
Of course, I knew that. I just thought...
Let's go.
King David.
We're almost ready.
Let's get going. There's no time.
Who's coming to operate it?
I'll get my tools.
Janek.
- What?!
- Get in the truck.
No, no, no.
Ezra should go. He's the technician.
I'm just a metal cutter, Shlomo.
I don't even know how to light it.
It has to be you.
What if something goes wrong?
Ezra?
I don't know.
- David?
- It's perfect.
You heard the child.
Avenge.
Red hose, gas - blue hose, oxygen.
Just follow the colors.
Gas, first on the frame.
Then on the canister.
Light the pilot and make
sure you see the blue flame.
Do not open the oxygen
valve until the pilot is lit.
It's dangerous. It can blow up.
Jan? Look at me.
I got it.
- How are you?
- Let's get this monster off the truck.
Let's get you signed in. Come with me.
Is everything alright, sir?
Captain, may I
please use the telephone?
It's an emergency.
Come.
David!
Let's go.
I need David back inside.
What will I tell his mother?
Tell her it's crucial.
My son, needed to factory at night?
Crucial to the entire country.
There's nothing I can do about it.
It's the last time.
It won't happen
again. Thank you, Yaki.
Red pipe is the gas.
The blue pipe is the oxygen.
Just follow the colors.
Gas valve first on the frame
Then on the canister.
Once you see the
blue flame of the pilot,
you open the oxygen valve
first on the frame
and then on the canister...
You understand me Janek?
Don't open the oxygen valve
until the flame from the gas is lit.
Do you hear me?
I got it.
- What are you doing?
- I'm having a smoke.
You're a child!
Get out of my chair.
Twenty minutes have passed, sir.
Get ready to deliver the body.
Lower him down.
It wasn't intentional.
We're sorry, Reverend.
No, the other side. Headfirst.
Think he needs more time?
What are we putting it in?
One morning at Birkenau
they woke us up very early.
It was freezing.
It was always cold,
but nothing like that day.
When we went outside
the Polish guards handed us shovels,
and told us that the path from the
Nazi barracks was completely frozen,
and that we had to cover it with sand
so the SS officers wouldn't slip
on their way to breakfast.
As the sun came up, we saw what we
were shoveling onto the path wasn't sand.
It was ash.
There were mountains of ashes
piled up behind the crematorium.
So little ash one person makes.
Janek, did it work?
Janek.
Did you do it?
Did it work?
Janek!
Did you succeed!?
Yes.
David.
Come on up.
Shlomi, did you hear?
Yes!
I don't believe it!
We did it. Just us.
Now you can add a new souvenir.
Here.
What is it?
It's not payday.
Go home.
I got some sleep already.
I'll help Janek.
No, no, you can't.
Why not?
There's nothing left to do.
Nothing left? The Hilton job
alone will take three weeks.
You're not on the Hilton job.
Why not?
Because you're fired.
What do you mean?
You don't know what fired means?
It means you don't
work here anymore.
Why wouldn't I keep working here?
Because I said so.
- Why?
- Because that's what I want.
- Why?
- I don't want you to work here anymore.
- Why?
- Why, why, why? Is that all you can say?
Because you're a kid,
and this isn't a place for kids.
But what did I do?
Haven't I done a good job here?
Am I not part of the team?
No.
Without me there would be no burner.
Janek wouldn't know how to make it work.
Nothing would work!
So, you think it all
worked out thanks to you?
You're wrong.
You're a cog in the wheel.
I'm better than all
your workers and you know it.
You even said so yourself.
You're an arrogant little punk
and I want you to go. Now.
It's not fair.
What I'm doing now
is an opportunity for you.
You understand that, David?
Go home, go to school.
Study something real,
get a profession.
I have a profession.
I love the factory.
I want to work here forever.
That will never happen.
Is it because I'm an Arab Jew?
Is that why?
It's because you're a thief.
Did you think I'd forget
that you stole my watch?
You said everyone
deserves a second chance.
You're right.
You had your chance.
Now it's over.
You stole the
watch first, didn't you?
- From a British soldier.
- I didn't steal it. I took it.
- What's the difference?
- He was dead.
Because you killed him.
You're a thief and a murderer.
British. Arabs.
You even killed Jews.
And you're proud of it.
Your crimes hang all over your walls.
Do you know the difference between us?
What I did, I did for my country.
What you did, you did for yourself.
Now,
you're out.
You want to hit me?
What did you do?
We're now beyond our territorial waters.
I'm telling you, she's Italian.
She's French, my father was there.
Italian, can't you see?
She looks like your mom.
Can I look at that with you?
10 cents for a peek.
I'll give you 10 Liras
for the whole paper.
Greetings from Tomer's mom.
Give it to me!
Get lost!
You'll get it when we're done.
Why would I make this up?
I'm not saying you made it up.
But you don't believe my story.
You don't believe I built the oven.
It's not about whether
I believe it or not.
Wikipedia can't add your name
to the Eichmann execution page
as a builder of the oven
because you can't
prove your participation.
And I tried to contact the two
factory workers who are still alive,
Zvika and Ezra and...
Kookoo.
No one called him Zvika.
They called him Kookoo,
short for Kookooricoo,
because he loved those
red lollipops shaped like roosters!
You get it?
I couldn't contact Kookoo.
Kookoo has dementia.
He's in a nursing home,
I visit him once a week.
Okay, but I talked to Ezra
and Ezra said
that no 13 year-old
helped build the oven.
He worked there
for over twenty-five years
and said no child
ever worked in the factory.
Why would you take
his word and not mine?
Why?
Because they were
contracted at the factory,
because they appear in photos
and because Ezra identified Zebco's body
after he was killed in a car accident.
It's in the 1978 police report.
It's clear cut.
This is concrete evidence.
There's no ambiguity.
Maybe you can
double-check for pay-stubs?
No. Shlomi paid me in cash.
In my last email I sent you a picture.
It's in the folder.
It's from the night I quit the factory.
The night Eichmann was executed.
Look at the date.
Zero-six, sixty-two?
I don't get it.
June Zero.
June the nothing, 1962.
There's no date to commemorate
the execution.
Are you mentioned in this article?
No. What we did was top secret.
But I bought it with the last
10 Liras Shlomi gave me.
Shira, please...
Don't take my name off.
David, I'm truly sorry.
But until you can produce
some kind of proof,
even if you add your name
back in every day,
I'll continue to delete it.
I fought in '67.
And again in the Yom Kippur War.
So did my little brother, Israel.
Israel was killed.
He didn't get to do
anything meaningful in his life.
I did.
Nothing spectacular.
But not many people can
say they were a part of history.
I am a part of history.
A small part, I know.
But my part made a difference.
Building the oven is the most
significant thing I've done in my life.
Probably, the most
important thing I'll ever do.
I touched history.
Or it touched me.
What's wrong with
asking for that recognition?
David.
Some truths have to wait
patiently to be discovered.
Maybe you're one of them.