Watch This YouTube Movie - GOD ON TRIAL - And Read Complete Transcript
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Watch This YouTube Movie - GOD ON TRIAL - And Read Complete Transcript
by Big Fat Heretic Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:24 am
OK, this topic is rather long. So, I had to break it up into two separate forum posts.
Anyway . . . . .
While traveling all over YouTube Land, I came across this really good movie!
It was produce by Masterpiece Theater, and it's about 1:25:21 in length of time.
I even downloaded and saved this YouTube video to my computer so I can watch it again with Real Player.
Anyway, here's the YouTube link.
God on Trial - full movie - high resolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRoLjz9VUCk
And here's the link to the webpage with the complete transcript of said move.
Masterpiece Contemporary - God on Trial
Aired at 03:00 AM on Wednesday, Apr 07, 2010 (4/7/2010)
http://livedash.ark.com/transcript/masterpiece_contemporary-%28god_on_trial%29/1020/KTEH/Wednesday_April_07_2010/247733/
And now, the complete transcript, also including the time index on the left.
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Transcript
00:00:00 Casting and VIEWERS LIKE YOU Masterpieceis made possible by the Corporationfor Public Broadcasting and by contributionsto your PBS station from: How could it happen?
00:00:29 Doesn't God hear our agony?
00:00:33 Why doesn't he do anything about it?
00:00:36 These are questions asked in great suffering, questions which believers have asked since the beginning of history, questions which have no answers.
00:00:45 Tonight, these are questions asked in a camp blockhouse in Auschwitz prison, where a group of ordinary men-- imprisoned and sentenced to death for no crime-- do the only thing they can think of to express the agony of their situation.
00:00:59 They put God on trial.
00:01:02 They are Jews, the chosen people, who have made a covenant with God, and in return God promised that he would protect them.
00:01:10 How can they accept this broken promise?
00:01:13 Does God have the right to abandon them and get away with it?
00:01:18 Even the atheists among them believe human beings have a moral right to know the reason for evil in the world.
00:01:24 Their questions multiply.
00:01:26 But the silence persists.
00:01:30 God on Trial.
00:01:48 TOUR GUIDE: Unfortunate that admission is not inclusive in your tour price. So sorry.
00:01:53 Here you must pay.
00:01:54 But, um, the good news-- it's only ten zlotys.
00:01:57 So not so very bad.
00:01:59 Um, okay?
00:02:03 Oh, sorry.
00:02:21 TOUR GUIDE: Individual photographs are not allowed.
00:02:24 Group photographs are allowed by arrangement.
00:02:34 When you get out there, give your card to the nice doctor.
00:02:39 He's going to examine you free of charge.
00:02:42 Don't say I don't look after you.
00:02:47 TOUR GUIDE: This is the typical blockhouse.
00:02:50 There would be up to 1,000 people in here.
00:02:52 When a new transport came in, they made room for it by-- well, you can imagine.
00:02:57 Um, they would make aselekcja.
00:02:59 Uh, everyone from the blockhouse is given a card by the block elder, the blockaltester, and then they go to the selection area.
00:03:07 (dog barking in distance) Straighten up. Come on, shoulders back.
00:03:16 Stop.
00:03:18 Don't shuffle like that.
00:03:20 You look like you're dead already.
00:03:21 Leave me alone. He is dead already.
00:03:23 Try not to look so mad.
00:03:25 Or it'll be your turn next.
00:03:26 I'm going to be fine.
00:03:27 Have I shown you my numbers? See?
00:03:29 Add 'em up, 18, 18, is the number of life.
00:03:32 Shh!
00:03:33 You may be about to meet the Lord your God.
00:03:39 TOUR GUIDE: It's very cold in here, yes?
00:03:44 Imagine it on a day of selection.
00:03:46 Um, no one knew what were the criteria for selection, so everyone's afraid.
00:03:52 Um, okay, let's go this way.
00:03:58 I don't understand.
00:04:00 I don't see how it could happen.
00:04:02 How it could be allowed.
00:04:03 You know there was a story that the prisoners made a court here and held a trial.
00:04:09 They tried the person that they thought was most responsible for what had happened to them.
00:04:14 Can you imagine the look on my wife's face?
00:04:19 Suppose I do need someone to do the dishes.
00:04:23 Shift yourself.
00:04:23 These people are waiting to see the doctor!
00:04:25 Wait and see the doctor.
00:04:31 85-year-old Jew in my house.
00:04:33 What am I gonna do with her?
00:04:36 Some of the things he comes up with.
00:04:41 GUARD: Shift yourself.
00:04:48 (dog barking in distance) They sent old Kuhn left.
00:05:09 If you went left, you're off to heaven with old Kuhn.
00:05:12 The rest of us will live.
00:05:14 Be quiet.
00:05:14 Yeah, well, I'm just stating facts.
00:05:16 Gonna live.
00:05:19 Gonna die.
00:05:21 Did you go right?
00:05:23 Right.
00:05:25 You?
00:05:27 Left.
00:05:28 (man outside shouting) It's nice knowing you.
00:05:31 (door opens) Get in there. Get in!
00:05:40 Get in!
00:05:42 Get in!
00:05:44 Get in!
00:05:45 Come on. Get in! Get in!
00:05:47 You get!
00:05:51 Come on! Move!
00:05:53 Move!
00:05:55 Move, move, move, move!
00:06:05 Thanks to the increased efficiency of the Reich's railway system, this steaming pile of Polish crap has arrived a day early.
00:06:13 Those of you who've been selected, meet the men who'll be sleeping in your beds tomorrow.
00:06:23 You see this?
00:06:25 You know what this means?
00:06:26 It means I'm a criminal.
00:06:28 A convicted criminal.
00:06:30 What are you?
00:06:32 Lawyers?
00:06:34 Doctors?
00:06:37 You would've spat on me on the outside.
00:06:40 Well, in here, it's the other way 'round.
00:06:42 In here, I am king.
00:06:44 Chancellor.
00:06:46 I'm president.
00:06:47 Fuhrer. I'm God.
00:06:48 The world has just turned upside down and you've fallen off.
00:06:53 You'd better get used to it.
00:07:07 This is a terrible place.
00:07:11 But if we help each other, we will endure it.
00:07:15 The day of liberation gets closer every day.
00:07:21 The war will end and with God's help, we will see it.
00:07:25 Uh, in all fairness, you should sleep on the floor tonight, but if any of you is ill, there are those among us who will give up our beds for you.
00:07:34 Monsieur, where are you from?
00:07:36 Lyon.
00:07:38 I had a cousin there.
00:07:40 Contini was his name.
00:07:41 Do you know of him?
00:07:43 Oh, yes.
00:07:44 Everyone knew him.
00:07:45 He was a doctor.
00:07:47 Big fat guy.
00:07:48 Tons of money.
00:07:49 Did he get away, do you know?
00:07:52 Maybe.
00:07:53 I haven't heard.
00:07:55 Open up your mouth.
00:07:57 Oh, oh!
00:07:59 You lucky boy.
00:08:02 You let me take that gold tooth, I'll give you half my bread ration for the week, eh?
00:08:08 I-I need my tooth to eat with.
00:08:11 No, don't worry about that.
00:08:14 You won't be eating much in here, huh? Don't worry about...
00:08:16 Hold onto your tooth as long as you can.
00:08:17 Come on.
00:08:18 Let me whip it out. It'll take me a minute.
00:08:20 Ey, ey, ey, ey.
00:08:26 Here.
00:08:28 You'll need this.
00:08:30 The only food is soup.
00:08:32 You will need every drop.
00:08:33 What about you?
00:08:36 Ah...
00:08:38 I-I was sent to the left.
00:08:41 Take it.
00:08:43 If you don't, one of the Kapos will.
00:08:45 He has shown us his favor.
00:08:47 Kuhn... We are his people.
00:08:50 He has shown us his favor.
00:08:51 What are you praying for?
00:08:53 Huh?
00:08:54 What are you praying for?
00:08:55 That it won't be you?
00:08:57 That it'll be me instead of you? Of course not.
00:09:00 Moché, leave him alone. Who then?
00:09:02 If not me, who?
00:09:02 Go on. You name the names.
00:09:04 You pick. Moché, shut up.
00:09:05 At a time like this, you should pray for yourself.
00:09:09 Anyone else pray?
00:09:10 Huh?
00:09:11 Anyone else trying to help God make his mind up?
00:09:14 I am praying for him.
00:09:18 He's the Rabbi of Zamkevitz.
00:09:20 He's a melamed and a healer.
00:09:22 A healer!
00:09:24 He'll have his work cut out here then, won't he?
00:09:27 We're all gonna be healed.
00:09:29 They say that he is one of the 36.
00:09:32 36 what?
00:09:35 36 whispering Russian rabbis?
00:09:37 The Lamed-vovnik.
00:09:39 The secret saints who are carrying us on their shoulders.
00:09:43 They have set their souls on God, and for their sake, he does not destroy us.
00:09:48 You piece of gypsy scum!
00:09:51 Please.
00:09:51 The Lord our God can hear you, even here.
00:09:54 He hears me, and he does nothing about it.
00:09:56 He's a bigger bastard than I thought.
00:09:57 He hears me; he does nothing about it.
00:10:00 He's an evil bastard.
00:10:03 He should be here, not us.
00:10:08 We should put the bastard on trial.
00:10:11 Then maybe he'll hear us.
00:10:16 So, what you gonna do if it turns out he's guilty, hmm?
00:10:20 Arrest him?
00:10:21 Wait till he turns himself in?
00:10:23 (laughing) Can't you stop this?
00:10:27 Can't you stop this blasphemy?
00:10:29 In fact, it would not be blasphemy.
00:10:35 Abraham haggled with God over Sodom.
00:10:37 Jacob wrestled with the angel.
00:10:40 The name, Israel, means "he that striveth with God." KUHN: Stop it.
00:10:47 Tomorrow, we may be facing our maker.
00:10:51 And tomorrow, our maker may have to face us.
00:10:55 WOMAN: It's an old story.
00:10:57 I met lots of people who know the story.
00:10:59 HUGO: It makes a kind of sense.
00:11:00 Why shouldn't they put him on trial?
00:11:03 At least he had to listen.
00:11:04 Wouldn't they have needed judges and stuff?
00:11:07 Uh, three judges.
00:11:08 For a rabbinical court, you need three.
00:11:09 Part of the tragedy of this place was that it was full of scientists, artists, lawyers.
00:11:15 Baumgarten.
00:11:16 Yes, I was, uh, professor of criminal law in Berlin.
00:11:22 I taught bright, admiring students.
00:11:25 Ate at high table.
00:11:27 Coffee, brandy and conversations with men who are now in... in their government.
00:11:33 I don't know much about the Torah.
00:11:37 Plenty here who know the Torah.
00:11:39 But I know how to run a court.
00:11:51 Excuse me.
00:11:53 Did I hear that you...
00:11:54 that you're a teacher at the university?
00:11:56 Pardon me, uh... Would you...
00:11:59 I don't have long.
00:12:01 Don't want to waste my last few hours on this.
00:12:10 Look, if we must go ahead with this, can we at least ask this holy man, so that God has someone to defend him?
00:12:16 (whispering): Rabbi.
00:12:19 (louder): Rabbi.
00:12:21 They are asking if you will speak with them.
00:12:25 He's dumb.
00:12:28 SCHMIDT: Look, I'm a rabbi.
00:12:30 I've translated the psalms.
00:12:32 I've written many books on the law.
00:12:34 I've written a play for our theater in Wotchz. Excuse me.
00:12:41 Professor Schmidt?
00:12:46 Idek?
00:12:48 They... they said you'd gone to America.
00:12:53 Has no one escaped?
00:12:59 I could serve asdayan.
00:13:01 Idek is the finest student I ever taught.
00:13:06 MORDECHAI: I'll... I'll stand.
00:13:08 Not him. No, no, no, please.
00:13:10 Please keep out of this.
00:13:11 Strictly speaking, thedayan should be a rabbi.
00:13:15 Are you a rabbi?
00:13:17 The dayan asks the questions, right?
00:13:19 I have a lot of questions.
00:13:21 Idek is a brilliant scholar.
00:13:22 His knowledge of the Torah is...
00:13:24 Auschwitz is not mentioned in the Torah.
00:13:26 That's the point.
00:13:28 So I am father of the court, Baumgarten the head of the court.
00:13:33 And our friend, uh, here is the, uh, dayan, the inquisitor.
00:13:40 (clears throat) On a point of order, for this court to be legitimate, we should have a copy of the Torah.
00:13:47 (laughter) We...
00:13:48 (laughing) as evidence for...
00:13:50 as evidence of its existence here.
00:13:53 Well, I'll just nip down to the library and get one, will I?
00:13:56 Want anything else while I'm out?
00:13:59 Girls?
00:14:00 Cigarettes?
00:14:01 Cushions for your bony asses? (clearing throat) The Rabbi Akiba has committed all of our holy writings to memory.
00:14:07 He recites them constantly.
00:14:09 Through these last bad days, he has been a fountain of sweet water to us; he is called "The Living Torah." Excuse me.
00:14:22 This way, Rabbi.
00:14:30 So, to begin.
00:14:31 Who's bringing the charge?
00:14:33 Me.
00:14:34 I'll do that.
00:14:37 What is the charge?
00:14:38 What is the charge?
00:14:40 Are you blind?
00:14:43 Murder...
00:14:44 collaboration, murder!
00:14:46 (heated murmuring) Do you know what they did to my mother?
00:14:49 My sister?
00:14:51 My brothers?
00:14:52 Murder, collaboration, and more murder.
00:14:54 I think we should be a little more precise.
00:14:57 IDEK: Suffering is a part of God's plan.
00:14:59 A child knows that. (crowd groaning, booing) "If we take happiness from God's hand, must we not take sorrow, too?" This is not a charge.
00:15:06 You're saying that there is no case?
00:15:08 The charge would be breach of contract.
00:15:11 The Jews have a... have a...
00:15:12 have a contract with God, some kind of special agreement.
00:15:16 A covenant.
00:15:16 Well, the charge is that he broke the deal, the covenant.
00:15:20 So, God is a cheating bastard!
00:15:22 (cheering, booing) That'll do for me.
00:15:25 Please, at a time like this.
00:15:27 Can't you stop him?
00:15:28 In the desert, Moses made a covenant with God.
00:15:30 He said the people would obey God's law, and for his part, God said that of all people, we would be his own, his chosen, a priestly nation.
00:15:41 The psalmist sings, "I have made a covenant "with the chosen one, sworn an oath to my servant, David.
00:15:47 "I have made his dynasty firm forever.
00:15:50 His throne shall last from age to age." My own translation.
00:15:55 So the case before us is that he did not fulfill this covenant.
00:15:58 Who would like to start?
00:16:00 "No enemy shall be able to outwit him, "no wicked man overcome him.
00:16:05 "I shall crush his enemies before him, strike his opponents dead." Well?
00:16:19 Has he kept his promise?
00:16:20 CROWD: No.
00:16:22 BAUMGARTEN: Well, it's hard to see how the charge can be refuted.
00:16:26 What defense there could be?
00:16:31 Do we need to proceed further?
00:16:36 KUHN: Bad things have happened before.
00:16:39 (crowd protesting) Read the Torah.
00:16:42 Read... read your history.
00:16:44 We are Jews.
00:16:46 We suffer.
00:16:47 CROWD: We suffer.
00:16:48 (knocking) BAUMGARTEN: Please.
00:16:50 Identify yourself to the court.
00:16:55 My name is Kuhn.
00:16:58 I'm his father.
00:17:00 I'm his father, and yet...
00:17:03 he joins you in this shame.
00:17:05 He helps you, knowing it hurts me.
00:17:10 That's the kind of son he is.
00:17:12 Do you have something to say, Father?
00:17:14 Apart from the usual?
00:17:18 Look...
00:17:19 when we were set free from slavery in Egypt, found the promised land, what happened?
00:17:25 We were taken into captivity again in Babylon.
00:17:30 When we were set free again and rebuilt the temple, what happened?
00:17:37 The Romans razed it to the ground.
00:17:40 (murmuring) What happened in Masada...
00:17:46 Spain...
00:17:47 Russia, and now here?
00:17:50 BAUMGARTEN: It seems to me that the witness is saying that his breach of contract is habitual.
00:17:55 (laughter) Just to clarify the position, are you defending God or attacking him?
00:17:59 SCHMIDT: Mr. Kuhn, I think, is saying... He can speak for himself.
00:18:03 Our ancestors, our forefathers, our parents all suffered.
00:18:10 But they did not let go.
00:18:13 That's why we are still here.
00:18:16 (murmuring in agreement) This is a test of our faith.
00:18:19 We must pass our test as they passed theirs.
00:18:22 You think we want to be here?
00:18:24 Please, please, please, please.
00:18:26 They kept the light of the Torah burning in dark times.
00:18:29 We must do the same.
00:18:31 We must keep the faith.
00:18:33 We must keep our hearts pure, and we must pray. Why?
00:18:37 If God has betrayed us, why?
00:18:39 The point is...
00:18:42 the point is...
00:18:43 to be a good Jew. A good Jew.
00:18:45 The point is to keep faith. For what?
00:18:47 CROWD: Faith.
00:18:49 We are being tested!
00:18:51 (murmuring in protest) Are tests a part of this covenant?
00:18:56 Did anyone mention tests to Moses?
00:18:59 SCHMIDT: In the same psalm, we are told, "Should his descendants desert my law "and not keep my rulings, "should they violate my statutes and not observe "my commands, I will punish their offenses with the rod, their guilt with the whip." Mr. Kuhn is saying, before we go blaming God, we should look at ourselves.
00:19:16 Perhaps it is not God who is in breach of the covenant, but ourselves.
00:19:20 KUHN: Yes, yes, yes.
00:19:21 There... he has it.
00:19:23 It is... it is mipnei khata'einu-- because of our sins.
00:19:30 Oryoursins.
00:19:35 Perhaps it's you who is at fault.
00:19:36 Thank you.
00:19:38 I agree with the court.
00:19:40 It is a punishment.
00:19:41 The court has said no such thing.
00:19:43 Nevertheless, I agree.
00:19:44 Some Jews have turned their back on the Torah.
00:19:48 They thought they knew better.
00:19:51 Our sons have gone to the cities.
00:19:53 They bought a smart hat, a nice suit, become socialists or Zionists or capitalists or anarchists.
00:20:03 God knows what.
00:20:05 Forgetting everything of the precious scriptures.
00:20:09 So you're saying that all of this is my fault, is that it?
00:20:14 God is destroying the whole Jewish people because you are disappointed in me.
00:20:19 Is that it?
00:20:20 Look at what you're doing!
00:20:23 (bangs desk) A trial of God?
00:20:26 Do you think he can't hear you?
00:20:28 Do you think he isn't here?
00:20:31 (banging desk) We must keep order here.
00:20:33 You're Jews, huh?
00:20:34 If nothing else, you must respect the law.
00:20:37 (dog barking) Well, since I stand accused, I shall call a witness.
00:20:42 Go ahead. This gentleman.
00:20:49 MORDECHAI: Your name?
00:20:53 Ezra Shapira from Zamkevitz.
00:20:55 Did-Did I do something wrong?
00:20:56 No, no, no, no, no, Ezra of Zamkevitz.
00:20:58 You came here with the rabbi, I think, from Zamkevitz.
00:21:03 Tell me, Ezra Shapira, did they turn their back on the Torah in Zamkevitz?
00:21:08 No, sir.
00:21:11 In Zamkevitz, we loved the Torah.
00:21:13 On the Sabbath, the windows of the shops were all closed.
00:21:17 The scriptures wrapped their wings of quiet about us, and the world just went away.
00:21:22 Every man had his prayer shawl.
00:21:25 On holidays, feast days, work days, the Torah was the...
00:21:30 (inhales) It was the air that we breathed.
00:21:34 In our poverty, it clothed and housed us.
00:21:36 It was our palace, and we lived in its splendor.
00:21:40 So, what happened then?
00:21:44 They came.
00:21:45 They killed all of the old people.
00:21:47 And they made the rest of us bury them.
00:21:51 My own mother I buried.
00:21:53 They made me take the rings from her fingers and give them to them.
00:21:57 MORDECHAI: Can you see any reason why God would make you-- a good Jew-- desecrate his own mother's grave in order to punish a bad Jew, for instance, me?
00:22:08 EZRA: I-I didn't say I was a good man.
00:22:12 Um, I try, but, uh, I don't know if I'm a good man.
00:22:14 I don't know if you are a bad man.
00:22:16 Oh, uh, take him, for example.
00:22:20 EZRA: I don't know him.
00:22:22 MAN: You'll get to know me.
00:22:24 Don't worry.
00:22:26 (men murmuring) So God reserves the right to punish the wicked.
00:22:32 That's in the covenant.
00:22:34 The question is, why did he choose to punish this good man here...
00:22:40 ...and not, for instance, Hitler?
00:22:47 Does anyone have an answer?
00:22:51 God is just, so we must have done something wrong.
00:22:55 We should be examining our consciences.
00:22:57 (men voicing assent) BAUMGARTEN: In law, the punishment has to be proportionate to the crime.
00:23:05 What crime could justify a punishment like this?
00:23:09 And children.
00:23:12 There are children in the camp.
00:23:15 What punishment does a little child deserve?
00:23:20 If I may?
00:23:25 It's not always the case that the punishment is proportionate.
00:23:27 The flood engulfed the whole world except for Noah.
00:23:31 God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son.
00:23:33 EZRA: Sir, my mother was a good woman.
00:23:35 SCHMIDT: The mistake is to make this personal.
00:23:38 God does not act against the individual.
00:23:41 His covenant is with the Jewish people, not with Ezra of Zamkevitz.
00:23:45 This is not personal.
00:23:47 MORDECHAI: Can I ask you, Ezra, do you see any use for a God who's not personal?
00:23:52 EZRA: A use for God?
00:23:53 Is it up to me to find a use for God?
00:23:57 Do you know what a god who is not personal is?
00:24:01 No.
00:24:02 It's weather.
00:24:03 That's all, just weather.
00:24:04 SCHMIDT: Perhaps we should remove the word punishment from the proceedings for the time being.
00:24:09 Can I ask a question?
00:24:12 Ezra, let me ask you, was your mother a good Jew?
00:24:16 How can you ask such a question, even here?
00:24:19 Let me put something to you.
00:24:21 Let us talk about purification.
00:24:23 Twice in history, and perhaps here again today, God has brought about events of such terrible destructiveness, that after them, things were never the same again.
00:24:32 Things were never the same again, because, in time, we came to understand that everything became better.
00:24:37 (group murmuring) SCHMIDT: Imagine, God is a surgeon, and he has to remove a gangrenous leg or an arm to cure the whole body.
00:24:45 It's a violent act.
00:24:47 It's painful.
00:24:48 But it is also loving.
00:24:50 How would it be if we were living through a time like this?
00:24:54 Not a punishment, a purification.
00:24:55 MOCHE: Let me ask you something.
00:24:57 BAUMGARTEN In time. Time is what we don't have.
00:24:59 These purifications-- are they in your covenant?
00:25:02 Does it say, every once in a while, all bets are off, and I'll-I'll flood the place?
00:25:07 Sometimes, just for a change, you'll be...
00:25:08 you'll be rounded up and whipped, dogs will be set on you, and-and you'll be herded into a camp...
00:25:17 Since you ask...
00:25:20 The first purification was the flood.
00:25:22 The second was the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
00:25:25 We were driven into exile in Babylon.
00:25:28 We were a nation without a country.
00:25:30 Having no land, we went out into the world, and we took our knowledge of the Torah and of the one all mighty God, out into the country.
00:25:38 (men murmuring) If we had stayed as we were, would we have achieved so much?
00:25:44 We would be a tribe in the desert, nothing more.
00:25:52 It was painful, but it was also beautiful.
00:25:56 (men murmuring) What if we were living through another such catastrophic event?
00:26:02 What if those who survive this will be a holy remnant, and will live in an age of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge?
00:26:08 What if some great good were to come of this?
00:26:11 (sighs) What great good?
00:26:13 How can we know?
00:26:15 Already some say the Messiah himself.
00:26:20 Perhaps a return to Israel.
00:26:22 What then?
00:26:23 Then it might be a beautiful thing.
00:26:25 So, you see, perhaps there is a reason why a good woman like your mother was taken, and not some wicked man.
00:26:33 Because she is a sacrifice.
00:26:38 A holocaust.
00:26:42 And when a man sacrifices something, it must be the best.
00:26:46 The most beautiful.
00:26:51 May I call Idek?
00:26:53 May I question this witness?
00:26:55 May I call Idek first?
00:26:56 The point is related.
00:27:06 Could you tell the court about what happened to our forefathers at Masada?
00:27:15 Masada was a... a mountain fortress built by Herod the Great.
00:27:20 It was a-a kind of bunker for himself in case of war.
00:27:24 (man coughing) Of course, no man can build a wall against death.
00:27:29 Herod died, and the Romans came, destroyed the temple.
00:27:34 There was a-a great uprising.
00:27:37 A revolt.
00:27:38 And the rebels ran to the mountains, to this Masada.
00:27:44 The Romans laid siege.
00:27:45 They, uh... they wanted to starve the rebels.
00:27:49 So they built a huge wall around the base of the mountain.
00:27:53 There were, uh, 15,000 Roman troops.
00:27:55 Less than a thousand Jewish fighters.
00:27:58 That spring, the rebels decided it was better to die than to be enslaved.
00:28:07 Ten men were chosen and given the task of killing all the others.
00:28:12 When they were only ten, one man was chosen to kill the other nine.
00:28:16 The last man had to take his own life.
00:28:20 Two women hid from this slaughter and lived to tell this story.
00:28:25 These fighters-- what kind of men were they?
00:28:27 The bravest and best.
00:28:29 The... the flower of Israel.
00:28:31 They were martyrs.
00:28:33 And yet, they were crushed by the Romans.
00:28:36 Well, in a sense, yes, but what did the Romans want?
00:28:39 That the Jews live like Romans, and abandon the Torah.
00:28:44 And where are the Romans now?
00:28:47 They are dust.
00:28:48 SCHMIDT: And the Torah?
00:28:49 Still living, still... flowering.
00:28:51 Still illuminating the world.
00:28:53 Thank you.
00:28:56 So you see, we must not despair.
00:28:59 Our suffering is a privilege if it is part of God's plan.
00:29:06 We are fortunate to be purifying the people through our pain.
00:29:14 Do not let them take your faith.
00:29:18 If it is strong, it will grow.
00:29:20 A small fire is put out by the wind, but a great fire only grows greater.
00:29:28 Hitler will die.
00:29:30 The war will end.
00:29:34 The people and the Torah will live.
00:29:37 KUHN: Precisely.
00:29:40 There it is, hmm?
00:29:41 MAN: Yeah.
00:29:43 The Torah will live.
00:29:44 (some men voicing assent, coughing) So we must trust in God.
00:29:48 (some men voice assent) May I question the witness?
00:29:52 Not this one. The previous one.
00:29:53 Ezra of Zamkevitz. Oh.
00:29:55 Excuse me, I-I... I'm not a witness.
00:29:56 You know, I didn't witness anything, not about God.
00:30:00 I make and I sell gloves.
00:30:05 I used to make and sell gloves.
00:30:07 Do you feel better for what the judge has told you, that your mother is a sacrifice?
00:30:17 Yes, sir.
00:30:18 Even though the judge has told you that God is demanding a holocaust, a sacrifice of the best Jews.
00:30:28 Do you want me to feel better or worse?
00:30:31 BAUMGARTEN: We just want the truth. Well, I don't know the truth.
00:30:34 I don't know why such things happen.
00:30:40 I used to make and sell gloves.
00:30:43 Can I sit down now, please?
00:30:45 Sir, I don't know how to answer these questions.
00:30:47 Thank you.
00:30:51 MORDECHAI: So suffering is God's work, is that right?
00:30:55 In other words, Mengele is working for God.
00:30:59 Hitler is working for God. Is that right?
00:31:03 It's unpalatable, but it's possible.
00:31:06 When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel, and sacked the temple and took the people into exile in Babylon, God called him "My servant, Nebuchadnezzar." He was the knife, and God was the surgeon.
00:31:21 We can hate the knife, but love the surgeon.
00:31:25 MORDECHAI: If Hitler is doing God's work, then logic says that to stand in Hitler's way is to stand in God's way.
00:31:33 To take arms against Hitler is wrong.
00:31:36 Now, does anybody here believe that?
00:31:39 (scattered disapproval) Is there any way that that could possibly be true?
00:31:44 Isn't that insane?
00:31:47 Who are you addressing?
00:31:49 We must keep order here.
00:31:51 We must try to keep order.
00:31:53 I would like to call our blockaltester.
00:31:58 Call me all you like.
00:31:59 You can't call him. He's not Jewish.
00:32:06 I would like you to tell the court what you do all day.
00:32:10 You know what I do.
00:32:12 I look after you lot.
00:32:14 You're like my babies.
00:32:15 I'm like a mother to you all.
00:32:18 Why?
00:32:21 Would you like to say why you took on a role like this?
00:32:25 I was given the choice.
00:32:27 They asked me because I speak German, and because I've got brains.
00:32:32 And if any of you lot were smart enough, you'd be doing it, too.
00:32:35 You could have said "no," I think.
00:32:37 I want to live, all right?
00:32:38 That's why I do this. I want to live!
00:32:41 Unlike you scum who are dead already-- you gave up the minute you came in here.
00:32:46 Are you ashamed of what you do?
00:32:47 I don't have to answer to you.
00:32:50 Or your court or your, your God.
00:32:53 I'm not worried about meeting God.
00:32:56 'Cause what I do-- let me tell you-- what I do is nothing, nothing compared to what the Sonderkommando do!
00:33:03 They send other Jews into the gas.
00:33:05 They push them in and they lock the doors.
00:33:06 They take their spoons from them and they sell them to other Jews.
00:33:11 They've cornered the whole market in spoons, by locking the doors on their own kind.
00:33:16 Don't point at me.
00:33:18 Do you think you will survive this?
00:33:20 Maybe. Maybe not.
00:33:23 And Professor Schmidt says that when this is all...
00:33:26 Look, let me tell you about your God.
00:33:30 I want to get out of here alive, all right?
00:33:33 One day the war will end.
00:33:35 They might even lose.
00:33:37 In which case, I'll be out of here.
00:33:39 All I have to do is stay alive till then.
00:33:42 How do I do that?
00:33:44 (grunts) What's going to kill me?
00:33:46 They are.
00:33:47 How do I stop them?
00:33:50 By pleasing them.
00:33:51 And how do I do that?
00:33:52 By keeping you lot in order.
00:33:57 What's the worst that can happen to me?
00:33:59 That they run out of Jews to kill.
00:34:02 Then they'll kill me.
00:34:03 When they've finished killing you lot.
00:34:07 When that transport came in today, when that transport with these, these Polacks came in today, do you know what I did?
00:34:12 I cheered.
00:34:15 That's what I did, and then out of force of habit, I said, "Thank you, God." (men grumbling) Wait! Wait! Shush!
00:34:22 Shush, listen!
00:34:23 Listen! Look!
00:34:35 Did he strike me down?
00:34:38 No.
00:34:39 You know why?
00:34:43 Because I'm doing the bastard's work for him.
00:34:46 In here, I am God.
00:34:49 I am!
00:34:51 And your God, your God of Abraham, he doesn't give a damn about you!
00:34:55 Otherwise he wouldn't have given you to me.
00:34:57 (men grumbling) (man shouts) I'd like to ask him another question.
00:35:05 Do you have to?
00:35:05 Can't we move on to some other witness?
00:35:09 I'm not sure this is helping.
00:35:14 Professor Schmidt, you said that when this disaster is over that the world might be a better place.
00:35:19 Perhaps the Messiah will come.
00:35:20 Perhaps we will return to Israel, but who will survive this?
00:35:24 The blockaltester, the Sonderkommando-- who else?
00:35:28 The-the vicious, the cunning, the-the shameless, the pitiless...
00:35:33 What kind of Messiah would want these as his people?
00:35:37 What kind of Israel would be built by such people?
00:35:40 Will they build a nation of wisdom and understanding and knowledge?
00:35:44 Not them, God.
00:35:47 How?
00:35:49 We can't know. He can do all things.
00:35:51 Oh. "He can do all things." Well, if he can do all things, why can he not purify his people without gassing them?
00:35:59 He is all-powerful.
00:36:03 How can he be all-powerful and just?
00:36:07 Either he's all-powerful, in which case, he could have stopped this but he chose not to, because he is not just.
00:36:12 Or he'd like to stop this, but he could not.
00:36:16 SCHMIDT: The answer to this is very simple.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To be continued . . . . .
Anyway . . . . .
While traveling all over YouTube Land, I came across this really good movie!
It was produce by Masterpiece Theater, and it's about 1:25:21 in length of time.
I even downloaded and saved this YouTube video to my computer so I can watch it again with Real Player.
Anyway, here's the YouTube link.
God on Trial - full movie - high resolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRoLjz9VUCk
And here's the link to the webpage with the complete transcript of said move.
Masterpiece Contemporary - God on Trial
Aired at 03:00 AM on Wednesday, Apr 07, 2010 (4/7/2010)
http://livedash.ark.com/transcript/masterpiece_contemporary-%28god_on_trial%29/1020/KTEH/Wednesday_April_07_2010/247733/
And now, the complete transcript, also including the time index on the left.
==================================================
Transcript
00:00:00 Casting and VIEWERS LIKE YOU Masterpieceis made possible by the Corporationfor Public Broadcasting and by contributionsto your PBS station from: How could it happen?
00:00:29 Doesn't God hear our agony?
00:00:33 Why doesn't he do anything about it?
00:00:36 These are questions asked in great suffering, questions which believers have asked since the beginning of history, questions which have no answers.
00:00:45 Tonight, these are questions asked in a camp blockhouse in Auschwitz prison, where a group of ordinary men-- imprisoned and sentenced to death for no crime-- do the only thing they can think of to express the agony of their situation.
00:00:59 They put God on trial.
00:01:02 They are Jews, the chosen people, who have made a covenant with God, and in return God promised that he would protect them.
00:01:10 How can they accept this broken promise?
00:01:13 Does God have the right to abandon them and get away with it?
00:01:18 Even the atheists among them believe human beings have a moral right to know the reason for evil in the world.
00:01:24 Their questions multiply.
00:01:26 But the silence persists.
00:01:30 God on Trial.
00:01:48 TOUR GUIDE: Unfortunate that admission is not inclusive in your tour price. So sorry.
00:01:53 Here you must pay.
00:01:54 But, um, the good news-- it's only ten zlotys.
00:01:57 So not so very bad.
00:01:59 Um, okay?
00:02:03 Oh, sorry.
00:02:21 TOUR GUIDE: Individual photographs are not allowed.
00:02:24 Group photographs are allowed by arrangement.
00:02:34 When you get out there, give your card to the nice doctor.
00:02:39 He's going to examine you free of charge.
00:02:42 Don't say I don't look after you.
00:02:47 TOUR GUIDE: This is the typical blockhouse.
00:02:50 There would be up to 1,000 people in here.
00:02:52 When a new transport came in, they made room for it by-- well, you can imagine.
00:02:57 Um, they would make aselekcja.
00:02:59 Uh, everyone from the blockhouse is given a card by the block elder, the blockaltester, and then they go to the selection area.
00:03:07 (dog barking in distance) Straighten up. Come on, shoulders back.
00:03:16 Stop.
00:03:18 Don't shuffle like that.
00:03:20 You look like you're dead already.
00:03:21 Leave me alone. He is dead already.
00:03:23 Try not to look so mad.
00:03:25 Or it'll be your turn next.
00:03:26 I'm going to be fine.
00:03:27 Have I shown you my numbers? See?
00:03:29 Add 'em up, 18, 18, is the number of life.
00:03:32 Shh!
00:03:33 You may be about to meet the Lord your God.
00:03:39 TOUR GUIDE: It's very cold in here, yes?
00:03:44 Imagine it on a day of selection.
00:03:46 Um, no one knew what were the criteria for selection, so everyone's afraid.
00:03:52 Um, okay, let's go this way.
00:03:58 I don't understand.
00:04:00 I don't see how it could happen.
00:04:02 How it could be allowed.
00:04:03 You know there was a story that the prisoners made a court here and held a trial.
00:04:09 They tried the person that they thought was most responsible for what had happened to them.
00:04:14 Can you imagine the look on my wife's face?
00:04:19 Suppose I do need someone to do the dishes.
00:04:23 Shift yourself.
00:04:23 These people are waiting to see the doctor!
00:04:25 Wait and see the doctor.
00:04:31 85-year-old Jew in my house.
00:04:33 What am I gonna do with her?
00:04:36 Some of the things he comes up with.
00:04:41 GUARD: Shift yourself.
00:04:48 (dog barking in distance) They sent old Kuhn left.
00:05:09 If you went left, you're off to heaven with old Kuhn.
00:05:12 The rest of us will live.
00:05:14 Be quiet.
00:05:14 Yeah, well, I'm just stating facts.
00:05:16 Gonna live.
00:05:19 Gonna die.
00:05:21 Did you go right?
00:05:23 Right.
00:05:25 You?
00:05:27 Left.
00:05:28 (man outside shouting) It's nice knowing you.
00:05:31 (door opens) Get in there. Get in!
00:05:40 Get in!
00:05:42 Get in!
00:05:44 Get in!
00:05:45 Come on. Get in! Get in!
00:05:47 You get!
00:05:51 Come on! Move!
00:05:53 Move!
00:05:55 Move, move, move, move!
00:06:05 Thanks to the increased efficiency of the Reich's railway system, this steaming pile of Polish crap has arrived a day early.
00:06:13 Those of you who've been selected, meet the men who'll be sleeping in your beds tomorrow.
00:06:23 You see this?
00:06:25 You know what this means?
00:06:26 It means I'm a criminal.
00:06:28 A convicted criminal.
00:06:30 What are you?
00:06:32 Lawyers?
00:06:34 Doctors?
00:06:37 You would've spat on me on the outside.
00:06:40 Well, in here, it's the other way 'round.
00:06:42 In here, I am king.
00:06:44 Chancellor.
00:06:46 I'm president.
00:06:47 Fuhrer. I'm God.
00:06:48 The world has just turned upside down and you've fallen off.
00:06:53 You'd better get used to it.
00:07:07 This is a terrible place.
00:07:11 But if we help each other, we will endure it.
00:07:15 The day of liberation gets closer every day.
00:07:21 The war will end and with God's help, we will see it.
00:07:25 Uh, in all fairness, you should sleep on the floor tonight, but if any of you is ill, there are those among us who will give up our beds for you.
00:07:34 Monsieur, where are you from?
00:07:36 Lyon.
00:07:38 I had a cousin there.
00:07:40 Contini was his name.
00:07:41 Do you know of him?
00:07:43 Oh, yes.
00:07:44 Everyone knew him.
00:07:45 He was a doctor.
00:07:47 Big fat guy.
00:07:48 Tons of money.
00:07:49 Did he get away, do you know?
00:07:52 Maybe.
00:07:53 I haven't heard.
00:07:55 Open up your mouth.
00:07:57 Oh, oh!
00:07:59 You lucky boy.
00:08:02 You let me take that gold tooth, I'll give you half my bread ration for the week, eh?
00:08:08 I-I need my tooth to eat with.
00:08:11 No, don't worry about that.
00:08:14 You won't be eating much in here, huh? Don't worry about...
00:08:16 Hold onto your tooth as long as you can.
00:08:17 Come on.
00:08:18 Let me whip it out. It'll take me a minute.
00:08:20 Ey, ey, ey, ey.
00:08:26 Here.
00:08:28 You'll need this.
00:08:30 The only food is soup.
00:08:32 You will need every drop.
00:08:33 What about you?
00:08:36 Ah...
00:08:38 I-I was sent to the left.
00:08:41 Take it.
00:08:43 If you don't, one of the Kapos will.
00:08:45 He has shown us his favor.
00:08:47 Kuhn... We are his people.
00:08:50 He has shown us his favor.
00:08:51 What are you praying for?
00:08:53 Huh?
00:08:54 What are you praying for?
00:08:55 That it won't be you?
00:08:57 That it'll be me instead of you? Of course not.
00:09:00 Moché, leave him alone. Who then?
00:09:02 If not me, who?
00:09:02 Go on. You name the names.
00:09:04 You pick. Moché, shut up.
00:09:05 At a time like this, you should pray for yourself.
00:09:09 Anyone else pray?
00:09:10 Huh?
00:09:11 Anyone else trying to help God make his mind up?
00:09:14 I am praying for him.
00:09:18 He's the Rabbi of Zamkevitz.
00:09:20 He's a melamed and a healer.
00:09:22 A healer!
00:09:24 He'll have his work cut out here then, won't he?
00:09:27 We're all gonna be healed.
00:09:29 They say that he is one of the 36.
00:09:32 36 what?
00:09:35 36 whispering Russian rabbis?
00:09:37 The Lamed-vovnik.
00:09:39 The secret saints who are carrying us on their shoulders.
00:09:43 They have set their souls on God, and for their sake, he does not destroy us.
00:09:48 You piece of gypsy scum!
00:09:51 Please.
00:09:51 The Lord our God can hear you, even here.
00:09:54 He hears me, and he does nothing about it.
00:09:56 He's a bigger bastard than I thought.
00:09:57 He hears me; he does nothing about it.
00:10:00 He's an evil bastard.
00:10:03 He should be here, not us.
00:10:08 We should put the bastard on trial.
00:10:11 Then maybe he'll hear us.
00:10:16 So, what you gonna do if it turns out he's guilty, hmm?
00:10:20 Arrest him?
00:10:21 Wait till he turns himself in?
00:10:23 (laughing) Can't you stop this?
00:10:27 Can't you stop this blasphemy?
00:10:29 In fact, it would not be blasphemy.
00:10:35 Abraham haggled with God over Sodom.
00:10:37 Jacob wrestled with the angel.
00:10:40 The name, Israel, means "he that striveth with God." KUHN: Stop it.
00:10:47 Tomorrow, we may be facing our maker.
00:10:51 And tomorrow, our maker may have to face us.
00:10:55 WOMAN: It's an old story.
00:10:57 I met lots of people who know the story.
00:10:59 HUGO: It makes a kind of sense.
00:11:00 Why shouldn't they put him on trial?
00:11:03 At least he had to listen.
00:11:04 Wouldn't they have needed judges and stuff?
00:11:07 Uh, three judges.
00:11:08 For a rabbinical court, you need three.
00:11:09 Part of the tragedy of this place was that it was full of scientists, artists, lawyers.
00:11:15 Baumgarten.
00:11:16 Yes, I was, uh, professor of criminal law in Berlin.
00:11:22 I taught bright, admiring students.
00:11:25 Ate at high table.
00:11:27 Coffee, brandy and conversations with men who are now in... in their government.
00:11:33 I don't know much about the Torah.
00:11:37 Plenty here who know the Torah.
00:11:39 But I know how to run a court.
00:11:51 Excuse me.
00:11:53 Did I hear that you...
00:11:54 that you're a teacher at the university?
00:11:56 Pardon me, uh... Would you...
00:11:59 I don't have long.
00:12:01 Don't want to waste my last few hours on this.
00:12:10 Look, if we must go ahead with this, can we at least ask this holy man, so that God has someone to defend him?
00:12:16 (whispering): Rabbi.
00:12:19 (louder): Rabbi.
00:12:21 They are asking if you will speak with them.
00:12:25 He's dumb.
00:12:28 SCHMIDT: Look, I'm a rabbi.
00:12:30 I've translated the psalms.
00:12:32 I've written many books on the law.
00:12:34 I've written a play for our theater in Wotchz. Excuse me.
00:12:41 Professor Schmidt?
00:12:46 Idek?
00:12:48 They... they said you'd gone to America.
00:12:53 Has no one escaped?
00:12:59 I could serve asdayan.
00:13:01 Idek is the finest student I ever taught.
00:13:06 MORDECHAI: I'll... I'll stand.
00:13:08 Not him. No, no, no, please.
00:13:10 Please keep out of this.
00:13:11 Strictly speaking, thedayan should be a rabbi.
00:13:15 Are you a rabbi?
00:13:17 The dayan asks the questions, right?
00:13:19 I have a lot of questions.
00:13:21 Idek is a brilliant scholar.
00:13:22 His knowledge of the Torah is...
00:13:24 Auschwitz is not mentioned in the Torah.
00:13:26 That's the point.
00:13:28 So I am father of the court, Baumgarten the head of the court.
00:13:33 And our friend, uh, here is the, uh, dayan, the inquisitor.
00:13:40 (clears throat) On a point of order, for this court to be legitimate, we should have a copy of the Torah.
00:13:47 (laughter) We...
00:13:48 (laughing) as evidence for...
00:13:50 as evidence of its existence here.
00:13:53 Well, I'll just nip down to the library and get one, will I?
00:13:56 Want anything else while I'm out?
00:13:59 Girls?
00:14:00 Cigarettes?
00:14:01 Cushions for your bony asses? (clearing throat) The Rabbi Akiba has committed all of our holy writings to memory.
00:14:07 He recites them constantly.
00:14:09 Through these last bad days, he has been a fountain of sweet water to us; he is called "The Living Torah." Excuse me.
00:14:22 This way, Rabbi.
00:14:30 So, to begin.
00:14:31 Who's bringing the charge?
00:14:33 Me.
00:14:34 I'll do that.
00:14:37 What is the charge?
00:14:38 What is the charge?
00:14:40 Are you blind?
00:14:43 Murder...
00:14:44 collaboration, murder!
00:14:46 (heated murmuring) Do you know what they did to my mother?
00:14:49 My sister?
00:14:51 My brothers?
00:14:52 Murder, collaboration, and more murder.
00:14:54 I think we should be a little more precise.
00:14:57 IDEK: Suffering is a part of God's plan.
00:14:59 A child knows that. (crowd groaning, booing) "If we take happiness from God's hand, must we not take sorrow, too?" This is not a charge.
00:15:06 You're saying that there is no case?
00:15:08 The charge would be breach of contract.
00:15:11 The Jews have a... have a...
00:15:12 have a contract with God, some kind of special agreement.
00:15:16 A covenant.
00:15:16 Well, the charge is that he broke the deal, the covenant.
00:15:20 So, God is a cheating bastard!
00:15:22 (cheering, booing) That'll do for me.
00:15:25 Please, at a time like this.
00:15:27 Can't you stop him?
00:15:28 In the desert, Moses made a covenant with God.
00:15:30 He said the people would obey God's law, and for his part, God said that of all people, we would be his own, his chosen, a priestly nation.
00:15:41 The psalmist sings, "I have made a covenant "with the chosen one, sworn an oath to my servant, David.
00:15:47 "I have made his dynasty firm forever.
00:15:50 His throne shall last from age to age." My own translation.
00:15:55 So the case before us is that he did not fulfill this covenant.
00:15:58 Who would like to start?
00:16:00 "No enemy shall be able to outwit him, "no wicked man overcome him.
00:16:05 "I shall crush his enemies before him, strike his opponents dead." Well?
00:16:19 Has he kept his promise?
00:16:20 CROWD: No.
00:16:22 BAUMGARTEN: Well, it's hard to see how the charge can be refuted.
00:16:26 What defense there could be?
00:16:31 Do we need to proceed further?
00:16:36 KUHN: Bad things have happened before.
00:16:39 (crowd protesting) Read the Torah.
00:16:42 Read... read your history.
00:16:44 We are Jews.
00:16:46 We suffer.
00:16:47 CROWD: We suffer.
00:16:48 (knocking) BAUMGARTEN: Please.
00:16:50 Identify yourself to the court.
00:16:55 My name is Kuhn.
00:16:58 I'm his father.
00:17:00 I'm his father, and yet...
00:17:03 he joins you in this shame.
00:17:05 He helps you, knowing it hurts me.
00:17:10 That's the kind of son he is.
00:17:12 Do you have something to say, Father?
00:17:14 Apart from the usual?
00:17:18 Look...
00:17:19 when we were set free from slavery in Egypt, found the promised land, what happened?
00:17:25 We were taken into captivity again in Babylon.
00:17:30 When we were set free again and rebuilt the temple, what happened?
00:17:37 The Romans razed it to the ground.
00:17:40 (murmuring) What happened in Masada...
00:17:46 Spain...
00:17:47 Russia, and now here?
00:17:50 BAUMGARTEN: It seems to me that the witness is saying that his breach of contract is habitual.
00:17:55 (laughter) Just to clarify the position, are you defending God or attacking him?
00:17:59 SCHMIDT: Mr. Kuhn, I think, is saying... He can speak for himself.
00:18:03 Our ancestors, our forefathers, our parents all suffered.
00:18:10 But they did not let go.
00:18:13 That's why we are still here.
00:18:16 (murmuring in agreement) This is a test of our faith.
00:18:19 We must pass our test as they passed theirs.
00:18:22 You think we want to be here?
00:18:24 Please, please, please, please.
00:18:26 They kept the light of the Torah burning in dark times.
00:18:29 We must do the same.
00:18:31 We must keep the faith.
00:18:33 We must keep our hearts pure, and we must pray. Why?
00:18:37 If God has betrayed us, why?
00:18:39 The point is...
00:18:42 the point is...
00:18:43 to be a good Jew. A good Jew.
00:18:45 The point is to keep faith. For what?
00:18:47 CROWD: Faith.
00:18:49 We are being tested!
00:18:51 (murmuring in protest) Are tests a part of this covenant?
00:18:56 Did anyone mention tests to Moses?
00:18:59 SCHMIDT: In the same psalm, we are told, "Should his descendants desert my law "and not keep my rulings, "should they violate my statutes and not observe "my commands, I will punish their offenses with the rod, their guilt with the whip." Mr. Kuhn is saying, before we go blaming God, we should look at ourselves.
00:19:16 Perhaps it is not God who is in breach of the covenant, but ourselves.
00:19:20 KUHN: Yes, yes, yes.
00:19:21 There... he has it.
00:19:23 It is... it is mipnei khata'einu-- because of our sins.
00:19:30 Oryoursins.
00:19:35 Perhaps it's you who is at fault.
00:19:36 Thank you.
00:19:38 I agree with the court.
00:19:40 It is a punishment.
00:19:41 The court has said no such thing.
00:19:43 Nevertheless, I agree.
00:19:44 Some Jews have turned their back on the Torah.
00:19:48 They thought they knew better.
00:19:51 Our sons have gone to the cities.
00:19:53 They bought a smart hat, a nice suit, become socialists or Zionists or capitalists or anarchists.
00:20:03 God knows what.
00:20:05 Forgetting everything of the precious scriptures.
00:20:09 So you're saying that all of this is my fault, is that it?
00:20:14 God is destroying the whole Jewish people because you are disappointed in me.
00:20:19 Is that it?
00:20:20 Look at what you're doing!
00:20:23 (bangs desk) A trial of God?
00:20:26 Do you think he can't hear you?
00:20:28 Do you think he isn't here?
00:20:31 (banging desk) We must keep order here.
00:20:33 You're Jews, huh?
00:20:34 If nothing else, you must respect the law.
00:20:37 (dog barking) Well, since I stand accused, I shall call a witness.
00:20:42 Go ahead. This gentleman.
00:20:49 MORDECHAI: Your name?
00:20:53 Ezra Shapira from Zamkevitz.
00:20:55 Did-Did I do something wrong?
00:20:56 No, no, no, no, no, Ezra of Zamkevitz.
00:20:58 You came here with the rabbi, I think, from Zamkevitz.
00:21:03 Tell me, Ezra Shapira, did they turn their back on the Torah in Zamkevitz?
00:21:08 No, sir.
00:21:11 In Zamkevitz, we loved the Torah.
00:21:13 On the Sabbath, the windows of the shops were all closed.
00:21:17 The scriptures wrapped their wings of quiet about us, and the world just went away.
00:21:22 Every man had his prayer shawl.
00:21:25 On holidays, feast days, work days, the Torah was the...
00:21:30 (inhales) It was the air that we breathed.
00:21:34 In our poverty, it clothed and housed us.
00:21:36 It was our palace, and we lived in its splendor.
00:21:40 So, what happened then?
00:21:44 They came.
00:21:45 They killed all of the old people.
00:21:47 And they made the rest of us bury them.
00:21:51 My own mother I buried.
00:21:53 They made me take the rings from her fingers and give them to them.
00:21:57 MORDECHAI: Can you see any reason why God would make you-- a good Jew-- desecrate his own mother's grave in order to punish a bad Jew, for instance, me?
00:22:08 EZRA: I-I didn't say I was a good man.
00:22:12 Um, I try, but, uh, I don't know if I'm a good man.
00:22:14 I don't know if you are a bad man.
00:22:16 Oh, uh, take him, for example.
00:22:20 EZRA: I don't know him.
00:22:22 MAN: You'll get to know me.
00:22:24 Don't worry.
00:22:26 (men murmuring) So God reserves the right to punish the wicked.
00:22:32 That's in the covenant.
00:22:34 The question is, why did he choose to punish this good man here...
00:22:40 ...and not, for instance, Hitler?
00:22:47 Does anyone have an answer?
00:22:51 God is just, so we must have done something wrong.
00:22:55 We should be examining our consciences.
00:22:57 (men voicing assent) BAUMGARTEN: In law, the punishment has to be proportionate to the crime.
00:23:05 What crime could justify a punishment like this?
00:23:09 And children.
00:23:12 There are children in the camp.
00:23:15 What punishment does a little child deserve?
00:23:20 If I may?
00:23:25 It's not always the case that the punishment is proportionate.
00:23:27 The flood engulfed the whole world except for Noah.
00:23:31 God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son.
00:23:33 EZRA: Sir, my mother was a good woman.
00:23:35 SCHMIDT: The mistake is to make this personal.
00:23:38 God does not act against the individual.
00:23:41 His covenant is with the Jewish people, not with Ezra of Zamkevitz.
00:23:45 This is not personal.
00:23:47 MORDECHAI: Can I ask you, Ezra, do you see any use for a God who's not personal?
00:23:52 EZRA: A use for God?
00:23:53 Is it up to me to find a use for God?
00:23:57 Do you know what a god who is not personal is?
00:24:01 No.
00:24:02 It's weather.
00:24:03 That's all, just weather.
00:24:04 SCHMIDT: Perhaps we should remove the word punishment from the proceedings for the time being.
00:24:09 Can I ask a question?
00:24:12 Ezra, let me ask you, was your mother a good Jew?
00:24:16 How can you ask such a question, even here?
00:24:19 Let me put something to you.
00:24:21 Let us talk about purification.
00:24:23 Twice in history, and perhaps here again today, God has brought about events of such terrible destructiveness, that after them, things were never the same again.
00:24:32 Things were never the same again, because, in time, we came to understand that everything became better.
00:24:37 (group murmuring) SCHMIDT: Imagine, God is a surgeon, and he has to remove a gangrenous leg or an arm to cure the whole body.
00:24:45 It's a violent act.
00:24:47 It's painful.
00:24:48 But it is also loving.
00:24:50 How would it be if we were living through a time like this?
00:24:54 Not a punishment, a purification.
00:24:55 MOCHE: Let me ask you something.
00:24:57 BAUMGARTEN In time. Time is what we don't have.
00:24:59 These purifications-- are they in your covenant?
00:25:02 Does it say, every once in a while, all bets are off, and I'll-I'll flood the place?
00:25:07 Sometimes, just for a change, you'll be...
00:25:08 you'll be rounded up and whipped, dogs will be set on you, and-and you'll be herded into a camp...
00:25:17 Since you ask...
00:25:20 The first purification was the flood.
00:25:22 The second was the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
00:25:25 We were driven into exile in Babylon.
00:25:28 We were a nation without a country.
00:25:30 Having no land, we went out into the world, and we took our knowledge of the Torah and of the one all mighty God, out into the country.
00:25:38 (men murmuring) If we had stayed as we were, would we have achieved so much?
00:25:44 We would be a tribe in the desert, nothing more.
00:25:52 It was painful, but it was also beautiful.
00:25:56 (men murmuring) What if we were living through another such catastrophic event?
00:26:02 What if those who survive this will be a holy remnant, and will live in an age of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge?
00:26:08 What if some great good were to come of this?
00:26:11 (sighs) What great good?
00:26:13 How can we know?
00:26:15 Already some say the Messiah himself.
00:26:20 Perhaps a return to Israel.
00:26:22 What then?
00:26:23 Then it might be a beautiful thing.
00:26:25 So, you see, perhaps there is a reason why a good woman like your mother was taken, and not some wicked man.
00:26:33 Because she is a sacrifice.
00:26:38 A holocaust.
00:26:42 And when a man sacrifices something, it must be the best.
00:26:46 The most beautiful.
00:26:51 May I call Idek?
00:26:53 May I question this witness?
00:26:55 May I call Idek first?
00:26:56 The point is related.
00:27:06 Could you tell the court about what happened to our forefathers at Masada?
00:27:15 Masada was a... a mountain fortress built by Herod the Great.
00:27:20 It was a-a kind of bunker for himself in case of war.
00:27:24 (man coughing) Of course, no man can build a wall against death.
00:27:29 Herod died, and the Romans came, destroyed the temple.
00:27:34 There was a-a great uprising.
00:27:37 A revolt.
00:27:38 And the rebels ran to the mountains, to this Masada.
00:27:44 The Romans laid siege.
00:27:45 They, uh... they wanted to starve the rebels.
00:27:49 So they built a huge wall around the base of the mountain.
00:27:53 There were, uh, 15,000 Roman troops.
00:27:55 Less than a thousand Jewish fighters.
00:27:58 That spring, the rebels decided it was better to die than to be enslaved.
00:28:07 Ten men were chosen and given the task of killing all the others.
00:28:12 When they were only ten, one man was chosen to kill the other nine.
00:28:16 The last man had to take his own life.
00:28:20 Two women hid from this slaughter and lived to tell this story.
00:28:25 These fighters-- what kind of men were they?
00:28:27 The bravest and best.
00:28:29 The... the flower of Israel.
00:28:31 They were martyrs.
00:28:33 And yet, they were crushed by the Romans.
00:28:36 Well, in a sense, yes, but what did the Romans want?
00:28:39 That the Jews live like Romans, and abandon the Torah.
00:28:44 And where are the Romans now?
00:28:47 They are dust.
00:28:48 SCHMIDT: And the Torah?
00:28:49 Still living, still... flowering.
00:28:51 Still illuminating the world.
00:28:53 Thank you.
00:28:56 So you see, we must not despair.
00:28:59 Our suffering is a privilege if it is part of God's plan.
00:29:06 We are fortunate to be purifying the people through our pain.
00:29:14 Do not let them take your faith.
00:29:18 If it is strong, it will grow.
00:29:20 A small fire is put out by the wind, but a great fire only grows greater.
00:29:28 Hitler will die.
00:29:30 The war will end.
00:29:34 The people and the Torah will live.
00:29:37 KUHN: Precisely.
00:29:40 There it is, hmm?
00:29:41 MAN: Yeah.
00:29:43 The Torah will live.
00:29:44 (some men voicing assent, coughing) So we must trust in God.
00:29:48 (some men voice assent) May I question the witness?
00:29:52 Not this one. The previous one.
00:29:53 Ezra of Zamkevitz. Oh.
00:29:55 Excuse me, I-I... I'm not a witness.
00:29:56 You know, I didn't witness anything, not about God.
00:30:00 I make and I sell gloves.
00:30:05 I used to make and sell gloves.
00:30:07 Do you feel better for what the judge has told you, that your mother is a sacrifice?
00:30:17 Yes, sir.
00:30:18 Even though the judge has told you that God is demanding a holocaust, a sacrifice of the best Jews.
00:30:28 Do you want me to feel better or worse?
00:30:31 BAUMGARTEN: We just want the truth. Well, I don't know the truth.
00:30:34 I don't know why such things happen.
00:30:40 I used to make and sell gloves.
00:30:43 Can I sit down now, please?
00:30:45 Sir, I don't know how to answer these questions.
00:30:47 Thank you.
00:30:51 MORDECHAI: So suffering is God's work, is that right?
00:30:55 In other words, Mengele is working for God.
00:30:59 Hitler is working for God. Is that right?
00:31:03 It's unpalatable, but it's possible.
00:31:06 When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel, and sacked the temple and took the people into exile in Babylon, God called him "My servant, Nebuchadnezzar." He was the knife, and God was the surgeon.
00:31:21 We can hate the knife, but love the surgeon.
00:31:25 MORDECHAI: If Hitler is doing God's work, then logic says that to stand in Hitler's way is to stand in God's way.
00:31:33 To take arms against Hitler is wrong.
00:31:36 Now, does anybody here believe that?
00:31:39 (scattered disapproval) Is there any way that that could possibly be true?
00:31:44 Isn't that insane?
00:31:47 Who are you addressing?
00:31:49 We must keep order here.
00:31:51 We must try to keep order.
00:31:53 I would like to call our blockaltester.
00:31:58 Call me all you like.
00:31:59 You can't call him. He's not Jewish.
00:32:06 I would like you to tell the court what you do all day.
00:32:10 You know what I do.
00:32:12 I look after you lot.
00:32:14 You're like my babies.
00:32:15 I'm like a mother to you all.
00:32:18 Why?
00:32:21 Would you like to say why you took on a role like this?
00:32:25 I was given the choice.
00:32:27 They asked me because I speak German, and because I've got brains.
00:32:32 And if any of you lot were smart enough, you'd be doing it, too.
00:32:35 You could have said "no," I think.
00:32:37 I want to live, all right?
00:32:38 That's why I do this. I want to live!
00:32:41 Unlike you scum who are dead already-- you gave up the minute you came in here.
00:32:46 Are you ashamed of what you do?
00:32:47 I don't have to answer to you.
00:32:50 Or your court or your, your God.
00:32:53 I'm not worried about meeting God.
00:32:56 'Cause what I do-- let me tell you-- what I do is nothing, nothing compared to what the Sonderkommando do!
00:33:03 They send other Jews into the gas.
00:33:05 They push them in and they lock the doors.
00:33:06 They take their spoons from them and they sell them to other Jews.
00:33:11 They've cornered the whole market in spoons, by locking the doors on their own kind.
00:33:16 Don't point at me.
00:33:18 Do you think you will survive this?
00:33:20 Maybe. Maybe not.
00:33:23 And Professor Schmidt says that when this is all...
00:33:26 Look, let me tell you about your God.
00:33:30 I want to get out of here alive, all right?
00:33:33 One day the war will end.
00:33:35 They might even lose.
00:33:37 In which case, I'll be out of here.
00:33:39 All I have to do is stay alive till then.
00:33:42 How do I do that?
00:33:44 (grunts) What's going to kill me?
00:33:46 They are.
00:33:47 How do I stop them?
00:33:50 By pleasing them.
00:33:51 And how do I do that?
00:33:52 By keeping you lot in order.
00:33:57 What's the worst that can happen to me?
00:33:59 That they run out of Jews to kill.
00:34:02 Then they'll kill me.
00:34:03 When they've finished killing you lot.
00:34:07 When that transport came in today, when that transport with these, these Polacks came in today, do you know what I did?
00:34:12 I cheered.
00:34:15 That's what I did, and then out of force of habit, I said, "Thank you, God." (men grumbling) Wait! Wait! Shush!
00:34:22 Shush, listen!
00:34:23 Listen! Look!
00:34:35 Did he strike me down?
00:34:38 No.
00:34:39 You know why?
00:34:43 Because I'm doing the bastard's work for him.
00:34:46 In here, I am God.
00:34:49 I am!
00:34:51 And your God, your God of Abraham, he doesn't give a damn about you!
00:34:55 Otherwise he wouldn't have given you to me.
00:34:57 (men grumbling) (man shouts) I'd like to ask him another question.
00:35:05 Do you have to?
00:35:05 Can't we move on to some other witness?
00:35:09 I'm not sure this is helping.
00:35:14 Professor Schmidt, you said that when this disaster is over that the world might be a better place.
00:35:19 Perhaps the Messiah will come.
00:35:20 Perhaps we will return to Israel, but who will survive this?
00:35:24 The blockaltester, the Sonderkommando-- who else?
00:35:28 The-the vicious, the cunning, the-the shameless, the pitiless...
00:35:33 What kind of Messiah would want these as his people?
00:35:37 What kind of Israel would be built by such people?
00:35:40 Will they build a nation of wisdom and understanding and knowledge?
00:35:44 Not them, God.
00:35:47 How?
00:35:49 We can't know. He can do all things.
00:35:51 Oh. "He can do all things." Well, if he can do all things, why can he not purify his people without gassing them?
00:35:59 He is all-powerful.
00:36:03 How can he be all-powerful and just?
00:36:07 Either he's all-powerful, in which case, he could have stopped this but he chose not to, because he is not just.
00:36:12 Or he'd like to stop this, but he could not.
00:36:16 SCHMIDT: The answer to this is very simple.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To be continued . . . . .
Big Fat Heretic- IHateSports Fanatic
- Posts : 402
Join date : 2012-12-26
Age : 72
Location : El Paso, Texas -
Re: Watch This YouTube Movie - GOD ON TRIAL - And Read Complete Transcript
by Big Fat Heretic Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:28 am
- - - - - - - - - - Continued from above - - - - - - - - - -
00:36:18 You should know this from Yeshiva days.
00:36:19 The answer is free will.
00:36:20 Yes, there is evil in the world because God gave man free will and he chose to do evil with it; it's very simple.
00:36:25 Oh, it's simple?
00:36:27 IDEK: We are not puppets.
00:36:29 We choose.
00:36:32 There is always a choice.
00:36:34 Free will?
00:36:36 Free will, my arse.
00:36:37 I'll give you free will.
00:36:39 Where is Lieble?
00:36:40 Lieble. Lieble, get up.
00:36:42 Wait until the judges call you. Ask Lieble about his sons, then tell me about free will.
00:36:48 I call Lieble.
00:36:49 You can't call anyone.
00:36:51 The judges call the witnesses.
00:36:53 I will call Lieble.
00:36:57 MORDECHAI: Tell the court about your sons.
00:36:59 I don't want to.
00:37:00 If he doesn't tell you, I'll tell you myself.
00:37:02 (bangs desk) The court did not ask you to speak.
00:37:05 We must have order here.
00:37:07 When they came to his village...
00:37:09 I'll tell you.
00:37:22 If it is to be told, then I should do the telling.
00:37:28 I'm come from Hoengen.
00:37:31 It's near Aachen.
00:37:34 And the Einsatzgruppen came.
00:37:37 When?
00:37:40 It seems like a hundred years ago.
00:37:42 They smashed the doors to the synagogue.
00:37:46 They burned the Torah and the ark.
00:37:48 And then they herded us inside.
00:37:49 We thought that they were going to burn us there and then.
00:37:57 If only they had.
00:38:00 They took the children away.
00:38:03 I have three sons.
00:38:06 The oldest one will be seven, now, and the...
00:38:12 They're so beautiful.
00:38:15 That's not... that doesn't matter.
00:38:18 They put the children in a truck.
00:38:22 I ran after them and I shouted, "Please, please give me my sons!
00:38:25 Give me my sons." And this officer, he heard me.
00:38:30 He stopped and said, "Which are yours?" I thought he was going to give them back.
00:38:37 I showed him my three sons.
00:38:39 The oldest one, he was crying, and the other two...
00:38:45 No. That's not it.
00:38:49 He said to me, "They're three handsome boys.
00:38:55 "I'll tell you what you can do.
00:38:58 "Choose one.
00:38:59 "Pick one.
00:39:03 Pick one and you can keep him with you." And the boys, they heard him.
00:39:10 They put out their hands.
00:39:11 They were so frightened.
00:39:12 They were reaching out to me and they were saying, "Please, pick me.
00:39:19 Pick me." This gentleman, he said that we always have a choice.
00:39:33 Which should I have chosen?
00:39:36 The youngest?
00:39:37 The oldest?
00:39:39 The weakest? The strongest?
00:39:45 Which did you chose?
00:39:50 Which should I have chosen?
00:39:53 I can't say.
00:39:58 MORDECHAI: The court has heard that we are supposed to have free will, but... Excuse me, I don't want free will.
00:40:08 I want my sons.
00:40:09 Of course. Of course...
00:40:12 You talk about free will.
00:40:15 Where was my will then?
00:40:19 What choice did I have?
00:40:20 That officer, he had a choice, not me.
00:40:26 Where was my free will?
00:40:36 (hushed murmuring) SCHMIDT: The war will end.
00:40:55 Hitler will die.
00:40:58 The people and the Torah will survive.
00:41:03 You say the people will survive...
00:41:08 ...but tomorrow morning half of the people in this room are dead.
00:41:14 Don't they have a share in their covenant?
00:41:16 Their share is to bear witness, to keep alive the flame.
00:41:23 Does anyone have anything to say in God's defense?
00:41:32 Rabbi, I did not ask to be... difficult.
00:41:39 I asked because you said before about it being beautiful.
00:41:45 I would like the ending to be beautiful 'cause my boys are beautiful...
00:41:53 (sobbing): ...and I tried to care for them.
00:41:55 Of course you did. SCHMIDT: God knows you did.
00:41:58 Have you heard anything?
00:42:00 Are they here?
00:42:05 LIEBLE: Two... two of them are... twins, and I'm told that...
00:42:17 Mengele likes twins.
00:42:19 They are treated better because he has an interest in them.
00:42:24 Mengele has an interest in them and God has none.
00:42:26 KUHN: Stop this. He's up there in heaven and he can't see past the clouds.
00:42:29 SCHMIDT: Job, chapter 22.
00:42:31 What?
00:42:32 Your argument that God is indifferent is not without precedent as it happens.
00:42:36 It's in Job.
00:42:37 Oh, goody.
00:42:39 Does it also say that God should be here being gassed, not us?
00:42:43 Someone stop him putting these thoughts into my head.
00:42:47 It is always possible that this turmoil is the precursor to some great event, that the fire that burns us is a refining fire...
00:42:58 ...which will create an age of gold.
00:43:00 If your boys were taken for that, they were taken as martyrs.
00:43:05 MORDECHAI: To be a martyr, a man must chose martyrdom.
00:43:07 We are not being martyred for our faith, but for our race, not for the Torah, but for our ancestry.
00:43:16 LIEBLE: But he is here.
00:43:20 Who?
00:43:21 God.
00:43:22 I know he is here, even though I don't understand him.
00:43:28 Some days in the spring, there was... snowdrops and the first touch of warmth from the sun since... who knows.
00:43:40 Do you think the guard does not feel the sun on his back?
00:43:43 The sun on his back, yes, but that's not what I felt.
00:43:48 I felt Him.
00:43:50 The guard doesn't feel that.
00:43:52 That warmth doesn't penetrate his uniform.
00:43:54 I'd change with him.
00:43:57 But maybe what you said about God being gassed, maybe you're right.
00:44:01 Maybe that is what is happening here.
00:44:03 Maybe he is suffering with us.
00:44:05 MOCHE: Who needs a God who suffers?
00:44:08 We need a God who sends the angel of death to our enemies.
00:44:13 Where, where is he?
00:44:19 LIEBLE: I don't know much about God.
00:44:21 Maybe God never changes. Maybe he does.
00:44:26 Maybe he is not all-powerful.
00:44:27 Maybe he needs us to make him complete.
00:44:32 Maybe that's why he made us.
00:44:34 Well, it's hard to see how we could be of any use to him in our present condition.
00:44:40 Yes, but still...
00:44:42 ...in, in the town of Baranowicz, they slaughtered us on a Purim, and the rabbi shouted, "Let us not forget what day this is!
00:44:56 L'Chaim!" And he sang as they shot him.
00:45:04 But you, you keep asking, "Where does all this evil come from?" But where does all this goodness come from?
00:45:16 And you thought that as he took your children?
00:45:20 Even the blockaltester thinks it.
00:45:22 He thinks the war will end and the Nazis will lose.
00:45:25 Even he believes that good will win.
00:45:30 What do I know?
00:45:34 I know I don't know what he can do and not do.
00:45:40 "Have I ever given orders to the morning..." ..."or sent the dawn to its post?
00:45:49 "Have I walked on the bottom "of the abyss?
00:45:53 "Which is the way to the home of the light?" (men shouting indistinctly) "Who gives birth to the frost..." Ah, here they are, sir, just as I suspected. Yes, yes, be quiet.
00:46:07 How many are you?
00:46:10 MORDECHAI: Twelve.
00:46:15 This is a well-run place.
00:46:17 Yes, there were complications this morning caused by the early arrival of your transport, which is why your induction is not yet complete.
00:46:27 My apologies for the inconvenience.
00:46:30 Auschwitz is not a rest home.
00:46:35 You work or you die.
00:46:38 The choice is yours.
00:46:42 (shouting) BLOCKALTESTER: Come on. Up! Get up!
00:46:48 Come on. Get up!
00:46:50 Get up. Get up!
00:46:53 (shouting) Take that thing off.
00:47:08 I have to, to wear it for, for my health.
00:47:11 Just take it off.
00:47:14 This is the dentist.
00:47:15 (grunting) Come and see him first thing in the morning.
00:47:18 (scissors cutting, man panting) (man panting) (buzzing) Excuse me, Rabbi.
00:48:19 May I?
00:48:20 I think the trial-- I would like to hear its conclusion.
00:48:27 JACQUES: Please.
00:48:30 No.
00:48:31 It's important.
00:48:33 To me it's important.
00:48:39 You began the trial.
00:48:41 You should complete it.
00:48:43 You should follow procedure and quote precedent and, and be men.
00:48:51 Th-They think we are not men, but we are men.
00:48:55 They will not take that from us.
00:48:59 Yes, of course, but I think that we had reached a natural conclusion, and it may be a case...
00:49:05 He gave us the law, and to debate the law, even on such a terrible subject-- it is a kind of a prayer.
00:49:12 MAN: No.
00:49:13 No, no, to, to hear it discussed like that...
00:49:19 ...it gave comfort.
00:49:21 I felt that he was listening, that he was with us.
00:49:29 Yeah.
00:49:31 Well...
00:49:36 to sum up...
00:49:39 it was generally felt that...
00:49:42 we cannot know the mind of God.
00:49:47 God is too great.
00:49:50 And that all we can do is pray, have faith.
00:49:59 Hitler will die.
00:50:03 The war will end...
00:50:04 Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:50:08 This will not do.
00:50:10 You're asking us to accept predictions as evidence.
00:50:14 No, no, no.
00:50:14 The argument returns to its beginning.
00:50:17 If you put it to the vote now, I vote guilty.
00:50:20 It is surely true that we cannot fathom the mind of God.
00:50:25 His ways are not our ways...
00:50:26 We don't have to fathom the mind of God.
00:50:28 ...and that therefore...
00:50:29 We are not concerned with his mind. ...we must abide.
00:50:33 It's his covenant.
00:50:35 We don't have to fathom that.
00:50:37 It's all written down.
00:50:39 We simply have to determine whether he is in breach of its terms or not.
00:50:44 Where's the... where's the scholar?
00:50:47 Where's the scholar?
00:50:54 The psalm-- let's go back to the psalm.
00:50:57 Tell us the psalm.
00:50:59 All of it? It's, uh, it's very long.
00:51:01 We were getting somewhere when we talked about the psalm.
00:51:08 I forget.
00:51:10 Um, which psalm was it?
00:51:12 It was 81.
00:51:20 The throne of David will last for all time, and his descendants will...
00:51:33 The, um...
00:51:34 The throne of David will last for all time, and his descendants will...
00:51:40 (sobbing) (dogs barking) (man shouting) (man shouting) It's started.
00:52:01 (man shouting) (door creaking open) They've started over at Block 7.
00:52:06 Take them a couple of hours to get here.
00:52:10 Still got time to smoke a cigar, screw a few women, write a sonnet.
00:52:25 Schmidt keeps saying the people will survive.
00:52:28 That's what it says in the covenant.
00:52:30 God guarantees the survival of the Jewish people.
00:52:35 I'm saying God is guilty because the survival of the people is no longer certain.
00:52:45 KUHN: No. Not so.
00:52:49 How can our people cease to exist?
00:52:52 JACQUES: Oh, believe me, that's the plan.
00:52:55 To wipe us out.
00:52:56 KUHN: Ridiculous.
00:53:00 When I came here, I had lived all my life in Zamkevitz.
00:53:05 When I walked through these gates, that was the most people I'd seen in my life.
00:53:13 I saw more people in one hour than I'd seen in all my days.
00:53:17 I thought, how is it possible so many people are alive?
00:53:24 But now...
00:53:29 ...how is it possible so many can die?
00:53:32 Please, surely we know that numbers are not important.
00:53:35 When one child dies of consumption, it is a terrible thing.
00:53:42 Is it worse if a million die?
00:53:44 (men murmuring) When the child dies, you can believe that it happens for a purpose, or you fail the test.
00:53:55 We cannot know the mind of God.
00:53:57 We're not talking about his mind.
00:53:59 We're talking about the covenant, a covenant that promises that we shall survive.
00:54:04 Survive as a people and not be annihilated.
00:54:08 But there are Jews all over the world, not just in Europe.
00:54:12 Uh, my brother has a friend in Woudge-- he told me...
00:54:15 You think if they finish us here, they'll leave a friend of your brother's in peace?
00:54:19 SCHMIDT: We may be the last.
00:54:22 It may be almost over with us.
00:54:24 We must consider the possibility that we, here in this room, are the holy remnant.
00:54:30 That's why it's important what we decide.
00:54:33 If we are the last, we can finish the story.
00:54:39 We can finish it here, the story that began with Moses on Sinai 3,500 years ago.
00:54:47 We can finish it.
00:54:48 We can break the covenant.
00:54:50 (Blockaltester laughs) BLOCKALTESTER: So you think that when they come for you, you're going to say, "Oh, we're not Jews anymore.
00:54:57 Open the gates. We're going home?" MORDECHAI: We're still Jews.
00:55:00 We'll always be Jews.
00:55:02 Nothing changes for us because we are not the accused here.
00:55:05 It is God who is accused, not us.
00:55:08 Aah!Taisez-vous, imbeciles!
00:55:09 He's saying be quiet.
00:55:11 Yes, I understand.
00:55:12 JACQUES: Vous et les Nazis sont tous pareils.
00:55:16 He's saying that we are like...
00:55:19 no, that we belong with...
00:55:23 ...we have something in common with the Nazis.
00:55:27 (murmuring) MAN: I'm translating.
00:55:29 Maybe badly.
00:55:31 Oh, shout all you like.
00:55:33 Kill me if you like.
00:55:34 I'm going to die in the morning anyway.
00:55:45 How many stars are there in the universe, do you think?
00:55:49 Excuse me, but, uh, before...
00:55:51 (chuckles softly) ...before I died, I was a physicist in Paris.
00:56:00 There are one hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy.
00:56:05 Just in our galaxy.
00:56:09 And did God make all those stars?
00:56:10 Most certainly. The prophet Amos tells us...
00:56:13 What for?
00:56:14 Excuse me?
00:56:15 He made one hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy locally.
00:56:20 How many of them have planets, we don't know.
00:56:24 And yet, his whole attention is focused on one little planet right down on the edge of an outer spiral.
00:56:29 And not even with the whole planet, no.
00:56:33 Just with the Jews.
00:56:37 This man, who made one hundred thousand million stars, signed a contract with the Jews.
00:56:47 Just the Jews.
00:56:48 And not even all of the Jews.
00:56:50 No, no, no, because Jews like me don't count.
00:56:55 (man coughing) So tell me this.
00:56:59 If he loved the Jews so much, why did he make anything else?
00:57:06 Why didn't he fill the universe with Jews instead of stars?
00:57:12 What's the point?
00:57:13 We don't know the point.
00:57:15 It seems amazing to me, too, that in the whole universe, he should choose us.
00:57:21 It's not amazing.
00:57:23 It's mad.
00:57:24 It's simply incorrect.
00:57:28 Newborn babies think they are the center of the universe.
00:57:31 They think they make milk by sucking.
00:57:32 They think the world vanishes when they close their eyes.
00:57:36 They are... they are wrong.
00:57:38 In the Middle Ages, men thought the sun went round the earth.
00:57:41 They-They were wrong.
00:57:44 It's an illusion caused by where you happen to be standing at the time.
00:57:51 And it's the same with God.
00:57:55 The same.
00:57:59 So think.
00:58:02 Please just think.
00:58:03 In the past, a nation might have 50 gods, one to make the corn grow; one to make the river rise.
00:58:09 I don't know.
00:58:10 Men make their societies in the image of their gods.
00:58:14 So societies with many gods have many leaders, different centers of power.
00:58:18 They're welcoming to strangers and to new ideas.
00:58:23 Like the Egyptians.
00:58:28 Then along...
00:58:30 came the Jews...
00:58:33 ...with their big idea.
00:58:37 A great idea.
00:58:39 There is only one God.
00:58:42 Amazing.
00:58:44 And what happens?
00:58:45 They-They create a society in which all the powers are concentrated in the hands of one man, a king.
00:58:52 An efficient society.
00:58:54 A tight ship.
00:58:56 And they have this idea that God loves them more than anyone else.
00:59:02 They prosper.
00:59:03 They keep this God to themselves.
00:59:05 They try to isolate themselves.
00:59:07 But then, along comes someone with an even better idea-- the Christians.
00:59:13 They say, yes, there is only one God, but he doesn't just love the Jews.
00:59:19 He loves everyone.
00:59:22 We must conquer everyone.
00:59:23 The Romans love this.
00:59:26 They convert.
00:59:28 They conquer everyone.
00:59:31 One god.
00:59:33 One king.
00:59:35 This is how its.
00:59:36 It's all about power and struggle, and-and so you-- you have lost.
00:59:43 But have we?
00:59:44 The Romans are gone...
00:59:45 Because...
00:59:47 Because someone had a better idea.
00:59:50 Hitler...
00:59:52 had the idea, there is one God, and it's me.
00:59:59 In-In this place, Hitler is God, is he not?
01:00:03 Still, we are still here.
01:00:07 (man coughing) We're still here tonight.
01:00:26 KUHN: You have denied God.
01:00:28 What did it give you?
01:00:32 What?
01:00:34 There are many here who have denied God.
01:00:37 They-They converted, took a goy wife, turned their back on the scriptures...
01:00:41 MORDECHAI: Excuse me. He's talking about me.
01:00:44 We're here at the point of death, and the thing that upsets him most is the fact that I married out.
01:00:48 But where did it get you?
01:00:51 Where are you different from me now?
01:00:57 What did you gain?
01:00:58 Please.
01:00:59 Please, I make a point.
01:01:01 These boys-- these educated boys like my son, like this man-- they said they s a truth we did not see.
01:01:09 But here they are, all the same.
01:01:17 They're facing death.
01:01:21 Look at Ricard.
01:01:24 On the outside he was a rich man.
01:01:28 He had many friends. But in here, he is frightened.
01:01:30 He cannot believe that he is going to die.
01:01:32 Because I'm not going to die.
01:01:35 You're going to die, you pious idiot.
01:01:37 He has been selected.
01:01:39 I have not been selected!
01:01:41 You were sent to the left like me, and now you're frightened.
01:01:45 He cheats and he steals because he thinks to have more bread than the rest of us will make him happy.
01:01:50 Bah!
01:01:51 And you think saying prayers is going to save your life.
01:01:54 4,000 years of wearing silly hats and you're still on your way to die! (yelling) There's a wasp.
01:02:05 It is called ichneumonidae.
01:02:08 It lays its eggs inside caterpillars.
01:02:13 The eggs hatch and then the larvae of the wasp eat the caterpillar from the inside.
01:02:18 They eat their way out of it.
01:02:21 What kind of God would design a thing like that?
01:02:25 And yet...
01:02:28 excuse me.
01:02:31 And my grandfather-- he raised fig trees.
01:02:36 There is a wasp...
01:02:38 I'm sure you know.
01:02:38 And this wasp lays its eggs in the flower.
01:02:42 And when the young are ready to fly out, they... they collect the pollen.
01:02:48 They don't brush against it like another wasp or a bee or the wind.
01:02:53 They stop and they collect the pollen.
01:02:56 You can see them.
01:02:56 And then they take the pollen to the other trees.
01:03:01 It doesn't help them.
01:03:02 They can't eat it.
01:03:05 They do it.
01:03:08 It is a beautiful arrangement.
01:03:10 Surely God...
01:03:13 Tell me, this wasp.
01:03:17 Does it do this for all fig trees or just Jewish ones?
01:03:22 (men murmuring) (chuckles) You laugh at me...
01:03:26 I-I don't laugh at you.
01:03:27 Just ask you to look at things, not like babies, but like men.
01:03:36 Men of reason.
01:03:39 Use your reason.
01:03:42 You talk to us of reason.
01:03:45 What is reason?
01:03:48 When you were taken from your university in Paris, where you did not look like a Jew, speak like a Jew, think like a Jew, and were put in here with us, what part did reason play in that?
01:04:00 What is the use of reason in a world run by madness?
01:04:05 The decision will be put to the vote of the judges.
01:04:11 Excuse me, learned judges, were you wrong about my sons?
01:04:17 Is there nothing to hope for after all?
01:04:21 Nothing.
01:04:23 Get used to it.
01:04:25 (dogs barking in distance) (men shouting) MAN (shouting): Get on back here!
01:04:34 Get on!
01:04:39 Nothing.
01:04:43 The judges will confer.
01:04:54 I'm not Jewish.
01:05:00 I never knew my father.
01:05:03 I didn't know he was Jewish.
01:05:06 He died when I was still a baby.
01:05:10 My mother was a...
01:05:12 she was a good German.
01:05:15 She moved back home and took back her maiden name.
01:05:20 They thought it all had been forgotten.
01:05:23 At school, I was a good boy.
01:05:27 I became a good father.
01:05:31 My children joined the Hitler Youth.
01:05:35 It was just a year ago the Gestapo came for me.
01:05:39 That was the first thing I knew of my race.
01:05:44 I thought I was a normal German.
01:05:48 I was a German.
01:05:50 I was a Jew-hating German.
01:05:56 I knew nothing of your ways.
01:05:58 I, I learned here.
01:06:00 I never heard a word of the Torah before I came here.
01:06:06 But I'm not the only one.
01:06:07 You must understand that...
01:06:09 (clears throat) ...I grew up learning that the Jews were dirty, deceitful and disorganized.
01:06:19 And when I came here, I saw that everything I believed was true.
01:06:24 This place was chaotic, filthy and disorganized; I thought it was because of the Jews.
01:06:33 MORDECHAI: How could it be nothing but filthy?
01:06:36 There's only one latrine block for 5,000 people. Shh!
01:06:40 That's the point.
01:06:42 Do you think it's a mistake?
01:06:46 Do you think a German engineer would not put in enough plumbing by mistake?
01:06:54 No.
01:06:56 That's not the way it was.
01:06:58 Nothing here is accidental.
01:07:03 The filth is a part of the system, just like the... it's like the fence, the floodlights and...
01:07:10 the other equipment.
01:07:15 It serves a function.
01:07:17 It's here to take away your dignity, your humanity.
01:07:22 Our dignity.
01:07:23 Our humanity.
01:07:25 It's part of the process.
01:07:29 In order for them to...
01:07:31 to get ordinary Germans to kill us, they must show them that we are what ordinary Germans are taught to believe we are...
01:07:40 filthy, fearful and godless.
01:07:48 When you came here, they took away your property; they took away your name; cut your hair; took away your children...
01:07:59 wives, mothers...
01:08:02 even the fillings in your teeth.
01:08:05 Everything that made you a man they took.
01:08:11 Don't let them take your God, too.
01:08:16 No matter how...
01:08:18 how foolish and useless it may seem, the covenant is yours.
01:08:25 God is your God.
01:08:30 Even if he doesn't exist.
01:08:34 Keep him.
01:08:37 Let there be something they cannot take away from you.
01:08:44 From us.
01:08:47 BAUMGARTEN: The judges are three in number so that there will always be a decision.
01:08:53 It will either be unanimous or there will be a majority for one view.
01:09:01 The accusation is that God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people.
01:09:06 Who led us out of Egypt?
01:09:09 Now we'll hear some sense.
01:09:14 God led us out of Egypt.
01:09:16 Another question.
01:09:18 Why were we in Egypt to start with?
01:09:22 Well, there was a famine, and so we took shelter.
01:09:26 Who sent the famine?
01:09:28 Well, the famine, we don't know much about...
01:09:30 MORDECHAI: God sent the famine.
01:09:32 So God sent us to Egypt and God took us out of Egypt.
01:09:36 SCHMIDT: Exactly so.
01:09:38 And later he sent us out of Babylon, in order that we might learn...
01:09:42 And when he brought us out of Egypt how did he do it?
01:09:45 By words? Visions?
01:09:47 A-a miracle?
01:09:48 Moses asked Pharaoh...
01:09:51 And when Pharaoh said no?
01:09:53 The plagues.
01:09:53 First Moses turned the Egyptians' water to blood, then God sent a plague of frogs, next a plague of mosquitoes, then a plague of flies, then he slew their livestock, next a plague of boils, next came the hail, which battered down the crops and even the trees and structures everywhere except in Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
01:10:20 And still Pharaoh did not agree.
01:10:23 And so a plague of locusts and then the days of darkness and finally, what?
01:10:28 God slew the firstborn of Egypt and led us out of Egypt.
01:10:33 He struck down the firstborn, from the firstborn and heir of Pharaoh, to the firstborn of the slave at the mill.
01:10:44 He slew them all.
01:10:47 Did, uh, he slay Pharaoh?
01:10:51 No, I don't think so because later...
01:10:54 Who... it was Pharaoh who said no, but God let him live and slew his children instead.
01:11:00 All the children.
01:11:05 And then the people of Israel made their escape, taking with them the gold and silver and jewelry and garments of the Egyptians.
01:11:15 And then God drowned the soldiers who pursued them.
01:11:20 He did not close the waters up so that the soldiers could not follow.
01:11:24 He waited till they were following and then he closed the waters.
01:11:29 And then what?
01:11:31 Then the desert, ultimately the Promised Land...
01:11:34 Now, the Promised Land, was it empty?
01:11:37 A new place, uncultivated?
01:11:39 No. There were...
01:11:40 As is written, "When the Lord thy God "shall bring you into the land, "you shall cast out many nations before you, "nations much greater "and mightier than you are.
01:11:52 "You shall "smite them and utterly destroy them "and make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them." KUHN: He showed us his favor.
01:12:02 We are his people.
01:12:04 And he gave us a king in Saul.
01:12:07 Now, when, uh, the people of Amalek fought Saul's people, what did the Lord God command?
01:12:16 Hmm?
01:12:18 I ask the scholar.
01:12:21 "Crush Amalek.
01:12:22 Put him under the curse of destruction." Was Saul to show mercy?
01:12:27 To spare anyone?
01:12:28 "Do not spare..." "Do not spare him, "but kill.
01:12:32 "Kill man and woman, "babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camels and donkey." So, Saul set out to do this, and on the way, he met the Kenites.
01:12:45 Now, these were not Amalek's people.
01:12:47 He had no quarrel with them.
01:12:48 He urged them to flee.
01:12:50 And the Lord our God, was he pleased by the mercy of Saul?
01:12:56 By the justice of Saul?
01:12:59 No, no, he wasn't.
01:13:00 And when Saul decided not to slaughter all the livestock, but to take it to feed his people, was God pleased by his prudence, his charity?
01:13:09 No.
01:13:10 No, he was not.
01:13:12 He said, "You have rejected the word "of Adonai.
01:13:16 Therefore, he has rejected you as king." So, seeking to please the Lord our God, Samuel brought forth King Agag and hacked him to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
01:13:34 After Saul, there came David, who took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to himself, by arranging to have Uriah killed...
01:13:45 against the wishes of God.
01:13:48 Did God strike David for this?
01:13:52 In a manner of speaking.
01:13:53 Did he strike Bathsheba?
01:13:55 In the sense that when...
01:13:56 Adonai said, "Since you have sinned me, the child will die." You asked earlier, who punishes a child?
01:14:07 God does.
01:14:10 Now, did the child die suddenly, mercifully, without pain?
01:14:15 In chapter 12, we learn that in actual fact...
01:14:18 Seven days.
01:14:20 Seven days, that child spent dying in pain while David wrapped himself in sack and ashes and fasted and sought to show his sorrow to God.
01:14:35 Did God listen?
01:14:36 The child died.
01:14:38 Did that child find that God was just?
01:14:44 Did the Amalekites think that Adonai was just?
01:14:52 Did the mothers of Egypt, the mothers... did they think that Adonai was just?
01:15:00 But Adonai isourGod.
01:15:01 Surely... Oh, what, did God not make the Egyptians?
01:15:04 Did he not make their rivers and make their crops grow?
01:15:08 If not him, then who?
01:15:10 What, some... some other god?
01:15:12 And what did he make them for?
01:15:14 To punish them?
01:15:16 To starve, to frighten, to slaughter them?
01:15:22 The people of Amalek, the people of Egypt...
01:15:25 what was it like for them when Adonai turned against them?
01:15:35 It was like this.
01:15:41 Today, there was a selection, yes?
01:15:46 When David defeated the Moabites, what did he do?
01:15:56 He made them lie on the ground in lines, and he chose one to live and two to die.
01:16:04 We are become the Moabites.
01:16:08 We are learning how it was for the Amalekites.
01:16:13 They faced extinction at the hand of Adonai.
01:16:17 They died for his purpose.
01:16:20 They fell as we are falling.
01:16:22 They were afraid as we are afraid.
01:16:26 And what did they learn?
01:16:31 They learned...
01:16:34 that Adonai, the Lord our God...
01:16:37 our God...
01:16:39 is not good.
01:16:42 He is not good.
01:16:45 He was not ever good.
01:16:46 He was only on our side.
01:16:54 God is not good.
01:16:55 Oh, at the beginning when he, uh, repented that he had made human beings and flooded the earth, why?
01:17:03 What had they done to deserve annihilation?
01:17:07 What could they have done to deserve such wholesale slaughter?
01:17:10 What could they have done that was so bad?
01:17:14 God is not good.
01:17:15 When he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham should have said no.
01:17:22 We should have taught our God the justice that was in our hearts.
01:17:25 We should have stood up to him.
01:17:27 He is not good.
01:17:28 He has simply been strong.
01:17:29 He has simply been on our side.
01:17:33 When we were brought here, we were brought by train.
01:17:36 Um... a guard slapped my face.
01:17:39 On their belts, they had written, "Gott mit uns." "God is with us." Now, who is to say that he is not?
01:17:52 Perhaps he is.
01:17:54 Is there any other explanation?
01:17:58 What do we see here?
01:18:00 His power...
01:18:02 his majesty, his might.
01:18:03 All these things, but turned against us.
01:18:08 He is still God...
01:18:11 but notourGod.
01:18:15 He has become...
01:18:17 our enemy.
01:18:19 That's what's happened to the covenant.
01:18:24 He has made a new covenant with someone else.
01:18:58 Um, we're entering now gas chambers.
01:19:02 So... they found him guilty.
01:19:04 They found God guilty, yes, of breach of contract, of breaking his covenant with us.
01:19:11 Oh.
01:19:11 TOUR GUIDE: There were 6,000 people every day being gassed here.
01:19:16 (shouting in German) (dogs barking) 39024.
01:19:29 38483.
01:19:33 38497.
01:19:35 38511.
01:19:39 38532.
01:19:39 I thought he was going to call me.
01:19:41 He's called my son.
01:19:42 Lucky you. Please.
01:19:44 I'm ready.
01:19:45 He's not ready.
01:19:46 Please, do this for me.
01:19:48 Send me, not him.
01:19:51 38562.
01:19:53 38052.
01:19:56 38511.
01:19:57 KAPO: Shut up. Just move.
01:19:59 Please, look at me. It can't be me.
01:20:01 I'm young.
01:20:02 I could be useful.
01:20:03 How could you possibly take them and not me?
01:20:05 Please... it doesn't make any sense.
01:20:06 Making sense is not my job.
01:20:07 Well, then, whose job is it?
01:20:10 I think you're reading the wrong cards.
01:20:12 Please just check the cards.
01:20:13 Please check the cards. 38675.
01:20:17 38692.
01:20:19 38695. You.
01:20:24 Now what?
01:20:25 What do we do now?
01:20:27 38702.
01:20:30 Now God's guilty.
01:20:31 (sobbing): What do we do now?
01:20:33 38711.
01:20:34 Now...
01:20:36 now we pray.
01:20:42 39055.
01:20:43 ALL: "From age to age, "before the mountains were born, 39066. "before the Earth came to be, "from eternity to eternity, "you are God.
01:20:56 "You bring us to dust by saying..." It's not the best bed in the place, but... it's out of the draft.
01:21:06 AKIBA: "You bring us to dust by saying, return to me..." ALL: "It is blossoming and growing.
01:21:13 In the evening, it has withered and is dry." 38544.
01:21:19 Please.
01:21:21 Ah, shift your ass!
01:21:22 No, no, you've got the wrong one!
01:21:24 We have the same surnames.
01:21:27 BLOCKALTESTER: The boy is useful.
01:21:28 It's me you want.
01:21:29 He's on my...
01:21:30 Look, you heard the numbers.
01:21:31 It's me! I'm fine.
01:21:33 38652.
01:21:35 You, out there.
01:21:36 Move yourself.
01:21:38 Good man.
01:21:38 You are a good man.
01:21:39 It's not his number. It's mine.
01:21:41 Back... back off!
01:21:43 (struggling, grunting) (groaning) 38697.
01:21:52 38702.
01:21:54 38701.
01:21:55 ALL: "Who knows the power of your anger?
01:21:58 "For your wrath is as great...
01:22:01 as the fear that is due you." "In the morning, they will be like growing grass.
01:22:06 In the morning, it is blossoming and growing." "...be as long as the time that you afflicted us, the years when we experienced disaster." "...terrified by your indignation.
01:22:21 "For they quickly pass, and we fly away.
01:22:25 "Who knows the power of your anger?
01:22:27 "For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
01:22:32 "We shall sing and be happy all our days.
01:22:37 "Let our joy be as long "as the time that you afflicted us, the years when we experienced disaster." And was their prayer answered?
01:23:04 We're still here.
01:23:19 GOODE: Stay tuned for more aboutMasterpiece,but first...
01:23:58 Good evening. I'm Alistair Cooke.
01:24:00 ANNOUNCER: Masterpiece Theatre's longtime host began his career exploring America.
01:24:05 Go on. Impress me.
01:24:07 ANNOUNCER: He filmed his travels, and these newly discovered movies tell his story and ours.
01:24:12 And I said, "That's it." ANNOUNCER: Masterpiececelebrates Alistair Cooke's centennial by presenting aMasterpiecespecial, "The Unseen Alistair Cooke." To see behind-the-scenescast interviews from "God on Trial"and watch episodes online, visitMasterpieceat: ANNOUNCER:To order "God on Trial" on DVD, please call: or order online at: Captioned byMedia Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
01:25:29 Masterpieceis made possible by the Corporationfor Public Broadcasting and by contributionsto your PBS station from: We are PBS.
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Well, I hope you all enjoyed watching the video, and reading the complete transcript.
God was put on trial by Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, and God was found . . . GUILTY!!!
00:36:18 You should know this from Yeshiva days.
00:36:19 The answer is free will.
00:36:20 Yes, there is evil in the world because God gave man free will and he chose to do evil with it; it's very simple.
00:36:25 Oh, it's simple?
00:36:27 IDEK: We are not puppets.
00:36:29 We choose.
00:36:32 There is always a choice.
00:36:34 Free will?
00:36:36 Free will, my arse.
00:36:37 I'll give you free will.
00:36:39 Where is Lieble?
00:36:40 Lieble. Lieble, get up.
00:36:42 Wait until the judges call you. Ask Lieble about his sons, then tell me about free will.
00:36:48 I call Lieble.
00:36:49 You can't call anyone.
00:36:51 The judges call the witnesses.
00:36:53 I will call Lieble.
00:36:57 MORDECHAI: Tell the court about your sons.
00:36:59 I don't want to.
00:37:00 If he doesn't tell you, I'll tell you myself.
00:37:02 (bangs desk) The court did not ask you to speak.
00:37:05 We must have order here.
00:37:07 When they came to his village...
00:37:09 I'll tell you.
00:37:22 If it is to be told, then I should do the telling.
00:37:28 I'm come from Hoengen.
00:37:31 It's near Aachen.
00:37:34 And the Einsatzgruppen came.
00:37:37 When?
00:37:40 It seems like a hundred years ago.
00:37:42 They smashed the doors to the synagogue.
00:37:46 They burned the Torah and the ark.
00:37:48 And then they herded us inside.
00:37:49 We thought that they were going to burn us there and then.
00:37:57 If only they had.
00:38:00 They took the children away.
00:38:03 I have three sons.
00:38:06 The oldest one will be seven, now, and the...
00:38:12 They're so beautiful.
00:38:15 That's not... that doesn't matter.
00:38:18 They put the children in a truck.
00:38:22 I ran after them and I shouted, "Please, please give me my sons!
00:38:25 Give me my sons." And this officer, he heard me.
00:38:30 He stopped and said, "Which are yours?" I thought he was going to give them back.
00:38:37 I showed him my three sons.
00:38:39 The oldest one, he was crying, and the other two...
00:38:45 No. That's not it.
00:38:49 He said to me, "They're three handsome boys.
00:38:55 "I'll tell you what you can do.
00:38:58 "Choose one.
00:38:59 "Pick one.
00:39:03 Pick one and you can keep him with you." And the boys, they heard him.
00:39:10 They put out their hands.
00:39:11 They were so frightened.
00:39:12 They were reaching out to me and they were saying, "Please, pick me.
00:39:19 Pick me." This gentleman, he said that we always have a choice.
00:39:33 Which should I have chosen?
00:39:36 The youngest?
00:39:37 The oldest?
00:39:39 The weakest? The strongest?
00:39:45 Which did you chose?
00:39:50 Which should I have chosen?
00:39:53 I can't say.
00:39:58 MORDECHAI: The court has heard that we are supposed to have free will, but... Excuse me, I don't want free will.
00:40:08 I want my sons.
00:40:09 Of course. Of course...
00:40:12 You talk about free will.
00:40:15 Where was my will then?
00:40:19 What choice did I have?
00:40:20 That officer, he had a choice, not me.
00:40:26 Where was my free will?
00:40:36 (hushed murmuring) SCHMIDT: The war will end.
00:40:55 Hitler will die.
00:40:58 The people and the Torah will survive.
00:41:03 You say the people will survive...
00:41:08 ...but tomorrow morning half of the people in this room are dead.
00:41:14 Don't they have a share in their covenant?
00:41:16 Their share is to bear witness, to keep alive the flame.
00:41:23 Does anyone have anything to say in God's defense?
00:41:32 Rabbi, I did not ask to be... difficult.
00:41:39 I asked because you said before about it being beautiful.
00:41:45 I would like the ending to be beautiful 'cause my boys are beautiful...
00:41:53 (sobbing): ...and I tried to care for them.
00:41:55 Of course you did. SCHMIDT: God knows you did.
00:41:58 Have you heard anything?
00:42:00 Are they here?
00:42:05 LIEBLE: Two... two of them are... twins, and I'm told that...
00:42:17 Mengele likes twins.
00:42:19 They are treated better because he has an interest in them.
00:42:24 Mengele has an interest in them and God has none.
00:42:26 KUHN: Stop this. He's up there in heaven and he can't see past the clouds.
00:42:29 SCHMIDT: Job, chapter 22.
00:42:31 What?
00:42:32 Your argument that God is indifferent is not without precedent as it happens.
00:42:36 It's in Job.
00:42:37 Oh, goody.
00:42:39 Does it also say that God should be here being gassed, not us?
00:42:43 Someone stop him putting these thoughts into my head.
00:42:47 It is always possible that this turmoil is the precursor to some great event, that the fire that burns us is a refining fire...
00:42:58 ...which will create an age of gold.
00:43:00 If your boys were taken for that, they were taken as martyrs.
00:43:05 MORDECHAI: To be a martyr, a man must chose martyrdom.
00:43:07 We are not being martyred for our faith, but for our race, not for the Torah, but for our ancestry.
00:43:16 LIEBLE: But he is here.
00:43:20 Who?
00:43:21 God.
00:43:22 I know he is here, even though I don't understand him.
00:43:28 Some days in the spring, there was... snowdrops and the first touch of warmth from the sun since... who knows.
00:43:40 Do you think the guard does not feel the sun on his back?
00:43:43 The sun on his back, yes, but that's not what I felt.
00:43:48 I felt Him.
00:43:50 The guard doesn't feel that.
00:43:52 That warmth doesn't penetrate his uniform.
00:43:54 I'd change with him.
00:43:57 But maybe what you said about God being gassed, maybe you're right.
00:44:01 Maybe that is what is happening here.
00:44:03 Maybe he is suffering with us.
00:44:05 MOCHE: Who needs a God who suffers?
00:44:08 We need a God who sends the angel of death to our enemies.
00:44:13 Where, where is he?
00:44:19 LIEBLE: I don't know much about God.
00:44:21 Maybe God never changes. Maybe he does.
00:44:26 Maybe he is not all-powerful.
00:44:27 Maybe he needs us to make him complete.
00:44:32 Maybe that's why he made us.
00:44:34 Well, it's hard to see how we could be of any use to him in our present condition.
00:44:40 Yes, but still...
00:44:42 ...in, in the town of Baranowicz, they slaughtered us on a Purim, and the rabbi shouted, "Let us not forget what day this is!
00:44:56 L'Chaim!" And he sang as they shot him.
00:45:04 But you, you keep asking, "Where does all this evil come from?" But where does all this goodness come from?
00:45:16 And you thought that as he took your children?
00:45:20 Even the blockaltester thinks it.
00:45:22 He thinks the war will end and the Nazis will lose.
00:45:25 Even he believes that good will win.
00:45:30 What do I know?
00:45:34 I know I don't know what he can do and not do.
00:45:40 "Have I ever given orders to the morning..." ..."or sent the dawn to its post?
00:45:49 "Have I walked on the bottom "of the abyss?
00:45:53 "Which is the way to the home of the light?" (men shouting indistinctly) "Who gives birth to the frost..." Ah, here they are, sir, just as I suspected. Yes, yes, be quiet.
00:46:07 How many are you?
00:46:10 MORDECHAI: Twelve.
00:46:15 This is a well-run place.
00:46:17 Yes, there were complications this morning caused by the early arrival of your transport, which is why your induction is not yet complete.
00:46:27 My apologies for the inconvenience.
00:46:30 Auschwitz is not a rest home.
00:46:35 You work or you die.
00:46:38 The choice is yours.
00:46:42 (shouting) BLOCKALTESTER: Come on. Up! Get up!
00:46:48 Come on. Get up!
00:46:50 Get up. Get up!
00:46:53 (shouting) Take that thing off.
00:47:08 I have to, to wear it for, for my health.
00:47:11 Just take it off.
00:47:14 This is the dentist.
00:47:15 (grunting) Come and see him first thing in the morning.
00:47:18 (scissors cutting, man panting) (man panting) (buzzing) Excuse me, Rabbi.
00:48:19 May I?
00:48:20 I think the trial-- I would like to hear its conclusion.
00:48:27 JACQUES: Please.
00:48:30 No.
00:48:31 It's important.
00:48:33 To me it's important.
00:48:39 You began the trial.
00:48:41 You should complete it.
00:48:43 You should follow procedure and quote precedent and, and be men.
00:48:51 Th-They think we are not men, but we are men.
00:48:55 They will not take that from us.
00:48:59 Yes, of course, but I think that we had reached a natural conclusion, and it may be a case...
00:49:05 He gave us the law, and to debate the law, even on such a terrible subject-- it is a kind of a prayer.
00:49:12 MAN: No.
00:49:13 No, no, to, to hear it discussed like that...
00:49:19 ...it gave comfort.
00:49:21 I felt that he was listening, that he was with us.
00:49:29 Yeah.
00:49:31 Well...
00:49:36 to sum up...
00:49:39 it was generally felt that...
00:49:42 we cannot know the mind of God.
00:49:47 God is too great.
00:49:50 And that all we can do is pray, have faith.
00:49:59 Hitler will die.
00:50:03 The war will end...
00:50:04 Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:50:08 This will not do.
00:50:10 You're asking us to accept predictions as evidence.
00:50:14 No, no, no.
00:50:14 The argument returns to its beginning.
00:50:17 If you put it to the vote now, I vote guilty.
00:50:20 It is surely true that we cannot fathom the mind of God.
00:50:25 His ways are not our ways...
00:50:26 We don't have to fathom the mind of God.
00:50:28 ...and that therefore...
00:50:29 We are not concerned with his mind. ...we must abide.
00:50:33 It's his covenant.
00:50:35 We don't have to fathom that.
00:50:37 It's all written down.
00:50:39 We simply have to determine whether he is in breach of its terms or not.
00:50:44 Where's the... where's the scholar?
00:50:47 Where's the scholar?
00:50:54 The psalm-- let's go back to the psalm.
00:50:57 Tell us the psalm.
00:50:59 All of it? It's, uh, it's very long.
00:51:01 We were getting somewhere when we talked about the psalm.
00:51:08 I forget.
00:51:10 Um, which psalm was it?
00:51:12 It was 81.
00:51:20 The throne of David will last for all time, and his descendants will...
00:51:33 The, um...
00:51:34 The throne of David will last for all time, and his descendants will...
00:51:40 (sobbing) (dogs barking) (man shouting) (man shouting) It's started.
00:52:01 (man shouting) (door creaking open) They've started over at Block 7.
00:52:06 Take them a couple of hours to get here.
00:52:10 Still got time to smoke a cigar, screw a few women, write a sonnet.
00:52:25 Schmidt keeps saying the people will survive.
00:52:28 That's what it says in the covenant.
00:52:30 God guarantees the survival of the Jewish people.
00:52:35 I'm saying God is guilty because the survival of the people is no longer certain.
00:52:45 KUHN: No. Not so.
00:52:49 How can our people cease to exist?
00:52:52 JACQUES: Oh, believe me, that's the plan.
00:52:55 To wipe us out.
00:52:56 KUHN: Ridiculous.
00:53:00 When I came here, I had lived all my life in Zamkevitz.
00:53:05 When I walked through these gates, that was the most people I'd seen in my life.
00:53:13 I saw more people in one hour than I'd seen in all my days.
00:53:17 I thought, how is it possible so many people are alive?
00:53:24 But now...
00:53:29 ...how is it possible so many can die?
00:53:32 Please, surely we know that numbers are not important.
00:53:35 When one child dies of consumption, it is a terrible thing.
00:53:42 Is it worse if a million die?
00:53:44 (men murmuring) When the child dies, you can believe that it happens for a purpose, or you fail the test.
00:53:55 We cannot know the mind of God.
00:53:57 We're not talking about his mind.
00:53:59 We're talking about the covenant, a covenant that promises that we shall survive.
00:54:04 Survive as a people and not be annihilated.
00:54:08 But there are Jews all over the world, not just in Europe.
00:54:12 Uh, my brother has a friend in Woudge-- he told me...
00:54:15 You think if they finish us here, they'll leave a friend of your brother's in peace?
00:54:19 SCHMIDT: We may be the last.
00:54:22 It may be almost over with us.
00:54:24 We must consider the possibility that we, here in this room, are the holy remnant.
00:54:30 That's why it's important what we decide.
00:54:33 If we are the last, we can finish the story.
00:54:39 We can finish it here, the story that began with Moses on Sinai 3,500 years ago.
00:54:47 We can finish it.
00:54:48 We can break the covenant.
00:54:50 (Blockaltester laughs) BLOCKALTESTER: So you think that when they come for you, you're going to say, "Oh, we're not Jews anymore.
00:54:57 Open the gates. We're going home?" MORDECHAI: We're still Jews.
00:55:00 We'll always be Jews.
00:55:02 Nothing changes for us because we are not the accused here.
00:55:05 It is God who is accused, not us.
00:55:08 Aah!Taisez-vous, imbeciles!
00:55:09 He's saying be quiet.
00:55:11 Yes, I understand.
00:55:12 JACQUES: Vous et les Nazis sont tous pareils.
00:55:16 He's saying that we are like...
00:55:19 no, that we belong with...
00:55:23 ...we have something in common with the Nazis.
00:55:27 (murmuring) MAN: I'm translating.
00:55:29 Maybe badly.
00:55:31 Oh, shout all you like.
00:55:33 Kill me if you like.
00:55:34 I'm going to die in the morning anyway.
00:55:45 How many stars are there in the universe, do you think?
00:55:49 Excuse me, but, uh, before...
00:55:51 (chuckles softly) ...before I died, I was a physicist in Paris.
00:56:00 There are one hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy.
00:56:05 Just in our galaxy.
00:56:09 And did God make all those stars?
00:56:10 Most certainly. The prophet Amos tells us...
00:56:13 What for?
00:56:14 Excuse me?
00:56:15 He made one hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy locally.
00:56:20 How many of them have planets, we don't know.
00:56:24 And yet, his whole attention is focused on one little planet right down on the edge of an outer spiral.
00:56:29 And not even with the whole planet, no.
00:56:33 Just with the Jews.
00:56:37 This man, who made one hundred thousand million stars, signed a contract with the Jews.
00:56:47 Just the Jews.
00:56:48 And not even all of the Jews.
00:56:50 No, no, no, because Jews like me don't count.
00:56:55 (man coughing) So tell me this.
00:56:59 If he loved the Jews so much, why did he make anything else?
00:57:06 Why didn't he fill the universe with Jews instead of stars?
00:57:12 What's the point?
00:57:13 We don't know the point.
00:57:15 It seems amazing to me, too, that in the whole universe, he should choose us.
00:57:21 It's not amazing.
00:57:23 It's mad.
00:57:24 It's simply incorrect.
00:57:28 Newborn babies think they are the center of the universe.
00:57:31 They think they make milk by sucking.
00:57:32 They think the world vanishes when they close their eyes.
00:57:36 They are... they are wrong.
00:57:38 In the Middle Ages, men thought the sun went round the earth.
00:57:41 They-They were wrong.
00:57:44 It's an illusion caused by where you happen to be standing at the time.
00:57:51 And it's the same with God.
00:57:55 The same.
00:57:59 So think.
00:58:02 Please just think.
00:58:03 In the past, a nation might have 50 gods, one to make the corn grow; one to make the river rise.
00:58:09 I don't know.
00:58:10 Men make their societies in the image of their gods.
00:58:14 So societies with many gods have many leaders, different centers of power.
00:58:18 They're welcoming to strangers and to new ideas.
00:58:23 Like the Egyptians.
00:58:28 Then along...
00:58:30 came the Jews...
00:58:33 ...with their big idea.
00:58:37 A great idea.
00:58:39 There is only one God.
00:58:42 Amazing.
00:58:44 And what happens?
00:58:45 They-They create a society in which all the powers are concentrated in the hands of one man, a king.
00:58:52 An efficient society.
00:58:54 A tight ship.
00:58:56 And they have this idea that God loves them more than anyone else.
00:59:02 They prosper.
00:59:03 They keep this God to themselves.
00:59:05 They try to isolate themselves.
00:59:07 But then, along comes someone with an even better idea-- the Christians.
00:59:13 They say, yes, there is only one God, but he doesn't just love the Jews.
00:59:19 He loves everyone.
00:59:22 We must conquer everyone.
00:59:23 The Romans love this.
00:59:26 They convert.
00:59:28 They conquer everyone.
00:59:31 One god.
00:59:33 One king.
00:59:35 This is how its.
00:59:36 It's all about power and struggle, and-and so you-- you have lost.
00:59:43 But have we?
00:59:44 The Romans are gone...
00:59:45 Because...
00:59:47 Because someone had a better idea.
00:59:50 Hitler...
00:59:52 had the idea, there is one God, and it's me.
00:59:59 In-In this place, Hitler is God, is he not?
01:00:03 Still, we are still here.
01:00:07 (man coughing) We're still here tonight.
01:00:26 KUHN: You have denied God.
01:00:28 What did it give you?
01:00:32 What?
01:00:34 There are many here who have denied God.
01:00:37 They-They converted, took a goy wife, turned their back on the scriptures...
01:00:41 MORDECHAI: Excuse me. He's talking about me.
01:00:44 We're here at the point of death, and the thing that upsets him most is the fact that I married out.
01:00:48 But where did it get you?
01:00:51 Where are you different from me now?
01:00:57 What did you gain?
01:00:58 Please.
01:00:59 Please, I make a point.
01:01:01 These boys-- these educated boys like my son, like this man-- they said they s a truth we did not see.
01:01:09 But here they are, all the same.
01:01:17 They're facing death.
01:01:21 Look at Ricard.
01:01:24 On the outside he was a rich man.
01:01:28 He had many friends. But in here, he is frightened.
01:01:30 He cannot believe that he is going to die.
01:01:32 Because I'm not going to die.
01:01:35 You're going to die, you pious idiot.
01:01:37 He has been selected.
01:01:39 I have not been selected!
01:01:41 You were sent to the left like me, and now you're frightened.
01:01:45 He cheats and he steals because he thinks to have more bread than the rest of us will make him happy.
01:01:50 Bah!
01:01:51 And you think saying prayers is going to save your life.
01:01:54 4,000 years of wearing silly hats and you're still on your way to die! (yelling) There's a wasp.
01:02:05 It is called ichneumonidae.
01:02:08 It lays its eggs inside caterpillars.
01:02:13 The eggs hatch and then the larvae of the wasp eat the caterpillar from the inside.
01:02:18 They eat their way out of it.
01:02:21 What kind of God would design a thing like that?
01:02:25 And yet...
01:02:28 excuse me.
01:02:31 And my grandfather-- he raised fig trees.
01:02:36 There is a wasp...
01:02:38 I'm sure you know.
01:02:38 And this wasp lays its eggs in the flower.
01:02:42 And when the young are ready to fly out, they... they collect the pollen.
01:02:48 They don't brush against it like another wasp or a bee or the wind.
01:02:53 They stop and they collect the pollen.
01:02:56 You can see them.
01:02:56 And then they take the pollen to the other trees.
01:03:01 It doesn't help them.
01:03:02 They can't eat it.
01:03:05 They do it.
01:03:08 It is a beautiful arrangement.
01:03:10 Surely God...
01:03:13 Tell me, this wasp.
01:03:17 Does it do this for all fig trees or just Jewish ones?
01:03:22 (men murmuring) (chuckles) You laugh at me...
01:03:26 I-I don't laugh at you.
01:03:27 Just ask you to look at things, not like babies, but like men.
01:03:36 Men of reason.
01:03:39 Use your reason.
01:03:42 You talk to us of reason.
01:03:45 What is reason?
01:03:48 When you were taken from your university in Paris, where you did not look like a Jew, speak like a Jew, think like a Jew, and were put in here with us, what part did reason play in that?
01:04:00 What is the use of reason in a world run by madness?
01:04:05 The decision will be put to the vote of the judges.
01:04:11 Excuse me, learned judges, were you wrong about my sons?
01:04:17 Is there nothing to hope for after all?
01:04:21 Nothing.
01:04:23 Get used to it.
01:04:25 (dogs barking in distance) (men shouting) MAN (shouting): Get on back here!
01:04:34 Get on!
01:04:39 Nothing.
01:04:43 The judges will confer.
01:04:54 I'm not Jewish.
01:05:00 I never knew my father.
01:05:03 I didn't know he was Jewish.
01:05:06 He died when I was still a baby.
01:05:10 My mother was a...
01:05:12 she was a good German.
01:05:15 She moved back home and took back her maiden name.
01:05:20 They thought it all had been forgotten.
01:05:23 At school, I was a good boy.
01:05:27 I became a good father.
01:05:31 My children joined the Hitler Youth.
01:05:35 It was just a year ago the Gestapo came for me.
01:05:39 That was the first thing I knew of my race.
01:05:44 I thought I was a normal German.
01:05:48 I was a German.
01:05:50 I was a Jew-hating German.
01:05:56 I knew nothing of your ways.
01:05:58 I, I learned here.
01:06:00 I never heard a word of the Torah before I came here.
01:06:06 But I'm not the only one.
01:06:07 You must understand that...
01:06:09 (clears throat) ...I grew up learning that the Jews were dirty, deceitful and disorganized.
01:06:19 And when I came here, I saw that everything I believed was true.
01:06:24 This place was chaotic, filthy and disorganized; I thought it was because of the Jews.
01:06:33 MORDECHAI: How could it be nothing but filthy?
01:06:36 There's only one latrine block for 5,000 people. Shh!
01:06:40 That's the point.
01:06:42 Do you think it's a mistake?
01:06:46 Do you think a German engineer would not put in enough plumbing by mistake?
01:06:54 No.
01:06:56 That's not the way it was.
01:06:58 Nothing here is accidental.
01:07:03 The filth is a part of the system, just like the... it's like the fence, the floodlights and...
01:07:10 the other equipment.
01:07:15 It serves a function.
01:07:17 It's here to take away your dignity, your humanity.
01:07:22 Our dignity.
01:07:23 Our humanity.
01:07:25 It's part of the process.
01:07:29 In order for them to...
01:07:31 to get ordinary Germans to kill us, they must show them that we are what ordinary Germans are taught to believe we are...
01:07:40 filthy, fearful and godless.
01:07:48 When you came here, they took away your property; they took away your name; cut your hair; took away your children...
01:07:59 wives, mothers...
01:08:02 even the fillings in your teeth.
01:08:05 Everything that made you a man they took.
01:08:11 Don't let them take your God, too.
01:08:16 No matter how...
01:08:18 how foolish and useless it may seem, the covenant is yours.
01:08:25 God is your God.
01:08:30 Even if he doesn't exist.
01:08:34 Keep him.
01:08:37 Let there be something they cannot take away from you.
01:08:44 From us.
01:08:47 BAUMGARTEN: The judges are three in number so that there will always be a decision.
01:08:53 It will either be unanimous or there will be a majority for one view.
01:09:01 The accusation is that God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people.
01:09:06 Who led us out of Egypt?
01:09:09 Now we'll hear some sense.
01:09:14 God led us out of Egypt.
01:09:16 Another question.
01:09:18 Why were we in Egypt to start with?
01:09:22 Well, there was a famine, and so we took shelter.
01:09:26 Who sent the famine?
01:09:28 Well, the famine, we don't know much about...
01:09:30 MORDECHAI: God sent the famine.
01:09:32 So God sent us to Egypt and God took us out of Egypt.
01:09:36 SCHMIDT: Exactly so.
01:09:38 And later he sent us out of Babylon, in order that we might learn...
01:09:42 And when he brought us out of Egypt how did he do it?
01:09:45 By words? Visions?
01:09:47 A-a miracle?
01:09:48 Moses asked Pharaoh...
01:09:51 And when Pharaoh said no?
01:09:53 The plagues.
01:09:53 First Moses turned the Egyptians' water to blood, then God sent a plague of frogs, next a plague of mosquitoes, then a plague of flies, then he slew their livestock, next a plague of boils, next came the hail, which battered down the crops and even the trees and structures everywhere except in Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
01:10:20 And still Pharaoh did not agree.
01:10:23 And so a plague of locusts and then the days of darkness and finally, what?
01:10:28 God slew the firstborn of Egypt and led us out of Egypt.
01:10:33 He struck down the firstborn, from the firstborn and heir of Pharaoh, to the firstborn of the slave at the mill.
01:10:44 He slew them all.
01:10:47 Did, uh, he slay Pharaoh?
01:10:51 No, I don't think so because later...
01:10:54 Who... it was Pharaoh who said no, but God let him live and slew his children instead.
01:11:00 All the children.
01:11:05 And then the people of Israel made their escape, taking with them the gold and silver and jewelry and garments of the Egyptians.
01:11:15 And then God drowned the soldiers who pursued them.
01:11:20 He did not close the waters up so that the soldiers could not follow.
01:11:24 He waited till they were following and then he closed the waters.
01:11:29 And then what?
01:11:31 Then the desert, ultimately the Promised Land...
01:11:34 Now, the Promised Land, was it empty?
01:11:37 A new place, uncultivated?
01:11:39 No. There were...
01:11:40 As is written, "When the Lord thy God "shall bring you into the land, "you shall cast out many nations before you, "nations much greater "and mightier than you are.
01:11:52 "You shall "smite them and utterly destroy them "and make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them." KUHN: He showed us his favor.
01:12:02 We are his people.
01:12:04 And he gave us a king in Saul.
01:12:07 Now, when, uh, the people of Amalek fought Saul's people, what did the Lord God command?
01:12:16 Hmm?
01:12:18 I ask the scholar.
01:12:21 "Crush Amalek.
01:12:22 Put him under the curse of destruction." Was Saul to show mercy?
01:12:27 To spare anyone?
01:12:28 "Do not spare..." "Do not spare him, "but kill.
01:12:32 "Kill man and woman, "babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camels and donkey." So, Saul set out to do this, and on the way, he met the Kenites.
01:12:45 Now, these were not Amalek's people.
01:12:47 He had no quarrel with them.
01:12:48 He urged them to flee.
01:12:50 And the Lord our God, was he pleased by the mercy of Saul?
01:12:56 By the justice of Saul?
01:12:59 No, no, he wasn't.
01:13:00 And when Saul decided not to slaughter all the livestock, but to take it to feed his people, was God pleased by his prudence, his charity?
01:13:09 No.
01:13:10 No, he was not.
01:13:12 He said, "You have rejected the word "of Adonai.
01:13:16 Therefore, he has rejected you as king." So, seeking to please the Lord our God, Samuel brought forth King Agag and hacked him to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
01:13:34 After Saul, there came David, who took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to himself, by arranging to have Uriah killed...
01:13:45 against the wishes of God.
01:13:48 Did God strike David for this?
01:13:52 In a manner of speaking.
01:13:53 Did he strike Bathsheba?
01:13:55 In the sense that when...
01:13:56 Adonai said, "Since you have sinned me, the child will die." You asked earlier, who punishes a child?
01:14:07 God does.
01:14:10 Now, did the child die suddenly, mercifully, without pain?
01:14:15 In chapter 12, we learn that in actual fact...
01:14:18 Seven days.
01:14:20 Seven days, that child spent dying in pain while David wrapped himself in sack and ashes and fasted and sought to show his sorrow to God.
01:14:35 Did God listen?
01:14:36 The child died.
01:14:38 Did that child find that God was just?
01:14:44 Did the Amalekites think that Adonai was just?
01:14:52 Did the mothers of Egypt, the mothers... did they think that Adonai was just?
01:15:00 But Adonai isourGod.
01:15:01 Surely... Oh, what, did God not make the Egyptians?
01:15:04 Did he not make their rivers and make their crops grow?
01:15:08 If not him, then who?
01:15:10 What, some... some other god?
01:15:12 And what did he make them for?
01:15:14 To punish them?
01:15:16 To starve, to frighten, to slaughter them?
01:15:22 The people of Amalek, the people of Egypt...
01:15:25 what was it like for them when Adonai turned against them?
01:15:35 It was like this.
01:15:41 Today, there was a selection, yes?
01:15:46 When David defeated the Moabites, what did he do?
01:15:56 He made them lie on the ground in lines, and he chose one to live and two to die.
01:16:04 We are become the Moabites.
01:16:08 We are learning how it was for the Amalekites.
01:16:13 They faced extinction at the hand of Adonai.
01:16:17 They died for his purpose.
01:16:20 They fell as we are falling.
01:16:22 They were afraid as we are afraid.
01:16:26 And what did they learn?
01:16:31 They learned...
01:16:34 that Adonai, the Lord our God...
01:16:37 our God...
01:16:39 is not good.
01:16:42 He is not good.
01:16:45 He was not ever good.
01:16:46 He was only on our side.
01:16:54 God is not good.
01:16:55 Oh, at the beginning when he, uh, repented that he had made human beings and flooded the earth, why?
01:17:03 What had they done to deserve annihilation?
01:17:07 What could they have done to deserve such wholesale slaughter?
01:17:10 What could they have done that was so bad?
01:17:14 God is not good.
01:17:15 When he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham should have said no.
01:17:22 We should have taught our God the justice that was in our hearts.
01:17:25 We should have stood up to him.
01:17:27 He is not good.
01:17:28 He has simply been strong.
01:17:29 He has simply been on our side.
01:17:33 When we were brought here, we were brought by train.
01:17:36 Um... a guard slapped my face.
01:17:39 On their belts, they had written, "Gott mit uns." "God is with us." Now, who is to say that he is not?
01:17:52 Perhaps he is.
01:17:54 Is there any other explanation?
01:17:58 What do we see here?
01:18:00 His power...
01:18:02 his majesty, his might.
01:18:03 All these things, but turned against us.
01:18:08 He is still God...
01:18:11 but notourGod.
01:18:15 He has become...
01:18:17 our enemy.
01:18:19 That's what's happened to the covenant.
01:18:24 He has made a new covenant with someone else.
01:18:58 Um, we're entering now gas chambers.
01:19:02 So... they found him guilty.
01:19:04 They found God guilty, yes, of breach of contract, of breaking his covenant with us.
01:19:11 Oh.
01:19:11 TOUR GUIDE: There were 6,000 people every day being gassed here.
01:19:16 (shouting in German) (dogs barking) 39024.
01:19:29 38483.
01:19:33 38497.
01:19:35 38511.
01:19:39 38532.
01:19:39 I thought he was going to call me.
01:19:41 He's called my son.
01:19:42 Lucky you. Please.
01:19:44 I'm ready.
01:19:45 He's not ready.
01:19:46 Please, do this for me.
01:19:48 Send me, not him.
01:19:51 38562.
01:19:53 38052.
01:19:56 38511.
01:19:57 KAPO: Shut up. Just move.
01:19:59 Please, look at me. It can't be me.
01:20:01 I'm young.
01:20:02 I could be useful.
01:20:03 How could you possibly take them and not me?
01:20:05 Please... it doesn't make any sense.
01:20:06 Making sense is not my job.
01:20:07 Well, then, whose job is it?
01:20:10 I think you're reading the wrong cards.
01:20:12 Please just check the cards.
01:20:13 Please check the cards. 38675.
01:20:17 38692.
01:20:19 38695. You.
01:20:24 Now what?
01:20:25 What do we do now?
01:20:27 38702.
01:20:30 Now God's guilty.
01:20:31 (sobbing): What do we do now?
01:20:33 38711.
01:20:34 Now...
01:20:36 now we pray.
01:20:42 39055.
01:20:43 ALL: "From age to age, "before the mountains were born, 39066. "before the Earth came to be, "from eternity to eternity, "you are God.
01:20:56 "You bring us to dust by saying..." It's not the best bed in the place, but... it's out of the draft.
01:21:06 AKIBA: "You bring us to dust by saying, return to me..." ALL: "It is blossoming and growing.
01:21:13 In the evening, it has withered and is dry." 38544.
01:21:19 Please.
01:21:21 Ah, shift your ass!
01:21:22 No, no, you've got the wrong one!
01:21:24 We have the same surnames.
01:21:27 BLOCKALTESTER: The boy is useful.
01:21:28 It's me you want.
01:21:29 He's on my...
01:21:30 Look, you heard the numbers.
01:21:31 It's me! I'm fine.
01:21:33 38652.
01:21:35 You, out there.
01:21:36 Move yourself.
01:21:38 Good man.
01:21:38 You are a good man.
01:21:39 It's not his number. It's mine.
01:21:41 Back... back off!
01:21:43 (struggling, grunting) (groaning) 38697.
01:21:52 38702.
01:21:54 38701.
01:21:55 ALL: "Who knows the power of your anger?
01:21:58 "For your wrath is as great...
01:22:01 as the fear that is due you." "In the morning, they will be like growing grass.
01:22:06 In the morning, it is blossoming and growing." "...be as long as the time that you afflicted us, the years when we experienced disaster." "...terrified by your indignation.
01:22:21 "For they quickly pass, and we fly away.
01:22:25 "Who knows the power of your anger?
01:22:27 "For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
01:22:32 "We shall sing and be happy all our days.
01:22:37 "Let our joy be as long "as the time that you afflicted us, the years when we experienced disaster." And was their prayer answered?
01:23:04 We're still here.
01:23:19 GOODE: Stay tuned for more aboutMasterpiece,but first...
01:23:58 Good evening. I'm Alistair Cooke.
01:24:00 ANNOUNCER: Masterpiece Theatre's longtime host began his career exploring America.
01:24:05 Go on. Impress me.
01:24:07 ANNOUNCER: He filmed his travels, and these newly discovered movies tell his story and ours.
01:24:12 And I said, "That's it." ANNOUNCER: Masterpiececelebrates Alistair Cooke's centennial by presenting aMasterpiecespecial, "The Unseen Alistair Cooke." To see behind-the-scenescast interviews from "God on Trial"and watch episodes online, visitMasterpieceat: ANNOUNCER:To order "God on Trial" on DVD, please call: or order online at: Captioned byMedia Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
01:25:29 Masterpieceis made possible by the Corporationfor Public Broadcasting and by contributionsto your PBS station from: We are PBS.
==================================================
Well, I hope you all enjoyed watching the video, and reading the complete transcript.
God was put on trial by Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, and God was found . . . GUILTY!!!
Big Fat Heretic- IHateSports Fanatic
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