Die Ermittlung (2024)

At the center of the film are a judge, a defense attorney, and a prosecutor, who meet 28 witnesses during the trial as they testify about their experiences and observations in Auschwitz. Another 11 witnesses from the former camp administration testify in court. This is where the film differs from the stage play on which it is based, in which the testimony of several hundred witnesses was distilled into just nine witness characters. In both the play and the film, these witnesses are anonymized, reflecting the historical reality in which the victims’ names in Auschwitz were replaced by numbers tattooed on their skin. The 18 defendants, by contrast, can be clearly identified by their names and testimony. Witness characters 1, 2, 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 29, 36, 37, and 39 are witnesses from the camp administration; the rest are prisoner-witnesses. The former prisoners describe the atrocities committed by the defendants in very specific terms. The defendants, on the other hand, categorically deny the accusations and present themselves as mere administrative staff with no involvement. A few of the defendants eventually admit to having provided assistance on rare occasions in exceptional circumstances. The camp-administration witnesses, too, try to portray themselves and the defendants in the best possible light. The eleven so-called “Songs” each bring together key themes in the processes of imprisonment and extermination at Auschwitz. The account begins with the deportees’ arrival and selection on the ramp, then moves through everyday life in the camp, forced labor, torture, medical experiments, and arbitrary killings, culminating in mass gassings and the burning of corpses in the crematoria. In each section, statements from several witnesses are brought together as they recount their observations and experiences, while defendants respond to the respective accusations. The former prisoners’ accounts identify specific acts of violence and procedures, while the defendants mostly downplay or deny their responsibility and present themselves as part of an anonymous administrative structure. The formal structure serves less to build dramatic tension than to provide a factual reconstruction of how the concentration and extermination camp operated. Testimony is delivered largely without emotion; the drama arises from its content.