WEBVTT - S1-E04: Acquiring the Target 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:14.440 Diversion podcasts. This episode contains descriptions of graphic violence and 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:28.479 scenes of genocide. Listener's discretion is advised. So it's the 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:33.159 winner of and Meo is in Brazil looking for the Butcher. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.280 He's building up his cover, talking to people in the 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:40.800 tourist industry and getting ready to meet Herbert Seekers in person. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:53.680 M H. But before we get to that meeting, I 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.480 want to tell you about another Nazi hunting mission going 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:00.200 on at the same time, halfway around the world. Has 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.319 a few parallels with Mio's operation, and it had an 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:08.520 ending that sent a warning to the entire agency. Basad 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.880 had sent an agent to Damascus to spy on the Syrians. 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:17.039 His name was Ellie Cohen, and like Meo, he was undercover. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.960 He was posing as an Arab businessman, and he'd made 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.680 friends with people high in the Syrian government, and like Meo, 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:31.520 he'd gone solo, no backup team, no protection. Undercover, Ellie 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.000 Cohen climbed to the top of Syrian society and was 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:51.040 even interviewed on a popular Arabic radio show. Cohen's main 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.440 mission was simply to find out what serious leaders and 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:58.000 especially as military were up to. Were they thinking of 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.400 war with Israel. Were they building up their forces with 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:06.920 a planning sabotage. But he had a sideline too. Dozens 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.840 of Nazis had fled to Syria after the war. Cohen 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.240 was hoping to find out where they were and eliminate them. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.040 At one point he located a guy named Walter Ralph, 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.960 who had helped develop the mobile gas fans that had 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.080 killed hundreds of thousands of Jews. He sent a letter 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:28.400 bomb to Ralph, wounding the x Nazi. Ellie Cohen was 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:32.320 probably the only other Massad agent besides Meo working in 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.480 the field to find Nazis, but Cohen's luck turned bad. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.960 Around seven am one morning, military policeman broke into his 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.120 Damascus apartment and found the agent sitting on his bed 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.880 tapping out a message to Massad and a miniature transmitter. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.600 Cohen managed to throw a bottle of acid on the 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.440 code sheets that he used to communicate with his handlers, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.200 but he was quickly arrested. Months later, he would be 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.840 brought into the Central Square in Damascus in front of 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:06.360 thousands of spectators and hung. This was all going on 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.119 at the same time as MEO's mission. Coin's arrest inevitably 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.560 influenced our mood. Neo remembered it was a grim reminder 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.040 of what could happen to him if he took the 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.799 wrong step and his true identity was revealed. If Meo 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:25.640 wasn't careful, he would become the target, hunted down in 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:35.960 a place far from any help. On his fifth day 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.760 in Stal Paulo, Meo drove to the marina in the 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.120 Interlagos neighborhood in his pocket. He had the letter of 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.400 introduction he had gotten from the company director. As soon 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:48.880 as he arrived, Mia went to see the guy who 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:53.680 ran the marina. I was a real pest and bombarded 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.640 him with endless questions. Meo didn't care about the answers. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.880 He just wanted to impress on the manager how ambitious 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.400 he was. This astring businessman was going to spend a 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.280 lot of money in Brazil. He was very patient, and 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:13.280 I achieved my goal. He will remember me very well. 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.200 After the meeting, Mia wandered down to the docks, who 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.080 pretended to be relaxing after a day of business. He 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:23.200 spotted a bunch of rental boats tied up to one 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.200 of the piers that jetted out into the lake, and 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.960 next to it a battered seaplane. It was a sign 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.200 that Meal might have found the right place. Herbert Supers 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.320 was obsessed with aircraft. He built them all his life. 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.000 Next to the dock was a restaurant with a thatched roof. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.880 Neo strolled over, sat at the table, and ordered a 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.360 cold drink. As he sipped it, he kept an eye 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:53.760 on the pier, looking for signs with the butcher. Nea 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.080 watched the little ticket office at the boat rental business. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.159 He spotted young man working on the boats next to it. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.840 Neil thought it might be one of the butcher's sons. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.440 He was tempted to finish his drink, strolled down to 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.039 the dock and strike up a conversation with the young man. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.919 Maybe the guy could tell him where Zukers was. Maybe 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.800 the butcher himself would show up. But anything that could 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:18.200 make him look too eager to meet Sukers that was 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.240 to be avoided. Their meeting had to look casual, as 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.280 if it had been a coincidence. Zukerts was looking from 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.360 massade operatives. Don't give him a reason to think you're one. 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.119 I must be careful not to be too noticeable. I thought. 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.559 Zukers has been on the run for many years now, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.800 and there was no reason to jeopardize the operation because 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.840 of undue haste. I could come back on Saturday and 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.440 blending in this a general activity, get even closer to 0:05:48.600 --> 0:06:03.080 his target. For now, this fus enough. I'm Steven Talty 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:08.599 and this as good assassin's hunting the butcher. Many former 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.800 Nazis were deserting European droves and moving to the safety 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:16.760 of South America. The first month was fine and not 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.880 bending forwards. Trial. The second son was to find a lay, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:28.320 hearing we must thwarts this shameful forces. He hadn't of 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.800 a trail of blood and horror, the end of a 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:38.080 man whose name will be written in Italy, episode four. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:46.960 Acquiring the target. The next day, Meal was back. The 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.880 marina was packed with Brazilians and joined the son. Mio, 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.600 who wasn't the water skiing type, went back to the 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.760 restaurant in order to play of oysters. After finishing them, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.279 he walked down the ramp to the docks, looking like, 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.600 as he later said, a middle aged man with a 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:08.640 pot belly who had just consumed a dozen juicy oysters 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.800 and thus taking a stroll to aid his digestion. He 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.640 went up to the Marina's little office. The young woman 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.800 was at the register that morning. He began talking to her, 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.080 asking her questions about the tourist business in the area. 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.160 He spoke in English with a German accent. Young woman 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.520 told him he could speak German to her. She was 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.160 from Dresden, the city of the Allies had bombed during 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.120 the war. She didn't know anything about the tourist business, 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.320 but said that he could speak to someone else. Do 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.240 you see this tall man with a light hair, she asked, 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:44.480 and she pointed to the dock. A man was busy 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.120 tying up a seaplane to a pole. He's much more 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.920 knowledgeable about such things than I am. Talk to him. 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.200 I'm sure he'd be helpful. Meo turned it saw a 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.800 broad shouldered, older man, powerfully built, working on the dock. 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.560 He had eight hair and the same thick buddy hollyglasses 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.360 that MEO had seen in the surveillance photos. He looked 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.400 like a former athlete. He had a certain swagger on 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:13.040 the way he moved. It had to be Zookers. Neo 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.600 walked over to the man and said good day in German. 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.920 Zookers turned and expected him from head to toe. Neo 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:24.160 spoke up my name is Anton Kunz. I'm a businessman. 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.920 It's a friendly young lady. As the ticket booth preferred 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.800 me to you. I'm interested in the tour straight here 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.079 and she she told me you were an expert on 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.400 the subject. Zookers didn't react. Well, it was a Saturday. 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.160 He was busy, he needs to make some money, and 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.200 here was this stranger asking these detailed questions. He brushed 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.600 Meo off. The spy had to change his pitch quickly 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.199 where Zookers would lose interest. Nea looked at the seaplane 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.920 bobbing on the waves. Got an idea. He told Zukers 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.160 he'd like to take a flying tour over the city. 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.240 That way, the Butcher could earn some money and Meal 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:02.960 could study him up close. The older man agreed immediately, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:09.079 my name is Sukars. Please or the plane and that 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:15.080 was it confirmation. This was indeed the Butcher of Latvia. 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.520 His attitude had changed completely. It was much friendlier now. 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.920 Mio took note. He stepped into the plane. There was 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.960 a small cockpit designed for only two people. Suckers got 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.199 in and took the pilot's seat. Mio could tell immediately 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.320 that the aviator was an expert he lived, loved and 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:44.719 breathed airplanes. Neo thought The tour over the city took 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.960 about twenty minutes, with Suker's pointing out different landmarks. The 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.880 engine was so loud that Meo could barely hear above it, 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.440 but he pretended to be deeply interested in what Sukers 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.640 had to say. If Anton Kunzla was going to invest 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.520 hundreds of thousands of dollars in the area, he had 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:09.560 looked like he was fascinated by every detail. After they landed, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.960 Suckers extended an invitation for a quick drink. He asked 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.120 me O onto his boat. They climbed aboard, and Suckers 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.640 brought out some brandy. They clink glasses and drank in 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.920 the little cabin. Neo studied this man. He was a 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.079 huge guy. Neo will talk about this again and again 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.640 in later years. Zukers looked like a bodybuilder with muscled 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.440 arms and broadcast. You try not to focus on the 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.480 stories he'd heard about what the butcher had done during 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.960 the war. He had to remain objective in character. Anton 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:46.800 Kuzla had no idea who Herbert Suckers was. Before they 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:51.240 could talk business, Sukers stared at me O. I'm accused 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:56.120 of being a war criminal. Me a war criminal after 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.319 I saved the life of a Jewish girl and protected 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:03.840 her during the Old War. He waited for my reaction. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:09.440 I remained impassive. Neo said nothing to this, but his 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.920 mind was going a million miles an hour. Why was 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.360 Suukers bringing this up? They only just met an hour ago. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.679 Was it a test? He guessed that Zukers wanted to 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.199 get an idea of Kunz's views on the war in 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.560 the Holocaust. If he was too sympathetic to the Jews, 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.000 Zukers might think he was a Jew himself. If Mio 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.199 overdid it and defended the Nazis, it might seem over 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.960 the top, a transparent move designed to appeal to an 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.640 accused war criminals. Here tues this day, I cannot comprehend 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.480 but make him think this was a good tactic. Perhaps 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.320 he thought I was a former Nazi looking for a 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:51.360 safe haven. Many former Nazis were deserting European droves and 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:56.160 moving toward the safety of South America. But Mio kept quiet. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.880 He just said nothing. When he didn't answer, Zukers tried 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.959 a different tax. Yes, Mio, if he'd served during the war. 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:09.760 Mio told him yes, and Zukers asked where he'd been stationed. Yeah. So. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.760 A former officer from another intelligence service early on in 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:19.720 my career said to me, Chris, rule number one. Rule 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:25.960 number one is you always always have to prepare, you 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:32.160 never improvise. That's Colonel Chris Costa. He's a former U. S. 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.120 Army intelligence officer, Senior Director for counter Terrorism at the 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.680 National Security Council, and currently the executive director of the 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:47.520 International Spy Museum. Rule number two is, always be prepared 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:52.520 to improvise. Right, They seem inconsistent, but he was right. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.080 He had a lot of wisdom. Sucers had served in 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.360 Latvia and Western Russia. He fought partisans and Soviet soldiers 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.000 from nineteen forty two onward. Maybe he was trying to 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.120 see if me it was a fake by asking him 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:09.000 some questions about weapons battles. Who knew you had to 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.400 say something and fast. I served on the Russian Front, 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.560 he told Sukers. And then, without even thinking, Neo unbuttoned 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.720 his shirt and pulled it open to reveal a scar 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.760 that ran across his chest. It looked like the result 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.000 of a serious bullet wound. Perhaps some shrapnel. Suckers stared 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.080 at it. He seemed impressed. He asked another question about 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.040 which rank Neo held during the war, But after that 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.920 the conversation turned to business. Zukers relaxed and you had 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.880 clearly passed some kind of tests again, Chris Costa. You 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:48.280 prepare meticulously not to unbutton your shirt and show somebody 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.160 a scar, but when it happens in the moment and 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.160 you're in your cover, you have to be able to 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.120 think on your feet. Your survival depends on it. So 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.240 the best officers are in a role, but they're living 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.280 and breathing that role. Cover is the very air that 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:13.200 you breathe. The scar on his chest, Nea would later 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.280 reveal wasn't a war wound at all, was the result 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.360 of a minor operation in Israel to remove an abscess. 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.760 Neo hadn't been wounded during the war, and he'd had 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:24.080 no idea that he was going to want to do 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.960 the buttons until after he did it. It was like 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.760 this character Anton Kuzla had taken over and told the 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.960 story of his war experiences without Mio even realizing it. 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.520 The Massad agent was deep in the role. He didn't 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.080 have to make these things up like any good actor. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.920 He was improvising. In the moment, Neo told Suckers that 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.000 he and his partners were thinking of investing heavily in Brazil. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.120 Zuker's got the hint. If they were going to pour 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.080 money into sal Paolo, they would need a local contact 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.560 who knew the lay of the land, that spoke the language. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.160 Neo never actually said it, but he could see that 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.800 Zukers sensed an opportunity. Maybe there was money to be 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.280 made here. After an hour, the two stood up and 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.760 headed back to the dock. On the way, Zukers asked 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.280 me to come to his house, which wasn't far away, 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.400 to meet his family. It was a good sign. Maybe 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:21.840 Zukers had begun just a little bit to trust him. 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.080 But Mea was cautious. He couldn't appear to be chasing 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.680 the butcher. He thought about it for a minute and 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.920 told Seekers he had business in other parts of the country. 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.960 He would be gone for a week. When he came back, 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.760 if he had time to spare, he would call. It 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.440 was the best he could do. They shook hands on it. 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.600 Neia walked away, gotten his rented VW beetle, and left. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.160 When he reached the hotel, he wrote a report and 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:51.040 sent it to your reeve. In Paris made contact with 0:15:51.160 --> 0:16:07.080 Slate one, I carry on and tom As Meal was 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.480 making contact with suckers in Brazil. On the other side 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.720 of the Atlantic, in Germany, a car was driving along 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:19.760 the Audubon. Inside was a man named Tuvia Freedman. Freeman 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.080 was headed to the German capital for meeting with the 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.760 Justice minister. He had a presentation to give and if 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.920 he succeeded with it would make Meal's mission completely pointless. 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:35.280 Tuvia Freedman was a Nazi hunter. In fact, Freeman was 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.720 considered one of the two leading Nazi hunters in the world, 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:42.080 second only to the more famous activists Simon Well the 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.760 What was my main goal? My main goal was to 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.600 fight against the Nazi med us, who was really Billy 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.680 murdered us of hundreds of thousand, to abolish the suchect 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:59.000 limitation in Germany, to let the Nazi med Us be imprisoned, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.600 or to arrest him un till the end of their life. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.640 Freeman had grown up into small city in eastern Poland, 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.440 a place called Radome. He and his family had watched 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.359 the Nazis arrive. The Germans soon put them into a 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.440 ghetto just seventeen. When the war started, Freeman saw Jews 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.480 being murdered around him. His father starved himself to death 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.040 so that his children would have more to eat. Freeman's 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.920 younger brother, Herschel, and his sister Ka, who was his favorite, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.280 were taken away to concentration camps, and Freedman himself was 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:43.920 transported to a subcamp of Auschwitz. Freedman and four other 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.080 inmates escaped into the Polish countryside. They were nearly starving 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.280 and began digging the dirt for potatoes. The farm's owners 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.560 spotted them. The other escape He's wanted to run, but 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.639 Freeman told them to wait. He walked towards the farmer 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:03.280 and began shouting at him. Listen, you bastard, forget you 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.720 ever understand. If you open your mouth, our men will 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.280 burn your whole goddamn the village down to the last 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:15.119 stick of wood to via. Freedman was tough. He didn't 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:20.800 mind confrontation. In fact, he sought it out. Freedman survived 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.159 the Holocaust by the sheer ferocity of his will, but 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.920 his parents, along with Herschel and Ika, didn't survive. After 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.560 the war, many survivors chose to move forward, to emigrate 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.840 to new countries, go back to school, get married, have children. Freedman, though, 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:42.040 was different. He couldn't move on. He wanted to find 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.520 the people who killed his family and see that they 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:53.280 were punished and the chaos of the post war period 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.040 to via. Freedman hunted down German killers. His specialty was 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.560 Gestapo officers and s S men. If he saw one 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.840 of their black uniforms, he would be filled with the 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.800 rage that sometimes drove him to extremes. He would beat them, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.280 sometimes kill them. He was a Jewish avenger, the real thing. 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.640 Other Nazi hunters never physically put their hands on their enemies. 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:26.720 Friedman did. One time, just after the war, Freedman was 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.000 walking down the street in Vienna when he heard someone 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.240 shouting his name. He was an old friend from his hometown, 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.639 which somehow escaped the death camps. They got to talking 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.320 and his friend mentioned this s S man would kill 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.560 thousands of Jews and Radom. His name was buck Meyer. 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.040 One of buck Meyer's favorite things had been to rush 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.680 into the camp where Jews were held and beat them 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.280 with a club he carried by his side. Freedman had 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.879 watched him execute many people this way. Buck Meyer had 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.760 also pulled a group of Jewish children from the camp 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:04.720 and had them shot on the street just outside. Now, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.280 Freedman's friend was telling him that he had seen Boutmeyer 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.800 right there in Vienna. In fact, he discovered Bukmeyer owned 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.800 a butcher's shop in the city. Freedman immediately went to 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:16.879 the shop, pretending to be an old friend of the 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:21.080 s S Man. He questioned a worker and found out 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:24.400 that Buckmeyer was actually being held in an American pow 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:29.240 camp miles away, without anyone to identify him, and to 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.159 tell the Americans about the atrocities. He committed there was 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.880 a good chance Bob Meyer would go free. He'd get 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.960 away with it. Freedman went to the camp. He got 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.440 into see the American commander. He told him about book 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:46.359 Meyer's crimes and asked to be put inside the camp 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.719 disguised as a German prisoner. The commander told him there 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.359 were ten thousand prisoners inside. How was he going to 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.359 tell which one was the SS killer. Freedman assured him 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.639 this wouldn't be a problem. The man's face was burned 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:06.280 into his memory. Freedman was given an old s S 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.720 jacket in a prisoner's uniform, and taken inside the camp 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.639 as if he had just been captured. He made friends 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.360 with the German soldier there. Together they had lunch. As 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:18.480 he was watching up after the meal, he saw a 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:23.919 man approaching whistling. It was Buchmeyer. Freeman turned his face away. 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:27.600 That followed Buchmeyer from the cafeteria. Then he went to 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:32.080 talk to the American commander. Book Meyer was pulled out 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.880 of his barracks and brought to the major's office where 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.920 some American officers were waiting with the Nazi hunter. Freeman 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.600 wrote this in his memoir. I stood up and said 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.840 to the prisoner, but Buchmaier, how could you forget me? 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:52.320 We were in Radom together, Oh, ydom? He asked, Were 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.560 you in the s S. Two? No? I was not, 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.680 I replied, I was one of the Jews who worked 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:05.240 do your book Mayer. The man's face turned white. Don't 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:10.040 you remember you used to love to run around with 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:14.600 a heavy club, beating us until the blood covered out 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.640 entire bodies. You even had nurses with you who used 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.520 to bandage us up so you could beat us again. Later, 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.720 his lips trembling, book Myer said to me, but I 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:35.680 wasn't the worst one. Was i the Americans through book 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.320 Meyer into solitary confinement. From there, he was sent back 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:43.280 to Poland, put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to twelve years, 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:47.880 which he served under the brutal Soviet occupation. This chance 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.000 of escaping justice and returning to his comfortable life at 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:54.959 the butcher shop was gone for the rest of his life. 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:58.280 Who was known as a Nazi murderer in war criminal 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:13.119 m In his early twenties to Via, Freeman took a 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.679 position in a Polish intelligence unit in the city of Danzig, 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:21.159 becoming one of the first official Jewish Nazi hunters. He 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:24.800 interrogated German troops, sorting out the Nazi party members and 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:29.160 the regular soldiers and delivering them to prison. He also 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.240 went to investigate crime scenes. Once he went to check 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.280 out a building on the outskirts of Danzig where Nazis 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:40.600 had reportedly held Jewish prisoners, Freeman wrote, one room was 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:45.680 filled with naked corpses. Another room was filled with boards 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:51.760 on which were stretched human skins. Nearby was a smaller 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:57.040 building with a heavy paddle. Look we broke in. There 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.720 was an oven in the corner, and it was lumps 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:05.840 of something on the floor. We realized the Germans had 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:10.040 been using the room to melt down human fat cut 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:20.440 from their victims to make soap. Part of Freeman's job 0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:23.840 was interviewing former Nazis and sending some of them to jail. 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:27.240 When they wouldn't answer his questions or when they lied 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.719 to him, he got violent. He punched them, drue blood, 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.359 broke some bones. He wanted to know the truth, and 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:37.240 if they refused to give it to him, he was unmerciful. 0:24:37.680 --> 0:24:41.720 In fact, that's what his fellow investigators started calling him 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:49.800 the merciless one. So for the twenty years since the 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:53.720 war ended, Freeman had been hunting Nazis. He didn't mass 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:57.800 thousands of files on potential suspects, but in Ntour the 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:01.040 German government was less and less interested in suing them. 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:04.560 Public opinion had turned against the trials of former Nazis. 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:07.960 The U S in England now needed Germany as an 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:12.119 ally against the Soviet Union. The Cold War was underway, 0:25:12.160 --> 0:25:14.640 and Germany's friends didn't want to press it too hard 0:25:14.880 --> 0:25:24.320 on the Nazi issue. Freedman's obsession, however, only grew. He 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.160 moved to Israel, but kept looking for escape mass killers. 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:30.120 Even his wife was growing tired of his work, all 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:32.800 the talk about Nazis and genocide and the rest of it. 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.119 He made almost no money, and so she was forced 0:25:36.160 --> 0:25:39.320 to be the sole support for their family. Finally, she 0:25:39.400 --> 0:25:41.800 last out at him, telling him that he was ruining 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:46.639 their lives with this compulsion of his Again from Freeman's memoir, 0:25:47.880 --> 0:25:53.639 I said nothing. I was thirty seven years old and defeated. 0:25:55.080 --> 0:25:59.679 I felt that my life was a mockery. Even the force. 0:26:01.160 --> 0:26:04.359 I had come to the end of the road. I 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:11.120 had a sheer, unscalable mountain confronted me. I was alone, 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:17.159 but he couldn't give up. Freeman had learned about the 0:26:17.160 --> 0:26:20.680 Statute of Limitations for Nazi war criminals, and he was angry, 0:26:21.119 --> 0:26:26.679 frustrated an amnesty that was unthinkable. He had to do something. 0:26:27.680 --> 0:26:29.960 He decided to fly to Germany and meet with the 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:34.080 Justice minister, whose name was Evolved Booker, to see if 0:26:34.080 --> 0:26:37.359 he can convince Booker to come out against the statue. 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:40.440 I had come to the conclusion that it was useless 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:43.920 for me to spend these last year's searching for twenty 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:48.600 or thirty Nazis, while the Statute of Limitations, if it 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:52.880 were to go into effect, would permit hundreds of them 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:55.960 to come out of their hiding and again swagger into 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:59.840 the beer cellars beyond the arm of the law. I 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:05.240 could just imagine them beer stein and their wrists, laughing 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:09.080 and drinking and boasting to each other of their exploits 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:16.439 in killing Jews. So Freedman had come to Germany. The 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:19.280 place made him nervous. He seemed too much hatred and 0:27:19.440 --> 0:27:22.439 death there. The night before the meeting, he and his 0:27:22.480 --> 0:27:24.680 friend went out to have something to eat and try 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:28.359 to relax. A German Man at the restaurant nodded to 0:27:28.440 --> 0:27:31.320 them and sat at their table. He was half drunk, 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:34.600 and he began talking about the war. Freeman recalled the 0:27:34.640 --> 0:27:37.720 interaction in a book he wrote about the Statue of Limitations. 0:27:39.520 --> 0:27:43.840 Then everything was bummed and ruined. Now you can see 0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:47.320 the difference. You see the German people, How we have 0:27:47.440 --> 0:27:54.320