THE PEOPLE VS FRITZ BAUER REVEALS HOW EICHMANN WAS CAUGHT
Dr. Fritz Bauer (played by Burghart Klaussner), Attorney General of the West German state of Hesse, was determined to put Nazi war criminals on trial but was opposed by many former Nazi employees who held positions in the government of Konrad Adenauer. He particularly wanted to put Adolf Eichmann (Michael Schenk) on trial in Frankfurt, but instead he was captured by the Mossad and tried in Israel. Director Lars Kraume reveals what happened, a secret not revealed until 1978, ten years after Bauer’s death, as he provided information to Mossad in violation of German law, which then would have been an act of treason. Most of the film depicts the intrigue surrounding his efforts, including the deal made by Germany to allow the trial in Israel despite Bauer’s hope that the new Germany would shed the Nazi past. Nevertheless, as the film ends, Bauer launches a prosecution of those responsible at Auschwitz that served the same purpose. A subplot involving a subordinate prosecutor evidently is fictional, as titles at the end say nothing about him. The dramatic story merits a Political Film Society nomination of The People vs Fritz Bauer for best film exposé of 2016. MH