>> Arnon Goldfinger: This is
my grandmother, Gerda.
A month ago, she died.
Since then, no one has
been here.
Everything remains as it was.
Now we have a difficult task:
To decide what stays
and what goes.
>> Woman speaking Hebrew:
>> All speaking Hebrew:
>> Arnon: When I was a kid,
I liked to come here.
Once a week, I'd cross the
streets of Tel Aviv,
climb up the stairs and
find myself in Berlin.
My grandmother lived here
for 70 years as if she had
never left Germany.
Despite her years in the
holy land, she never mastered
Hebrew and I didn't want
to learn German.
So we'd sit and chat in English
over apfelstrudel and
Swiss chocolate.
When I grew up, I realized
that the meaningful things
were always left unspoken.
>> The clean-up begins at
the rate of 60 garbage bags
per day.
>> My mother and cousins
storm the flat.
>> Who could believe that we
were digging through
closets that we'd never
dared to open?
Grandmother would turn over
in her grave if she knew
what we were doing.
>> Mother:
>> Next come the books.
Micha adler, a German-Jewish
book lover, will find them
a new home.
>> To me, grandfather Kurt was
an important man from
a distant land.
When he died, I was 15.
Grandmother used to say that I
inherited his love of books...
And his glasses.
But what else do I know
about the man I resemble?
All in Hebrew:
>> My grandparents had
12 grandchildren.
The oldest one died.
Five live in America.
Four remember nothing.
And one is just too busy.
That leaves me.
And the flat.
Three weeks go by, and no one
comes to remove a thing,
except mother.
She was born in Berlin,
but this is her childhood home.
Now that her parents are gone,
it's all hers.
When it comes to the documents,
she can't throw anything away,
not even old bank statements.
She inspects them line by line,
letter by letter and only then
can she throw it away.
>> What is Nazi propaganda
doing in my grandparents' flat?
The newspapers tell the story
of the Nazi who travels
to Palestine.
You can see him gazing from the
ship at impish little Jews
at the shore.
But there are also pictures
of Jewish pioneers: Drying the
swamps, plowing the land,
fulfilling the zionist dream
of establishing the
Jewish state in Palestine.
It gets really absurd when
I discover that the readers
also got a special bonus:
A copper medallion.
On one side, the symbol of
the Jews; On the other,
the symbol of those who wanted
to get rid of them.
But what does it have to do
with my grandparents?
I heard that up north,
there is a German Jew who
specializes in German Jews--
Dr. Barkai.
When I called and told him
the story, he wasn't surprised.
He, too, had come across
"the Nazi's travelogues".
>> Dr. Barkai:
>> Grandfather was a zionist.
On the other hand, he was a
German patriot who was
decorated for his service
in world war I.
When he returned from
Palestine, he found a letter
on his desk.
The Nazis had fired him,
like all Jewish judges.
Yet, he and grandmother still
felt that Germany was their
home and even brought a new
baby into the world:
Hannahle, my mother.
>> Woman: "The chancellor of the
federal Republic of Germany and
Mrs. Helmut kohl request the
honor of the company of
Mrs. Gerda tuchler--"
>> mother speaking Hebrew:
>> One night, in the flat,
I found a magazine.
Clearly, it wasn't
grandmother's regular
reading material.
Looking through it, I landed
on a pair of s.S. Boots.
It was an article about the
Nazi who traveled to Palestine.
Von Mildenstein, it seems,
was not just a journalist,
but an s.S. Officer who
investigated the
Jewish question.
Suddenly, an unexpected name
popped up: Grandmother Gerda.
The magazine folded long ago,
but I was able to track down
elat negev and jehuda koren,
the writers of the article.
>> Jehuda:
>> I remember seeing an album
full of little pictures like
the ones jehuda and elat
gave me.
But at the time,
it didn't faze me.
In the album, it looks like two
couples from Berlin going on
vacation to the orient.
With Von mildenstein at the
wheel, they hit the dusty roads
of Palestine... waving to the
locals, photographing Jewish
pioneers and holy sites.
But grandmother and the
baroness preferred ice-cold
lemonade.
>> Hannah:
>> Arnon:
>> I wonder why the past never
made it into mother's home.
Here, everything is perfectly
new and perfectly in place.
That's how she raised US.
What's important is the here
and now.
All she takes from
grandmother's flat are
pleasant, little mementos.
When my grandmother died,
I realized that my family lives
only in the present.
So I take home anything that
smells a hundred years old
or older.
For the first time in my life,
I have a past.
But in that past, I keep
finding one name over and
over again.
>> Newsreel reporter
speaking Hebrew:
>> Man speaking Hebrew:
>> Speaking German:
>> Lawyer speaking Hebrew:
>> Speaking German:
>> Lawyer speaking Hebrew:
>> Speaking German:
>> Von mildenstein's idea,
as the head of the "department
of Jewish affairs", was to get
the Jews to leave their
homeland of their own volition.
This was realized just partly
by my grandparents.
Indeed, they packed up and left
Berlin, but after the war they
kept on packing and returned to
Germany year after year.
>> Arnon:
>> Hannah:
>> Woman on phone: Hallo?
>> Ahh... is it possible
to speak in English?
Is it possible?
>> I can, in English,
no problem.
>> Um... I'm calling from
Tel Aviv, from Israel.
My name is arnon Goldfinger.
>> Yes?
>> And I'm the grandson of Kurt
and Gerda tuchler.
>> You aren't.
>> Yeah, I am.
>> Really? >> Yeah!
>> Right! Carry on.
>> Do you know them?
>> Well, I knew...
Mr. Tuchler I knew.
Gerda tuchler...
Because they were friends with
my parents.
>> Yes, that's it.
>> Right!
>> Yeah, wow, it's a surprise
because...
>> I'm very surprised.
>> Yeah...
You know what happened?
My grandma, Gerda, passed away
not long ago... >> Oh.
>> Yeah, she was 98.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Fantastic age,
absolutely wonderful.
>> Yeah.
>> I hope she had a good life,
too. >> Yeah.
>> She was very, very bouncy
when she was here and to so
proudly telling of her
grandchildren and...
>> Yeah, I didn't know...
>> She gave me a very, very
sweet necklace with a turquoise
stone; I still have it and
cherish it very, very much.
Well, I mean, in a way, it's a
, definitely.
>> You know, frankly, i'm
surprised, you know, that you
answered and that you know them
and I'm very surprised, so I
even did not, you know...
You know, I have a bunch of
questions that I don't even know
what to do.
I need to think about it and
maybe call you again.
>> ...listen, let's not push it,
because, I mean, you have to
really sort of work through what
you find and make sense out of
it somehow...
>> Sure, sure, sure.
...in a sleepy suburb, in a
city I never heard of, lives
the Nazi baron's daughter.
One day her phone rings and
a man with a strange accent is
on the line.
She knows who he is
immediately.
It's the grandson of her
parents' good friends,
Kurt and Gerda tuchler.
She's flooded by memories, as
if they visited only yesterday.
But today, the grandson visits
instead.
>> Woman: Hello!
Take your coat off?
We should have a glass of
champagne, really.
Cheers.
>> You know, what really
surprised me on the phone when
we were speaking that, I mean,
about Gerda and Kurt and your
parents-- were they really
friends?
I mean, uh... after the war?
>> I think they were...
Well before the war, they were
obviously very, very close,
good friends and they discussed
a lot.
I knew them from the talks,
at a very early age, I knew the
names and I've really got to
meet them the first times when
they came into this house and
that was well after the war and,
uh, yeah, they were having good
times together.
Talking again from the past,
meaning half an hour after I was
in, I was sent out, it wasn't my
subject to be.
And no, they were really sort of
obviously close enough to do
this friendship and they seemed
to be sending letters at a
regular basis, both sides.
>> In German:
...can't read that.
56-26-56.
>> That's from here?
From wuppertal?
>> No, that is from Tel Aviv...
Gordon street.
>> Well, you told me on the
phone that you received from
Gerda... >> Yeah?
>> A necklace.
>> I now got more stuff to work
through than I thought was worth
living for.
I'm sure I haven't put it over
there somewhere.
Yes, it wasn't hiding away
anywhere-- I found it.
>> When did she give it to you?
>> They brought that, I think,
to my mind, the first time
they came.
And of course, when I saw that
picture, playing detective work,
I couldn't possibly imagine when
that one time, who might've been
the girl at the back.
Now, that, to my mind, could've
been your mother.
Don't you dare to say no.
>> Um...
>> Because all the others
are boys.
>> Yeah.
But this is actually already
Gerda's grandchild.
This is my... older brother.
>> O.k. >> This one.
>> One identified. >> Yeah.
>> And that's, quite obviously,
a boy.
>> And that's a cousin of mine.
>> That one?
>> Another cousin of mine.
>> O.k.
>> So that must be a picture
before I was born.
>> Oh.
>> Yeah.
So, how come you got this
picture?
>> I suppose that Gerda tuchler
sent it to my mother,
straightforward.
Mm-hmm. >> Mm-hmm.
>> Or they had it with them when
they came here and they left it
with her.
I think you'll just have to go
very sort of, like, hands up and
accept the fact that they were
two lots of people, obviously
got on very well.
>> You know, I'm curious to
understand them because for me,
it was a real surprise that
they, I mean, that my
grandparents kept in contact
after the war with, you know,
some Germans at all.
>> Yeah, funny, they did.
>> I try to imagine my
grandparents coming here, with
flowers and suitcases full
of gifts.
I still can't believe that they
renewed their friendship with
the Von mildensteins as if
nothing had ever happened.
...how was, uh, the first time
you, you know, coming to her
house, meeting her parents?
>> Edda: He survived it.
>> Uh, ja...
Well, that's quite a story and,
and...
They didn't want me, really, no,
as a son-in-law.
It can't have been my job
because I had quite a good
managerial position in that
company.
I think they would have
preferred a diplomat, you know,
or whatever, is my impression
because...
>> They, they very much moved in
diplomatic circles that, uh,
my parents-in-law and...
That must've been the reason.
>> Edda: That is the family
tree, as you could call it,
and it goes, really, as I say,
from the year 300-and-something.
Was I right?
Yes, I was right.
372...
Down to-- pull it, down at the
bottom-- on the bottom one...
>> Harald: Edda milz...
...Von mildenstein.
>> Arnon: What is the meaning of
the "Von"?
Baron or some kind of...?
>> No, that's old German gentry,
um, and...
Ja, that may also have been
the reason...
Not wanted to accept me as
a normal blue-blooded, uh--
red-blooded, not blue-blooded
person, you know.
I don't know whether you know
this difference.
In Germany we say, "he is
blue-blooded," so he is gentry,
or she is. >> Um...
>> Harald: Sorry, did you not
notice that I always go one step
behind my wife?
It's like prince Philip behind
the queen, you know, because she
is blue-blooded and I'm not.
>> Edda: He said that while I
walk around, yeah, yeah.
>> After edda and Harald got
married, they moved to the
United Kingdom, far away from
their parents.
30 years later, they returned
to Germany, to the house
where edda was raised.
Here edda found letters and
photos in a mess she couldn't
put in order.
>> Edda: Letters, letters,
letters.
>> Like me, she didn't have the
courage to throw away her
inheritance, so she stuck it in
the basement.
I didn't know how to ask her
what her father did during
the war.
Instead, I requested a picture
of him from that period.
>> Look, this is a miracle, that
we found it.
Maybe you want the light on.
>> Arnon: What is it?
>> That is the daily mail of
December the 10th, 1956.
"Goebbels men help nasser.
Four goebbels-trained Nazis are
the brains behind the torrent
of lies, abuse and powers
endlessly nasser's voice off
the arabs' radio station."
Um, "baron Von mildenstein,
formerly chief of the near east
bureau of goebbels propaganda
ministry..."
>> Was he working with goebbels?
>> Sorry?
>> Was your father working with
goebbels?
>> We got...
According to this gentleman,
yes, but there's absolutely no
proof, no nothing.
He never did work with goebbels.
>> Did he sue them?
>> Yes, a solicitor put up
the claim to sue them for libel
actions, and that, after--
I don't know, it may have taken
two months or whatever the legal
cases do in these countries--
and they, of course, had to
pay damages.
Then they had big headlines--
the other press, not the mail,
they had nothing in it--
the telegraph and the times and
they had that, the first German
journalist who actually fought
in British courts and won the
libel actions against them.
>> Here.
>> Do I have to read the
whole thing? >> Please.
>> Can I copy it for you?
"There was no truth
in the article.
So far as the plaintiff was
concerned, he was not a Nazi.
The defendant now recognizes the
allegations had been unjustified
and that they agreed to
compensate the plaintiff and to
pay his costs of proceeding."
Is that enough?
I should think so.
I suppose that's what
always happens with the press
when they get a little bit
over-excited in the wrong
direction.
>> I don't know what to
make of edda.
She received me with the warmth
and openness of a person who
has nothing to hide.
Yet, she presented her father
as having no Nazi past.
She even has the press
clippings to prove it.
And then she told me another
thing and I couldn't believe
my ears.
>> I know that there was one
problem that Kurt tuchler's
mother who lived...
In the northeast side of Berlin?
I don't know anything about her
other than she was already then
a very old lady and the tuchler
couple tried very hard to
convince her to leave Germany.
And she was like--
>> arnon: You mean the mother
of Gerda?
>> The mother of Kurt.
>> Of Kurt?
>> Yeah.
>> About what time are you
talking about?
I can't put a date
to that.
I only know that there was
a problem in the family,
in amongst the tuchlers, saying
that mother-- now whose ever it
was, whether hers or his, but
I should have mentioned that
it was his mother-- refused
to leave her house, her place,
her everything.
"Well, if you would come with
US," in brackets was said to
her, "then you could take all
your possessions with you, now."
And she said, "no, we've always
lived here."
And then history went that--
I think they even mentioned it
when they were here again--
of course, she was then taken to
theresienstadt and was
killed there.
Difficult.
>> How do the Von mildensteins
know things about my family
that no one ever told me?
>> When I return to Israel,
I find that strangers have
invaded the flat.
My mother called in
professionals who promised fast
removal for a fair price.
>> I had no idea that my
grandparents were carrying in
their hearts such a loss.
I realize that the woman edda
told me about must have been
my grandmother's mother,
susanne lehmann.
I go to tamar, a second cousin,
who enjoyed visiting
grandmother Gerda and writing
everything down.
>> The drama that followed
susanne's return to Germany
unfolds letter after letter.
My grandmother and her mother
corresponded continuously,
up to the moment susanne was
forced to leave her home and
was deported to the ghetto.
"My dear children, I received
your letter and as always i'm
happy to hear from you.
Day by day, my solitude
worsens.
There is not much left to do.
But I refuse to lose hope that
one day we shall see each
other again."
>> In my mother's photo album,
I find evidence of susanne
lehmann's visit to Tel Aviv.
Three generations of women
in one photograph, unaware that
this is the last picture they
will ever take together.
I scheduled a visit with
frau gertrud kino,
my grandmother's last
living friend.
>> Gertrud speaking Hebrew:
>> Grandmother probably knew
that gertrud wouldn't approve
of her friendship with the Von
mildensteins, just as she
couldn't relate to her longing
for Germany.
But the pictures keep revealing
a friendship that continued
after the war.
Here, my grandparents can be
seen on vacation with
Gerda Von mildenstein.
And here, the baron captured
them in front of a waterfall.
I don't understand how they
could reunite after what
happened to susanne?
>> Before mother goes on an
adventure, she always ties up
loose ends.
The things that managed to stay
on will now emigrate to an
unknown destination.
>> Two Jews on an airplane
to Germany.
As protocol would have it,
we must visit family first.
But of all the relatives
we had here, only a distant
one remains.
His name is manu troekes and
we're of the same generation.
His family survived the war
because his grandfather wasn't
Jewish, but he, too,
discovered one day that he had
a great-grandmother who died in
the holocaust: Paula lehmann.
>> Manu:
>> Hannah:
>> Woman speaking German:
>> Arnon: This is me, o.K.?
This is my mother and father.
This is Gerda... and Kurt.
And here, this is susanne
lehmann and Heinrich lehmann.
And he had four brothers
and a sister.
>> Hannah: Who?
>> Lehmann, Heinrich lehmann.
>> Heinrich lehmann.
>> Yes, yes, that's right.
>> Arnon: That's your
grandfather.
>> Hannah: I didn't know.
>> You didn't know?
>> No.
>> What?
O.k., continue.
Still, you're right,
you're right.
>> Arnon: And this is Paula.
Paula, the mother of
your grandmother. >> Yes.
>> And here's your mother.
>> Yes.
>> And here is you.
>> Exactly.
>> Manu.
>> Yes, exactly.
I show you what I did.
>> Woman: He did the
same paperwork.
>> The same paper I did.
>> A few days ago.
>> I started maybe a week ago
because I didn't-- I knew, but I
did not have all the details.
And uh, I got some details and
a photo, two photos,
from ilanna.
Ilanna's also the
same generation.
Of another brother--
Max lehmann.
>> Arnon: Max lehmann.
He is here.
>> Manu: He's the brother of
Heinrich lehmann and the brother
of Paula lehmann who's
Paula Bernstein.
>> To me, it's new.
>> I show you, wait.
>> To me, it's new.
I really didn't know.
>> Look.
>> Hannah: Oh.
>> My name is not lehmann,
of course, and yours is not
lehmann, but still, it is
our family.
It goes back one, two, three,
four generations.
>> I don't understand how
I don't know.
We didn't ask and we were
not told.
I knew only about the people who
are alive, but never about the
people who are not with US.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Did you know about the,
the destiny of Paula lehmann?
>> Yes, yes.
>> And how did you know
this story?
>> I asked.
But they said, "no."
They didn't want to hurt me,
but then much later, I learned
they didn't want to hurt
themselves too.
And one of the most horrifying
things is that they let go
my great-grandmother.
She was deported.
She ended in theresienstadt.
So what did the family do?
Did they bring her with a
suitcase to the truck?
Did they-- why did they
leave, let her go?
And why did not somebody
hide her?
I mean, even from the family.
>> Yeah.
Is it possible they didn't
know where she was going?
>> No.
Everybody knew.
>> Afternoon has come and in
Berlin, do as the berliners
do-- after schlafstunde,
time for spazieren.
>> Manu:
>> Ja?
>> Hier.
>> Hier ist Paula.
Guntherstrasse 45.
>> That was her last apartment?
>> Yes. >> Wow.
And here, look, there's
ein stolperstein.
To memory, Paula lehmann, here.
>> Hannah: No. >> Manu: Yeah!
>> I didn't know that they
put that--
>> Hannah: Unbelievable.
>> Manu: It's an artist who had
the idea, an artist.
And then either a family
or friend or somebody...
>> Pays for it.
>> Pays for this and then you
have to ask the community and
this is for Paula.
>> That's for--
>> manu: This is for Paula.
>> Paula lehmann isn't my only
relative who lived here.
The home of susanne lehmann
was a quick walk away.
When susannah would go to visit
her sister-in-law, she'd take
little hannahle along, to show
off her granddaughter.
>> It is from here that my
grandparents tried to rescue
susanne lehmann.
They wrote from Palestine to
anyone who could help and also
tried desperately to locate
their good friend.
He now had a code name: "Mild".
I don't know if Von mildenstein
ever received their letters or
where he was in those years.
Could he have helped?
>> Hannah and arnon: Hi.
>> Edda: How are you?
Did you have a good journey?
>> Yes.
>> Edda: There's ravensburger
jigsaws.
>> Arnon: Ah.
>> Edda: If they like that.
It's great fun.
>> Arnon: My daughter loves
presents.
>> Edda: That is very nice.
You know what a tige-ente is?
It's a tiger-duck.
>> I must admit, it's my
birthday today, you know?
>> Hannah and arnon: Oh!
>> I didn't want to tell
you before.
>> Hannah: Happy birthday!
>> Thank you.
>> Arnon: So Harald, this is
for your birthday.
>> Yeah.
>> I hope you will like it.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Arnon: Yes.
And this is for your
hospitality.
>> I'm not doing anything
for you.
Oh, that is wonderful.
>> Arnon: This is from
the dead sea.
>> Oh, that's great.
>> Israel folk songs.
Ja, gut.
>> Edda: Thank you very,
very much.
And
put it, uh...
>> Before we arrived, edda dug
up new evidence of the
friendship between her parents
and my grandparents.
...oh, I don't believe it.
...her mother's old diaries
from the time after their trip
to Palestine.
>> Edda: Mother's diaries, yes.
They are something.
Well, there's tuchlers again.
That was a theater or a film.
I think I would get so bored to
go to the same restaurant.
Well, there's tuchlers again.
That was on the 13th.
>> Arnon: 13th of what?
>> November.
Just before they left, but they
stayed even closer together
just before they left.
>> Yes.
>> Understandable. >> Yes.
>> Edda speaking German:
...that was it.
>> Harald: It's coming,
it's coming!
>> Man speaking German:
>> Arnon: Mazel tov!
>> Friendly fire.
>> Happy birthday.
>> Stay like this.
Yes.
>> Arnon: Edda.
Mazel tov.
Arnon: I was asking my mother
what happened the second world
war for our family?
And she claimed that her parents
didn't tell her nothing.
>> Hannah: No, they were not
talking about it.
>> Edda: I think that was the
kind of education we got then.
You know, parents wouldn't talk
about it and you wouldn't ask
because you weren't allowed
to ask.
>> Also, with US, it... we don't
have any discussion, any--
it was holes.
>> But that was the way that we
were brought up.
We didn't really get an
awful lot of...
>> But I remember very well
during the war, we had no radio,
we had no electricity and the
Americans and the British,
they put posters on the walls
and so on and informed US about
these concentration camps.
And people didn't believe it.
They said, "it's all
propaganda, it's all,"
you know, um, ja.
Done by the Americans
and British.
They just didn't believe it.
It's... you couldn't believe it
and then all of a sudden, ja,
it is the truth, you know.
And I remember that the word
"Nazi" wasn't there,
it was "nationalsozialisten"
this word "Nazi" came after
the war-- we never used it.
>> Arnon: And today you use it?
>> Pardon?
>> Today, do you use the word
Nazi here in--
>> oh, yeah, all the time.
Nazi, Nazi.
"Oh, he was a Nazi," and so on.
Mm-hmm.
>> So you are the
famous neighbor.
Edda told me about you.
Any question I have, you are
>> Edda speaking German:
>> Neighbor speaking German:
>> Harald: The little house
where you sit and have your
tea in the afternoon.
>> And what was actually the
story with the father of edda?
I didn't get it.
>> Well, I learned a lot today
when jedel talked about it.
I didn't know edda's father was,
he is an engineer,
civil engineer, really.
And as such, I think he also
worked and um,
but he liked traveling...
>> But during that time in the
beginning, was he part of the
national socialistic party?
>> Oh, he must have been, ja.
Ja.
Edda would know.
I think he has been,
he must have been.
As many have been, like our
teachers all were members of the
party-- they had to be, and uh,
nothing re-- they just wore this
little emblem here and um,
that was it.
I must say, not everybody was a
bad, a bad Nazi, you know.
They were also just members.
Had to, some had to be.
>> But do you know what
was his job?
>> Pardon?
>> What was his job?
>> I think he was, um...
Ja, it's strange to say,
I don't really know.
He worked in government,
in the, I think in the
interior ministry.
But edda would know exactly,
of course.
And it's strange enough that
we never-- edda and i-- we
hardly ever talk about it.
>> Really?
>> Not a topic.
I don't know. >> Really?
>> And I never had so much
interest in my father-in-law as
we had today, you know?
>> There was a time when the
name Von mildenstein must have
aroused more interest.
When the eichmann trial was on
German TV and the baron's name
came up, what did edda's
parents say about it at home?
She was 21.
>> I don't know.
I mean, yes, of course, he was
mentioned simply because he was
the chap before eichmann.
But he was thrown out because
he had other ideas.
>> Arnon: And what was his way
different from the others?
>> Huh?
>> In what way his method or
way of working was different
from the others?
>> Oh, I don't know what the
others were like,
but I mean, he--
>> eichmann was--
>> particularly eichmann.
I don't know what he,
his beginning views of what
he actually stood for.
I haven't a clue.
But what I read in the books say
he immediately organized things
like concentration camps, etc.
That was something he hadn't
even, father hadn't even heard
about before.
They wanted to get serious,
really, and they didn't want to
have anybody who would hinder
that and he was sort of being,
very much "he's not going
to do anything to any Jews.
He's got Jewish friends anyway.
So, we drop him" and he had very
quickly to rethink "what am
I going to do?
What's the next step?"
And he said, "the best is if I
carry on with what I was good at
so far, which was writing about
where I'm traveling."
And then he decided to go
to America.
>> He left Germany?
>> He did, yeah.
That's when he took the boat
and then rode-- I think four
years he went out from.
Um, after that, as I say, he
tried to put a little bit more
space between him and whoever
was in power in Berlin.
When was he actually arrested?
Was it '50s?
>> Eichmann.
>> Eichmann?
It was in '61.
>> Close.
O.k., '61.
And I think his then boss at
Coca-Cola-- and I haven't got
the papers for that--
suggested that he would more or
less take the bull by the horn,
which is a word that if there is
a problem, tackle it.
And he got together with
der spiegel, which is a very,
was a very well-known--
aggressive, in a way--
publication.
He said, "just put it
right there."
And he wrote his side of the
time there and that was it and
it was never another item.
Because basically, all he was,
he was doing this
journalistic work.
>> We said goodbye to edda and
Harald and promised to stay
in touch.
I found the article
edda mentioned.
She got some of the
details wrong.
It was published five years
after the eichmann trial and
dealt with s.S. History.
In it, edda's father is not
listed as a journalist,
but as eichmann's first boss.
I called heinz hoehne,
the man who wrote the article.
Much to my surprise,
he recognized my grandfather's
name immediately.
Von mildenstein made a point of
telling him about Kurt tuchler,
presenting himself as
"the zionists' best friend".
>> Hello, Mr. Goldfinger!
Very nice to see you.
This is my wife.
>> Arnon: Did you meet my
grandfather, Kurt tuchler?
:
>> And when Von mildenstein came
to your office, what else did he
tell you about his relationship
with my grandfather?
>> But the eichmann trial
happened already five years
before, so they already heard
about it--
>> So what Von mildenstein
actually did during the war?
>> When heinz hoehne researched
s.s. History, many documents
were off limits to him because
they were kept in east Germany.
I go to the reunited national
archives to find what
hoehne couldn't.
As it turns out,
many Von mildenstein documents
survived the war.
Among them: A membership card
from the Nazi party before they
took power; A letter of
appointment as an s.S. Officer;
and a c.V. In his
own handwriting.
1935 to '36: Head of department
at the s.D.,
the secret service.
1937: A trip abroad,
just like edda said.
But oops-- 1938:
Goebbels' ministry of
propaganda, where he spent
seven years as
a department head.
So Von mildenstein didn't quit
the party, he was promoted
within its ranks-- less than a
year after he said good-bye
to my grandparents.
I just can't understand the
relationship between my
grandparents and
Von mildenstein and no one
seems to offer a
satisfying explanation.
So I turn to an expert on
Nazis and denial,
professor Michael wildt.
>> Hi. >> Hello.
>> Happy to see you. >> Hello.
>> Arnon: My biggest surprise
was that I found out that the
tuchlers and mildenstein were
in contact also after the war.
They renewed their friendship.
And I cannot understand it.
How can it be?
>> I look at pictures of my
grandparents returning to
Germany time and again,
as if they wanted to prove that
their homeland didn't
reject them.
And I try to imagine their
first talk with Von mildenstein
after the war.
Did he tell them what he told
his daughter, that he left it
all behind, to travel around
the world?
And did they, in order to deal
with the loss of
susanne lehmann, choose to
believe their friend
wasn't involved?
But my dilemma is not what to
believe or not to believe.
I have to decide what to do
with what I know.
>> You know, but what I found
and I felt that I must tell you
because you know, because of
our, you know, some kind of a
friendship that's started even
between US, is um, I found out
information about your father,
what I found to document that he
was working in the goebbels'
ministry and he was officer in
the s.D., which was the
intelligence for the s.S.,
and that's really different
from what I knew so far.
>> Yeah, I don't quite believe
that because he wasn't
there anymore.
He was not in Berlin after--
I don't know whether the forces
were sort of gathering up or if
he stayed long enough, he would
have been in the forces himself.
He didn't.
Because that's when they went
to Japan.
>> I went to the bundesarchiv
and this is something that
I copied for you.
>> Yeah, o.K.
>> See, this is uh, that's his
handwriting, yeah?
>> Yep.
>> Here he writes in his c.V.
That he joined goebbels'
ministry in the...
>> O.k., I mean, that is like
a skeleton.
I've got something where if I
found the pieces, I could patch
them to that, but not more
than that.
With all fairness and even
wanting to do it, I wouldn't
know where to start
at the minute.
>> There is a whole file in the
bundesarchiv, but you can ask
if you are interesting in it.
>> Yeah, I mean, I'm interested,
like, you know, if you've got
someone in the family who's done
something, you want to find out
what was he thinking about it
and why did it sort of--
where did he go and where was
the rest of the family at
that time?
Um... gives nothing really on
that, does it?
>> You think it will help to--
do you want to learn about
the past?
>> I want to learn around it,
but I'd like to sort of--
preferably-- see different sides
of it as well, if that
is possible.
Um...
Anything else?
>> When you start talking about
the past, it's impossible
to stop.
Who would have imagined that my
mother and I would visit the
grave of Heinrich lehmann,
susanne's husband,
my mother's grandfather,
my great-grandfather.
>> Hannah, in Hebrew:
>> Hannah: Wow, wow, wow.
>> Arnon: Wow, wow, wow.