Deaths-Head Revisited is the ninth episode of the third season of The Twilight Zone, and was first broadcast in November of 1961. It was written by Rod Serling and starred Oscar Beregi, Jr. and as SS Captain Lutze, and Joseph Schildkraut as concentration camp victim Becker. It also features a small roll for Kaaren Verne.

The episode starts when Captain Lutze, a nazi who has been living in South America, returns to Dachau for the purpose of gloating, and is surprised to see the ex-prisoner Becker there, still dressed in his camp uniform. Lutze soon realizes that Becker has died, and that it is Becker's ghost in front of him. Becker and a host of other prisoners then recite a list of his crimes, and sentence him to the punishment of reliving all the pains and torments he inflicted on his prisoners for the rest of his life. The episode ends with a catatonic Lutze being carted away.

This is a pretty stark episode, as well it should be. The format of this episode is almost experimental: it focuses as a tract for Rod Serling to remind viewers of the enormity of nazi crimes, rather than as a story in its own right. A story requires drama of some sort: characters must make decisions or develop. But Captain Lutze has already made his decisions, and there is no redemption possible for him. And for his victims, there is no way they can forgive Lutze. The enormity of the subject matter permeates this episode.

It should also be noted that the cast were well chosen for their roles. Along with Serling, who is Jewish, Schildkraut was also Jewish, and is famous for playing the role of Alfred Dreyfuss in The Life of Emile Zola and Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. Beregi was Hungarian, but left Europe before the rise of Hitler. Kaaren Verne, although not Jewish, was German and fled Germany to escape Hitler. I don't know if this episode could have been done with a cast of American actors, and it just shows how much precision Serling put into each episode of The Twilight Zone.

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