Deaths-Head Revisited
| "Deaths-Head Revisited" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 9 |
| Directed by | Don Medford |
| Written by | Rod Serling |
| Featured music | Stock |
| Production code | 4804 |
| Original air date | November 10, 1961 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Oscar Beregi, Jr.: Captain Lutze (Mr. Schmidt) |
|
Oscar Beregi, Jr.: Captain Lutze (Mr. Schmidt)
Joseph Schildkraut: Becker
Karen Verne: Inn Keeper
Robert Boon: Taxi Driver
Ben Wright: The Doctor
Chuck Fox: 23575 (uncredited)
"Deaths-Head Revisited" is episode 74 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The story was later adapted for The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas starring H.M. Wynant. The title is a play on the Evelyn Waugh novel Brideshead Revisited.
Gunther Lutze, a former SS captain, checks into a hotel in Dachau, Bavaria, under the name "Schmidt". The receptionist seems to recognize him, but he deflects suspicion by claiming to have spent the war serving on the Eastern Front. After harassing the woman by forcing her to explain what the Nazis were doing in Dachau, he returns to the ruins of Dachau concentration camp to recall his time as its commandant during World War II. As he strolls around the camp, he revels in the recollections of the torment he inflicted on the inmates.
Lutze is surprised to see Alfred Becker, one of the camp's former inmates and a particular victim of Lutze's cruelty. Lutze supposes that Becker is now the caretaker of the camp, to which Becker replies "In a manner of speaking." As they talk, Becker relentlessly dogs Lutze with the reality of his grossly inhumane treatment of the inmates, while Lutze insists that he was only carrying out his orders. Lutze tries to leave, but finds the gate locked. In one of the camp buildings, Becker and several other inmates put Lutze on trial for crimes against humanity and find him guilty. Becker is about to pronounce the sentence when Lutze remembers that he killed Becker 17 years ago on the night American troops came close to Dachau. As punishment, Lutze is made to undergo the same horrors he had imposed on the inmates in the form of tactile illusions. He screams in agony and collapses. Before departing, Becker's ghost informs him, "This is not hatred. This is retribution. This is not revenge. This is justice. But this is only the beginning, Captain. Only the beginning. Your final judgment will come from God."
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