Tribunal (The Outer Limits)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Tribunal
Series = The Outer Limits


Caption =
Season = 5
Episode = 12
Airdate = 14 May, 1999
Production = 100
Writer = Sam Egan
Director = Mario Azzopardi
Photographer =
Guests = Saul Rubinek as Aaron Zgierski, Alex Zahara as Karl Rademacher, Jan Rubes as Older Karl Rademacher/Robert Greene, Roman Danylo as Leon Zgierski, Peter Boretski as Older Leon Zgierski, Alex Diakun as Nicholas Prentice
Episode list = List of "The Outer Limits" episodes
Prev = Ripper
Next = Summit

"Tribunal" is an episode of "The Outer Limits" television show. It first aired on 14 May, 1999, during the fifth season.

Introduction

Leon Zgierski, an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1944, is forced to watch as his wife is shot and killed by S.S. Obersturmführer Karl Rademacher – and two SS guards drag away Leon's daughter to what he believes are the gas chambers. The murder is witnessed by a mysterious man who writes in a notebook, holds up an antique watch and vanishes in a flash of light.

Many years later, Aaron – Leon Zgierski's son by a second marriage – becomes obsessed with tracking down Rademacher and bringing him to justice.

Opening Narration

"It is said that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. But what dangers await those who cannot forget the past, those obsessed with reliving it?"

Plot

Aaron is sure he has finally found Rademacher in the United States, living under the name Robert Greene – but is unable to find enough evidence to convince the authorities to prosecute Greene. Aaron confronts Greene and angrily denounces him as a war criminal with little success. Greene insists that he is not Rademacher, but - realizing that he has been found - makes plans to leave for Argentina to avoid any possible prosecution.

Nicholas Prentice, the mysterious man with the antique watch, appears and gives Aaron some artifacts from the camp: a jacket and a notebook of names and details. Aaron continues to build his case, but the authorities are reluctant to get involved even with the evidence provided by Prentice.

Determined to find out more about Nicholas Prentice, Aaron breaks into the man's hotel room. After searching the room, Aaron finds an antique watch with high-technology innards. He accidentally activates the device, drops it, and finds himself back in the 1944 concentration camp with his father and Rademacher – with no way to return home. The watch is actually a time travel device, and Prentice is from the late 21st Century. Fortunately for Aaron, Prentice returns to his hotel room and finds the dropped watch. He realises what must have happened, follows Aaron back to 1944, and returns him to his own time.

Having seen the camp conditions and Rademacher's crimes for himself, Aaron becomes even more determined to bring the war criminal to justice. Things look slightly hopeful when the artifacts given to Aaron create sufficient grounds for a deportation hearing. Unfortunately, Prentice visits with bad news: future history records that as the evidence mounted, "Robert Greene" bought a one-way ticket to Argentina and was never heard from again. Livid, Aaron goes to Greene's/Rademacher's house with a gun and demands a confession. Prentice follows him, and explains that he is actually Aaron's great-grandson. If Aaron kills Greene and goes to prison, Prentice will cease to exist. Aaron agrees not to shoot Greene, realizing that it would only cause more harm to Aaron's family. Prentice gives Aaron a bag with two S.S. camp guard uniforms and camp inmate clothing. They force Greene to put on the inmate clothing, and the three of them travel back to 1944.

Greene sees his younger self and tries to explain who he is, but young Rademacher shoots him, believing the old man to be just another Jewish prisoner. Aaron then sees his half-sister Hannah. He and Prentice, in their disguise as SS guards, drag Hannah away and order Leon to be sent to a labor camp (because history recorded that everyone who did not report to the labor camp would later be executed by the SS), thus fulfilling the flow of history - earlier, young Leon had seen his daughter taken away by the SS, not realizing that the guards were actually Aaron and Prentice in disguise.

Back in the present day, Aaron visits his father, the elderly Leon Zgierski, and introduces him to Hannah, identified by the camp number still tattooed on her arm.

Closing narration

"The wounds of war run deep, cutting across generations. But there is always the hope of healing, so long as there are souls among us whose hearts are more full of love than hate."

Trivia

* At the end of the episode is a note from the writer, Sam Egan: "Dedicated to my father who survived Auschwitz... and to his wife and daughter who did not."
* The Nicholas Prentice character appears in at least two other episodes of "The Outer Limits": "Gettysburg" and "Time to Time".
* This is the 100th episode of the series.
* When the camera pans over the concentration camp, a very brief image of one of the prisoners wearing an inverted pink triangle can be seen. This was the symbol used for male homosexuals.
* The phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" <"work makes free(dom)"> can be seen on the gate of the concentration camp and has added irony in this episode.

External links

* [http://www.theouterlimits.com/episodes/season6/61.htm Episode guide at The Outer Limits site]