Aaron Zgierski is a "Nazi hunter" who tracks down ex-Nazi officers in order to ensure they are prosecuted for their war crimes. His methods are limited to research and personal investigations until he meets a mysterious man who has access to incredible evidence against Aaron's current target.
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
Leon Zgierski, an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1944, is forced to watch as his wife Miriam is shot and killed by SS-Obersturmführer Karl Rademacher, with their young daughter Hannah. The murder is witnessed by a mysterious man who writes a list of names of the victims that Rademacher personally murdered in a digital notebook. However, before he can be taken, he steals Rademacher's greatcoat, holds up a pocket watch and vanishes in a flash of light.
Decades later, Aaron — Leon's son by a second marriage to another Holocaust survivor named Helen - is an attorney seeking justice for his father's first wife's murder and his half-sister's presumed death (Leon had witnessed two of Rademacher's guards taking Hannah to what he believes was the gas chambers). After Aaron was born, Leon named his son after a kind stranger with whom he and Hannah had a positive experience before the latter's disappearance.
Having finally found Rademacher in Philadelphia under the alias Robert Greene, Aaron confronts Greene and denounces him as a war criminal with little success. Greene (Rademacher), knowing that he has been discovered, books a one-way ticket to Argentina to avoid prosecution. Aaron enlists his former wife and assistant district attorney Gwen Sawyer (whom he divorced under good terms and is on the verge of reconciliation), in order to build his case.
Nicholas Prentice, the mysterious man with the antique watch, appears and gives Aaron some artifacts and files from the camp. As Aaron continues building his case against Greene, he seeks to learn about Prentice to determine whether he truly is an ally. Aaron follows Prentice to his hotel room, where he finds an antique watch with advanced technology on the inside. He accidentally activates the device and finds himself back in the 1944 concentration camp with his father and Rademacher's younger selves. In the process, he finally meets his half-sister. The young Leon and Hannah, not knowing their relations to Aaron, bond with him due to his compassion.
Prentice follows Aaron and returns him to his proper time, revealing that the watch is a time travel device and he is a time traveler from the late 21st century. As an agent of the future's law enforcement agency called the Tribunal, he is assigned to ensure that Rademacher is prosecuted by the 20th century's authorities by creating loopholes for Aaron to exploit without altering the timeline.
Having seen the camp conditions and Rademacher's crimes for himself, in addition to grieving over Hannah's fate, Aaron becomes vengeful. Eventually, Aaron, despite knowing that Gwen would doubt him, tells her about Prentice. Although there is now sufficient evidence against Greene, Prentice reveals that documents in the future show that Greene escaped to Argentina and was never heard from again. Aaron then goes to Greene's house with Prentice's gun and threatens to kill him, leading Prentice to reveal that he is Aaron's great-grandson. Although he is able to persuade Aaron not to become a murderer for the sake of his future descendants, Prentice does share his need for revenge and gives him a bag with two S.S. camp guard uniforms and camp inmate clothing. Once Aaron understands Prentice's plan, they put on the uniforms and force Greene to don the inmate clothing. The three of them travel back to 1944.
Aaron and Prentice orchestrate the meeting between Greene and his younger counterpart; Greene tries to explain who he is but the young Rademacher shoots him, believing his future self to be just another old Jewish prisoner. Thus, under the causal loop of time travel, Rademacher is destined to be murdered by his younger self in the past. Seeing Hannah still alive, Aaron grabs her and orders the guards nearby to send Leon to a labor camp (because whoever did not report there would be executed by the SS), thus fulfilling the flow of history and securing Aaron and Prentice's existences. The elderly Leon is haunted by the memory of seeing his daughter being taken away, not knowing that the guards were his time traveling descendants in disguise. In addition, Leon's early experience with Aaron would later lead him to name his future son after him following his second marriage.
Back in the present day, Aaron visits his father, the elderly Leon, and introduces him to Hannah - identified by the camp number still tattooed on her arm. Aaron has adopted his time displaced half-sister as his daughter, allowing their elderly father to be close to her. Gwen is convinced about Aaron's claims after meeting Prentice and Hannah. Sharing Aaron's adoration to Hannah, Gwen has reconciled her marriage to him in order to provide his new daughter a mother.
A fulfilled and yet deeply humbled Nicholas Prentice watches the tearful reunion between his ancestors from nearby, before quietly walking away and dematerializing as he returns to his own time.
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." |
Notes
- This is the 100th episode of the series, provided that the feature length pilot "Sandkings" is counted as two episodes. Otherwise, it is the 99th episode.
- The episode's screenwriter, Sam Egan, is the son of a Holocaust survivor and it is dedicated to his family members who did not survive. The dedication reads as follows:
Dedicated to my father
who survived Auschwitz...
and to his wife and daughter
who did not.
Sam Egan
Executive Producer
- Zgierski was the Egan family's original surname, which they changed after becoming American citizens in 1956.[1]
- Sam Egan previously wrote the Quincy, M.E. episode "Stolen Tears", which similarly involves a Holocaust survivor named Hyam Zgierski and an SS officer named Otto Rademacher living in hiding under an assumed name. Both Rademachers are called "Der Teufel" (meaning "the Devil") by the survivors.
- This episode is included on The Outer Limits: Time Travel & Infinity Collection DVD set.
- Nicholas Prentice would later return in "Gettysburg" and "Time to Time", making him the only character to appear in three episodes of the series.
- Archive footage of this episode was later used in the clip show "Final Appeal". A shot of Nicholas Prentice was replaced with one of Wallace Langham as Ezekiel to make it fit into that episode's story.
Cast
- Saul Rubinek as Aaron Zgierski
- Alex Diakun as Nicholas Prentice
- Alex Zahara as SS-Obersturmführer Karl Rademacher
- Peter Boretski as Leon Zgierski
- Jan Rubeš as Robert Greene / Older Karl Rademacher
- Lindsay Crouse as Gwen Sawyer
- Roman Danylo as Young Leon Zgierski
- Holly Ferguson as Miriam Zgierski
- Kyra Azzopardi as Hannah Zgierski
- Robert Weiss as Guard
- Apollonia Vanova as Female Prisoner
- Vincent Walker as Prisoner (as Vince Walker)
- Sue Astley as Grace
- Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)
References
| Innobotics Corporation | "Valerie 23" • "Resurrection" • "The Hunt" • "Mary 25" • "In Our Own Image" | |
| Major John Skokes | "Quality of Mercy" • "The Light Brigade" | |
| Alien Infiltration | "Birthright" • "The Voice of Reason" | |
| Strong Brothers Investigate Conspiracies | "The Voice of Reason" • "A Special Edition" | |
| Dr. Theresa Givens' Time Machine | "A Stitch in Time" • "Better Luck Next Time" • "Final Appeal" | |
| Genetic Rejection Syndrome | "Unnatural Selection" • "Criminal Nature" | |
| The New Masters | "The Camp" • "Promised Land" | |
| Dr. Martin Nodel | "Double Helix" • "The Origin of Species" | |
| USAS | "The Joining" • "The Vessel" • "In the Blood" | |
| Earth Coalition-Free Alliance Conflict | "Phobos Rising" • "The Human Factor" • "Human Trials" | |
| Jack the Ripper | "Ripper" • "Better Luck Next Time" | |
| Nicholas Prentice | "Tribunal" • "Gettysburg" • "Time to Time" | |