Fritz Bauer: Tod auf Raten

In the conservative (and often anti-democratic) Cold War climate of post war West Germany, Fritz Bauer, the General State Attorney (Prosecutor) of Hess and Lower Saxonia, like no other, saw clearly and spoke frankly. He fearlessly and tirelessly promoted the democratization of the country. We will pull back the curtain on the political climate of the young republic of West Germany and reveal the faults of the Adenauer era as well as the obstacles Fritz Bauer faced while trying to promulgate democracy. The investigation will be supported by moving testimonies and impressive archival documents
　　After 37 years as a cold case, we may hit some dead ends in our investigation; much of the 'Bauer File' is still classified and under lock and key.... But the deeper we delve into Bauer's life, the more we discover an exceptional personality. That is the man we want to memorialize with this film.
　　WHO WAS FRITZ BAUER?
　　He was the most widely known public prosecutor in the Federal Republic of Germany. A Social Democratic legal philosopher and human rights advocate, he believed that "discomfort was the first civil duty." Bauer was convinced that a citizen had not only the right but the duty to resist brutal acts of the state. He fought for this in a sensational trial in Braunschweig (1952/53), the so-called “Remer Trial” ( Ernst Remer had accused the July 20, 1944 conspirators -- who attempted to assassinate Hitler -- of being traitors). Bauer won the slander suit and the conspirators were rehabilitated. Bauer also used the trial to justify and defend the meaning of resistance against Hitler
　　With the Remer trial as a precedent, Bauer used his newfound notoriety to reveal and avenge other Nazi-crimes. As Attorney General for the state of Hesse (1956-1968), he was the leading prosecutor of the world famous Frankfurt Auschwitz Trails.
　　Bauer also played an important part in the abduction and extradition of the notorious Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann. Since he had reasonable suspicions that the German Court would neither demand extradition of Eichmann nor properly indict him for the many thousands of murders he had ordered, Bauer revealed the whereabouts of the notorious executor of the “Final Solution” to the Israeli secret service (the Mossad), so that Eichmann could be tried and sentenced in Jerusalem.
　　During his term of office in Frankfurt, Hesse became the leading state in the campaign to reform the West German judicial system. To Bauer, its “humanization” was essential for a humane society.
　　Through his frequent, often sensational appearances -- he once addressed prisoners as "my comrades" -- and because of his relentless pursuit of Nazi crimes, Bauer became a disturber of the peace while the Adenauer government was trying to ignore National Socialist crimes. Criticism of Bauer came from both the political right and left. Bauer’s essays and speeches with titles such as ”The Murderers Among Us" and "In the End were the Gas Chambers" offended many ordinary Germans in the 1950's and 60's. Bauer, a Jew, became the target of anti-Semitic slurs. Ordinary middle class Germans who had failed – or refused -- to recognize the danger of handing over power to Hitler, were similarly indifferent to the Nazis who still held government positions in the young Federal Republic. Bauer was horrified that German society paid no heed to its past; there was no possibility of a new beginning with these old attitud