Synopsis of “Time Intervals of Werner Bab” by Christian Ender

Werner Bab was born October 2, 1924 in Oberhausen. Since 1929 he lived in Berlin. As consequences of the race-laws legislated in Nürnberg in1935 and other restrictive laws, made the visit of public schools no longer permissible to him as a German Jew, he was forced to visit a boarding school for Jewish children in Stettin after a short stay in Schneidemühl.

After the imprisonment of all the teachers and the closing of the school after The Night of Broken Glass in November 1938, Werner Bab returned to Berlin.

After a failed escape in 1942 (he wanted to escape the threat of his deportation) he was arrested by the Gestapo at the Swiss border. In the following months he was sent to the concentration camp Auschwitz.

Only a small minority of Jewish fellow-citizens were able to survive the consequences of the national socialist reign of terror which consisted of forced labour, destruction of family-bonds, deportation and finally by the Holocaust.

Very few people exceptionally survived Auschwitz. Although Werner Bab was selected for “the special treatment”, execution by gas, he survived.

This film gives insight in the living conditions of Jewish citizens since 1933 in Germany and the everyday life in the concentration camps, such as in the Main camp of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Ebensee.

Unfortunately the biographies of Werner Bab cannot be seen as a paradigm:

Only a minority could experience the end of the war and could be taken care of in the Displaced-Person-camps.

DVD: “Time intervals” of Werner Bab

main movie: “time intervals” 37:39 min
appendix: “return after 60 years” 09:30 min
short films: Werner Bab audio commentary
“music in Auschwitz” 02:31 min
“passivity of the German people” 02:34 min
“clothing in Auschwitz” 01:00 min
“Ignorance” 02:42 min
“Typification” 02:11 min
“Tatooing in Auschwitz” 02:01 min
“Destiny of the family” 03:08 min
Photographs

Film/Musik/Fotos: Christian Ender
Deutschland, 2005
Musik:  Album “Check it out”, C&S Records, Göttingen 1996