For educational purposes
The Nazi-propaganda fashioned a legend out of him which was longer lasting than the Reich to whose service he intended to devote his entire life.
The legend of the "Desert Fox", of the brilliant commander of the Afrika Korps, to this day finds admirers among friend and foe.
As a reward, the dictator promoted him to the rank of field marshal, the youngest of the Wehrmacht.
Only a very few perceived that Rommel with open eyes favor rextended his lines of supply and, as a result, he himself set the stage for the fall of the "Afrika Korps".
Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel, the hero of North Africa, fitted perfectly with the cliches of Nazi propaganda.
In October 1944, however, Rommel was forced to take his own life, as Hitler was convinced that the 'Desert Fox' was implicated in the July Bomb Plot.
The Nazi-propaganda fashioned a legend out of him which was longer lasting than the Reich to whose service he intended to devote his entire life.
The legend of the "Desert Fox", of the brilliant commander of the Afrika Korps, to this day finds admirers among friend and foe.
As a reward, the dictator promoted him to the rank of field marshal, the youngest of the Wehrmacht.
Only a very few perceived that Rommel with open eyes favor rextended his lines of supply and, as a result, he himself set the stage for the fall of the "Afrika Korps".
Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel, the hero of North Africa, fitted perfectly with the cliches of Nazi propaganda.
In October 1944, however, Rommel was forced to take his own life, as Hitler was convinced that the 'Desert Fox' was implicated in the July Bomb Plot.
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LearningTranscript
00:00October the 14th, 1944. The driver of the black limousine from Berlin is in a hurry.
00:13The man in the back seat is dying. A war hero. The telegram of condolence has already been
00:23dictated. The murderer's wreath is on its way. He had heaped honours upon him and made
00:35him a field marshal. An idol of the people. A tragic figure.
01:05A suicide on orders from the very top. A funeral ceremony which marks
01:34pain. No one is meant to find out what happened, but the family knows.
02:05On the battlefield of Normandy, General Field Marshal Rommel suffered serious injuries in an accident with a lorry.
02:13It was a dull feeling of powerlessness. I hoped that it would be over soon.
02:25General Field Marshal von Rundstedt submits the wreath of the Führer to his memorial service.
02:32This humiliation, that he was given a state funeral. The whole system was so lied to. Terrible.
02:43The system turned Erwin Rommel, the victor at Tobruk, into a legend. A hero of propaganda.
02:52A fatal pact with power. The peak of his career, September 1942.
03:00The regime needed winners. Things were not going well in Russia.
03:08Hitler's favourite general, the evening star. Goebbels directed a ceremony to which not only
03:16the German people, but the whole world will respond enthusiastically. How to make an idol.
03:22A brave soldier, the hero of Africa. A puppet of the regime.
03:53Hitler was still his idol. Hitler's medal was proof of favour, and a spur to greater achievement.
04:00An iron cross first class with swords and diamonds.
04:06He already had the highest German medal.
04:12Pour la Merite, for an act of bravery in the First World War.
04:16During the peace of the Weimar Republic, he trained soldiers on the parade ground. Duty,
04:21obedience, the fatherland. The ethos of an apolitical soldier who wanted the shackles
04:27of Versailles lifted, no matter by whom.
04:36March 1933. To the ringing of the Potsdam garrison church bell, a play was added to the
04:42New Chancellor deceived his listeners by invoking old traditions which meant nothing to him.
04:48Rommel was impressed and wrote, what a stroke of luck for our country.
04:54We will always fight for its greatness and strength.
04:59Hitler noticed Rommel. The dispatch runner who had risen to be Führer was impressed by
05:05infantry attacks. Rommel's book on the First World War.
05:08Because of Hitler, Rommel's career prospered.
05:14As the head of the Führer's personal military escort,
05:17he witnessed the triumphs of the Sudetenland and Austria.
05:23Goebbels called them the flower wars. Rommel wrote to his wife,
05:28he has been called by God to lead the German people up to the sun.
05:32He radiates a magnetic, hypnotic power. The warlord and the general. In Poland, the dying began.
05:40In the evening, there are always long discussions of the situation, and I'm allowed to be present
05:47and occasionally to say a word. What strength emanates from him? I'm with the Führer a lot,
05:54often at the most confidential moments. I'm not afraid of the enemy.
05:59I'm with the Führer a lot, often at the most confidential meetings. This trust is my greatest joy,
06:06more than my rank of general. The Führer is in a relaxed mood. Now we sit at his table twice a day.
06:13Yesterday, I was permitted to sit next to him.
06:17A few weeks later, Hitler allowed his old comrades to fete him in the Burgerbräukeller in Munich.
06:23A bomb was ticking behind him.
06:29I have finally come to you. I come in your midst to experience the memory of a day
06:38that was of great importance for us, for the movement, and thus for the whole German people.
06:45Hitler left earlier than planned. Propaganda exalted in divine providence.
06:58Rommel believed too. The assassination attempt has strengthened his will.
07:05It is a joy to see. The idea that it could have succeeded does not bear thinking about.
07:14And so Hitler's general moved up the ladder.
07:29Hitler fulfilled his wish. Rommel got the 7th Panzer Division. The panzers gave him the modern
07:39weapon that would make him a legend. Against all the rules, he drove his unit right across France.
07:49He was often isolated with his panzers behind the French lines,
07:53far ahead of his own corps. A soldier's amateur footage.
07:58Rommel was the general who led his troops from the front.
08:04That was really an ideal image of a military leader for us young people,
08:09as one would know it from the soldier's picture book.
08:13Military textbooks. There was fighting and death here too.
08:20Rommel's so-called Ghost Division turned up where it was least expected.
08:24He was undoubtedly a charismatic troop leader who could really excite his people.
08:33And as a tactician he was incredibly ingenious.
08:37You can't separate this military performance from the historical context in which it all took place.
08:45For whom were these performances performed? For what kind of war? For what system?
08:51For this criminal Nazi system.
08:54Rommel's division took the most prisoners and suffered the highest casualties.
09:01At the same time, a curious spectacle was beginning in Africa.
09:05Mussolini was trying to realise his dream of a new Roman Empire.
09:12A total failure.
09:13A penitential journey to Berlin. Il Duce was hoping for support.
09:18Hitler promised him his most daring panzer general.
09:24First I went to the commander-in-chief of the army who explained my new mission to me.
09:29Then to the Führer. It's extremely urgent and I can only take essentials.
09:35The new mission is very important.
09:36The first German soldiers landed in Tripoli at the beginning of 1941.
09:41Soon the corps had its own song.
09:45In tune with the times.
09:57They started with a song.
09:59They started off with a bluff. At a parade in Tripoli on February the 15th,
10:10Rommel ordered his few tanks to drive around the block several times.
10:17British agents sent reports of armed forces that just weren't there.
10:29Especially in those days when we knew.
10:32The news had come that our supreme command was very cautious.
10:38While Rommel wanted to unleash this attack on the British, we knew.
10:43Rommel got his Afrika Korps moving as soon as they arrived.
10:46Once again, he had to resort to bluff to deceive the British as to the true strength of his troops.
10:52He used everything that moved to raise clouds of dust.
10:56The Royal Air Force promptly reported strong enemy formations heading east.
11:27The desert fox in his element.
11:29The desert suited his style of mobile warfare.
11:35Two months after his arrival, Rommel was at the Egyptian border.
11:39To the horror of the desk-bound generals.
11:41It was difficult for reinforcements to reach him.
11:43There was criticism of his leadership.
11:57And what did he see in front of him?
11:59He saw an area of, let's say, 3, 4, 5 kilometers.
12:03Of course, that's unusually little.
12:05But that was his style.
12:07That's how he did it.
12:09Most soldiers admired that.
12:11I didn't think it was great.
12:15Berlin disapproved of Rommel's stubbornness.
12:17Halder, the Army Chief of General Staff, noted,
12:19Rommel isn't up to this.
12:21We must stop that crazy soldier.
12:24The British 8th Army and Anzacs did just that outside Tobruk.
12:28Rommel's attempt to storm the fortress ended in disaster.
12:32The Army Command called him
12:34a career-hungry gambler who sacrifices his soldiers pointlessly.
12:38Rommel saw it differently.
12:54It was very difficult for me
12:56to let Tobruk know
12:58that we had been camped for over half a year.
13:00The German soldiers,
13:02I didn't sacrifice them.
13:08It wasn't for nothing that he drove his troops
13:10to victory
13:12and simply took all the losses
13:14of his own soldiers for himself.
13:16I think for his career.
13:18That was his highest goal.
13:24Rommel never forgot
13:26that a soldier's life
13:28that is lost
13:30always means grief
13:32and sorrow in the family.
13:34That's why he always wanted
13:36to keep the losses as small as possible.
13:38His principle was
13:40sweat instead of blood.
13:44The myth of war without hatred.
13:46You can't always provide hot meals
13:48when you're a prisoner
13:50but you give them the best you can
13:53so we always had a great respect for them.
13:55We see the Afrika Korps
13:57as men who brought great honour to Germany
13:59because in a time
14:01and it's a very sad time in German history
14:03when so many people brought shame to Germany.
14:05The Afrika Korps brought honour
14:07and so did Rommel.
14:11And they all had a common enemy,
14:13the desert.
14:17Everyone is equal in a sandstorm
14:19as the saying goes.
14:23In the hot sun
14:25of Africa
14:27during a terrible storm
14:29with sandstorms
14:31with little water
14:33and very harsh food
14:35the German soldiers
14:37and leaders
14:39survived these difficult days.
14:41Propaganda showed an African idol
14:43swimming in oases
14:45frying eggs
14:47on tanks
14:49and Lili Marleen
14:52which everyone listened to
14:54on both sides of the front.
15:18In the freezing Russian winter
15:21the German army was defeated outside Moscow.
15:23The Rommel legend was a distraction.
15:41The attack took Rommel's Afrika Korps
15:43further east
15:45than even the boldest optimists would have expected.
15:48From Gazala stretched
15:50a 40 kilometre long mine belt
15:52which Rommel skirted in the south
15:54at Bir Hakeim.
15:56Then began his last and greatest success
15:58taking the fortress of Tobruk.
16:00War as sports broadcast.
16:18Destruction and death
16:20will be brought to him.
16:22The bombs are in the target.
16:28Tobruk fell.
16:30Rommel was aware of the significance of his victory.
16:32Just hours later
16:34he gave this interview
16:36live from the battlefield.
16:47The Germans have achieved
16:49something superhuman in these battles.
16:51They have conquered
16:53fortifications, mines, mines.
16:55With a momentum
16:57you can hardly imagine.
16:59Everything may fall.
17:01The victory of the nation is certain.
17:03Strong words.
17:05Rommel, the hero of Tobruk
17:07was living up to Goebbels' expectations.
17:13Of course it was clear
17:15that he was one of the heroes of the war.
17:17One of those who in Germany
17:19kept the illusion
17:21that a victory
17:23was possible.
17:25He was also
17:27slaughtered by the propaganda.
17:31Rommel had overrun Tobruk
17:33in just 24 hours.
17:35The victory was strategically overrated
17:37but of great psychological importance.
17:3933,000 British and Allied soldiers
17:41were taken prisoner.
17:45A daredevil.
17:47Just what Hitler liked.
18:09Today I present to you
18:11General Feldmarschall
18:13Adolf Hitler.
18:15When we received the news
18:17that he had become
18:19General Feldmarschall
18:21someone on the radio
18:23heard it
18:25and it was like a firework.
18:27He rejoiced like a child.
18:33No bottles in the cork
18:35and no cheering.
18:37There was no celebration.
18:39It went on.
18:43It went on
18:45under constant danger
18:47that my father would fall.
18:49The way to Egypt appeared to be open.
18:51Rommel rode home
18:53another 150 kilometers to Alexandria
18:55that frightened many people.
18:57Rommel was the great winner.
18:59He marched
19:01towards Cairo,
19:03El Alamein.
19:05We thought
19:07Palestine was close.
19:11We were almost convinced
19:13that he would succeed.
19:15He had one success after the other.
19:17He stormed east
19:19along the Via Balbia.
19:21The road was a joint project
19:23built by the Italians,
19:25finished by the British
19:27and now being used by the Germans.
19:29Its name changed
19:31with the flux of the war.
19:35On this road
19:37near the desert outpost
19:39of El Alamein,
19:41the enemy was waiting for Rommel.
19:43For the British, El Alamein
19:45was the only chance
19:47to stop the Desert Fox
19:49to block his way to Cairo.
19:51A defensive line
19:53was set up with hundreds
19:55of thousands of mines.
19:57The defensive line
19:59was several kilometers deep
20:01and 50 kilometers long,
20:03stretching from the Mediterranean
20:05through the desert sand
20:07to the edge of the impassable
20:09Qatara Depression.
20:21Here it was not possible
20:23to attack by encircling the enemy.
20:25If Rommel wanted to get
20:27to Alexandria, Cairo
20:29and the Suez Canal,
20:31he had to get through here.
20:33The decisive battle
20:35would be fought here.
20:37General Auchinleck,
20:39the British commander-in-chief,
20:41was now fighting
20:43not just German tanks
20:45but the Rommel legend.
20:47An order of the day?
20:49He certainly isn't superhuman.
20:51Even if he were,
20:53all of our soldiers
20:55ascribed supernatural powers to him.
20:57P.S. I'm not jealous of Rommel.
20:59Everybody said,
21:01Rommel, the Desert Fox.
21:03I think our high command
21:05were quite upset at this
21:07and they were trying to
21:09play it down and say,
21:11well, he's not invincible.
21:13But we didn't believe them.
21:15For the Egyptians, too,
21:17Rommel had become a legendary figure.
21:19They hoped he would move into Cairo
21:21and become a liberator from the British.
21:23There were pro-Rommel demonstrations
21:25almost every day.
21:47The resistance was led by a group
21:49of army officers, the Free Officers.
21:51Anwar Sadat, later Egyptian president,
21:53was one.
21:55In his memoirs, Sadat wrote,
21:57We were in constant contact
21:59with German headquarters
22:01and acted in complete accord with them.
22:07But such dreams were lost
22:09in the noise of battle.
22:11The Afrika Korps would be stopped.
22:15Meanwhile, Berlin celebrated.
22:17Rommel is admired
22:19by the whole German people
22:21like a legendary hero.
22:23We need more generals like him.
22:47Rommel was still enjoying
22:49the propaganda limelight.
22:51He still didn't really know
22:53the person who was giving him
22:55the medals.
23:17Meanwhile, the decisive battle
23:19was beginning at El Alamein.
23:29A new opponent.
23:31Churchill brought in Field Marshal Montgomery.
23:33He had learned from his predecessor's mistakes
23:35and banked on crushing numerical superiority
23:37on land and in the air.
23:47The Afrika Korps faced annihilation.
23:51Rommel rushed back.
23:53He could see only one solution.
23:55Withdrawal.
23:57But Hitler's orders were to hold out
23:59to the last man.
24:17It was a break with Hitler.
24:19For the first time he realized
24:21that he had no sympathy
24:23with the troops.
24:48At night I lie awake
24:50with open eyes and rack my brain
24:52trying to find a way out of this misery
24:54for my poor troops.
24:58The way out saved 10,000 lives.
25:18That was 3,000 kilometers,
25:20hunted down on both sides
25:22by the British in the east
25:24and by the Americans
25:26who had just landed in the west.
25:32A last-ditch attempt
25:34to save his troops.
25:48There was a conflict
25:50between my father and Hitler.
25:52My father was thrown out
25:54and I hurried after him.
25:56I called him back.
26:18Uncle Rommel to the Goebbels' children.
26:20A largely unemployed field marshal.
26:27An air of diffidence about him.
26:48Calm on the surface,
26:50depressed inside.
26:52The war is as good as lost.
26:54Unfortunately, the people at the top
26:56are fanatical to the point of madness.
27:00From 1942, he and his family
27:02had lived in Herlingen, near Ulm.
27:04Here, in the autumn of 1943,
27:06he welcomed his old friend,
27:08Karl Strohlin,
27:10who had been killed
27:12by the Germans.
27:17Karl Strohlin, the mayor of Stuttgart.
27:33Rommel closed himself off
27:35from the unimaginable.
27:43What does one do?
27:45Eliminate Hitler?
27:47Inconceivable for Rommel.
27:52When Hitler called him,
27:54his depression lifted.
27:56He was to foil the Allied landing in France.
27:58He went to work decisively.
28:00But...
28:15He never had that.
28:19Rommel had become a different person.
28:45Rommel sailed restlessly
28:47up and down the Channel coast,
28:49feverishly trying to build up
28:51the Atlantic defences,
28:53as though he wanted to repress reality
28:55through frenzied activity.
28:57An energetic Rommel
28:59was presented to the German people.
29:16The German Wehrmacht is prepared
29:18for an attempt to land the enemy
29:20on this coast.
29:22Rommel's headquarters,
29:24La Roche-Guillaume,
29:26was a meeting place for the military resistance.
29:33General Stuttnagel
29:35and General Speidel in particular
29:37tried to win Rommel's support
29:39for ending the war in the West,
29:41and at the same time were planning
29:43Did Rommel know?
29:47His mind was focused on the invasion alone,
29:49and with some hope.
29:51My confidence is growing.
29:53If the British give us two more weeks,
29:55I'll have no more reservations.
29:59Across the Channel,
30:01Rommel's name was still a deterrent.
30:04It's a very rude expression.
30:07Oh dear.
30:09Not again.
30:11Before D-Day, unbridled optimism.
30:42Bad weather was forecast
30:44for June the 6th.
30:46Rommel went to Herlingen.
30:48It was his wife's birthday.
31:12You could hear machine guns,
31:14fire and all sorts of things,
31:16but you didn't know exactly
31:18if the invasion had taken place.
31:20And then my father asked,
31:22I was there, should I leave immediately?
31:24Speidel said no,
31:26he should wait in a control room,
31:28call back soon
31:30and give him more news.
31:32And then my father left
31:34all his clothes there.
31:36He waited for a call.
31:38It came after about an hour.
31:41D-Day.
31:43While Rommel was celebrating a birthday
31:45and Hitler was sleeping at the Berghof,
31:47the invasion began
31:49with a massive air assault.
31:56The Field Marshal was away
31:58at the crucial moment,
32:00just as he had been at El Alamein.
32:03The Allies did not land near Calais
32:05as expected, but in Normandy.
32:11The Germans did not succeed
32:13in driving the invading forces
32:15back into the sea.
32:17The Allies formed bridgeheads.
32:19The outcome was already shaping up.
32:24Rommel faced two old acquaintances
32:26from North Africa,
32:28Montgomery and Eisenhower.
32:35Much too late,
32:37the German tanks moved towards Normandy,
32:39and there was constant fire
32:41from Allied planes.
32:43A week after the start of the invasion,
32:45the situation was becoming
32:47increasingly hopeless.
32:55While German soldiers
32:57were fighting a losing battle
32:59against superior numbers,
33:01while thousands of them
33:03were being captured daily,
33:05while more and more soldiers
33:07were dying and 16-year-olds
33:09were being sacrificed,
33:11von Rundstedt and Rommel
33:13were finally demanding
33:15political solutions.
33:17But for a relatively long time,
33:19he made it possible,
33:23he made it conceivable,
33:25that if Hitler was to be
33:27realistically represented
33:29in the war situation,
33:31he would see the consequences
33:33and leave.
33:35Illusions of a general
33:37who looked Hitler in the eye
33:39and tried to get him to compromise.
33:41Hitler threw him out.
33:44Once again,
33:46Speidel urged him to act.
33:48Rommel hesitated.
34:14In a time of despotism,
34:16illusions of justice.
34:18Rommel wanted to be the one
34:20to end the war
34:22and knew there was hardly
34:24any time left.
34:26He rushed forward
34:28with the idea
34:30that he would be the one
34:32to end the war.
34:42Rommel wanted to be the one
34:44to end the war
34:46and knew there was hardly
34:48any time left.
34:50He rushed from one
34:52divisional commander
34:54to another,
34:56looking for allies.
34:58We had to lead a resistance
35:00in the West
35:02into the way
35:08to bring the German troops
35:10back to the border.
35:29I was sitting in the back seat.
35:31At 15 o'clock,
35:33the vehicle of the Field Marshal
35:35arrived in Livarot.
35:37When we arrived there,
35:39we saw about eight bombers
35:41flying over the city.
35:47Suddenly, the airlock reported
35:49that two planes
35:51had entered the street.
35:53The driver, Oberfeldwebel Daniel,
35:55received orders
35:57to drive at a higher speed
35:59to reach a parking lot
36:01about 300 meters away.
36:03Before the parking lot
36:05was reached,
36:07the enemy planes
36:09were already
36:11500 meters away
36:13and the first plane
36:15opened fire.
36:28My father's driver
36:30had his left shoulder
36:32torn out, his arm.
36:34His assistant's pelvis
36:36had been broken
36:38by an exploding
36:40two-centimeter grenade.
36:42My father was splintered
36:44and flew out to the car.
36:46Of course, we were already
36:48a little sad. We were glad
36:50that my father survived.
36:52My mother told me
36:54that he was wounded.
36:56He, too, was only wounded
36:58after the bomb plot
37:00three days later.
37:04One of those seriously injured
37:06in the Wolf's Lair
37:08was Rommel's friend,
37:10Rudolf Schmunt,
37:12an adjutant with Hitler.
37:14Through Schmunt,
37:16Rommel had had
37:18direct access to Hitler.
37:20Ten weeks after the bomb plot,
37:22Schmunt died unexpectedly.
37:25For Rommel's mortal enemy,
37:27the failed plot was the opportunity
37:29for a big purge
37:31in which Rommel was caught up.
37:35At the end of September,
37:37Bormann wrote a secret paper.
37:39Rommel was definitely in the picture.
37:41He said he'd be available
37:43to the new government
37:45after the assassination had succeeded.
37:49Bormann's intrigue
37:51had fatal consequences for Rommel.
37:54Now Goebbels was writing off his favourite.
37:56The Fuhrer is convinced
37:58that Rommel was not involved
38:00in the preparations for the assassination attempt,
38:02but that he knew of them.
38:04It's a bitter disappointment to me.
38:08Hitler finally dropped
38:10his once favourite general.
38:12The army leaders who envied Rommel
38:14now took care of the rest,
38:16the so-called Court of Honour,
38:18a military court,
38:20preliminary to the People's Court of Justice.
38:23That was a farce, the Court of Honour.
38:25It's sad enough
38:27that the German general
38:29was made available
38:31under the pressure of the circumstances.
38:35Even Schall von Rundstedt
38:37said at his farewell
38:39from France in the headquarters
38:41of my father,
38:43Hitler could beat him up.
38:45He was the chairman of the Court of Honour.
38:47That shows
38:49how incredible the pressure
38:52was and how Hitler understood
38:54to break the army's back.
38:58Rommel realised the noose
39:00was tightening around his neck.
39:02Gestapo people
39:04stood in front of the house
39:06day and night.
39:08My father said,
39:10don't make yourself so comfortable
39:12that you get shot.
39:14A military guard came
39:16and occupied his house.
39:18It became more and more clear
39:20that he was stricken.
39:22He said,
39:24it might be good
39:26if I don't live tonight.
39:28October 14, 1944,
39:3010am.
39:32Rommel went for a walk with his son.
39:36At the same time,
39:38a train was nearing its destination,
39:40Ulm on the Danube.
39:42In the luggage van, a wreath.
39:44Berlin had already ordered
39:46the state funeral
39:48and the condolence telegram
39:50was being dictated.
39:54Erlingen, near Ulm.
39:56At about noon, a black limousine
39:58from Berlin turned into the drive
40:00of Erwin Rommel's property.
40:19Rommel was accused of complicity
40:21in the 20th of July bomb plot.
40:23He had to choose
40:25between suicide by poison
40:27and the people's court of justice,
40:29which would extend liability
40:31to his whole family.
40:34Erwin Rommel decided
40:36to spare his family
40:38and take the poison.
40:48Suicide, by order of a regime
40:50which let him play the hero
40:52and decreed a hero's death for him
40:54when he would no longer
40:56play the hero.
40:58The death of a hero
41:00would be the death
41:02of the people.
41:04The death of a hero
41:06would be the death
41:08of the people.
41:10The death of a hero
41:12would be the death
41:14of the people.
41:16The death of a hero
41:18would be the death
41:20of the people.
41:22The death of a hero
41:24would be the death
41:26of the people.
41:29My dear Rommel,
41:31our leader and chief commander
41:33gives you a deep thanks
41:35and a solemn farewell
41:37through me.
41:41What is behind your sadness
41:43is our deepest sympathy
41:45and their deep pain.
41:49Their heroic death once again gives us the slogan
41:53Fight to the Victory!
41:57You should see him as a human being,
42:00in his contradiction,
42:02in a time when it was incredibly difficult to remain decent.
42:07Am I therefore a better person than those who lived back then?
42:11And how would I have behaved under the same conditions?
42:15That is the question.