Goof: Abraham Klein uses Yiddish, primarily spoken by Eastern Europeans and which is considered as a lower language by Germans of that generation.
Michael Elgers: The fool used to ass dial me all the time. I thought he was trying to reach me, but then I realized what was going on so the third call I just let it go to voicemail. Ass Dialing" is a term used in popular culture to refer to phone calls made by someone carrying their phone in a back pocket or other place where the buttons get pushed accidentally.
Esther Schnitzler's brooch was sold for over $300,000 at the jewellery auction.
Hannah Schnitzler's yahrzeit says: Yees'gadal ve'yees'kadash sh'may rabbah. B'alma dee v'ra cheer'usey,velyamleech malchu'say. B'cha'yey'chon U've'yo'mey'chon U'v'cha'yei d'chol Beis Yisroel Ba'agala ba'agala U'veez'man. Amein.
Goof: Mac and Flack move Xander's bookcase without gloves, when it could have the prints of Xander's killer.
Originally, concentration camp number tattoos were placed on the left upper chest of prisoners to identify their dead bodies. When this method proved impractical, the tattoo was moved to the outer side of the left forearm. There were several transports in 1943 that were tattooed on the inner left forearm, so Abraham Klein's tattoo on the outer forearm is, in fact, accurate.
Goof: Xander Green's cell phone screen shows an outgoing call to Michael Elgers that lasts for 48:03 minutes and that went to voice mail. That's way too long of a recording time for a standard cell phone voice mail.
Goof: When Doc initially turns the victim in the auction house over he is only wearing one glove. The same scene immediately shows him with two.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Abraham Klein claimed he was at the time of WW2, was established by Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich. The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. Overall almost 1,1 milion Jews and 150,000 Poles were killed in the camp. In 1947 Polish parliament created a museum there: The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Hawkes had an uncle called Frank in Michigan who died out of a heart attack and with whom he was close.
Buchenwald opened in 1937 and was liberated in 1945. It is located near Weimar, in the eastern part of Germany.
Mac: Anyone hear a gunshot? Flack: Everyone I spoke to said this room was in a feeding frenzy. The only thing they heard was the sound of some rich guy getting ready to dump 600 large on a necklace. Hawkes: On a piece of jewelry? Mac: Guess some people are recession-proof.
Mac: I appreciate you picking up some of the slack when Hawkes goes out of town. Adam: Oh yeah, well, I'm in between girlfriends at the moment, so I got a lot of time on my hands. (Mac gives him a look) Adam: Oh right, that's too much information.
Danny: A guy who works on Madison Avenue associating with a low-life skinhead? Mac: Maybe it's less an association and more an affiliation.
Hawkes: Where you headed? Danny: I'm headed to interview a potential witnes Hawkes: Mind if I tag along? Danny: Actually, I don't know if you want to do that. Hawkes: Why? What's up? Danny: It's Michael Elgers. Hawkes: So he's a racist. That's his problem, not mine.
Hawkes: We'd like to talk to you about Xander Green. Michael Elgers: I wasn't talking to you. Danny: Oh, don't be stupid. You see who we are. Michael Elgers: How do I know Nation of Islam over there didn't steal his ID? Danny: What did I just say? Michael Elgers: I got work to do, pigs so make it fast.
Michael Elgers: And you… you got some dice coming in here. Next time you do, you show a little respect. Danny: Get over here. You're under arrest for harassment. Michael Elgers: Come on, man it's not like I strung him up in a tree. (Danny smashes his head against the ground repeatedly) Hawkes: Danny, Danny, Danny, Danny!
Hawkes: You gave him exactly what he wanted, Danny and that piece of garbage isn't worth it. Danny: He resisted arrest. Hawkes: I know that but I'm not the one who needs convincing, and Internal Affairs is just the first stop. If the ACLU gets wind of this, they're going to have a field day. We got a skinhead claiming police brutality, and the only witness is yours truly, an African-American.
Michael Elgers: You're a lawyer? Mac: Try again. Michael Elgers: Another pig. What, did you guys run out of welfare recipients to protect so you got to hassle me? I already said I'm done talking. Mac: Then, shut up!
Michael Elgers: Back in the day, you and me, we'd never be having this conversation. Mac: Back in the day, I would have shot your racist ass. Michael Elgers: Oh, so you're super white man, is that it? Niggers, zipperheads, little queer faggots. You save them all.
Michael Elgers: (About Hawkes) There's no law against spitting on an animal.
(About the stabbing and shooting murder weapon) Adam: That is some seriously sadistic behavior, right? I mean, why not just shoot him and be done with it?
Flack: We just found our closet Nazi's closet.
Flack: Please tell me those aren't what I think they are. All this stuff's from the Holocaust, isn't it? Mac: Xander was celebrating their genocide.
Adam: I just got a hit off one of the prints I lifted off the broken door lock. Michael Elgers. Flack: That was fast. He just got released. Mac: Obviously, he misses us.
Adam: They're auctioning off items belonging to victims of the Holocaust. That's why Elgers tried to get into Xander's secret closet. Mac: I think we just found our motive. Adam: So, Elgers killed Xander to steal his collection and to sell it to the highest bidder. Case closed.
Mr. Lesnick: So, you say you found these items hidden in your murder victim's apartment? Mac: Along with a lamp shade that DNA confirms was made of human skin. Mr. Lesnick: Comprised of various tattoos that were sewn together? Mac: The commandant of Buchenwald, his wife, would order Jews to line up naked, and when she saw a tattoo she liked, she had the skin removed and tanned to be made into lamp shades for her home. Mr. Lesnick: Two years ago I heard about one that was traded on the black market for over $10,000.
Mr. Lesnick: (About the genocide) Six million were killed, Detective. And only 900,000 survived.
Mr. Lesnick: How do you know about Buchenwald? Mac: My father mentioned it when I was a kid. He was an army man. 6th Armored Division. He said he helped liberate the camp in 1945. Didn't say much more than that, so I went to the library.
Hannah Schnitzler: (About her cousin Esther Schnitzler) When we first got to the camp, we were marched to an area where they shaved our heads, took our clothes. On the way there, there was a big ditch... filled with bodies. That's where I saw Esther. She'd been shot in the head. Nearby was her husband, children... all dead. I remember thinking: that can't be them.
Hannah Schnitzler: Back then, one could make good money turning Jews over to the Nazis.
Mac: I've seen this piece of jewelry before. It's the same piece. Where's that inventory list the auction house gave us? I want to know who it belonged to. Stella: Uh, it says Abraham Klein. He consigned the brooch. What is it? Mac: In 1942, that brooch was given to a boy named Klaus Braun. He was a member of Hitler Youth. Stella: Then how did a Jewish clockmaker get it? Mac: Abraham Klein is Klaus Braun.
Mr. Lesnick: (About Abraham Klein) That's Klaus Braun. His father Ernst was an engineer,helped build the crematoria at Auschwitz. Very efficient. 30 trays,three bodies a tray. Could turn 90 corpses to ash at a time.
Abraham Klein: I am a Jew! You saw my son, David. He is a Jew! Mac: Because he thought you were! And that God had saved you! He was probably so grateful that you had survived the atrocities of the Holocaust. What he didn't know is that you helped perpetrate them.
Mac: (To Abraham Klein) You lied to your family. Your friends. But you had no choice,did you? After the war,you had to go into hiding. And so you pretended to be what you despise the most so you could get into this country and elude discovery and capture! And it worked for almost 60 years. Until you sold this brooch.
Abraham Klein: My name is Abraham Klein! Mac: Your name is Klaus Braun. Don't bother denying it! There are men from the Israeli government here to verify your identity. You have something to say,Braun? Do you have something to say?! Klaus Braun: (Speaks in German) Wir haben alle toten sollen. Mr. Lesnick: (Translates) We should have killed them all.
(In the video Mr. Lesnick sends to Mac) The Holocaust victim: I was sleeping on the floor, I don't know for how many days. When he woke me, I got scared. I thought he was one of the camp soldiers. The SS, all knew the war was ending and they tried to eliminate as many Jews as they could. But, there was something different about this man standing over me. I could see it in his eyes and his uniform. He was an American. So young. I could tell the sight of me was too much. I was bald, maybe 80 pounds. But, this man, he was careful not to look as horrified as I'm sure he was. He wanted me to come with him, but my legs just wouldn't move. I was too weak, so he carried me out of the barracks and he gave me his jacket, something to eat, a Hershey bar. I took one bite, and that was all my empty stomach could handle. But nothing has ever tasted better. His goodness put back a little of the faith I have lost. My grandchildren put back the rest. The interviewer: And what was his name? The Holocaust victim: Taylor. Private McCanna Boyd Taylor. (Mac cries)
Hannah Schnitzler: (To Mac) Perhaps there's someone you want to honor? Mac: My father.
Mac: How did it go with Internal Affairs? Danny: Two week suspension. No pay. Department's got no problem bending me over to do right by this murdering bigot. Mac: We live in a litigious society, Danny. Right or wrong, everybody's got rights. Danny: The upside to this suspension is though? I get to spend time with my new wife, before our little bambina arrives. Mac: That's a good idea. I'll be here when you get back. Danny: You always are. Thanks.
Michael Elgers: I want a lawyer. Flack: I want to win the lotto. Michael Elgers: That cannoli eating punk assaulted me. Flack: I hear different. I hear you resisted arrest. Michael Elgers: Ask the negro what happened. Flack: Sorry pal, I don't speak ignorant.
Scott Cohen, who plays Aaron Lesnick, also appears in the C.S.I. episode Doctor Who. Meagan Tandy, who plays Model #1, also appears in the CSI: Miami episode Last Stand.
According to Hill Harper, Peter Lenkov (one of the writers of the show and of this episode) set up a viewing session of Yahrzeit at his house that included the main cast and also Ed Asner. They watched it in real time together with the audience and it was a first.
Original International Air Dates: Turkey: June 15, 2009 on CNBC-e. Spain: June 23, 2009 on AXN. Czech Republic: July 29, 2009 on AXN. Brazil: July 2, 2009 on AXN. The Netherlands: November 9, 2009 on RTL4. Norway: November 11, 2009 on TVNorge. Germany: February 15, 2010 on Vox. Slovakia: March 6, 2010 on JOJ. Finland: July 7, 2010 on MTV3. New Zealand: August 28, 2010 on TV3.
This episode commemorates the Holocaust Remembrance Day of April 21, 2009.
Music featured: Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas. My Love My Fate by Janice.
Some tv stations showed a warning note at the beginning of the episode due to the Holocaust dealing content of it.
Despite featured in the opening credits, Anna Belknap does not appear in the episode.
Adam: Men's leather shoes, size nine, taken in Treblinka. Child's doll, fair condition. Found buried with bodies in Dachau. $6,500? Dachau concentration camp was opened in March 1933 some 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Munich. It is estimated to have housed over 200,000 prisoners from which over 35,000 died by the time of its liberation on April 29th, 1945. Treblinka was an extermination camp in occupied Poland where between 700,000 and 900,000 people were killed between July 1942 and October 1943.
Mac: From 1941 till 1943, you were a member of Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth existed from 1922 to 1945 as an organization of the Nazi Party for young and teenage boys. For girls, there was the BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädels / Unit of German Girls). The paramilitary unit of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) was called SA (Sturm Abteilung / Storm Divison).
Abraham Klein: In 1942, I was living in the Warsaw Ghetto. Nazi Governor-General Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto on October 16, 1940. It had an estimated population of 440,000 people and almost all of them died out of disease, starvation or by deportation to the Treblinka extermination camp.
Mac: Lou Sokolov. I'm sure you remember him. He and a few assistants tattooed every prisoner in Auschwitz from mid 42 until the war ended. Lou Sokolov was recruited by the Nazis as the official tattooist at Auschwitz concentration camp, where he marked over 200,000 Jewish prisoners from 1942 to 1944.
Holocaust victim: The SS all knew the war was ending and they tried to eliminate as many Jews as they could. The Waffen-SS was an organ of the Nazi Party which under the orders of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, they served to reinforce the Nazi government policies.
Mac: The commandant of Buchenwald and his wife, would order Jews to line up naked... Allusion to the first commandant of Buchenwald, SS officer Karl Koch and his wife, Ilse Koch both well known for their atrocity towards camp prisoners.
Hawkes: My uncle was in Memphis the day Dr. King was assassinated. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was an American Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights activist who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Sid: Timothy Leary claimed there were eight circuits of consciousness. Timothy Leary (1920-1996) was an American writer and psychologist. He advocated the therapeutical use of LSD and other drugs.
Episode title: Yahrzeit. Yahrtzeit is the Yiddish word that refers to the annual anniversary of the day of death of a relative. Observance of this tradition between Jewish people is believed to bring peace to the soul of the departed.
S 8 : Ep 18
Aired 5/11/12
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S 8 : Ep 16
Aired 4/27/12
S 8 : Ep 15
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