The Movie B-4112 now in development, the story emerges with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the beginning of World War II. The storyline, part historical fiction with a blend of futuristic fiction, is of a 16 year-old teenager named Richard who has been thrust into the bowels of the Nazi concentration camps and tattooed forever with the Birkenau–Auschwitz inmate number ‘B-4112’ – a true story taken from the memoirs of a man who lived this nightmare. Determined to survive Hitler’s Holocaust and ultimately achieve the American Dream, Richard’s date with destiny begins with a daring escape, fantastically timed with the Allied liberation of the death camps that he and his family were incarcerated in – a nightmare from which sadly only he escapes. Based on a true story and the real-life events of a teenager who survived seven Nazi death camps including Auschwitz and Dachau.
The storyline
The storyline is the true story and a historical first hand account of what really happened during the Holocaust in WWII. The movie is non-linear in that it begins at the end of his struggle when he was Liberated and saved from certain death by the US Army, then reverts to the beginning - how it happened and ends with the paradox of postwar Europe and his roll during the Nuremberg War Crime Trials."
DayBreak May 7th, 1945 The Run for his Life and The Run for his Freedom
Richard and other inmates are herded into what will be their freshly dug killing field. The SS and Hitler Shock Troops prepared their machine guns and ammunition for the killing. Richard looks up into the clear blue sky and takes one last deep breath. He knew this was it, he was going to die; he had lost his battle to survive. All that was left was to hear the sound of the gunfire, the screams he had heard from thousands of inmates who had been shot before him, the tears from the survivors who waited in line for their turn as part of Hitler’s Final Solution. As he looked skyward, wondering why God had forsaken him, his people; he saw an airplane spraying pink smoke circling above them in the sky, then heard a loud rumble as two United States Army Sherman tanks came blazing their way over the top of a small hill, followed by American soldiers. In perfect German one of the American soldiers shouted over a loud speaker: “If you open fire on the prisoners, we will KILL all of you!”
The Russian inmates had already made a pact among themselves to rush their Nazi executioners and die fighting. When they saw the SS soldiers freeze-up on hearing the American soldier with the Sherman tanks pointed at them, the Russians took advantage of this split second opening and attacked the Nazis. Using their bare fists and rocks, they fought them. Richard and six of his friends had also made a pact; to spread out and run for their lives! While the Russians were fighting their would-be Nazi executioners, Richard and his friends began to run toward the Americans. One GI began jumping up and down urging them on and pointing for them to run behind the tanks. Richard saw him and with all of his strength, he ran from the edge of the forest across an open field, into the American lines! They all made it and the GIs applauded them as the GIs knew if they had arrived a minute later all of these young boys would have been dead. In a Texas drawl, several of the GIs broke out into the Cole Porter song Don’t Fence Me In. The Russians, who made their own way toward their Soviet Army nearby, killed many of the Nazis. The other Nazis were captured by the Americans including the sergeant of the Nazi SS execution squad, captured and placed on the hood of a US Army jeep.
Richard was waived over by two of the GIs who had captured the SS sergeant, and one of the GIs handed Richard his gun and said, “Shoot – Polski - Shoot.” Richard had never held a gun before, so the GI cocked the gun for him. Richard took aim at the SS sergeant and put his finger on the trigger. His breathing became rapid, he began to sweat, his heart was pounding – with all the tens of thousands of killings around him he had never killed or hurt anyone before. He took a deep breath to squeeze the trigger and the SS sergeant’s eyes glazed over, then Richard lowered the gun and handed it back to the GI and said,
“No, I don’t want to be like them.”
NINE MONTHS BEFORE AUGUST 1944 “The Train Arrives at Auschwitz
The Selection for ‘Life or Death’ Begins Immediately” Jewish prisoners/policemen, nicknamed ‘Kanada’ unload all the prisoners set for extermination from the cattle cars and prepare them, families and all, for their entry into the gates of Auschwitz and for the selection of life or death which begins. Humiliated, all women are made to strip naked to the waist. Older men and the sick are puffing up their chests to appear as strong as possible so they will not be selected to go to the gas chambers. The Nazi ‘SS’ soldiers’ bull horns are blaring in the background in German, “Stay calm – you are going to the showers, then to another camp to work for the Third Reich”. The SS guards with dogs and machine guns are monitoring their victims’ level of excitement.
Richard sees Dr. Josef Mengele who would become known as the ‘Angel of Death’ for his atrocities at Auschwitz with two other SS officers standing on a podium above the crowd, carefully observing the prisoners and making immediate selections of who was to die. Mengele is wearing a light green SS officer’s uniform and riding boots. Leaning over and facing the crowd, he has one boot on a stool, his left hand is across his chest and in his right hand he holds a single ‘white glove’ – an otherwise insignificant fact which would become a symbol of terror. Nonchalantly, he moves the prisoners to the right or left (to their death) with this white glove saying loudly, “recht” or “links”. Even if one doesn’t speak German, they quickly realize that “links” means “death” to them.
• Richard’s denial that this was really happening was so strong – even though he had watched it take place before his eyes just moments before. Human hope was that this couldn’t really be happening to him. He questions why God didn’t save these people. How could this happen?
Those chosen to live went to the right and were showered with cold water - men on one side, women on the other; all nude and stripped of all dignity. Richard is embarrassed as he had never seen a naked woman before. He was just sixteen and had been a prisoner in five other camps before this. After the shower, they were all tattooed with their Auschwitz camp number – one by one losing their identity, becoming a number, not a face, not even in a crowd - soulless. They stood in a line, one of many where an SS officer would register their names in the prison ledger book while another Auschwitz prisoner would hand-tattoo numbers on all of the new prisoners on the inside of their left arm, forever associating them with the horror of the Holocaust.
Richard was just 16 years old when he was tattooed with number B-4112. The ‘B’ stood for Birkenau, the extermination camp inside Auschwitz. Birkenau served as a human holding pen for prisoners to be sent to the gas chambers and on to the crematorium. The officers on duty and the SS officers told them,
“The only way to get out of here is through the chimney.”
The Book "One of Many B4112" by Richard Friedemann available June 1st, 2015, bi-lingual editions in English, Polish and German
Media contact: Gary Hendershott: 501-258-1861
B4112 Copyright of all text and intellectual concepts, graphics, video, photographs, and audio by B 4112, LLC. WGA registration # 1403723 | B 4112 EIN #27-1568656
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