ASPECTED,RETIRED BUSINESSMAN IN WINNIPEG, well liked by his neighbors, is shattered
when he receives mysterious photographs
in the maii, photos of him as a young man in his
SS uniform.
The Special Prosecutions Unit in Ottawa is
dedicated to investigating and indicting Nazi
war criminals in Canada. However. they never
manage to successfully prosecute a single one.
Dozens of lawyers, historians, policemen, and
clerks amass hundreds of files on suspects,
most of whom inconveniently die. Increasing-
ly demoralized by the prospect of the inevitable
closing of the unit. many-at the SPU begin to
look forward to the prospect of prosecuting
criminals who are not wheelchair bound. Dens
nis Connor. a historian, is eventually left as the
last employee of the SPU, charged with the clos-
ing of all the files.
But one file he cannot give up. The crimes
Friedrich Reile committed with an SS unit on
the eastern front are so terrible that Connor
cannot close the file and forget them. And so
with no legal recourse, Connor begins to send
anonymous letters to Reile.
The letters and photos bring back memo-
ries, and Reile tells his story of how an ordinary
seventeen-year-old boy gradually turns into a
war criminal, a mass murder.But Retie, for
all his monstrous crimes, is not a monster.Just
as Connor who wishes to be a crusading knight
inshiningarmor, is, infact, a cynical bureaucrat
leading a joyless life. By showing the human
aspect Of both these men, Peter brings a
new, deeper element into what could have been
还没人写过短评呢