1
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,600
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

2
00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,480
who is the fairest one of all?

3
00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,440
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

4
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:25,320
who is the fairest of them all?

5
00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,960
One of the most famous questions
in the world,

6
00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,960
from one of the best-loved
fairytales in the world.

7
00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,320
But not so long ago it was

8
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:40,960
one of the most dangerous questions
in the world.

9
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,160
(WOMAN SPEAKS GERMAN)

10
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:04,200
In 1930s Germany, anyone who didn't
fit the Nazis' idea of perfection

11
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,160
was exterminated.

12
00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,080
So what happened when
they came across someone like me?

13
00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,920
Like the Ovitzes, a family of
seven Jewish dwarf entertainers.

14
00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,640
What happened
when the Nazis found them

15
00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,000
reaches beyond the imaginings
of even the darkest fairytale.

16
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,320
I'm going to tell you the magical
story of the real seven dwarfs.

17
00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:48,680
(TV) "There comes a time
in every man's life

18
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,880
when he must go out into the world
to seek fame and fortune."

19
00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:53,840
"What shall I do? Go into politics?"

20
00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,000
"Warwick Davies, Prime Minister,
leader of the nation."

21
00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,520
(GIGGLES)

22
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,920
How old was this?
I dunno, 12?

23
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,520
Oh, my God!
Are you serious? Oh, my God!

24
00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,480
What's the matter with that?

25
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,480
This is a film about me
getting the part of an Ewok.

26
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,520
Not many people have seen this.

27
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:17,560
"I wanna be in the movies!"

28
00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,520
"Thank you very much."

29
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,120
"Please could you tell me
where Ewoks have to report?"

30
00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,440
(ALL LAUGH)

31
00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,360
"Ewoks?"
"Yeah, Ewoks."

32
00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,800
"Ewok, it wasn't easy but we
couldn't have done it without you."

33
00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,680
"That's alright! Thanks. You worked
really hard. Yep. Bye-bye."

34
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,760
That was 30 years ago.

35
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,000
I went on to do films like Willow
and Harry Potter.

36
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,920
I even met my wife, Sam,
also a dwarf,

37
00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:52,960
while performing in Snow White.

38
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,120
"Give my love to the Ewoks!"
"Sure will."

39
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,840
I'm perfectly comfortable
with my size,

40
00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,840
and I actually don't think
I could do my job if I wasn't.

41
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,800
OK, there we go.

42
00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,880
Very good.

43
00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:14,960
But I've always been fascinated

44
00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,400
by other short performers
through the ages.

45
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,960
From court jesters to Tom Thumb.

46
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,120
Some were successful
because they were seen as freaks,

47
00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,520
others simply because
they were great entertainers.

48
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:28,480
Extra legroom.

49
00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,960
There's a dwarf family who really
shed light on all the complexities

50
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,000
of being a dwarf entertainer.

51
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,880
The Ovitz brothers and sisters.
And, wait for it,

52
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,480
there were seven of them.

53
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:53,360
Elizabeth, Franzika, Rozika, Micki,
Avram, Freida,

54
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,320
and the youngest, Perla.

55
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,080
I've always wanted to know more about
the Ovitz siblings,

56
00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,840
so I've come to Transylvania,
Northern Romania,

57
00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:26,800
where their story begins.

58
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,960
They were born in a village that,
according to an ancient fairytale,

59
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,680
was named after a giant
who fell in love with a dwarf.

60
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,520
Hello. Hi, there.

61
00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,000
They've all got, like, tools.
They should be singing Heigh-Ho.

62
00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,480
Um...

63
00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,520
I'm not sure whether...

64
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,160
I don't know whether to agree.
My name's Warwick.

65
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,120
Warwick Davis.

66
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,160
How did you learn about them?

67
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,240
I've known of them and their story
for a number of years,

68
00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:16,880
and it's always interested me, always
something I wanted to investigate
further.

69
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,640
You know, I'm looking at it through
the eyes of a little person and also

70
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,600
a person who is an entertainer in the
same business that they were. Yeah.

71
00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,160
Why do you think it's important
we're to know?

72
00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,320
The idea that they didn't let
their size get them down...

73
00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,840
I met a Johnny, a local radio host
who's also something of a historian.

74
00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:38,800
He's agreed to show me around.

75
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,360
So tell me about where we are now.

76
00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,520
We are in exactly the place
the Ovitzes' house used to be

77
00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,640
many, many years ago.
Right.

78
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,520
And he is the one
who owns the house now.

79
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:56,800
Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Warwick.

80
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,920
And by chance,
he is the person almost,

81
00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:04,360
I guess, the only one in the village
who actually met the Ovitzes.

82
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,680
Really? Have you got
a good memory of them?

83
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:08,640
(SPEAKS LOCAL DIALECT)

84
00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:13,800
So I've got some pictures of the...

85
00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,640
The Ovitzes were an unusual family.

86
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:30,480
Their father was a dwarf,

87
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,600
but their two mothers
and three other siblings were tall,

88
00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,280
whereas my parents and sister
are all average-sized.

89
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,520
And when I was born, in 1970,
I came as a bit of a shock.

90
00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:17,480
Did you ever see them perform?

91
00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:45,240
They all look like sort of classic
movie stars from Hollywood, really.

92
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,440
I guess so.
The way they were dressed.

93
00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,680
Like this picture here, he looks like
a silent movie actor. Yes.

94
00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,680
D'you know what I mean?
It reminds me of Harold Lloyd,

95
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,640
or a Buster Keaton sort of look.

96
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:01,320
Mm-hm.

97
00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,480
(TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC PLAYS)

98
00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,240
Above all else, the Ovitzes
were committed entertainers,

99
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,280
and that's something
I've always tried to be as well.

100
00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,400
Being just over three feet tall,
you are more vulnerable.

101
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,640
You tend to make up for that with
a much larger-than-life personality.

102
00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,320
That's what other dwarfs were doing
all over the world in show business.

103
00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:49,880
It was really the heyday
of the interest in dwarfism.

104
00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,360
The public was really fascinated
by dwarfs

105
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,320
and they were part of freak shows.

106
00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:03,400
There was 75 different agents,
dwarf agents, all over Europe.

107
00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,360
And they were really knocking
on doors, hunting new dwarfs.

108
00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,360
In Coney Island, New York,

109
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,600
there was a Lilliputian city where
dwarfs were paid to live there.

110
00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,520
There was the barber shop
where a dwarf was the barber.

111
00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,160
A fire brigade operated by dwarfs.

112
00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,280
And it is estimated that, by 1939,

113
00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,720
about 1,500 dwarfs were making
their living out of show business.

114
00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:34,680
(ALL SING)

115
00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:46,560
They were making their living
out of exhibiting their deformity.

116
00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:50,040
This is what, exactly,
the Ovitz family tried to avoid.

117
00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,560
They wanted that
people will come to see them

118
00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:54,880
because they were able actors,
or singers.

119
00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,360
Amongst all the other
dwarf acts of the era,

120
00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:08,320
the Ovitz family really stood out.

121
00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,760
They spent time practising,
building props, making costumes,

122
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:26,920
so that their act was
the best it could be.

123
00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,480
They could hold an audience.
It wasn't a gimmick.

124
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:35,840
From the beginning,
they were thinking big.

125
00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,040
They really appeared
in the largest halls in Europe.

126
00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,880
Places for 800, for 1,000,
for a huge audience.

127
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,360
(TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS)

128
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,280
The Ovitzes used to play a lot.
Here? Yes.

129
00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,520
Here you can see the room as it was.

130
00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,040
So this is where we are now,
this room here?

131
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,240
Exactly, exactly. It was
the largest restaurant of the time,

132
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,720
and kings visited it.
That's amazing.

133
00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,240
But they weren't just entertainers
cos they were small.

134
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,960
They were entertainers cos
they were very good at what they did.

135
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,640
I think their reputation
as great entertainers

136
00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,320
was what carried them
through a career.

137
00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,240
That's kind of the philosophy
that I have, throughout my career.

138
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,720
I got started in acting cos I was
short, but I didn't rely on that.

139
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,400
I thought, to maintain this,

140
00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,400
I need to hone the craft of
performing and acting.

141
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,440
You know, ultimately, it'd be nice
to be known as an actor

142
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,960
who just happens to be short,
which I think the Ovitz family were.

143
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,760
It was the end of the 1930s
and dwarfs were everywhere,

144
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:31,560
and by 1937, when Disney released
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,

145
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:35,400
the craze for little people as
entertainers had reached its height.

146
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,760
"And most entrancing of all,

147
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,080
Disney's Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs."

148
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,880
But no one could have foretold

149
00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,200
who one of the films greatest fans
would be.

150
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,560
Like all good fairytales, Disney's
Snow White had a darker side.

151
00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,240
Much like the Wicked Queen in
Snow White, the Nazis' obsession

152
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:08,160
with physical perfection would prove
deadly, especially for the Ovitzes.

153
00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,120
"Mein Fuhrer! Mein Fuhrer!"

154
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:31,080
Hitler loved Disney's Snow White
so much he made his own version,

155
00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,800
as Nazi propaganda.

156
00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,080
(SPEAKS IN GERMAN)

157
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:48,680
In the German version of Snow White,
she's a beautiful Aryan maiden

158
00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:51,720
who's threatened by an evil,
shape-shifting outsider.

159
00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,320
People who had
any kind of physical deformity,

160
00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,280
including dwarfs, like me,
became an obsession for the Nazis.

161
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,680
They would either kill them
through their "euthanasia" program,

162
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,960
or they'd use them as guinea pigs
in laboratory experiments

163
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,000
in their quest to create
a master race.

164
00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:34,320
So when the Nazis started tearing
through Europe,

165
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:36,720
what would that mean for the Ovitzes,

166
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,320
who were not only dwarfs
but also Jews?

167
00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:45,800
For them it was faraway Germany.

168
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,480
They didn't feel that it had
any implication upon them,

169
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,720
but it was simply a terrible thing
which happens elsewhere.

170
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,400
As if nothing changed.
The show must go on.

171
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,120
They simply hoped the war
will be somehow over

172
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,080
before the fire reached them.

173
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:49,560
Thanks very much, thank you.

174
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:53,560
Cheers.

175
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,280
This is Dragomiresti,

176
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:40,040
six miles from the Ovitzes' village,
where they were forcibly taken.

177
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,760
I'm meeting
the son of the village priest

178
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:45,760
who lived right opposite the ghetto.

179
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,120
Hello, I'm Warwick.
Salute.

180
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,760
What's your name?
Michai. Michai.

181
00:16:57,600 --> 00:16:59,960
And this is where they were kept?

182
00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,240
And how many people would be here?
About 3,000.

183
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,640
Whoa!
From... er... six villages.

184
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:14,080
When they were here they wouldn't
have known what was going on. No.
They'd have just -

185
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,640
They thought they were
being taken to labour camps.

186
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,520
So if you'd tried to leave?
Shooting on the spot.

187
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:23,440
Really?
Uh-huh.

188
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,400
These pictures were
taken here in this area.

189
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,920
This is when they would've
just arrived? Yeah,

190
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,280
the picture was taken
when they arrived.

191
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,240
And they had descended
from the cart.

192
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,920
This is an unbelievable photo.

193
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:42,240
That this was taken here,
we're here, there's a cart here.

194
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,880
It's... It's amazing.

195
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,360
Who's this here?
A simple soldier, to compare.

196
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,480
It's written here
that's an average height.

197
00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:56,800
This is telling you
that he's average size

198
00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:58,760
so you could see how short they were?

199
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,840
Hmm.

200
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,320
He mocks them. He mocks them.

201
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,520
They consider them as "luggage".

202
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,480
That's the word in Hungarian.

203
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,040
The luggage has arrived
at Dragomiresti

204
00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,520
and they have to be
thrown out of the cart.

205
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:17,480
Tsk.

206
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,040
I don't know what to say about that.

207
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,680
That's amazing.

208
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,600
1944, there.

209
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,640
Does he talk about the ghetto here
in the diary anywhere?

210
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,480
Right.

211
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:51,000
It's kind of hard to imagine,
you know, what happened here.

212
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,520
Um...

213
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,520
For the Ovitz family,
suddenly they're brought here
on a horse and cart.

214
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,440
Dumped here.
It must have been so frightening.

215
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,560
I wonder if the children
that play out here realise
what their playground once was?

216
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,640
So finally we arrived here,
as the Ovitzes did.

217
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,040
I mean, this place looks like
it probably did in the 1940s.

218
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,040
Definitely, yes.

219
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,080
But the Ovitzes were
in a cattle wagon.

220
00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,280
I mean, that's impossible.
That's impossible.

221
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,000
I wouldn't know even where to start,
and this is meant for passengers

222
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:47,880
to get on, but a cattle truck
isn't even designed with steps.

223
00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,320
And a cattle truck is like that.
There are no steps for it.

224
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,640
I'm not getting in there,

225
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:56,600
whatever happens.
Don't try.

226
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,560
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

227
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,560
There were 40 cattle trucks.

228
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,640
Each with 80 people crammed inside.

229
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,720
The Ovitzes thought
they were going to be re-housed,

230
00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:00,440
so they'd brought the tools of their
trade. Makeup, costumes, instruments.

231
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,920
I wonder, "What did they talk about
on the train?"

232
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,880
Did they discuss,

233
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,960
"I wonder what's gonna happen?"

234
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:18,960
"Where are we going
to end up working?"

235
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,160
Do you think they discussed
a strategy?

236
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,760
You know, what were their thoughts.

237
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,720
This is a typical day,

238
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,400
in May '44,

239
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,600
where loads of transports
from Greater Hungary arrive.

240
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,160
The Ovitz family were
also from Transylvania,

241
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:49,360
which was, at the time,
Greater Hungary.

242
00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,400
So at first they arrive

243
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:53,480
and they would unload at the ramp.

244
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,800
As you can see,
they get off the train there.

245
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:03,920
As Auschwitz was a working camp
but also an extermination camp,

246
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,160
they needed to decide
who will live and who will die.

247
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,840
And so the person
that's deciding this? Is the doctor.

248
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,240
The people who live are the people
who are more fit to work.

249
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:23,400
Even though it was not a rule. You
could be very fit and sent to die.

250
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:28,240
So by general, I would say,
women with children,

251
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,200
the elderly,

252
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,920
and people who they perceived
as crippled

253
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,760
were automatically sent to die.

254
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,680
Most of them have no idea that,
in 30 minutes,

255
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,640
they are gonna be dead.

256
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,160
30 to 45 minutes.

257
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,080
So this person here would've been...?
This is a dwarf.

258
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,360
What's interesting, did he live
or did he die? Yeah, yeah.

259
00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:09,120
Basically, I would say
no chance that he would live.

260
00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:51,120
Even there,
Micki was so self-assured,

261
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,960
and he had in his pocket
the fan cards.

262
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,720
Micki there, on the ramp,

263
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,560
took from his coat a fan card and
distributed it to the SS guard.

264
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,560
It's amazing.

265
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,560
You can see here Mengele.

266
00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:37,440
He was part of the mainstream of the
German academic milieu at the time.

267
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,840
But as you can see, he has
a very striking appearance.

268
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,200
He was a handsome man.
He was also a war hero.

269
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,520
He arrives at Auschwitz,
where he was in the front.

270
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,600
So.. um...
A very powerful man.

271
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:54,560
Very powerful man.

272
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,880
He was collecting all kinds of
people who were very short or tall,

273
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,960
or with a pointed head,

274
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,520
all kinds of deformities, actually.

275
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,360
And all the other soldiers knew
that he was collecting

276
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:26,320
for what was called "Mengele's Zoo".

277
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:28,920
The selection on them would've been,

278
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,000
"We're not going to exterminate you

279
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,440
cos I think you're gonna be
of interest." Yes.

280
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,920
It's incredible. The Ovitzes were
brought here because they were Jews,

281
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,080
but they managed to buy some time
because they were dwarfs.

282
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,040
Doctors have always been interested
in little people

283
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,000
for genuine medical reasons.

284
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,360
I was in and out of hospital
when I was a kid

285
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,680
because of the medical problems
that come with being a dwarf.

286
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:05,600
Wow.

287
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,880
But I want to understand
why the Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele,

288
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,840
was so interested in the Ovitzes.

289
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,480
This is Charlie Byrne,
or Charles Byrne,

290
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,440
known as the Irish Giant in his day.

291
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,000
One of the tallest men
who's ever lived.

292
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:27,960
Astonishing, isn't it?

293
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,040
I know a few tall individuals like
this.

294
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,840
Peter Mayhew,
who played Chewbacca in Star Wars,

295
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,400
he's pretty tall.
Nobody's perfect.

296
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,600
OK, I'm of a slightly different
design.

297
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,920
You are of a slightly different
design. Let's just say that.

298
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,800
Mengele is absolutely coming out of
a tradition of comparative biology,

299
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:48,560
comparative anthropology.

300
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,920
Skull measuring happening in
early-20th century Germany.

301
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,280
And it's becoming
a bit more sophisticated.

302
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,680
Lots of interest in genetics,

303
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,120
so hence the interest in
the Ovitz family. Mm.

304
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,240
I mean, it wasn't just him.

305
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,600
His former boss, Verschuer,
a famous scientist,

306
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,640
a famous anthropologist,

307
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:09,280
sent him to Auschwitz, told him,
said, "You're going to have

308
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:12,000
sent him to Auschwitz, told him,
said, "You're going to have

309
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,800
a fantastic opportunity
to do experiments there.

310
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,480
To do things that
you can't do anywhere else."

311
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:23,040
Mengele did indeed believe
that somehow

312
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:27,760
the Ovitz family have
the secret of growth, you know?

313
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,920
We could learn something from him.
Mm. And d'you know something?

314
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:37,120
At heart, he was right,
but the things that he did,

315
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,360
the experiments
that he did on this family

316
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,360
couldn't have
possibly told him anything.

317
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,000
They were just bizarre, irrelevant,
appalling experiments.

318
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,000
It's a sort of a moral vacuum,

319
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:58,920
in which scientists have
the opportunity

320
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,400
to do anything they want, no matter
what the cost or the consequences.

321
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,440
It's the right over life and death.

322
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,120
Hmm.
It's like that.

323
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,480
Children,

324
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,040
twins,

325
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,000
gypsies.

326
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,040
Mengele experimented on many people.

327
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,360
But what did he have in store
for the Ovitz family?

328
00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:41,640
Here we have documents

329
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,480
from so-called
SS Hygiene Institute.

330
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,280
This was a big, large
medical laboratory.

331
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,840
And there's the Ovitz name there.
Yes, exactly.

332
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:26,040
What is this telling us? This is the
order to do the test of the blood.

333
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,920
This shows us that blood was taken
on 28th of June, 1944,

334
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,080
from this prisoner, Ovitz Perla.

335
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,480
And also the signature
of Mengele here.

336
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000
Is that his signature there?

337
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,440
I mean, he seems obsessed
with blood tests.

338
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,920
I mean, it was -
Mengele took the bloods day by day.

339
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:18,560
Very, very often.

340
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,320
He's not exactly learning a lot,
is he?

341
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,120
You know, keep testing blood, it
doesn't really tell you an awful lot.

342
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,840
He had a very strong impression
it was very important

343
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,120
for the future of the Third Reich.
I see.

344
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,720
This is where the Ovitzes slept.

345
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:44,480
The barrack was to be for
400 people,

346
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:48,080
but as the camp was overcrowded
the number was doubled.

347
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:53,080
Some of the survivors are saying
even about 1,000 people in each.

348
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,000
A thousand people in here?
Yeah.

349
00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,120
The Ovitz family, they would have
slept on one of these, would they?

350
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,640
Probably on the bottom. Yes.
I'm assuming.

351
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,520
The bathroom was not very safe
because of the diarrhoea,

352
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,920
which was quite frequent. People
could not control the disease.

353
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:18,480
The top was also not good
because of the leaking roof.

354
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:23,120
So that was just the reality that
they have to fight every single day,

355
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,080
for life.

356
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:47,840
We look at pictures and we read
stories and account of things.

357
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:51,120
Somehow you feel remote from it,

358
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:58,560
but it's when you go to the places
that you really start to realise

359
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:04,840
that, "Hang on a minute, these aren't
stories, these are not tales.

360
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,280
This is something that happened
and this is where it happened."

361
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,000
(CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER)

362
00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,480
My children are dwarfs,

363
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:19,440
my wife's a dwarf,

364
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,520
but in another time, another place.

365
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,000
Around 100 dwarfs
were killed in Auschwitz,

366
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,120
so being short wasn't
gonna be enough to save the Ovitzes.

367
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,920
To buy more time, they'd have to use
another of their assets.

368
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,000
One that chimed with
the strange logic of Mengele

369
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,000
and the other officers.

370
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,360
The average life was
about three months.

371
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,000
You got so used to fear.

372
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:06,160
Ja.

373
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,200
Anita, like the Ovitzes,
is a musician,

374
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,720
something that appealed to
the people who ran Auschwitz.

375
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:22,560
Whoever could do something that was
useful to them was a commodity,

376
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:25,480
but if you couldn't, dispensable.

377
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,600
We arrived there in the night.

378
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:30,800
We were put in a barrack, waited.

379
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:34,400
I don't know what prompted me to,
she must have asked me,

380
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,760
"What did you do before the war?"
I said, "I play the cello."

381
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,600
She said, "Fantastic, there's a band
here." Lucky for me, huh?

382
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:46,120
That's where I draw parallels between
your story and the Ovitz family.

383
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,120
Exactly. Because they, indeed, were
different - Anything that was a bit

384
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,560
out of the ordinary, you see,
was suddenly interesting.

385
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:57,800
I mean, if it hadn't been Mengele
with an interest in that,

386
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,000
I don't see how
they could have survived.

387
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,240
In a way, I'm not surprised
that the Ovitzes were using

388
00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,440
all their skills as performers
to give themselves a chance.

389
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,440
That's the spirit of a dwarf,
of a little person.

390
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:26,840
Wearing the artistic persona
helped them to distance themselves

391
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:28,800
from what was happening there.

392
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:33,360
For them it was another play -
but they are actors in it.

393
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,440
And they're playing for their life.

394
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:45,720
The Germans could, at any time,
come into our block

395
00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:48,520
and ask for some music.

396
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,440
So you had to be ready?
Ja.

397
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,520
And this was the moment that,
for instance, Dr Mengele,

398
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:59,160
the famous guy who did
the experiment on unusual people,

399
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:05,360
came into the block and wanted
to hear the Traumerei by Schumann.

400
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,120
And I played that.
It was on my repertoire, you know.

401
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:22,440
I do find it interesting that
the Nazis wanted to have music,

402
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,160
and I'm sort of wondering why,
you know,

403
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:27,160
by day they were killing people.

404
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,680
It was entertainment, to want music.

405
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,760
Was it a therapy?

406
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:39,920
In a way, in a way it must have
been, must have been.

407
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,040
And, you know, we actually played
concerts on Sunday

408
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:45,360
and, you know,
people came and listened.

409
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:50,360
It was a completely ludicrous idea,
really. Ja.

410
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:52,360
# SCHUMANN: Traumerei

411
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,960
I can't imagine it.
I mean, I think I would be...

412
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:35,360
I'd be foolish to try and imagine
what they went through. Um...

413
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:39,160
And even what I can imagine, I don't
think I would have coped very well.

414
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:44,120
It's so, so hard to live under,
under the terror,

415
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,560
under the fear, constantly.

416
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:55,920
The Ovitzes knew that the moment
Mengele got bored of them,

417
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,160
they could end up here,
in the little wood,

418
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:01,640
the waiting room for the gas chamber.

419
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,120
I've seen photographs of
people in the wood

420
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,600
just after
they arrived off the train.

421
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:11,640
Um...

422
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,640
The crematorias were huge.

423
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,480
The producer of the crematorias
were saying that, per day,

424
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,360
they could burn 5,000 corpses.

425
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:27,720
It makes me angry, this part.

426
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,920
Yeah. it's really -
I find it very difficult to be here.

427
00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:35,360
You know, I can really feel,

428
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:39,880
not what it must have been like,
but what it... what it's all about.

429
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,840
And, yeah, this...
It's difficult being here.

430
00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:59,720
The Ovitzes nightmare ended
in January 1945.

431
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:08,280
Eight months after they'd arrived
at Auschwitz, the camp was liberated.

432
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,720
Along with most of
the other SS officers,

433
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:15,720
Mengele had already fled,

434
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:18,720
taking his research with him.

435
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,160
The dwarfs were
transported away by cart,

436
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,720
and arrived back in their village
a year later.

437
00:43:30,240 --> 00:43:33,200
The fact that the Ovitzes
came out alive is incredible.

438
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,240
They were the only family
to survive the camp intact.

439
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:10,120
To have followed this story and
talk to the people I have, you know,

440
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,360
I feel like I've got a really great
insight into their lives

441
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:17,080
and... um... what made them
the people they were.

442
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:21,480
It does have a happy ending.

443
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,160
Not for everybody,
but for the Ovitzes it did.

444
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:38,800
But that wasn't without a price.

445
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:43,720
They had to live with their ordeals.

446
00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:51,400
It's left me shocked and amazed,

447
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:55,880
and... and I find them even more
inspirational than I did before.

448
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:25,440
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)

449
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:29,560
In 1949, the Ovitzes
emigrated to Israel.

450
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,080
They started performing again
to packed-out theatres,

451
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:40,080
just as they'd done before the war.

452
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:46,040
And Perla, the last of these
inspirational dwarfs,

453
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:49,520
passed away in 2001 at the age of 80.

454
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:52,240
# Beat your head against the wall

455
00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:56,120
# Don't ever try to figure why
you seem to be to blame

456
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,760
# That some folks had a million

457
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,920
# And can't even write their name

458
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,880
# That's why you've got to have
a little, little mahzel

459
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:05,880
# Mahzel means good luck

460
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,360
# Cos with a little mahzel

461
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,280
# You always have a buck!

462
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:13,520
# Mahzel, mahzel, mahzel...
(CONTINUES SINGING IN YIDDISH)

463
00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:18,880
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