Interrogation V

It was late, around 10pm, when a guard entered Werners room and coaxed him out of bed, marched him to the room where, a few weeks before, Werner and Dr. Ziegler had watched Wojciechowskis presentation on Werners skull. The others were all assembled, the doctor they'd spoken of who'd come in by train from Warsaw, the Lagerführer and his cronies and of course, the polish genius himself. Werner took a seat, he wasn't seated where he'd been the first time, he was seated in the back; it wasn't important if he saw the pictures or not. 

Wojciechowski stood up front, alone. He quietly operated the projector and the film, and soon enough an image popped up on the white wall. He'd found a pen on the desk, and he used it to outline or point out what he was referring too. 

"This first picture, which shows Dr. Zieglers skull from up above, shows a clear difference in the right and left side. Here," and he pointed to the left part, "there is a bump. This is not a birth defect, it's a side effect of cancer. Tumors can change bone structures." He went on to the next slide, a closer picture. "Here, once again, you can see it from the top. It's obviously an abnormalty." He looked up at the doctor at this point. The doctor was nodding, much to Rickenbachs dismay. But the Lagerführer was interrested; he was sitting on the edge of his chair, one hand on his thigh. 

"Is this possible?" Richenbach asked the doctor. The doctor nodded. Rickenbach kept watching Wojciechowski speak with a sour expression. 

"From the side it is much more visible." A gasp went through the small crowd as he showed the next image, emmited from everyone expect for Werner who'd seen them already. Luckily for Werner, no one, not even the Lagerführer, paid attention to him. He realized that he might need to appear shocked as well, his reactions were clearly faked, but they were good enough to not attract attention. "The tumor was right under this bump. Dr. Ziegler admitted to having strong pain in this area of the head, and those who remember him well, know he always suffered from headaches." 

"This bump, could it have been anything else?"

"I'm afraid not. It's too drastic for a birth defect; Dr. Ziegler would have been affected by it since a young age, which he wasn't. It's a quite clear diagnosis, Dr. Ziegler had brain cancer."

"Well then," the Lagerführer started, "there's nothing left to do but cut open the body to see if there is really a tumor." 

"Why is that even necessary?" Rickenbach asked in disgust. 

"Because I want to see proof that these X-Rays are really ones showing his brain, and not someone elses." 

"With all due respect, sir, the x-rays are dated recently. The chance that more than one person has a brain tumor here is small. These photos are from the machine here, it's obvious." The Warsaw doctor said.

"I don't believe things easily." The Lagerführer said. 

"Couldn't you just take another X-ray?" Rickenbach asked. 

"No, not possible. They could simply copy the pictures. I want to see the tumor."

"As you wish." Wojciechowski replied. "Werner and I will do it, I require his assistance."

"Why him and not any of the others you called in?"

"Because I don't need another surgeon, I need an assistant."

"Very well. Get to it now! And you, Rickenbach, get the corpse!" The Lagerführer commanded. Werner was shell-shocked. Right now? He was tired, and so was Wojciechowski. But then he realized that didn't matter; they were operating on a dead man, what could go wrong? Nothing of course! excpet for that there was no tumor in his brain.

Some of the men jogged out to retrieve the corpse, the Lagerführer stayed behind, joining Wojciechowski and Werner, and Rickenbach and a few other higher-ranking men simply left in single-file. "I'm not going to join you, I'm going to bed. But I demand that you call me in the instant the operation is done." 

"Jawohl Herr Lagerführer." 

The Lagerführer retreated to his house, a smallish but cozy home on the outskirts of Auschwitz. Wojciechowski and Werner stayed behind; slowly making their way to the operating room.

"How are we going to do this?" Werner nervously asked the doctor. 

"I'm going to take your tumor out."