ABSTRACT
In one of the most famous scenes in the film Marathon Man,1 an old woman in Manhattan recognises Dr Szell, a former Nazi dentist known as the ‘White Angel of Auschwitz’, on the other side of the street, in the heart of the diamond district. Dr Szell, sufficiently sure of his impunity to venture out in this centre of New World Jewish life but nonetheless clearly a bit edgy, is there to get some diamonds appraised. She pursues him, slowly at first, but gradually faster, all the while muttering to herself in German or in strongly accented English as if having trouble believing that it is him. As passers-by part to let her pass, the camera zooms out and shows them to be alternatively intrigued or amused by
1 John Schlesinger (Paramount Pictures, 1976). *All websites accessed April 2015.
