East of Berlin: History

Although East of Berlin takes place in post-WWII Paraguay and Germany, it is nevertheless informed by the events of the Holocaust, and the ensuing prosecution of ex-Nazis and war criminals by the Allied Powers.
October 1941  
Construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most infamous death camp, begins in anticipation of Adolf Hitler’s “Final solution to the Jewish question”.  Approximately 1.1 million people will be murdered there over 2 ½ years – most often in the gas chambers, but also in cruel medical experiments with little or no scientific value.
November 20, 1945 – October 1, 1946 
The first of the Nuremberg Trials begins, indicting 24 of those believed responsible for the systematic genocide of 6 million Jews.

May 11, 1960  
Adolf Eichmann, “the man in charge of the extermination program against the Jews,” is abducted by Israeli Mossad agents from his home in Argentina – a nation, like Paraguay, noted for sheltering ex- Nazis and war criminals.  He is tried and convicted of war crimes, and hanged on May 31, 1962 at Ramleg Prison, Israd.