Deaths Head Revisited Ending

Here is the last scene of the Twilight Zone episode Death Heads Revisited. I think it is one of the strongest lines Rob Serling had delivered in this series and is a perfect reason of why we must remember the events of the Holocaust. No matter how horrific or inhumane those events were, if we were to forget them, history would simply repeat itself. I own nothing of The Twilight Zone series. Here's to you Rob Serling.

[@TheMightyThor83]

I’m a history teacher, and at the end of the Holocaust unit, I always ask the kids if they think they should keep the camps standing or demolish them, and then listen to their responses. I then give this monologue to the kids about the need to keep them standing, just altering the word twilight zone for the word classroom.

[@ckotherletters]

Then one of your students calls you out on plagiarizing The Twilight Zone lol

[@TheMightyThor83]

@@ckotherletters lol hasn’t happened yet

[@ckotherletters]

@@TheMightyThor83 It happened once in one of my classes years ago. The teacher said some cool, profound line about the importance of history and one kid who was a huge book nerd blurted out "You stole that line from the book --------- didn't you!" And the teacher just stood there with his mouth open because he totally did steal it haha

[@maimzini]

I had this very thing happen to me. We were talking about this part of WWII’s history (everyone on my grandmother’s side of the family was exterminated by the Nazis; she was lucky to come to America before the war). A student actually asked why the camps still remain standing. I couldn’t believe the serendipity of the moment as, having been a fan of The Twilight Zone, I recalled this closing narrative, one of Rod Sterling’s best. I explained the episode to the students-this was a high school class-and how the doctor asked that very question. And then I read Serling’s closing narrative. You could hear a pin drop when I finished. Stone silence. And then the bell rang ending the class session. It was just as silent as the students filed out. Not a word. One student came up to me afterwards and said, “That was awesome. Thank you.” “Don’t thank me,” I said, “thank Rod Serling. He was a terrific writer.” And The Twilight Zone got itself a new fan. It’s moments in the classroom like that one that teachers live for and remember, and that students will remember, hopefully for a long time. We should never want to be the gravediggers of history’s ugliest moments. Thanks for posting the clip.

[@mmillerssn]

​@@maimzini That was great.

[@Dragonfly6160]

One of the most powerful monologues that Rod Serling did.

[@HikazePrincess]

Craig Zimmerman They should show this episode in schools when they teach WWII history

[@maimzini]

@@HikazePrincess - I didn't show it; I was a substitute teacher at the time and sure enough, the lesson plan included the Holocaust. I set up the closing narration and then read it to the class. Serling could write, and this episode aired right around the time Germany was holding trails of Nazi war criminals -- a kind of cathartic reckoning with its own past -- so the episode had extra power. I timed it to read the narration right at the end of class. I read it (in much the same pacing as Serling's). When I was done, you could hear a pin drop. The bell rang and for a moment, no one got out of their seats, and as the students left, no one spoke. That's how powerful Serling's writing was, and still is.

[@HikazePrincess]

Bruce Maiman I almost hope the reboot does this episode.......it’s a lesson that really needs to be driven home

[@Neville60001]

So do I, Hikaze.

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

I recently saw The Zone of Interest. Terrible film, I thought, because of its attempt to normalize Nazis. Serling's incisive, poetic opening and closing tells you all you know and need to know about what these "people" were all about.

[@ryann8680]

Mr. Schmidt, recently arrived in a small Bavarian village which lies eight miles northwest of Munich... a picturesque, delightful little spot one-time known for its scenery, but more recently related to other events having to do with some of the less positive pursuits of man: human slaughter, torture, misery and anguish. Mr. Schmidt, as we will soon perceive, has a vested interest in the ruins of a concentration camp-for once, some seventeen years ago, his name was Gunther Lutze. He held the rank of a captain in the SS. He was a black-uniformed strutting animal whose function in life was to give pain, and like his colleagues of the time, he shared the one affliction most common amongst that breed known as Nazis... he walked the Earth without a heart. And now former SS Captain Lutze will revisit his old haunts, satisfied perhaps that all that is awaiting him in the ruins on the hill is an element of nostalgia. What he does not know, of course, is that a place like Dachau cannot exist only in Bavaria. By its nature, by its very nature, it must be one of the populated areas... of the Twilight Zone.

Written in 1961, but with a message for us all in 2023. Times like this, I wish Serling was not so prophetic.

[@connielindquist924]

This was on last night......how poignant in this day and age...... "The moment we forget, we become the grave diggers"

[@kasig2013]

The most bone-chilling monologue in all of The Twilight Zone.

[@dwightwilliams5892]

Because Mr. Serling was right to say it.

[@patrickharris9911]

One of the greatest quotes in TV history. And just as profoundly true today as it was five decades ago.

[@BokanProductions]

And it will continue to remain profound for all eternity.

[@joelstein4657]

Much more so now. In the seventies half the people didn't think only wealthy, white, anglo-saxon protestants should be allowed to vote. Now they seem too. We weren't rife with anti-semitism which, again, is rearing it's ugly head.

[@janeyrevanescence12]

My Grandpa was stationed not far from Dachau in the 1970's for a short period of time and his family visited him when my Mom (his oldest daughter) was in her teens. They toured the facilities but it didn't really sink in for Mom until her group arrived at the crematorium. Even though it was clean, there's still dust on it from the many bodies that were burned (or at least that was the case when Mom was there). She said that she felt a thousand pairs of eyes were watching her along with overwhelming anger, fear, grief and sadness. She almost broke down crying and had to leave the room before she could. Mom has never believed in ghosts...but she told me that there was something at Dachau. It's not evil or good, but something powerful. Something that doesn't want you to forget the pain and suffering that happened there.

[@genegottloeb7281]

I am sorry your Mom had to be subjected to that Horror On my side, perhaps it was my Grandmother's brothers, and sister still there Waiting for a way to the light. Peace on your loved ones I am 70, and still carry the pain of my lost Family

[@janeyrevanescence12]

@@genegottloeb7281 Peace on you and your loved ones too. I'm so sorry for your losses. Mom said that it showed her why we should never forget. She told me the story when I was studying the Holocaust.

[@keithdoersam2557]

I would like to believe that they are in a happy place with God and the Scum that caused their pain and suffering are in eternal hell. I hope you someday see your family again...

[@400KrispyKremes]

Such perfect writing. I could have never worded it so flawlessly.

[@orboobleck5366]

Rod Serling fought in WW2. He saw all of this. He knew what to say.

[@scootervargas9323]

@@orboobleck5366 he served in the pacific theater not in Europe

[@carried1676]

Such an iconic show. There's never been anything like it since.

[@Shogun459]

Never Forget. The day we forget, is the day we allow it to happen again.

[@vinceA3748]

I LOVED this episode. One of the best ending monologues I have ever heard. I love the line in the movie where Becker says to Lutzer, "You never were a soldier. The uniform you wore cannot be stripped off, it was part of you....." So true of the typical SS scum.

[@Purplestraw]

This is my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone. Part the reason it’s my favorite is because of the closing monologue.

[@audiophileman7047]

Rod Serling's closing narration for Death's Head Revisited provides one of the most important lessons in history. Rest in peace, Mr. Serling. ❤

[@nebka44]

This should be shown in all schools.

[@dwightwilliams5892]

This episode, and "He's Alive". They're thematic bookends, and between them, a proper warning.

[@Panda_Roll]

Don't glorify the past. Don't twist it to fit into the neat little excuse you have in your head. Face it and see it for what it really was. Never forgot.

[@Clarity_Control]

Unless you’re Japan. Then you just deny it

[@YankeesFlair]

If you don’t get goosebumps listening to Serlings monologue that your not human !!!!

[@johnf.tashjian6326]

I agree that this closing monologue, as well as the one that Mr. Serling delivered at the end of "He's Alive" NEED to be remembered so that we can avoid more Holocausts.

[@tonyrestaino1967]

The greatest zone episode ever ,period

[@RiverOfBlacklights]

*_ONE_* of the best. There were *_plenty_* more within all 5 seasons...

[@stlramsfan21]

TZ offered dozens of great episodes but this is my personal favorite as well. Poignant, meaningful and scary as hell- certainly not an easy watch.

[@michaeldurand7103]

Its 2024, and it is amazing at how relevant and important this lesson remains today ... especially today. One would have thought this was a lesson that the world would never forget. The amazing thing is that it is the U.S. elite universities and leaders that are among those who have forgotten.

[@joshuafoote5144]

This speech and He’s Alive’s go along surprisingly well.

[@unanimous300]

I was privileged to visit Dachau while stationed in Germany. Not much was left standing except the foundations and a couple of crematories. When the Allies released the prisoners, they began leveling the place until different orders arrived.

[@roksolana-zb4hu]

unanimous300 There *NO* "crematories" in Dachau. The Americans have recently admitted it.

[@misterjakester]

roksolana 1505 I was just there. There were.

[@roksolana-zb4hu]

misterjakester Lol 😂😂😂

[@mortalclown3812]

roksolana 1505 Let me guess: The earth is flat, we never walked on the moon, the news is fake and the wall will fix everything, right? #childrenofthecorn

[@dwightwilliams5892]

@@misterjakester Amen. Liking that truth continues to be told, defiantly when necessary. However terrible that truth is.

[@BOKO20101]

I am delighted US soldiers forced those living near camps at the end of the war to visit them, and, in some cases, bury the dead. Too many millions looked the other way knowing fully what was occurring. They deserved what the soldiers did, and also I would hope, those neighbors are lying in Hell forever.

[@JustKelso1993]

I have to disagree that they deserved that. Some of them likely wouldn't have known what to even do about what was happening there and frankly, was likely too scared to speak out against Hitler. Making them visit the camps? Fair enough. Burying the dead? Too far, they did not kill them and were likely victims of fear themselves. You have to also remember that a lot of brainwashing by Hitler was taking place at that time as well. Burying the dead is just a line that they should not have crossed I think.

[@CrowTR0bot]

@@JustKelso1993 You're grossly overestimating how big a factor fear was in following Hitler. Many of these people genuinely supported him and were either willfully ignorant of the human cost or outright wanted those people dead. I wouldn't be surprised if a chunk of them shed crocodile tears to appears the American soldiers forcing them to visit the camp.

[@JustKelso1993]

@Jody Schmuckatelli And that makes you no better than a Nazi, imo.

[@Onecooltop75]

@@JustKelso1993I wholeheartedly disagree. The dead needed to be buried out of respect and because of issues with sanitation and disease. Also, people like the Nazis do not come to power without support. If they had no support among the people, they would’ve been laughed out of the Beer Hall. The guilt of the Nazis was also the guilt of the German people however it’s not possible to build a courtroom big enough to put an entire country in the dock so this was the next best thing. They knew what was happening. I don’t doubt some were probably in denial but they knew. There is no way they didn’t see trains full of people arrive just to never see them again. There is no way that they didn’t smell that stench and didn’t know. I’ve smelled rotting corpses and the smell is a smell that burns into your brain and your soul forever. It’s one of those smells that you can’t describe because words do it no justice but you know exactly what it is even if you’ve never smelled it before.There were train cars stacked with bodies in some of these places. That smell had to travel quite far. There’s no way they didn’t smell the victims being cremated and those crematoria were running 24/7. The least they could done was bury the bodies that hadn’t reached the crematory yet

[@mrbcam2]

excellant, this moment in our history can not be forgotten.

[@DaredevilLeprechuan]

2018. As powerful and timely as when it first aired.

[@greedyd5524]

Michael Judge yes so true. The left is getting pretty bad these days

[@mlpfanboy1701]

2021 still timely

[@CrowTR0bot]

@@greedyd5524 You're literally projecting The Right's evil onto the people who are trying to fight them. The Right are the ones throwing brown people into concentration camps and threatening to break apart families for providing life-saving gender affirmation to trans youth.

[@LordGreystoke]

2023

[@Globalman43]

2023 and still powerful today.

[@Unapologetically_american]

I know a lot of people feel that the commander’s fate was unjust and he should have been offed for committing crimes against humanity, but I disagree. Sometimes d**th is the better option. It relieves you of all pain, suffer and torment. And I guarantee that if we could talk to some of the people who were subjected to the Nazi reign and the realities that were inflicted upon them, they would tell us that there were many moments when they wished for someone to just put them out of their suffering. It was easier to just cease to exist than it was to continue living in unimaginable circumstances. It is for that very reason that I think the commander met his comeuppance. He’s going to live the rest of his existence in confinement in a mid 20th century insane asylum, which were notorious for their inhumane and cruel treatments of patients, which were really not that much better than the way he treated the inmates under his care. Every single day, the misery and maltreatment he experiences is going to wear him down more and more before he finally starts begging for someone to put him out of it. And he’s going to be denied that mercy because the institution’s job is to keep him alive as long as possible.

[@terminal_willness]

This gives me chills every time.

[@dragonstormx]

The doctor had a good question that is likely on the minds of viewers, and Rod Serling gave a good answer.

[@FedUpSista]

Thank you. We should view and treat the former plantations, in the USA, where people were once enslaved the SAME way.

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

"When some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shovelled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all--their conscience" Most powerful statement about Nazis ever made.

[@connormccann5172]

And now Ivy League schools are shoveling away their reason, logic, knowledge, and conscience to glorify the holocaust

[@orvillemeadows3492]

If you can’t or won’t read the diary of Anne Frank watch this episode

[@k9px]

People already forgot this lesson...

[@jlo2715]

The old captain, driven insane by the ghosts of his victims. Driven to insanity, a fate still too good and merciful for the scum of the earth that is the Nazis. Then, and now.

[@hamhockbeans]

Most likely later he commits suicide.

[@83thechaz]

Then I heartily suggest watching Escape Route. A story written by Rod Serling for the 1969 Night Gallery movie. Rod dishes out 💯 punishment lol

[@ringofonebone8918]

Powerful.

[@imaginosdesdinova1130]

It's a shame that today's world has forgotten this. We now destroy the grim reminders of our unhappy past in the false hope of erasing it and pretending it never happened. It must stop happening, or we shall never learn from the errors of our ancestors.

[@JustKelso1993]

Exactly. When I found out that the BLM folks were destroying historical places, including a slave market, I was furious and immediately remembered this episode.

[@waltonsimons12]

Even as an atheist, that last line gives me chills.

[@fromthesidelines]

Ben Wright, who appeared as the "Doctor" at the end, often played Germans (and "Nazis") on radio, films, and TV shows throughout his career.

[@Gunners_Mate_Guns]

Yep He was a superb actor who, even though he was British, had a chameleon-like ability to credibly do accents, especially as you cite, German.

[@mortalclown3812]

Barry I. Grauman Appreciate your tip of the hat to one of those actors I'm sorry to say I could not identify. (And I'm in AFTRA.😑) All blessings.

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

He was the Nazi pursuing the Von Trapps in The Sound of Music

[@robburnett6437]

It is beginning to get more relevant now than ever

[@fromthesidelines]

Jerry Goldsmith's "Mysterious Storm" cue is used as an underscore.

[@Scripturegirl.]

Karma.

[@gloria7876]

Did the same actor who played Becker the prisoner also play the doctor at the end?

[@Scripturegirl.]

Be sure UR sin will find u out.

[@katbrown1449]

I'd like tabt doc to be a staff doc fomr that place. Make a sort of symmetry of story anyway.

[@jinchuriki7022]

Nowadays theyll probably just get torn down for another corporate building

[@Joeblow-ms3cv]

Vee half VAYS of dealing vith peepole like YOU. 😃

[@kali3665]

In today's environment of everyone demanding the removal of statues that happen to NOW be politically incorrect and we suddenly start noticing the racist symbolism despite decades of BEING this, Rod Serling's words remain very prescient.

[@nivekian]

The confederate stuff is a bit different, that would be like honoring the Nazi depicted here. The camps remaining standing is a different message, of shame not honor.

[@MofoMagnificent]

I'm afraid you've completely missed the point of the episode then. In Germany, the camps are kept standing to remind us of the atrocities that were committed. In modern-day US south, those statues honor the oppressors and are still symbols of that famous southern heritage we always hear about.

[@kali3665]

@@MofoMagnificent I see it as the principle of the thing: we must remember the horror. If we follow THAT principle, should we tear apart Gettysburg National Cemetery? It WAS built on the land once owned by Robert E Lee....

[@86thrasher]

Statues aren’t the same thing as buildings structures where history actually happened. Statues aren’t how you learn about history. In fact statues of historical figures were’t built until after whatever historical figure has been long dead. The confederate statues weren’t even around during the civil war and were built during the Jim Crow era.

[@SumSum030]

Put the monuments in museum because they are just that: monuments. As long as they remain in town squares they are still monuments to the traitors of the confederacy or even to neo confederate organizations.

[@connormccann5172]

The Ivy League Schools need a safe space from this episode