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00:00Family has its secrets.
00:02Locked away behind our front doors are the hidden pasts,
00:06the buried scandals, and the life-changing decisions
00:09that have shaped our families and our nation.
00:13Dad was a rabid anti-Semite.
00:17And I suspect he was helping the Nazis.
00:21So your father was under surveillance in 1959.
00:26The spying story doesn't end with the FBI.
00:29It's useless.
00:31The big question, who is my father and how do I find him?
00:36I just desperately want to know why she ended up in Fremantle Jail.
00:41Every Family Has a Secret uncovers the extraordinary stories
00:45behind our everyday lives.
00:48This time, two Australians question everything they know
00:52about their fathers.
00:54Everyone deserves to know their story
00:56and to know the truth of their story.
00:58Acclaimed actor David Field seeks the truth by the deathbed confession.
01:03Who was his real father?
01:05You're saying that that's confirmation, that that's family.
01:11And Perth woman Angela Hamilton follows the trail of her father
01:15through wartime Europe to unearth the shocking secret he took to his grave.
01:21The torture is repeated twice more.
01:24It's horrible, isn't it?
01:26actual he is.
01:28The torture.
01:33The torture of his death was created.
01:35This is the landing spot where many thousands of migrants came to some Australia after World War II.
01:44One of them was a Hungarian refugee named Pal Rozi.
01:49I'm meeting his daughter, Angela Hamilton, because after her father's death,
01:54she discovered some disturbing evidence that suggests that he was hiding secrets.
02:00Angela, hello. Nice to meet you.
02:04This place is probably a bit different now to when your father first set foot in Australia.
02:10I imagine that most of the refugees were delighted to leave behind the ravaged Europe,
02:16but you never felt that your father quite fitted that picture.
02:20He never seemed to embrace Australia or praise Australia.
02:24I think with Dad it seemed that he was fleeing something.
02:29There was quite a curious occupation that he might have had during the war.
02:35And now you really want to get the answers about what it was he did.
02:38It would be great to have the full story.
02:41Not only good news but possibly bad news. Are you prepared for that?
02:44Shall we go and start? Here we go.
02:47Let's go.
02:52Come in honey.
02:54Lots of stuff.
02:55Lots of stuff. Lots of intrigue in there.
02:57Oh dear.
02:58Now I'll show you a picture here.
03:00That's my father.
03:01Probably in his 30s.
03:03Looks like a movie star.
03:05To other people, he's just the most amazing child.
03:12But we grew up just experiencing this brutal, cruel man.
03:19Explosive and unpredictable.
03:22You're just a guard every second, every minute of every hour.
03:26This is supposed to represent some sort of a happy family.
03:31Well, this is a very staged photo.
03:33Do you see how I've gotta look away?
03:35My sister's gotta look that way.
03:37No one looks relaxed.
03:38No, no.
03:39No, we don't do.
03:40Particularly your mother.
03:41She's tiny.
03:42Like a little bird.
03:44And I can remember.
03:46Dad had beaten up mum rather badly.
03:48He was kicking her around on the floor.
03:51That night when we went to bed.
03:53I said, that's it.
03:55I hate you.
03:56I'm never gonna forgive him.
03:58I know his daughter and he's my father and I have to be obedient.
04:03But I hate him.
04:05And I had as little as I could do with my father that I could get away with.
04:11So he didn't mellow in any way, shape or form as he got older?
04:14No, he didn't.
04:15What did emerge as we were growing, becoming more aware, was that Dad was a rabid anti-Semite.
04:22We might all be watching TV in that.
04:25A man be interviewed.
04:27Jewish.
04:28And Dad catapults out of his chair.
04:30And is at the front of the TV going,
04:33Jido!
04:34Jido!
04:35It is a woman in a woman!
04:36Meaning, Jew!
04:38Jew!
04:39And we wouldn't say anything.
04:41Because you didn't know what that was going to ignite or not going to ignite.
04:44Yes, yes.
04:45Lord, when I'm going through his papers, years later,
04:51what do I find?
04:52He was married to a Jew.
04:54She died in 1943, aged 29, of a weak heart.
04:59In theory, at the time, there were laws.
05:02You're not allowed to be married to a Jew.
05:04You want sexual relations with a Jew.
05:07So, Roji's death was critical to his survival and state
05:12because of this office that he held.
05:15And then we find that Dr Roji Powell,
05:18which is how he's sort of young.
05:20I suspect he was a collaborator, sympathiser,
05:24that he's helping the Nazis.
05:29Will knew Dad to be a cruel and violent man.
05:33What made him that?
05:35When did he become like?
05:37It takes immense courage, Angela, to want to confront this.
05:41It's taken me all this time
05:46to actually face it.
05:48You can't deny it.
05:51No.
05:52You just gotta meet it.
05:58Did Pal Roji flee Hungary in a bid to bury a dark past?
06:04Angela has never felt an attachment to her father's homeland,
06:07but she knows that's where the answers lie.
06:10For the first time, she's headed to his birthplace,
06:25in the northern Transylvanian region of what is now Romania.
06:30I've come here looking for what made my father the man that we knew him to be.
06:37A brutal father-in-land.
06:40The family's hometown, like Pal himself, has an explosive history.
06:53In 1914, when Pal Roji was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
06:59But after World War I, it was handed to Romania.
07:04Pal, a Hungarian, grew up in a town that was now under Romanian rule.
07:09Despite this, he enjoyed a life of privilege, an adored only child,
07:16becoming a lawyer like his father before him.
07:20I've got some letters that have his family home address.
07:29And I'm hoping to find the place that my dad lived in
07:33when he was going to school as a young...
07:41I think I found it.
07:44This is number one, Andre Murestan Strasser.
07:49It's so amazing to find it.
08:02This is where he was a young, innocent boy.
08:09Oh my goodness.
08:15Oh wow.
08:19I think my dad would say, this was my home.
08:24Now you understand a little bit more about me.
08:28Angela has photos of her father's Jewish wife, Roza Grun,
08:32taken here in her grandpa's home in 1939.
08:36And there's a corner.
08:38And it's Rozi, dad's first wife, and my grandfather.
08:42Rozi stood here.
08:44This is how I found him.
08:45Rozi and Lola looked close.
08:47There's a fondness between them.
08:49It was a real surprise to find that his first wife was Jewish.
08:53Some questions.
08:54Because...
08:55Because...
08:56Life...
08:57Of my father...
08:58Be a rabid anti-se...
08:59And...
09:00These photos...
09:01Were actually sent to my father in prison.
09:04Rozi is leaving with...
09:06Grandparents...
09:07While dad is in jail.
09:09Pal Rozi's jailing in 1913 came as political passions in Hungary were boiling.
09:24Nationalists like Pal saw themselves as freedom fighters, keen to reclaim lands they'd lost to Romania.
09:30We sort of knew that dad had back to prison.
09:35But...
09:36We never really got the why.
09:38And because of our relationship and his demeanor...
09:43You sort of did question.
09:45You just listened.
09:54History researcher Scott Alsop has found that the most notorious prison in all of Romania...
09:59I've got goosebumps...
10:01All over me.
10:02...loomed large in Pal Rozi's life.
10:05This...
10:06Is...
10:07The prison.
10:08Oh.
10:09My father was held.
10:10Oh my goodness.
10:17On the New South Wales South Coast...
10:19Another Australian is searching for the truth about his father.
10:24Actor and actor David Field.
10:26All the merchants stole the sea from the sailors...
10:32While they was drunk on rum and spice...
10:36David has appeared in dozens of Australian films and television series.
10:40Most recently, The Secret Daughter.
10:42Which centers on the search for a true father.
10:45A storyline which mirrors David's own life.
10:48I've known David for many years.
10:54We worked on the television around City Inside together.
10:56But I knew nothing about his astonishing family secret.
11:00When David was 25 years old, his world was rocked...
11:03By a deathbed confession that brought his whole identity into question.
11:07Hello.
11:08Hello.
11:09How are you?
11:10Hello.
11:11My favourite actress.
11:12Oh, it's been a while.
11:13You have her best.
11:14Come in.
11:16Oh, this is great.
11:17Come on, dog.
11:18This way.
11:19You sit down, madame.
11:21I'm here.
11:22Well, David, I know very well that you're a loving father and you've created a beautiful
11:42family for yourself.
11:43Thanks, mate.
11:44What sort of upbringing did you have?
11:46It wasn't a warm, lovey, touchy-feely type of family.
11:48You know what I mean?
11:49It was tough country people, you know, working class, housing commission.
11:54For example, the dinner table was quiet.
11:57My dad was a tough man.
11:59Very much that 40s, 50s male that sort of ran the show.
12:03Yeah.
12:04My mum was very sort of gregarious, funny and very outgoing.
12:09Yeah.
12:10But I think it was tough for them in their marriage, I'd say.
12:14I wrote a recently where I said daddy was silent, violent.
12:18My mum had a whiplash tongue.
12:19So you say he was silent, violent.
12:21Was he actually physically violent with you kids?
12:23He was what I call a slow punisher.
12:26So he'd send you to the bathroom and say I'll be back in 15 minutes and you think about
12:30how many stripes you want, whether you want to be a corporal or a captain.
12:33Quite frightening.
12:34Were you in touch with your father's family?
12:37My grandma and granddad lived down the road.
12:40In 86, Jack died.
12:43My father's father.
12:44Mm-hm.
12:45And it would have been maybe four or five years after that maybe that my sister Alison
12:51sat me down and said, look, I've got to tell you something.
12:57When Pop died, he on his death bed said to me that one of your kids is not your father's
13:07and that it was me.
13:10Wow.
13:12So what was your response to that?
13:14Well, I fronted my mum and I had this great conversation with her in the car.
13:21And it was very nerve-wracking as you can understand.
13:25Mum said, yeah, that she had had an affair with a fella and told me his name.
13:32Told you his name?
13:34Yeah.
13:35I knew him.
13:37His son was one of my friends at school.
13:40Wow.
13:41We both had this really cheeky sense of humour.
13:43He was a really cheeky kid.
13:44Naughty kid.
13:45Are you still in contact with him?
13:46No.
13:47No, I haven't seen him for a few years.
13:49Mum and I sat in the car and talked about it.
13:51Mum said, I'm 99% sure that, you know, you're your dad's.
13:55And my response was, yeah, but it's the 1% that gets here, Mum.
13:59Yeah, 99 is not 100.
14:02Yeah.
14:03Why did you let it lie?
14:04I didn't really want to cause trouble.
14:08But inside, of course, there is this...
14:11I wish I knew.
14:13Well, I think you do deserve to know if your father was your father.
14:16Yeah, I think deep down so do I, you know.
14:19Yeah.
14:20Yeah.
14:21Yeah.
14:22Until recently, there was no easy way of proving paternity.
14:26But the advance of science makes made cow find out who his real father is.
14:32Alright, step one.
14:34The DNA test.
14:35Well, it's good because my brothers agreed to, um, to do one with me.
14:43So that's really good.
14:44That's good.
14:45You need some paternity.
14:46Yeah, exactly.
14:47Yeah, yeah.
14:48So I've got to spit.
14:49A lot of spit.
14:50It's going to take a long time.
14:51Okay.
14:52It's alright.
14:53Good all day.
14:54I'm there.
14:55Okay.
14:56Do you have a feeling that it's a momentous thing that you're doing?
15:01Without a doubt because it's, um, well, it's life changing in that if there is something
15:09in it, then I'll be relieved just to know that sense of truth, you know.
15:15It's not a little plastic thing of spit.
15:17It's a can of worms, isn't it, potentially?
15:19Well, exactly.
15:20Maybe it is.
15:21But I don't know.
15:22I think now's the time.
15:23Yeah.
15:24So, here we go.
15:30So who is David Fields' father?
15:32The man who raised him?
15:34Or the man his mum named as Mr. One Percent?
15:37The most damaging thing in holding secrets is for the secret holder.
15:58I think if my mum was carrying that secret for 20, 30, 50 years, how terrifying that would
16:05be for her in that time.
16:13I lived here when I was 14.
16:16The town is very small to me and it's very small in, kind of in my memory and in my world
16:22now.
16:23And yet something in you still exists as part of this town.
16:28There's a lot of family but they're in the cemeteries.
16:35Housing commission, mostly five row houses you see here.
16:41This is the house I grew up in.
16:44The old man built the carport there when we were kids.
16:48Good job, back a little.
16:50Wow.
16:52That hasn't changed much.
16:56Thirty years ago, David fronted the man his mum had said was a one cent chance of being
17:03his dad.
17:04I just drove straight out here sort of impulsively and found him.
17:08I don't know.
17:09I don't know what I expected.
17:11And I just knocked on the door and said to him, this is the situation that I've heard.
17:19Do you think this could be the way things are?
17:21And he said, nah.
17:22You know, that he'd spent time with my mum but that, no, that it wasn't.
17:28There wasn't really much more to say.
17:31I mean, what do I say after that?
17:33Are you sure?
17:35Do you want me to ask you again?
17:38I don't know what I expected.
17:39It was an impulsive move as I had too many moments in my life.
17:45After decades of wondering, David's DNA test is about to provide a definite answer.
17:52Everyone deserves to know their story and to know the truth of their story.
17:58Angela Hamilton's quest to unlock her violent father's secrets has led her to the grounds
18:10of a romantic jail with a fearsome reputation.
18:13Oh my goodness, see the scale of it.
18:17Angela knows her father, Pal Rojji, was imprisoned in 1939 as right-wing extremism took hold in
18:24Europe.
18:25On the 1st of September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
18:31A ruthless move, plunging a world into another war.
18:34Inspired by their German allies, Hungarian nationalism escalated.
18:40Murder is here!
18:45Violence from Hungarian paramilitary groups increased.
18:49Faced with this growing insurgency, Romanian authorities hit back.
18:54Hundreds of Hungarians were arrested and charged with treason against the Roman state.
19:01Among them, Pal Rojji.
19:06This prison was built at the end of the 19th century.
19:10It was the Bastille of Romania.
19:12It had a horrific reputation.
19:15Anyone who was anyone in the world of political dissidents was held here at some point.
19:20This is the golden book of heroes and martyrs of Transylvania.
19:29Now if you flick through, there are details of a number of the heroes and martyrs.
19:35And there's Rishi Pao.
19:39So that's my father.
19:41As a Hungarian hero.
19:43Oh.
19:44Wow.
19:45The Northern Transylvanian region was given to Romania.
19:49In the aftermath of the First World War, a number of paramilitary organisations cropped up.
19:55With the sworn aim, the restoration of Hungarian land.
19:59Yeah.
20:00There is evidence that Pal Rojji was a member, effectively a Hungarian nationalist.
20:04Right.
20:05Would you like to read the translation of what this says?
20:07Yes, do you?
20:08We do.
20:09You're Christmasry.
20:14This is Wildfari.
20:15Great.
20:16And when it turns out, it's Christmasy.
20:17This should not appear to be seen.
20:18This is Jeff.
20:19Amazingly.
20:20razor роб montrer presence and Centerento car Within their home offering.
20:21You'll find out that this is Master brought to you in and out.
20:22By the emotional Bunny's family.
20:23How about you?
20:24Controller she wants to learn the adventure?
20:25Made in the world of this canary map of the world of this.
20:28Very horrible man.
20:30Fine.
20:31Stay оказane.
20:33In the listservous companionship system dizendo
20:34The problem is that it's all for 8 years.
20:35Poor people are killed as a mieng arrives
20:36and a Naomiosaurus.
20:37Who are dead from the last 14th century?
20:38What flagstrower总 is and that swoje was named after shite,
20:39and fingers are crushed with iron pliers. The torture is repeated twice more. Finally
20:46he and his 14 fellow prisoners are tried by a military court where he receives a sentence
20:52of five years hard labour. He is taken to the infamous Doftana prison, gets an appendicitis,
21:00he suffers from petrified threadworm and external sepsis. Help from his benevolent fellow prisoners
21:08save his life.
21:09We need. So it was a place designed to crush people. I can't believe it. It's horrible
21:31isn't it? It is, it's brutal. I'm seeing
21:38for the first time he's a shocking victim. I've never had a moment, a second of feeling
21:53sorry for my father and mother. This doesn't. Here comes Reese with what they did to him.
22:05That's amazing. Did they break him and did he reinvent himself? So yeah, I don't think I've
22:19shed too many tears for my father. In my life. I've shed them for my mum and for our students.
22:30No, in my life. My father. But I do need to death.
22:42As Palrogyi suffered in prison, the political landscape shifted once again, this time in his favour.
22:51Hungary, now strongly aligned with Nazi Germany, won back the highly contested northern Transylvania
22:58region from Romania. This deal also involved an exchange of political prisoners, including
23:09Palrogyi. In September 1940, Palro took to his hometown of Sigeto Mamacay, a hero.
23:18Pal's release coincided with increasing anti-spotism in Hungary. While on paper, he was still
23:26married to Jewish woman Roja Grun, it appears their relationship was over.
23:32From what we know, Roja was not on sex. There's a Christmas photo with his parents and some
23:41family, but no Roja. It would seem not in his interest at all to be married to a Jew.
23:54I just wanted to come here, come to the Jewish cemetery and I wanted to find her grave.
24:09She died so young. While the circumstances around Roja's death remain buried with her, Angela
24:16wants to honour father's first wife. Local Jewish expert Panina Zilberman also has family
24:27in this cemetery.
24:29Hello, Shalom Angela. Thank you so much for being here.
24:32Angela, in Judaism, when one visits a tombstone, we light a candle. And with your permission,
24:39thank you. I brought one and can light and you can tell people that come to the cemetery to
24:49visit that some of you is here. It's like it.
24:52It doesn't give me any answers, but it makes her real. More than just historical facts.
25:14Panina is aware of the plight of other Jews in the area.
25:17Everybody knew each other in this city. There were only about 5,000 people altogether.
25:2417,000 Jews.
25:27Times are of restrictions, of prohibitions coming directly from the Nazis or coming by the Hungarian
25:34armies here. Locals were the ones implementing them.
25:39Locals like Pal Rojci.
25:42There could be a God.
25:43By the government, being a lawyer,
25:44got a job about a hundred kilometers from me.
25:47And there was a twist in his life.
25:50That affected his whole total life.
25:53His family and his personality.
25:56Really?
25:57Yes.
25:58And the name of the community is called Russia.
26:01R-S-A
26:03With a huge sense of foreboding, actually, I went to go to a border and find out what
26:18happened.
26:19That was so big that it would change him for sure.
26:27For decades, actor David Field has lived with uncertainty, questioning who his father really
26:35was.
26:36Now, he's about to learn the answer.
26:40It's nerve wracking, but it's a good thing.
26:44You're all full and you're all empty at the same time, in expectation.
26:54The science is in, and Brad Argent from Ancestry has brought David's DNA results.
27:00Hey Brad, this is a fine piece of machinery, isn't it?
27:05So impressive.
27:06Built the same year as you.
27:0961?
27:10Yeah.
27:11Oh, well that's why it's a fine piece of machinery, Brad.
27:15My question to you is why now?
27:17What?
27:18I'm 57, and I have two girls who are 14 and 16, and it's only fair that they know their
27:25story isn't what it appears to be up to now.
27:30You've taken a DNA test.
27:31Yeah.
27:32We also tested your brother, Stephen.
27:34Yep.
27:35Whether or not he's a brother or a half-brother, he's still a brother.
27:40Yes, of course.
27:41DNA never takes anything away from you.
27:43Yeah.
27:44The world's another part of the story of who you are.
27:47Yeah, I like that.
27:48Should we have a look?
27:49Sure, mate.
27:51Let's open Pandora's box.
27:56So what's really interesting about this is you're mostly British.
28:01The average Brit's only about 40% and you're 82, which is quite a lot.
28:05And you've got a good chunk of Ireland in there as well.
28:09Now I want you to compare that with your brothers.
28:13Right.
28:14Stephen is mostly Western European.
28:17Right.
28:18And his Irish is 41%.
28:20Wow.
28:21Right.
28:22So quite different.
28:23Yes.
28:24Those percentages between my brother and I are really quite extremely different.
28:28It's quite amazing.
28:29Yeah.
28:30However, this is just part of the picture.
28:33The DNA test result also confirms the exact biological relationship between David and his brother.
28:40It's your brother, Stephen.
28:41It's your half-brother.
28:42Okay.
28:43All right.
28:44Okay.
28:45Okay.
28:46Do you want to go?
28:47Yeah, I do.
28:48Go on to the next base.
28:49This is wonderful.
28:51Okay.
28:52So these are your results.
28:54And we've run these through the database.
28:58And what that does is it looks at and compares your DNA with the 10 million other people in
29:05the database and looks to submit to them.
29:07Okay.
29:08So you've got a close family match.
29:12It's a close family match.
29:13Yeah, you're saying that that's confirmation, that that's family.
29:23That we can be as confident as we can be.
29:26Yeah.
29:27This person is a half-sister and you share the same biological father.
29:32Wow.
29:37Okay.
29:38Wow.
29:39All right.
29:41Yeah, I know that person.
29:46Yeah.
29:47From a long time ago.
29:49As chance would have it, Mr. One Percent's daughter has been researching her family history
29:56and has shared her results on the database, giving David the answer to who his biological
30:01father is.
30:02And it's been within arm's reach.
30:06Yeah.
30:09Do they know this?
30:10So we have reached out on your behalf.
30:22And your biological father is now an elderly man.
30:28Still alive, but his health is deteriorating with age.
30:35And he's not interested in taking this any further.
30:44That's cool, because I kind of feel the same way.
30:48And his children, at this stage they want to honour their father's wishes.
30:54That's cool.
30:57At no stage have we actually ever disclosed who you are.
31:00So we don't know if they might change that on that.
31:06Right.
31:07They've got some processing to do.
31:09Yeah.
31:10Just like you.
31:11Yeah.
31:12Maybe once they get a sense of, this is who you are.
31:15Yeah.
31:16Their position might change.
31:17Yeah.
31:18And I think that's the best way for it to be saved.
31:22It's a sad, joyous piece of news.
31:26Yeah.
31:27Yeah.
31:28And I thank you for that.
31:30It's been a pleasure, mate.
31:31Thanks, mate.
31:33Thanks, mate.
31:34Thanks, mate.
31:35Thanks, mate.
31:46Well, I'm reeling.
31:49And that's, it's, I guess, a feeling like no other I've had to know the truth.
32:03I feel lifted, full of air.
32:07I kind of left my body for a moment.
32:16To find out that someone in my childhood who was such a dear friend is my half-brother,
32:21it's quite wonderful.
32:23So it's going to be interesting if down the track we meet up and chat about things.
32:33There's a yearning, there's a certain kind of internal pain about this.
32:42But a mark of your grace as a human being is how you carry whatever pains you.
32:47Whether it be a secret, whether it be whatever.
32:50It's been a good process.
33:02I think the truth is rarely as painful as we think it's going to be.
33:06For me, it is a fairytale ending.
33:18Because I've discovered what I wanted to know.
33:23This is fine.
33:24Because this is the truth.
33:27And it doesn't matter when the truth comes.
33:30As I see it comes, how wonderful that it has.
33:36As I see it.
33:43On the other side of the world, Angela Hamilton is about to uncover the secret which changed her father forever.
33:51She's heading to the small town of Borcia, in far northern Romania.
33:56Where her father, Pal Roshi, gained position of power in November 1941.
34:01In the months prior, the Hungarian government deported thousands of foreign born Jews, handing them to Nazi death squads, including 40 families from Borcia.
34:13Jewish expert, Alina Maransian, has discovered Pal Roshi oversaw the continued harassment and identity checks of Jews who remained in the area.
34:27We found this little document, which says my father was a Sorge bureau.
34:37The Sorge bureau was the representative of the central government of Hungary, and arrested with a lot of power and authority.
34:46There's a specific incident related to your father.
34:51Now what happened here happened under the anti-Jewish laws that were active during the Second World War.
34:58Based on this law, they were asking for the foreign citizens of the area of Borcia to show their Hungarian citizenship.
35:08Those responsible for the Roundup acted outside the law, targeting local Jews who had legitimate Hungarian citizenship.
35:16Regardless, they had or had their citizenship.
35:2034 Jews, elderly people, men, women and children were forced to march into the woods.
35:27Now, if you look over there, that's the area where they were taken, up there on that mountain, and they were left there.
35:37It was snowy.
35:39The presence of the Jewish community informed our history of internal affairs, and an order came that they should immediately bring back the group of Jews.
35:50Your father's superior, uh, intent left the office, so he couldn't take responsibility, and this order came twice.
35:59Your father, he was supposed to follow the order, but he did not.
36:06And I'm gonna show you a testimony of a woman, she was 15 at that time.
36:14Any memories of the event.
36:17So, we're gonna do this.
36:20So, the first bad thing the Hungarians did is getting refugees with their families.
36:28A lot of them had ancestors of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia from all over.
36:35They took maybe 240 people, and they said to them, we're gonna take you to the border and bring back to Poland.
36:41One soldier came back, and he just couldn't stomach it.
36:46He just put them up or killed.
36:52Abandoned in the snow, the freezing wilderness proved as leaf as any bullet.
36:57I'm sorry, we have to talk about this.
37:01No, it's about this.
37:02I wanted to know this.
37:04I mean, I didn't know it was this, but I wanted to know.
37:07The Romanian state held this tribunal after the war.
37:14Here's testimonies about what happened.
37:18When they arrived at the place where they were abandoned by the border guards, they were all exhausted and freezing.
37:27The Jews were left there, who died in the most horrific way from the cold, from exhaustion and from hunger.
37:34And some of them had even drowned.
37:37The remains of the bodies of those who had perished were found on the huts of Mount Balasina.
37:43Out of 34 Jews, only three survived.
37:47Thirty-four men, women and children were marched up there and left in waist-deep snow.
37:55And he could have stopped that, and he chose not to.
38:00Exactly.
38:01Your father and his superior were never charged, and they were never sentenced for their deeds due to the second war.
38:17I am so sorry.
38:27I am so sorry.
38:29I am too.
38:31I really stopped.
38:47This is the path that many, many Jews took.
38:51I've been told there is a memorial to all of those Jews who died.
38:55I feel so much for the lost souls here.
39:11They didn't chance.
39:13This was his secret that he took to his grave.
39:20For what my father did, I don't know how he could live with himself.
39:26He was the powerful despot in our family, and he's a powerful despot here.
39:33I believe he went back to Siget.
39:39He doesn't seem to suffer any setbacks.
39:42He goes on with impunity.
39:43Pal Rogi may have thought he got away with mass murder, but all that changed after the war.
39:54The region of Northern Transylvania was once again under Romanian rule, and Pal's role in the deaths of these 31 Jews came under scrutiny.
40:03In 1946, in the Northern Romanian city of Cluj, war trials were held here at the Palace of Justice.
40:22Flying in from Israel, from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, is Dr. Efrem Zuroff, the world's leading Nazi hunter.
40:31Hello.
40:32Hi, Angela. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Cluj.
40:35Thank you so much.
40:37Your father was motivated by anti-Semitism, by hatred, by power.
40:43Conditions were created in which it was more normal for people to kill Jews and other enemies of the Reich to save them.
40:52Over the past 30 years, Dr. Zuroff has helped prosecute nearly 40 Nazis.
40:57He has analysed the decision passed in absentia against Angela's father, Pal Rogi.
41:04In the name of justice, the People's Court makes the final decision.
41:07The following accused were found guilty of committing crimes leading to the degradation of the country.
41:17Dr. Pal Rogi, former Zulga Bureau, current residents unknown.
41:24He facilitated the deportation and extermination of Jews.
41:30Your father was a war criminal. He murdered innocent people.
41:36But what you have to understand is that this didn't only remain on paper.
41:42In other words, the Romanian government's extradition.
41:47The Justice Minister of Romania has lodged an application for the extradition of Dr. Pal Rogi,
41:55residents unknown, who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labour by the Peace Court of Cluj Nabucca.
42:03So, in other words, he was on the run.
42:06He was on the run.
42:07He was on the run. He knew that they were looking for him.
42:10And his fear, I think, was, of course, to be caught by the Romanians or by someone else
42:15who would turn him over to the Romanians and he'd be sent back here.
42:20Right.
42:21The best way to avoid that fate would be to get as far away as possible from Romania.
42:29But he wasn't alone.
42:30Thousands and thousands of people in similar situations who were running away to escape justice.
42:36This document relates to his application for a refugee.
42:40It's something that paved the way for his immigration to Australia.
42:43In June 1949, he had to flee the country because he didn't want to join Communist Party.
42:50If he didn't flee, he would be arrested and put in concentration camps.
42:54Taking a few of his documents and interviews,
42:57I am of the opinion that he is a Hungarian national.
43:00Story acceptable, could be established.
43:02Opinion, political refugee.
43:05He knew to come up with a story and he just needed to sell that story.
43:08Right, but everyone was selling the same story.
43:11We're running away because we're against communists.
43:14Which was true.
43:15That part certainly was true.
43:16True, yeah.
43:17But only part of the truth.
43:19A report on application for naturalization or registration as an Australian citizen.
43:25It's a Commonwealth of Australia document.
43:28Question number 12.
43:30Have any convictions been recorded against applicant?
43:35And the answer is no, that he has put here.
43:38Of course not.
43:39Because otherwise he wouldn't have been granted citizenship.
43:42Is it otherwise of good character?
43:45Yes.
43:46He knew how to answer the questions.
43:47Yes.
43:48That's clear.
43:49As they all did.
43:50ACO has no objection to the application.
43:53Welcome to Australia.
43:54Yeah.
43:55Listen, I admire your courage.
43:56Thank you so much.
43:57Maybe it'll give you a s**t.
43:58And you did the right thing now to come here and to search for the truth.
43:59And I am so sorry.
44:00You're in no way, shape or form guilty of anything.
44:01It's not a secret.
44:02Right.
44:03That he thought he took.
44:04In the palace of justice.
44:05There was no qualifying of those words.
44:06They were shocking words.
44:07He was a war criminal.
44:08He was a war criminal.
44:09And you did the right thing now to come here and to search for the truth.
44:11And I am so sorry.
44:12You're in no way, shape or form guilty of anything.
44:13It's not a secret.
44:14Right.
44:15That he thought he took.
44:16It's not a secret.
44:17Right.
44:18That he thought he took.
44:23In the palace of justice.
44:26There was no qualifying of those words.
44:29They were shocking words.
44:31He was a war criminal.
44:36But my heart cried.
44:39I thought I had detached myself from my father as a child.
44:45I thought there was nothing that could hurt me.
44:50But it has and it did.
44:54The end.
44:55He was a teenager.
45:04With his paperwork now processed.
45:06Pal Roji departed Europe in mid-1950.
45:09Bound for Friantle, Western Australia.
45:12Keeping his name.
45:14And seemingly unconcerned about possible extradition.
45:17extradition. He was among 170,000 displaced persons accepted into Australia
45:25between 1947 and 1953, including 17,000 Jews, most of whom were Holocaust
45:35survivors. Rogi thought he was free. Unaware, the notorious Romanian secret
45:44police had him in its sights. Dr. Zhurov gave me this envelope at the end of our talk, so
45:53I almost tremble to think what might be inside.
46:04Angela Hamilton has learned her Hungarian father, Pao Rogi, was a war criminal. Sentenced
46:11in 1946 to 12 years jail after being found directly responsible for the deaths of 31 Jewish
46:19people.
46:19Pao fled to Australia in 1950. Now for the first time, Angela has access to a Roman secret police
46:29file on her father.
46:31This is Romanian People's Republic, Minister of Internal Affairs, General Directorate of State
46:39Security, DiVorojipa No. 2923. Oh, gee, how do I know?
46:46From the instigations that were conducted, the fugitive is an adventure and a womanizer.
46:55And from 1951 to the present, he is in the town of Subiaco at the above-mentioned address,
47:01where he continues to be in touch with his parents in Siget. He is carrying her again, this time
47:07to a woman from England, with whom he has children.
47:13We were all being watched. The fugitive will be registered and his activity will be placed
47:24under surveillance in the country trade file.
47:30A traitor in every respect. A criminal. A fugitive. A traitor.
47:43Thank you, Caroline.
48:04How many?
48:06Hello. Welcome.
48:06How many?
48:09Hello. Belle's voice.
48:09Hello. Welcome.
48:11Hello, honey.
48:12Oh, how wonderful to see you.
48:13How lovely to see you.
48:17Have a pew.
48:18Thank you so much.
48:19So was there more than you thought?
48:23Yeah, much more.
48:24To read, guilty of committing war crimes.
48:29When I read that, that's all I read.
48:32That was sort of like such a shock.
48:35And it just reverberated in my head as I read the rest of it.
48:40I can't imagine what that feels like.
48:44I will continue to feel great shame for what I did to the Jewish people.
48:54But I was in my all of them.
48:59That is so what my father wanted.
49:02Do you regret the journey?
49:03Do you regret going on this journey?
49:05It's been the greatest privilege of my life.
49:09He thought he got away with it.
49:12And he didn't.
49:14And I saw him even half smiling over that.
49:17I feel triumphant.
49:18This man has gone to his grave.
49:22And we know the truth.
49:27And we know the truth.
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