"The Librarian" is a serious entry, with Zachary Berger (second of two) as novelty store owner Werner Zlinka, who has been victimized by vandalism for the past two months, the culprit leaving behind swastika graffiti. The culprit is revealed to be an elderly gypsy, Stefan Beruit (Titos Vandis, last of three), whose story stuns the entire squad room: during WW2, Zlinka was a Nazi guard at Birkenau, a concentration camp in Poland built to handle the overflow from Auschwitz, where approximately 4000 gypsies were gassed. The reason that Beruit survived is that he managed to escape prior to the camp's final liquidation. Justice Department investigator William Collins (Allan Miller, third of four) gets the facts reported by Harris, after phoning the American Embassy in Warsaw. Meanwhile, mild mannered librarian Louise Austin (Miriam Byrd-Nethery, third of four) loses her cool at the constant chatter, pulling out a gun and firing warning shots to quiet the crowd. Neil Pomerantz (James Gallery, first of two) reveals himself to be her most ardent patron, blaming himself for her outburst by failing to return his overdue books! She candidly tells Harris how much she enjoyed reading his novel "Blood on the Badge," and he asks how popular it is with the library patrons ("it's never left!").
2 Reviews
This is how you do serious in a comedy
robertdlar21 July 2023
Barney Miller always had the most colorful and varied perps of any cop shows, from a Warewolf to Psychic, but on occasion the show tackles realy serious issues, from R*** to human rights, and on ward. This episode was about the atrocities of World War II. As another reviewer has already given all the pertinant information I will adress this from a different angle. Which is, how do you make the Holocaust funny? The answer is, you don't. This is such a superb example of creative writing as they manage to still make this a funny episode without making fun of a very serious and sad event in human history. They placed the jokes in and around the entire episode without ever making light of the Holocaust.
This was also one of the first shows on television to adress the fact that many Nazis were hiding in America trying to blend in and hide from their evil deeds. It also adresses the fact that the Jews were not the only people who were sent to these concentration camps. Superb episode.
This was also one of the first shows on television to adress the fact that many Nazis were hiding in America trying to blend in and hide from their evil deeds. It also adresses the fact that the Jews were not the only people who were sent to these concentration camps. Superb episode.
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