History Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S4E4HesAlive

!!"Don't you understand that I'm made out of tropes?!":

!!The Trope's Alive:

--> '''Ernst''': Go on, Mr. Vollmer. You were saying? I can tell them what you were saying. I've heard it before. I've heard it a thousand times before. In Munich, in Berlin, on a hundred different street corners. It was drivel then, and it is drivel now. ''(...)'' Well, what is this one here? The new model? A 1963 Führer right off the assembly line? Well, this one is not so new. He's not so fresh. This one is nothing but a cheap copy! ''(...)'' Well, let me tell you about this one. About the breed, the ''species''. They're all alike. They are ''all alike!'' Problem children! Sick, sad, neurotics who take applause like a needle! ''(...)'' Listen to me, Peter. And let ''them'' listen. Or else I'll tell them about a quaking, whimpering boy who cried on my couch; who ''still'' cries on my couch. ''(...)'' Yeah, put me down, put me down. Shut me up! Stifle me! Why don't you? Why ''can't'' you? (''grabbing Peter's armband'') Because ''this'' is your courage right here! ''This'' is your strength! This, and the torchlights and the crowd and the sieg heil! (''the incensed Peter slaps him'') The rebuttal. The only sort of answer ''your kind'' knows how to give. (''to the audience'') ''This'' is your Führer. He's yours. I give him to you. ''A gift from the sewers.''

--> '''Ernst''': Go on, Mr. Vollmer. You were saying? I can tell them what you were saying. I've heard it before. I've heard it a thousand times before. In Munich, in Berlin, on a hundred different street corners. It was drivel then, and it is drivel now. ''(...)'' Well, what is this one here? The new model? A 1963 Führer right off the assembly line? Well, this one is not so new. He's not so fresh. This one is nothing but a cheap copy! ''(...)'' Well, let me tell you about this one. About the breed, the ''species''. They're all alike. They are ''all alike!'' Problem children! Sick, sad, neurotics who take applause like a needle! ''(...)'' Listen to me, Peter. And let ''them'' listen. Or else I'll tell them about a quaking, whimpering boy who cried on my couch; who ''still'' cries on my couch. ''(...)'' Yeah, put me down, put me down. Shut me up! Stifle me! Why don't you? Why ''can't'' you? (''grabbing Peter's armband'') Because ''this'' is your courage right here! ''This'' is your strength! This, and the torchlights and the crowd and the Sieg heil! (''the incensed Peter slaps him'') The rebuttal. The only sort of answer ''your kind'' knows how to give. (''to the audience'') ''This'' is your Führer. He's yours. I give him to you. ''A gift from the sewers.''

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twilight_zone_hes_alive_7072.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Peter Vollmer and [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler his hero]].]]

Peter Vollmer (Creator/DennisHopper) is a Neo-Nazi who is trying to drum up supporters to his cause, but is struggling to gain followers for being spineless, cowardly, and uncharismatic. His only real friend is Ernst Ganz (Ludwig Donath), an elderly Holocaust survivor who acted as a father figure to him in his youth. Ernst knows of Peter's activities and fully disapproves of them, but he still allows Peter to stay in his apartment out of pity for the unfortunate young man.

** This also applies to Hitler as Rod Serling's ending narration reminds the audience that he can and will continue to live, so long as hatred and prejudice live as well.
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->'''Rod Serling''': Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare? Chicago? Los Angeles? Miami, Florida? Vincennes, Indiana? Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, ''every''place, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry -- ''he's alive.'' He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive, because through these things, we ''keep'' him alive.