Meyer Offerman (The Wolf)

**Wilhelm Zuchs**, known throughout the series as **Meyer Offerman** and by the moniker "**The Wolf**", is the villainous deuteragonist and one of the overarching antagonists (alongside Adolf Hitler) of the Amazon Prime original TV series *Hunters*, as well as the deuteragonist of the Dark Horse short comic book *Hunters: Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth*. Zuchs was a former Nazi doctor who stole the identity of a Meyer Offerman, Jewish prisoner, and formed the titular Hunters team that sought to bring down the Nazis that escaped to America as a form of “atonement” (actually to keep other hunters off his back) and is the archenemy of The Colonel, as well as Ruth Heidelbaum and Offerman. He is presented as a flashback antagonist until he's revealed in the finale.

## Character Information

### Occupation

Head surgeon at Auschwitz (formerly) Factory worker (formerly) Founder and CEO of Offerman Ventures Philanthropist Founder and Leader of the Hunters (formerly)

## Relationships

### Friends

Jonah Heidelbaum Murray Markowitz Mindy Markowitz Lonny Flash Joe Mizushima Roxy Jones Sister Harriet

## Biography

Wilhelm Zuchs was a surgeon in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where Meyer Offerman and Ruth Heidelbaum were imprisoned. Wilhelm was notorious for his sadistic experiments on prisoners in the camp, being given the nickname "The Wolf". Wilhelm also had a sister named Gertrude, who currently lives in West Berlin running a family business. Gertrude used to look up towards her brother, but she did not want to associate with Wilhelm as she learned of his actions. Wilhelm's mother passed away after she thought that Wilhelm was dead after the war.

During his tenure, he was infatuated with Ruth after seeing how she stood up and saved the life of a young girl. Ruth had no idea, as she was spending her days trying to survive in Auschwitz. Wilhelm started to stalk her, and then one day he made his move, explaining to Ruth that he was in need of a personal secretary at the clinic, saying that he met with a few German girls at a steno pool, but instead he needed someone exceptional, attempting to pick Ruth, in exchange for having her own room, a warm bed and proper food, but had to work with Wilhelm and make sense of all of his paperwork. Ruth refuses the opportunity, saying that she would rather stay here.

With that decision, Ruth had threatened Meyer's life more than she could have ever intended to, and Wilhelm began to focus on Meyer, becoming jealous of him. Wilhelm began to torment Meyer, dragging Meyer from his sleep to the doctors chamber, where he tied Meyer to a chair and began to torture him for hours, trying to gain satisfaction, but he became enraged as Meyer did not scream when he was tortured. Wilhelm decides to make matters worse, by taking both Meyer and Ruth to the forest where Meyer could either shoot Ruth or a random prisoner from the camps. Despite Ruth begging Meyer to kill her, Meyer chose to kill the random prisoners instead of Ruth, saving her life.

When the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in the beginning of 1945, Wilhelm murdered Meyer in his sleep, and Wilhelm disguised himself as Meyer, sending a letter to Ruth that he would separate from her because of the incident in the forest. He went to Berlin, where he was recognized by a survivor of the camps and he went away, undergoing plastic surgery to make himself unrecognizable to others (except to people who knew him as Wilhelm; they always recognize him) and used Meyer's identity to escape to the United States. To avoid suspicion, he began to practice and live as a Jew to avoid capture for decades.

Upon learning about Operation Paperclip and the Fourth Reich, he gathered a group of people and founded the Hunters, to presumably eradicate all Nazis to atone for his crimes, which made him at odd with Simon Wiesenthal, who preferred to bring the remaining Nazi members to justice in court. The reason why Wilhelm didn't want to send them to court and instead wanted to kill them, was because he didn't want them to identify him, not because he had atoned.

## Throughout the Series

### Season One

In the Belly of the Whale

A bitter and angry Jonah sits through the funeral for his Grandmother before sitting outside on the porch at the wake and stewing in his emotions. Meyer Offerman arrives and they talk about the man he claimed to have seen leave, mentioning how he and Jonah’s Grandmother were originally in the camps together. “Living well is the best revenge”, he utters before handing Jonah his number and driving away.

Inside, Jonah looks over his Grandmother’s possessions, including several hand-written letters. As he reads them, we cut back in time to the camps as we see the devastation first-hand. Meyer saved her life and that’s how these two knew each other.

Jonah heads up to Meyer’s house and they sit together, playing chess as we cut to a surreal, nightmarish segment involving human chess pieces, going on to mention how he managed to slice an X into one of the officer’s neck. After their conversation, Jonah finds a hidden compartment in the bookshelf and proceeds to open it. Inside, he finds pictures and a number of investigative pieces surrounding the Nazis – including a picture of the car belonging to his Grandmother’s killer. However, Meyer arrives and tells him to leave, warning that this is too dangerous for him to pursue.

Jonah goes after the owner of the car from his picture but bites off more than he can chew. The man tasers him, proceeding to tie him down and interrogating him over his Grandmother and who sent him. After piercing his chest with several darts, a knock at the door saves him, giving Jonah enough time to blind-side the shop owner, leading to a nasty skirmish between them. Thankfully, Meyer arrives and stabs the Nazi through the neck, proceeding to divulge everything he knows about the Nazis and how they aren’t actually all gone – they’re operating in America in secret.

As the episode closes out, Meyer introduces his group to Jonah, and they toast to his arrival.

The Mourner's Kaddish

Jonah deciphers a written message and realizes it’s in relation to one of the Nazi’s, Karl Holstedder.

After being introduced to the gang, Jonah gets to work with the others. Its here we learn that Holstedder used to host his own singing horror show inside the holocaust camp called The Star Of Buchenwald.

With a plan in action, the hunters circle Holstedder’s house before converging in the main atrium, proceeding to tie him down and give him what the Jews never had – a fair trial. With witness statements from Buchenwald, Lonny stumbles upon a hidden room and after picking the lock, he and Rox head in and find a homegrown radio set-up, one that appears to be broadcasting a message.

When they ask Karl, he refuses to engage, leading them to torture him through a grueling sound endurance test. Eventually Jonah convinces Geyer and the others to stop, and it’s here Holstedder announces that he was just following orders in playing tapes.

With the group preoccupied with the broadcast, Jonah heads into the room and gives the man a glass of water. Unfortunately, this is just the distraction he needs, proceeding to smash the glass and hold Jonah up with a shard of glass to his throat. Although Joe saves him from his fate, the ensuing blast also kills the broadcast, forcing the Hunters to leave.

While Visions of Safta Danced in His Head

Back at headquarters the next day, the group discuss the 74 different nazis on the wall they are aware of. Meyer rallies the troops, tasking them with watching Holstedder’s house.

Back at HQ, Sister Harriet feeds back what the group have found regarding their next target while Jonah himself visits Murray and Mindy, discussing Meyer and in particular whether there were any romantic feelings between them.

The Pious Thieves

 Meyer meets Frederic at the Swiss Bank and they discuss his money.

Jonah himself marches back into Meyer’s operation and demands to be part of their group. Meyer takes him aside though and tells him his impulsive behaviour could put them all in jeopardy. After some back and forth, he agrees to put Jonah on surveillance duties with Sister Harriet, who talks to him about Ruth and recounts a tale from the camps involving a notorious German known as The Wolf (real name Wilheim Zuchs) who was obsessed with her.

After a misstep from Mindy inside the bank, Sister Harriet hustles for information with one of her contacts. Back at HQ they look over schematics of the bank and discuss a plan of action to break into the bank. Before they can continue, Millie arrives and talks to Jonah about Ruth in private but not before noting down the name of Danny Rohr. This man wrote several New York Times articles on Meyer and may prove to be a valuable asset for her going forward.

Sitting down to a game of chess, Millie tells Jonah her theory and goes on to hound him about where he’s been over the past few days. However, Meyer interjects before Jonah can reveal anything incriminating about their operation and stops the questioning.

With Millie gone, the gang put their plan into action and break into the bank. With the hostage situation working perfectly as a distraction for the others to break into the vault, Jonah arrives and manages to stop Joe from being killed by a rogue officer. Mindy opens the safety deposit box but finds nothing there. However, there’s a secret compartment behind the wall that leads down to a hidden basement. Once there, they find a whole stash of Nazi loot, which they quickly take photos of for evidence.

Upon seeing these fortunes, Meyer shows Frederic what he and his team have found, going on to tell him he’s going to a war tribunal for what he’s done. Before Meyer leaves, he does manage to get a name from the Nazi – Oskar Hauptman; a notorious man known within the camps. Back at HQ, Meyer talks to Jonah about Oskar and officially invites him onboard as one of their own.

As the episode closes out, Frederic shoots himself in the head while Millie heads up to Danny Rohr’s and directs her questioning toward Meyer, where the episode ends.

At Night, All Birds are Black

 Meyer, who speaks to Jonah and tells him to channel his anger, while interjecting this speech with shots of him practicing self-defence moves with Joe. We also cut back to the past as well, learning more about The Wolf inside the holocaust camp, in particular showing a nasty torture scene involving Meyer refusing to scream. It’s here Meyer tells Jonah the one mistake he made in his life was hesitating, warning Jonah against doing just this.

The group then reconvene, proceeding to look over a photo of The Wolf and his associates, deciding to set their attention on a political activist known as Tilda Sauer

The trio of hunters (Roxy, Meyer and Lonny) converge on Tilda Sauer’s location, tasering her and holding her hostage. When she awakens, the entire group circle and torture her, asking for information surrounding Oskar but she remains incredulous and refusing to engage. Meyer manages to get through to her eventually and upon realizing she knows nothing, shoots her square in the head.

As Meyer and the others head out of Tauer’s house their car suddenly explodes, leading to a shootout as Travis reveals himself and grabs a shotgun, circling Meyer while Roxy lies passed out on the ground. As sirens wail overhead, the shootout is left to be continued, as Travis growls in frustration and leaves the house.

(Ruth 1:16)

 The fractured remnants of the group discuss Harriet’s betrayal and what it means for them while Meyer stitches up Jonah following his run-in with Dieter in the previous episode. Before they can go after new targets, the group prepare for the upcoming wedding.

The festivities get underway with Murray and Mindy beginning their wedding celebrations.

Jonah speaks to the other hunters about the upcoming plan, where they learn through scattered bits of intel that the Nazis are planning to create a fourth reich in America. Before they can continue, Sister Harriet arrives, leading Joe to march up and grab her. She shows them Moritz in the trunk of her car; a wedding gift for Murray and Mindy. While the others head back inside, Meyer talks privately to her about their code. She sneers at the concept, telling him it’s just a smokescreen to hide the fact that they’re as much the monster as the Nazis are, given what they’re doing.

Meyer returns home and immediately notices something afoul as both Travis and Tobias break into his house through the skyline. Following the faint smell of burning, Meyer opens the secret room in his house and finds all the records and information lost in the midst of an inferno raging around him.

Shalom Motherf\*\*\*er

Back at Meyer’s, Jonah presents the music box and together the group begin to decipher what it all means. Given the morse code only revealed dates, the music box is much more exact, showing coordinates to several different areas across the city, including Grand Central Station. With this information, they deduce that they could be looking at a biological weapon being released, which matches up to what they found at The Ghost’s house.

Before they can act on this intel, Millie and other FBI agents arrive with a warrant to search the house. Within one of the rooms Millie finds the remnants of the fire that broke out earlier in the show. Sensing he’s not being wholly truthful, Millie arrests Meyer for the murder of Heinz Richter.

Millie begins interrogating Meyer. Eventually she breaks her own facade and shows him Operation Paperclip, going on to tell him she’s building a case and wants his help. This is when Meyer opens up and tells her that the Nazis are communicating with one another and they plan to attack New York.

The Jewish Question

Millie immediately heads in to see an irate Meyer telling her he’ll tell her everything he knows about the Fourth Reich if she lets him go. Eventually she agrees to his terms and follows him back to his house again

Lonny returns alive to HQ while Meyer introduces the group to Millie, who joins them in their base of operations. This leads them to a beautiful funeral where they say goodbye to Murray. Afterward, Jonah and Meyer come to blows surrounding how he feels and the guilt consuming him inside.

As the group start closing in on those who are pulling the strings, they set their sights on a man called Von Braun. After speaking to Simon, who berates what they’re doing and tells them they need to stop hunting for the sake of their own heritage, Jonah begins questioning what they’re doing too. It’s here Meyer admits to killing 11 men the night in the camp, in a bid to save Ruth, and admitting he hasn’t been the same since.

At the same time, Meyer, Joe and Jonah descend on Von Braun and question him over his morality and the Fourth Reich. When he fails to talk, Jonah looks set to torture him with electrical cables until he finally reveals what’s going on and who’s pulling the strings – it’s The Colonel. He was the one who helped create “The Solution” – a weapon that’s in absolutely everything and happens to be corn syrup. However, Jonah doesn’t believe him and begins shocking the man until Joe cuts the power and forces him back into the car.

The Great Ole Nazi Cookout of '77

The Colonel finds herself chauffeured by Meyer but she has the last laugh when she uses her cunning wits to outsmart him with a hidden gun, seemingly shooting him in the back of the head and sending both of them careering off a bridge into the water below.

Eilu v' Eilu

Meyer’s car plunges over the edge of the cliff as Sister Harriet dives into the water and drags Meyer to safety. The Colonel however, is nowhere to be seen. Jonah arrives and sees that Meyer is shook up from his encounter. He turns to Jonah and tells him it was his birthright to lead the Hunters but letting Travis go free has changed his mind.

Jonah brings The Wolf to Meyer’s house.

Meyer plunges the knife in The Wolf’s skull but he doesn’t say a prayer beforehand, which immediately rings alarm bells for Jonah. As he thinks back to the letters, his blood runs cold as he realizes the horrifying truth – Meyer is actually The Wolf. As Meyer sits down with a glass of whiskey, he tells Jonah about his ordeal and how he managed to get away from the camp.

The man he killed isn’t The Wolf, he’s actually the SS Surgeon who changed his face and turned him into Meyer after killing the real Meyer in cold blood back in the Holocaust Camp. His reasons for hunting come down to a blood lust but Jonah stands his ground and tells him it’s not his fight, it’s the Jew’s fight.

Jonah grabs the gun in his back pocket and fires a bullet into the fake Meyer’s chest, following it up with a knife to the lung.

## Personality

Wilhelm, unlike most other villains in *Hunters*, is motivated by only self-preservation and can be considered as one of the most vile of the antagonists.

According to him, he wasn't a devotee of Nazism or the master race ideology and only joined with the Nazis for the power they would give him in the Auschwitz laboratory. It was this power that would corrupt him and turn him into the monster known as The Wolf.

When speaking with Ruth, Wilhelm maintains a kind demeanor but is noticeably upset when she rejects his offer. This demeanor is faux affability, and he is only nice to others when he needs something . He easily gives up on being the “nice” guy when he is upset or angered, which he shows he easily is. He's also very determined, doing whatever he could to destroy Meyer's light, learning every detail he could about him. Even Wilhelm has his limits, however, giving up on torturing Meyer after nine hours, and even drinking while doing so, so as to alleviate the pain of inflicting pain, which indicates that he's not a sadist, but is still tenacious and would go to extreme lengths to get what he wanted.

After taking on Meyer's identity, Wilhelm would, in his words "awake from the coma of hatred", as living life as a Jew opened his eyes to his heinousness, and he came to realize that he was the bad guy. But this is a huge lie.

Overall, Wilhelm Zuchs is completely evil. At heart, he is totally hateful.

He is a man with a short temper who doesn't take "no" for an answer, and his actions as a result of this behavior ensure that he's still a horrible villain.

## Trivia

* There were several hints throughout the episodes as to Meyer's true identity as Wilhelm Zuchs, some of which Jonah recalls as he figures it out for himself.
	+ Tilda Sauer calls Meyer "the biggest charlatan of them all", as well as the "great pretender". Before she can elaborate further, Meyer shoots and kills her, a move which shocks Lonny and Roxy.
	+ As Meyer looks at Oskar Hauptman's prescription, the shot lingers on the bottle, which bears Friedrich Mann's name. The Ghost, similarly to Meyer, had undergone plastic surgery by Mann to not be recognized.
	+ Murray tell Jonah that "you can never really know a person", and that "we wear different faces", alluding to Meyer not being who he says he his, and his literal change of face.
	+ When regaining consciousness after his encounter with the Colonel, he mumbles "Meyer.”
	+ In a flashback sequence, Ruth tells Meyer that he looks different than what she remembers of him.
	+ Friedrich Mann notes how the stitches on Jonah's wound are expertly done. Since Wilhelm Zuchs was a surgeon, he was an expert in mending wounds.
	+ Friedrich Mann exclaims "It's you!" before Meyer kills him, recognizing him as the man he performed surgery on.
* Al Pacino himself is not Jewish, unlike the other actors who portray Jews, which makes Meyer's reveal as a "pretender" somewhat justified.
* Wilhelm is one of the only Nazis in the series not brought to the United States via Operation Paperclip.
	+ He's also the only Nazi to take on the identity of a Jew.
* Though Wilhelm claimed he didn't seek absolution, his philanthropic actions indicate his continued subterfuge, having donated to several Jewish charities.