Karl Holstedder

**Karl Holstedder** is a minor character in *Hunters*. He is portrayed by John Hans Tester.

## Biography

During the Second World War, Karl Holstedder was known as the Pied Piper of Buchenwald, who ran the camps control center. Every Saturday, Shabbos, he held his horrific show known as the "Star of Buchenwald". He would round up 10 men into a room to a singing competition, forcing them to sing for their lives to songs that were being played on a gramophone. If one person sang out of tune, Holstedder would shoot them, and would continue this until only one man was left.

After the war, he moved to the United States under a new identity as Erik Folsom.

## Throughout the Series

### Season One

The Mourner's Kaddish

Jonah deciphers a written message from Heinz Richter and realizes it’s in relation to one of the Nazi’s, Karl Holstedder. Jonah gets to work with the others, it's here we learn that Holstedder used to be known as the Pied Piper of Buchenwald, and in the camps he used to host his own singing horror show called "The Star of Buchenwald". A sadistic gong show, he rounded up ten men every Saturday into a room to a singing competition, forcing them to sing for their lives to songs that were being played on a gramophone. If one person sang out of tune, Holstedder would correct it before shooting them before moving on and continuing the show. He would repeat this until only one man was left.

With a plan in action, the Hunters circle Holstedder’s house while he was playing the piano, before converging in the main atrium and proceeding to tie him down and give him what the Jews never had - a fair trial. With witness statements from Buchenwald, Holstedder denies his crimes and claimed that they were lies. As the Hunters continued to question Holstedder, Lonny stumbles upon a hidden door, kicking it to reveal a lock. After picking the lock, he and Roxy headed in and found a hidden room with a homegrown radio set-up, one that appeared to be broadcasting a hidden message.

When they confronted Karl, he refused to engage, which prompted the Hunters to torture him through a grueling sound endurance test, which made Holstedder's ears bleed. Eventually Jonah convinces Meyer and the others to stop, and eventually Holstedder finally announced that he was just following orders in playing tapes which broadcasted hidden messages.

While the Hunter group was preoccupied with the broadcast, Jonah heads into the room, and Holstedder proceeded to talk to him. Holstedder says that he didn't do what they said, and goes on to talk about his story, along with how he admired Wagner. He proceeds to bring up about his upbringing, about how his father was a cruel man that believed music was weak, saying that if he dared to hum, his father would beat him. When he was 17, he heard Wagner for the first time in Berlin. He then admits that he held the singing competition to get rid of the ringing in his ears.

Holstedder pleads to Jonah for water, which Jonah agrees to. He then approaches Holstedder and gives him a glass of water. Unfortunately, this is just the distraction he needs, proceeding to bang Jonah in the head, the glass smashing onto the piano. Holstedder uses a shard of glass to cut off the ties and held Jonah up with a shard of glass to his throat, with one of the members groups, Joe, walking into the room telling Holstedder to keep it easy. Holstedder tried to bargain with him, but Joe proceeds to pull out his gun and shoot Holstedder in the head. Although Joe saved Jonah from his fate, the ensuing blast also destroyed the broadcast, forcing the Hunters to leave immediately.