The Knife

The Knife
Country of Origin	Germany
Date of Death	November 9, 1960 (player determined)
Age	About 40
Hair	Brown
Eyes	Blue
Height	6' 2" (1.88 m)
Weight	170 lbs (77 kg)
Sex	Male
Nationality	German
Race	White
Occupation	Doctor at Camp Belica SS-Untersturmführer (SS-Second Lieutenant)
Fate	Determinant: Stabbed by B.J. Blazkowicz
Portrayer	Tilman Borck
Appearance(s)	Wolfenstein: The New Order

The Knife (Das Messer; real name unknown) is the nickname of a sadistic Nazi doctor who oversees Block 4 of Camp Belica. He is a minor antagonist in the game. The Knife is feared in-camp for selecting the nearest prisoners within reach, then torturing and incinerating them, apparently out of pure malice. His nickname is due to the fact that he takes great pleasure in torturing his victims with surface cuts with a knife often accompanied by a recording of discordant piano music.

One of B.J.'s side missions is to kill him while disabling the security systems. While sneaking into his laboratory, B.J. is captured and briefly tortured by The Knife. B.J. would survive before escaping a furnace of emaciated, defiled corpses. B.J. can return to the area where he was tortured and kill The Knife with his own weapon. Should B.J be spotted, The Knife will simply use the same attack patterns as the prison guards, with the exception of using a knife rather than a truncheon.

Personality

The Knife's reputation precedes him, as his infamy among the inmates at Camp Belica is well deserved. The Knife takes great pleasure in torturing random inmates, and relishing in it with piano music. He also seems to purposely hesitate before stabbing them, in order to build up tension and savor the feeling more. After presumably killing Blazcowicz, he calmly washes his blade and hands indifferent to just another murder. He, along with almost all the rest of the Nazi party believes "lesser races" to be inferior and "cockroaches" that he must step on.

Quotes

• "Dachtest wohl, du könntest dich in mein Haus schleichen, was? (Thought you could sneak into my house, did you?")
• "Solche Dreistigkeit habe ich von Ungeziefern wie dir noch nie gesehen. Unglaublich.(I've never seen such audacity from a vermin like you before. Unbelievable".)
• "Da denkt man, man wüsste, wie ein Insekt denkt ... und was von ihm zu erwarten ist. Doch weit gefehlt!(You think you know how the insect thinks ... and what to expect from it. But no!")
• "Du erbärmliches Stück Scheiße. Ich werde jede einzelne Kakerlake zertreten.(You miserable piece of shit. I will step on every single cockroach".)

Gallery

Video

Wolfenstein The New Order - Camp Belica BJ Tortured by "The Knife" Sequence, Escape Oven PS4

The Knife Tortured scene.

Trivia

• He wears the same clothes as Bubi, but with an apron, and an officer's cap. Judging by his collar insignia, he has the rank of an SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant).
• After escaping from the initial torture that he gives B.J, screams can be heard from the upper floor, and you can see him torturing another prisoner the same way he tortured B.J. It is not possible to save him however, as he dies before you reach him.
• The character and his reputation is an exaggerated pastiche of various real concentration camp doctors and officers, the most obvious being Josef Mengele, also known as "The Angel of Death". Mengele was notorious for conducting supposed 'scientific' experiments on his captives, but most contemporaneous accounts of him put it as largely motivated by simple cruelty.
• After killing him, using a melee weapon to The Knife's corpse will spawn one additional hat independent of the one on his head.
• Interestingly, he holds his knife with the serrated edge facing out, the opposite of how BJ holds his. This may be so he can use the serrations when torturing prisoners.