Dr. Lisendorf was the sinister scientist working for the Nazis during the later years of World War II. He came into possession of the living heart of Frankenstein's monster although when Germany lost the war, the Nazis took the heart away from Liesendorf and secreted the heart to Japan. Fifteen years later, Dr. Yuzo Kawaji came to Germany to speak with Liesendorf about whether a boy in their care might in fact be the real Frankenstein, grown from the living heart. A bitter Liesendorf told Kawaji that if he amputated the boy's arm and it grew back, then it would prove he was Frankenstein.