Final Account

A depiction of the last living generation of German participants in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

paul2001sw-1 - 29 January 2022
We could have done it to them
How did the Holocaust happen? People are not born evil, but somehow most of the population of Germany either contributed directly to acts of mass murder, or denied it was happening. The total defeat of the Nazis led much of the postwar population to condemn their country's past; but also to deny their own roles in it. In Luke Holland's film, he speaks to many elderly Germans about what happened. The less interesting part is where he asks them to admit their own guilt; many still deny it, but it seems to me that this is almost inevitable: if his interviewees all said "yes, I am effectively a murderer", it would be surprising but not that illuminating. Much more interesting than trying to make them take responsibility is where they open up and talk about what happened, and how it could have done so. One has to filter their answers through the lens of self-denial, but it's still worthwhile to hear their stories; and to think, not just in another world that "this could have happened to us" but "we could have done it to them". Soon there will be no living memory; but if we forget, it could easily happen again.
rolfhu - 2 August 2021
Only the Nazis?
Sure it was bad what happened during the 2WW and the Germans still fell guilty. Today, others like US, Britain, France and many other doing the same. But there is no felling of guilty. The world is just is still the same, nobody really cares.

Doing the.

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