Mein Krieg

Fascinating but a bit repetitive documentary in which the events at the German/Russian front are told by 6 German ex-soldiers. These soldiers had their 8mm cameras on them at the front and a lot of the unique material (some in colour!) is shown. Out of the interviews and in combination with the shown films comes quite another image of the Wehrmacht (soldier) than as the Wehrmacht is portrayed in the "08/15" films by Paul May and more recently (same year of release, as a matter of fact!) in Joseph Vilsmaier's well-meant but failing "Stalingrad" (q.v.).

One of the more recent, public questions about the Wehrmacht's conduct in Russia is (as résumé): Did the Wehrmacht behave as soldiers or as a combination of Nazi/soldier? I would not claim to have the answer myself based on this documentary, but there are some remarkable things to be heard and seen here. Not only the shooting of Russian civilians is shown (and thus filmed by the soldier concerned!), on the question to one of the men whether he participated in such shootings himself, he says (not verbatim): "Please spare me to have to answer this question". At least two of the friendly gentlemen are still proud to have been at the Russian front. One of them is imagining how Russia could have been conquered after all, if HQ had done only this and that; it is very revealing that the thought that the invasion of Russia should not have taken place at all and that this offensive war was based on National-Socialist politics, in almost 45 years never entered his mind (how many older Germans still think likewise).

The weak point of the documentary is that the makers never put the questions (neither to the ex-soldiers nor themselves): What did the soldiers do with the material after coming home and in the 45 years after?; Was it ever shown as a treat for the family?. What was the reaction at home to e.g. the shooting of the Russian civilians?; do not forget that the showing of this kind of images in the official German newsreel "Die Deutsche Wochenschau" was not allowed by Goebbels. It is too bad that the makers skipped these questions, as it is now the subject is not finished.

"My Private War" is exactly that; a World War II documentary with the freedom to pursue the personal truths of six German soldiers, unhindered by the finger wagging of moralists.

One of the criticisms of this piece is its lack of probing questions. For me, that's its strength. We have more than enough footage of soldiers being questioned about their personal motivation for getting involved in the war. Surely, that is a stupid question to ask anybody swept up in the rise of the Third Reich? One of Nazi Germany's greatest 'strengths' was her ability to crush any and all opposition. Never before has such a controversial doctrine enjoyed such popularity. Do we expect that mere individuals should have had any power to reject its mesmerising allure? Even those more enlightened individuals, who knew all too well the evil that was lurking ominously around the corner, could do nothing to stop it. How then could anybody expect one of the smallest cogs in such a powerful machine, a cog threatened with its own merciless destruction and the destruction of those it loved, to resist? Asking that question is just insulting and brings nothing to the table other than yet further humiliation. As one of the German soldiers says himself: save me from answering that question.

It's been 70 years; those that ever will, have already repented.

Anyway, what I loved about this documentary was its admiration of pure fact. Opinion, other than that freely expressed by the soldiers themselves, is neutral.

It's a great homage to the wonderful adage: the camera never lies.

I agree with most of what Zardoz12 has to write, except that those were not "Polish death camps;" those were German Nazi death camps located in Poland, which makes all the difference in the world. As the Poles had the same Slavic "untermenschen" status as the Russsians, Ukrainians, and Belarussians, they were treated and suffered comparatively. And one should understand (as not many non-Slavs do these days) that all these peoples were going to be exterminated by the Nazi regime sooner or later. Most were slated to be slowly worked and starved to death doing slave labor for the Reich and its settlers. Remember the "Drang Osten" and "Lebensraum?" That's what it was all about.

There were two things that horrified me the most. First of all, the way the Germans seemed to have coaxed civilian women into burying other civilians and Soviet soldiers by crudely dumping their compatriots into mass graves. They seem to be doing so rather dutifully and stoically, which makes one wonder whether they were actually collaborators, or just doing so out of concerns for sanitation. There were in fact collaborators, but one must remember that after the horrors that Stalin perpetrated on the population in the 1930's, many people were desperate to escape him. Furthermore, it is well known that the very hungry peasants often did what they thought they had to do to survive. Add to that the fact that undoubtedly many people there — and especially the poorly educated and impoverished rural majority — did not really understand what the Nazis had in store for them, and it's not so simple as it may seem to us now.

The second thing is when you see that long line of captured and injured people and one of the German soldiers — obviously extremely nervous about this — says that, unfortunately, the manual doesn't say what to do when you have (I think it was approximately) 90,000 captives on hand. Hmmm…now, what do you think happened to them?

I am not one to give out 10 star reviews, but this documentary deserves every star. The footage shown in this documentary is absolutely amazing, because it is actual home footage and not propaganda shots. What really makes this documentary stellar is the interviews with the German veterans who filmed the war. It's one thing to see war footage, but to have commentary from the actual soldier who filmed it is truly amazing. It is a shame that the documentary is not longer or more comprehensive, but regardless it is a masterpiece in terms of showing unseen footage. Highly recommend watching if you are a history buff or interested in WWII. It is hard to get a hold of this film, but is well worth it.