Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer

The People vs. Fritz Bauer presents the story of Attorney General Fritz Bauer, a Jew on a quest to prosecute the crimes of the Third Reich, as he was also briefly in a concentration camp, at one point. The action is set in motion when he learns that Adolf Eichmann, a lieutenant colonel responsible for mass deportations, is not only alive but living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. To be sure, Eichmann is one of the worst Nazi officials, and in today's political climate it would be hard to imagine that his prosecution would be riddled with difficulties, yet as this film shows, even in the late 1950s the political climate in Germany was not as progressive as it is today. Read the rest of my review here: https://indieethos.com/2016/09/16/the- people-vs-fritz-bauer/

"The People vs. Fritz Bauer" is the story of one man's determination to bring Adolf Eichmann to Germany for trial, and the opposition to it that he faced.

Fritz Bauer was a district attorney in Hessen, Germany, and the story begins really toward the end of his life. He is shown drowning in his bathtub at the beginning, but he is saved. In reality, that is how he died in 1968.

Bauer was a man who did what he had to do in order to achieve his ends, and the movie makes no bones about it. He keeps quiet about the fact that he is Jewish because of his determination to enter politics. And he commits treason in order to bring Eichmann to justice. His part in that capture was not made public until 10 years after his death.

Unfortunately for Bauer, in 1957, the government was filled with ex- Nazis and SS officers who didn't want these monsters tried and naming names. There was a lot of resistance and anti-Semitism. When Bauer learns that Eichmann is living in Argentina, he has to appeal to Massad for help - a treasonous offense if anyone found out.

There is a subplot concerning his young associate, State Attorney Angermann, a fictional character.

Very good movie, with wonderful acting by Burghart Klaußner as Bauer and Ronald Zehrfeld as Angermann.

In general, the story of Eichmann is a seminal story to understanding the 20th century, and the depth of evil in the Nazi state. AS ardent noted the banality of Eichmann's evil, especially the cold bureaucratic elements the machine he helped create to murders of innocents by the millions is a truly instructive warning.

In addition to Ardent, faithful films in German and in English of the Wannsee conference, as well as Wiesenthal relentless and heroic should be read or seen by all.

This film however, just can't help but throw in Washington and the CIA on several occasions. The filmmakers just have to deploy the time worn European crutch of raising an Americans bogeyman and it ruins the film's claim to veracity. In fact, the Us with all its flaws had nothing to do with the creation and enabling of Eichmann, and in fact Eichmann was a very German and European creation.

In 2006 stories started to come out that the W. German intelligence and the CIA had known he was in Argentina. In fact subsequent to that in 2011 that claim was shown false. The claim they know he was there is like the claim FDR knew an attack would be at pearl harbor. Pearl was listed, but so were many other places. Same with Eichmann and his location., there was intelligence he was in a dozen places. In fact Guy Walters blows away this tin foil hat conspiracy theory repeated in the film back in 2001.:

blogs. telegraph.co.uk/ news/ guywalters/ 100071101/ the-west- Germans -and-the- Americans -really-did- not -know-where- eichmann-was/

(remove spaces in the URL as IMDb was rejecting it as too long)

The idea that the CIA or the US in anyway blocked the W. Germans or Israeli on Eichmann is also simply bogus. What the now largely released documentation of the period shows is the US was more focused and concerned with reducing the international isolation of Israel, and while Eichmann's abduction was utterly just, it was illegal under international law, and in fact Israel was excoriated for the abduction in the Security council. In fact the abduction of Eichmann had realty increased the influence of the nationalist, anti Semite and deeply anti American Tacuara Nationalist Movement. Raising concerns about that is not some smoking gun of US or CIA complicity.

It is a shame to see an otherwise good film touching an important part of the history of a European and German created holocaust and aftermath flawed by worn and bogus misrepresentation and blame shifting.

I have watched other (better) films about the search and/or the capture of Adolph Eichmann. I should have known from the title that this film has very little to do with Eichmann. It is mostly about being homosexual in Germany during that time period. One of the characters is complete fiction, created in order to focus on homosexuality. Additionally, the movie presents untruths regarding various governments. If you're looking for a movie about how difficult it was to be gay in Germany in the 50's you will enjoy this movie. If you are looking to see history, look elsewhere, like the historically accurate "Operation Finale".

That's metaphorically and literally speaking of course. One might also add that it can be a pun too. But while my summary line is definitely on the light side, the movie is not. And it couldn't be with the story it wants to tell. Germany has an obvious history with Nazis and the subsequent hunt for them. Or sometimes neglect in hunting them down for various reasons.

This movie shows one of many cases and one man who was determined to bring as many to justice as possible. Despite and through all obstacles that were before him. So this is a story (thriller) that has quite a bit going for it. It's really well made and well acted too and the suspense is there, from the start until the end. There's also a lot of award talking going on about this, if that is something you're interested in