The Last Days

I had the opportunity to see "The Last Days" on HBO one night and I will never be the same again. My Family is German, in fact my grandparents were born in Germany, and I have always heard the horrible stories of the concentration camps and How my family was so ashamed to be German. I have seen many pictures and movies concerning the holocaust but nothing could have prepared me for the images shown in this movie. The videos taken of the concentration camp prisoners was so unbelievable. When the first survivor began talking I felt tears begin to rush down my face. The way the Nazi's treated these people was so unbelievable and horrible. Towards the end of the film we see the deceased prisoners of the camps being thrown into large pits of fire to destroy their bodies. At this point in the movie I literally began to gag from the horror of how these people was treated. This movie is life changing- I don't think I will ever be able to read a book about World War II or the holocaust with out feeling my own heartbreak. In my opinion the most touching moment is when we hear the story of how a woman keeps the diamonds her mother gave her secret from the Nazis, and how she still has them and what she has done with them. Another moment that broke my heart is the story of a woman who wears a bathing suit that her father gave her under her clothes to the concentration camp and how she was scared to take it off because she feared she would forget all the good times that she had had before the war. I hope everyone sees this movie so they can understand what hate does, and so that nothing like this ever happens again.

There have been a number of Holocaust films, dramatic and documentary, and all have some measure of success in conveying the immense horror of Nazi psychosis. This film is one of the best I've seen. It sticks to personal stories and that makes the difference. Dry written narration removes the vastness of the evil perpetrated.

It took decades for the real horror of the Nazi extermination to be adequately shown to the public. We should use this film as an example of the mindset that drives current holocausts being perpetrated right now or being openly planned by international leaders. It doesn't matter who is being persecuted, the open hated and psychosis of the perpetrators is on display here, you can easily see the same aberrant thought processes in action right now in Africa and the Middle East.

If only the world could show the courage that was clearly lacking in the 1930's.

My life changed after my visit to Auschwitz . I had been to Dachau in college, but it didn't affect me the way Auschwitz/ Birkenau had. Perhaps because most of it had been leveled or it could have been the 2 American soldiers who kept trying to video tape me (sigh). For anyone who has any interest in the Holocaust, a trip to Auschwitz with the guided tour is essential.

The movie did an excellent job of weaving together five survivors stories. On the DVD that we got from Netflix, the music was uncomfortably loud to the point of not being able to hear what the survivors were saying. Hopefully, this is just a bum copy and in other screenings the music does not overpower the talking.

I applaud the folks who made this film and especially the survivors who were able to share such deep emotion even in front of a film crew.

Thank you.

If you are looking for an eye opening documentary, you should try this one.

If you are interested on History, this is a must.

If you consider yourself a human being in all senses of the expression, you should definitely watch this documentary.

The holocaust should never be forgotten.

Heartbreaking and haunting listening to these survivors of the Holocaust recount the horrors they witnessed. The film itself felt sincere, real people telling real stories. It was nice to have it end on good notes, as the survivors went on to live their lives.