Deutsches Haus

A dramatic look at the in-between generation of German children, born in the 1930s, who were never told the truth about Die Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (the Nazi times). Eva is an Posish interpreter who is learning about the horrors through the testimony of witnesses in the Frankfurt trial of mid- to lower-level SS personnel at Auschwitz-Birkenau in the early 1960s (Der Auschwitz-Prozess).

Search Hulu for "Deutsches Haus" for the German version. Both the German and (dubbed) English versions are available. The dubbed version is not worth watching because it does not accurately translate the German. The English captions in the dubbed version are correct, but it's hard to listen to the discrepant audio that goes with them.

Also known as "The Interpreter of Silence", this 5-part mini-series is a based on a 2019 novel. A combination of both fiction and real events - the "Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials" that took pace during 1963 to 1965 - the series gives an idea on how difficult it was to prosecute the crimes that were committed in Auschwitz during WW2.

Apart from the Nuremberg Trials, which took place during 1946-1947, the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials took place almost 20 years after the war. The series gives a very convincing view on how life during the 60's must have been. A combination of stunning sets with many props of those times, makes it a very attractive view.

Amongst the defendants of the Auschwitz Trials, a special focus is put on the SS-officer Wilhelm Boger, whom under the name "The Tiger of Auschwitz" was known for using extreme torture techniques on prisoners, often leading them to die instantly or within a day of the torture. That Wilhelm Boger left many people dead, also makes it difficult to prosecute. This since there were no witnesses left...

Another defendant whom is featured, is Robert Mulka, whom functioned as chief of staff under the famous Auschwitz camp commander Rudolf Hoss. This made him defacto second-in-command at Auschwitz.

Mixed with these true events is a story about the court translator. As a daughter of an owner of a Frankfurt restaurant named "Deutsches Haus", she is specialized in translating the polish language. The series shows her day-to-day life during the trial, which leads her to discover also interesting facts about her own family, friends and co-workers.

The convincing sets combined with excellent acting, makes this series a very attractive view which I myself binge-watched in one go. An extra plus is that this series educates the viewer on real events that relate to WW2. I personally think it is important that society is made aware of how evil "civilized" people can really be. And since we have come to the point that all eye-witnesses to WW2 are dead, a series like this is important in keeping alive what really happened just a generation ago.

Concluding, I award this series a score of 8.1/10 resulting in an IMDb score of 8 stars.

The show is based on a book called "The German House", I stumbled upon the show in Disney+ and had to watch all 5 episodes. The show is a heavy watch but definitely worth it.

While the show and the book are both historical fictions, I felt like it portrayed the German and Polish sentiment after WW2 accurately and vividly.

The cast and acting were great and the dubbing into english was better than usual, but I advise adding english subtitles as well. In many cases when Polish is being spoken, it isn't dubbed to english and I relied on the closed captions.

Overall, I think the show was great and I plan on reading the book shortly.

The Frankfurt Ausschwitz trials are an important topic in Holocaust history and the series potrayal of the trial is where the series shines.

Unfortunately it suffers from the same problem that much of German "history-TV" (like Babylon Berlin or Charité) has: to draw in viewers it contains numerous side plots that are supposed to fluff out the historical period but are very clichéd. I get that it is important to set a historical context, but the side plots remain completely shallow and especially clash with the horrifying descriptions of Ausschwitz in the trial.

A further (minor) point: it feels very much that the series only included an anti-Nazi old person in the form of the fiancé's father to reassure German viewers that "not everyone was bad" in their grandparent's generation. It's a shame that German productions still feel they cannot ask more of their audience.

The series shows no real sense of the authoritarian spirit of the early sixties, before the public recognition of the Holocaust, not least through the Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt depicted here. As is unfortunately so often the case with historical series, the current taste in history is catered to, which unfortunately makes the characters appear historically implausible. The same goes for the chemistry of the main figure and her fiance.

A wasted opportunity.

The two film adaptations of the life of the Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer, on whose initiative and persistence the aforementioned Auschwitz trial took place, are much better done and should be watched instead.