Hitler's Children

"Hitler's Children" is a documentary that interviews and follows a few family members of several evil Nazis--such as Goering, Hoess, Frank and others. The thrust of the film was showing these folks and letting them tell their stories about how they have coped with the evil their relative did. Interestingly, several indicated that they were in the minority--that the rest of their family either wouldn't talk about this evil past or denied that it even occurred.

This film was interesting and is worth seeing. Is it a great documentary? Not really. While I am glad I saw it and think it had an interesting message, technically speaking it was occasionally poor--with some sloppy camera-work and some very slow portions. However, I am not sure how much the film can be blamed for the latter entirely, as the version I saw on Netflix was 82 minutes long. It was too long and could have used an editing. BUT, on IMDb, the film is listed at 59 minutes--and perhaps there is a shorter and more tightly constructed film.

A look into the lives of the descendants of the top Nazi officials who worked under Hitler's command.

This is a rather interesting look at the children and grandchildren of some infamous members of the Nazi party. While we cannot blame them for what their parents did any more than we can blame anyone in Germany for what the generation before them did, these folks have an unusual level of guilt and shame to bear -- can anyone ever again have the surnames Himmler or Goebbels?

I do like that one person pointed out how the Nazi label has tainted Germany. While Germany has been around in various forms for centuries, we now see the country as a former Nazi country and consider German culture through the lens of Nazi culture. Why are we all so obsessed with this one decade? Is it heinous? Beyond words... but it is a relatively small part of German history. When will it be a thing of the past?

Chanoch Ze'evi Has accomplished the near impossible: he has gathered the descendants of Hitler's regime. Placed them in front of his camera, let them talk, provided subtitles, and let the rest of the film work it's own insidious way into the psyches f all who watch it. Perhaps for the first time we are seeing a full picture of what life in and around Adolf Hitler was like as he terrified the universe with his megalomaniac plan for purification of the Aryan race – a plan that resulted in the deaths and tortures and cremations of millions of Jews, gypsies, criminals, homosexuals, and those who tried in vain to stop the atrocities.

The cast then are the descendants of Hitler's murderous group – now adults, forever tainted by the sins of their forbears, who explaining to us in penetrating eye contacts what it was like to be around the monster's court. Bettina Goering, Katrin Himmler, Eldad Beck, Rainer Hoess, Niklas Frank, and Monika Goeth are the cast members in this unforgettable film.

These six ordinary appearing people were not associated with Nazi leanings and they talk individually about what it is like to carry a name associated with the Nazi Party, being a blood relative to someone associated with hate and murder, being German at a time when that in and of itself was seen as being associated with Nazism, dealing with their family regardless of their allegiance to the Nazi Party, and if they feel any guilt associated with the actions of their infamous ancestor. Bettina Goering is the great-niece of Nazi official Hermann Göring shares her voluntary sterilization she underwent to put an end to her bloodline of horror (she now lives simply in New Mexico). Katrin Himmler is the great-niece of Heinrich Himmler, second in command of the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler and has written copiously about the evils of the Nazi regime. Rainer Hoess is the grandson of Rudolf Hoess, creator and commandant of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Niklas Frank is the son of Hans Frank, Polish Governor- General during WWII, he who was responsible for the ghettos and concentration camps in Nazi occupied Poland. Monika Goeth is the daughter of Amon Goeth, commandant of the Plaszów Concentration Camp. In addition to these musings, Hoess and journalist Eldad Beck - a third generation Holocaust survivor - travel back to Auschwitz to revisit their shared ancestral past. And Frank tells in his writings and in public speaking engagements, most to school aged children, of his past of being the direct beneficiary to many of the Nazi Party's favors which in turn is partly the reason he denounces his parents.

Many viewers will find hearing these tales (basically related in German) unsettling and that is the film's purpose. Never ever forget that period in history and yet realize the agony of the descendants of those beasts that hopefully will never be duplicated.

Grady Harp

What I most appreciated about this film is that you do not have to be of German or Jewish ancestry to understand what is being discussed, you only need to be human. Personally, I am of neither ancestry but I was moved to tears as these candid and innocent descendants of those who both inflicted and suffered through one of the worst tragedies in history. As for the German descendants, they are very much trying to keep the sins of their ancestor from defining them while admitting that they were personally affected by their atrocious actions.

Some of their resemblances to their forefathers are uncanny to the point that some can easily be recognized as being the offspring of those who commanded the Third Reich, something that can be shameful or even dangerous.

Hitler's Children (2011) is a documentary directed by Chanoch Zeevi. The movie features in-depth interviews with the children or grandchildren of notorious Nazis. Obviously, there are millions of people in Germany--and elsewhere--whose parents or grandparents were members of the Nazi party. However, the people in the film are descended from the most notorious, vicious members of Hitler's inner circle: Goering, Hess, Himmler.

All of the descendants of these Nazis appear to be gentle, humane people. The movie outlines the manner in which they have dealt with their unsolvable dilemma-- how can you love or respect a parent or grandparent who committed such monstrous acts?

It's interesting that none of the people in the film made any attempt to excuse or explain the behavior of their relatives. This attitude has severed some family ties. Their parents or siblings sometimes cling to the "it's all lies" excuse. The people in the movie meet concentration camp survivors or the children of survivors. How can they cope?

The Holocaust will remain a scar on human history as long as human history exists. Its psychological effects will always be with us, although perhaps they will diminish with time. For the people in the movie, the effects of the Holocaust are with them forever. It's an impossible situation. They have to deal with it in the best way they can.

This film was shown at Rochester's Dryden Theatre as part of the wonderful Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It's definitely worth finding and seeing, and it will work well on DVD. It makes a good companion film to another JFF movie, "The Flat." In "The Flat," a daughter of a high-ranking Nazi maintains the fiction that her father was "just a journalist." He wasn't.