Le Dernier Témoignage

The last living Nazi's, some of which are still in denial, others/most are proud to have fought in the war, most are ashamed of the murders and one or two who are not ... I was left with a lump in my throat.

I've watched and read a lot of stuff about The Holocaust and the Nazis, yet whenever I approach some new material, it's always with the same thought 'It can't happen again though can it'. The sad reality is antisemitism is on the rise again, certainly in the UK. Which is what makes documentaries like this vital. What makes this a little different from many on the subject is rather than focusing on debunking deniers or being solely voiced by survivors. It relies on those who participated on the Nazi side. The last living generation of the third reich... and their families. Most are products of the Hitler Youth program. They talk of liking the uniform, feeling included, the social engagement, the belonging to a group. Singing! Old men and women now, they still recall the lyrics with an obvious fondness. Some were just civilians, but nearly all admit to knowing what was happening. Even hiding SS officers when the camps were liberated... and chuckling about it! It feels like a lot of people making a lot of excuses. The pressure put on them from Hitler, the social engineering they were subjected to, the fear. There's not a lot of remorse. They talk as they would've at the time and it's clear that many haven't truly reevaluated or have an intention to. Some say they didn't know about the concentration camps, others admit it was clear something was going on, even if they weren't aware of the full extent. "These heroes you hope to find, there aren't many of them. We were scared". Many talk in terms of us and them. They see themselves as Germans. Not Nazis. The Jews a separate entity in the events. Not fellow humans. There's certainly no suggestion they feel any responsibility. Even those who grew up and worked as part of the regime, as bookkeepers, as guards. The only truly enlightened voice is that of filmmaker Luke Holland, who asks the questions we're all asking. 'Who reported the Jews hiding in your barn?', 'Did you know what was happening in the camps?', 'Would you have killed those Jews?'. The answers are always the ones you don't want to hear. There's a ridiculous denial about the whole thing. They knew what was happening. They did nothing. Although the stories are told with a contemplating tone, they're matter of fact. This would be even more troublesome viewing but for the way this documentary is assembled. The voices are intercut with a mix of archive and present day footage of the places spoken of. This along with text illustrating the numbers of people lost and the sombre strings of the score, make this necessarily bleak. Some admit their guilt, but hide behind semantics. Others openly stand by Hitler. It's shocking. It should be. These people should be looked upon as criminals. If they're too old and indoctrinated to feel the shame they should, it's for future generations to carry. Never forget. It can't happen again.

World War II was one of the most impactful wars in history, and as such, there have been countless documentaries about the leadup, the war itself, and the fallout.

But this one is different: it tracks down people who were alive and involved in pre-war Germany around Kristallnacht and asks them how they felt about the times and how they feel about those times now.

One would instantly expect they would all express remorse that they were led astray by a deceitful demagogue, that it was horrible and evil in retrospect. And to be sure, some of them do. But a surprising number of them do not.

None of those outright say the Holocaust was a GOOD thing, but they are evasive: they keep claiming that they had no idea it was going on. While they wax nostalgic about the excitement of being part of Nazism, which they saw as a nationwide movement that empowered their nation, they also often make asides showing their bigotry towards Jews is still very much alive 70 years later. While few of them saw the war as a happy memory, almost all of them see the pre-war Germany as a golden age and Hitler as a fine leader. It's disturbing.

The teens and young adults involved WWII will not be around much longer. That is why it is important to capture these kind of interviews to show that not only did the Holocaust happen, but the complicity with it was as well.

How did the Holocaust happen? People are not born evil, but somehow most of the population of Germany either contributed directly to acts of mass murder, or denied it was happening. The total defeat of the Nazis led much of the postwar population to condemn their country's past; but also to deny their own roles in it. In Luke Holland's film, he speaks to many elderly Germans about what happened. The less interesting part is where he asks them to admit their own guilt; many still deny it, but it seems to me that this is almost inevitable: if his interviewees all said "yes, I am effectively a murderer", it would be surprising but not that illuminating. Much more interesting than trying to make them take responsibility is where they open up and talk about what happened, and how it could have done so. One has to filter their answers through the lens of self-denial, but it's still worthwhile to hear their stories; and to think, not just in another world that "this could have happened to us" but "we could have done it to them". Soon there will be no living memory; but if we forget, it could easily happen again.

Excellent documentary. It's affirmed what I always wondered - How did they not know? They did know. Maybe not at first or until after witnessing one incident or another, but by slow degrees they knew what was happening to the Jews. As one man said after Hitler took power many from the intellectual leadership who opposed him were murdered & the rest were fearful for our own lives. It's easy for us to judge them, to say I would have done etc. Would I risk/ sacrifice the lives of our loved ones to save a neighbor? I'd like to think so, but I fear I would not have done much.