User Reviews

I was surprised as I watched this German documentary, "The Unknown Soldier", as I had no idea that so many STILL in this nation are denying, minimizing and quibbling over details of the holocaust. But it seems that an exhibit in a Munich museum about the holocaust resulted in an uproar because it featured photos, film and accounts of German soldiers, NOT just SS but normal enlisted men, participating in atrocities. Here in the States few would be surprised in the least to imagine that the German army were willing participants in the holocaust but apparently the German people (which included a lot of skinheads and war vets) were appalled as they insisted that the German army was blameless and honorable. Interestingly, these same folks refused to enter the exhibit themselves to see this evidence.

I liked watching this portion of the film--it was informative and eye-opening. However, the rest didn't seem as necessary--at least for audiences outside Germany. The rest of the film consisted of showing evidence of these army atrocities--necessary for German viewers but less necessary in countries where the holocaust is talked about more openly and which didn't perpetrate these crimes. So, in an unusual move, I'd rate the film differently depending where you'd live. In nations involved in these horrors, such as Germany, Austria and the Ukraine (where the locals seemed to gladly assist in rounding up and murdering Jews), I see it as a must-see film. As for elsewhere, it's still worth seeing but not nearly to the same extent--it's just that the populaces elsewhere don't need convincing of the atrocities of the Nazis and their friends.

By the way, although it's never mentioned in the film, I was shocked in a visit to Austria. Their involvement in the holocaust sure seemed to be conveniently forgotten. Remember that neat cemetery at the end of the film "The Sound of Music"? Well, although you couldn't see it in the movie, there is a very prominent and disgusting monument STILL there to the Waffen SS--the folks who ran the death camps!! And, in this same town there's a military museum that amazingly glosses over the holocaust amidst its exhibits on WWII. Crazy.

In 1997 Munich, the exhibit "War of Extermination - Crimes of German Armed Forces 1941-44" opened to controversy and opposition from the far-right. The main bone of contention is how involved were the regular Army soldiers. The exhibit is closed after some photos were found to be wrongly attributed to German atrocities. It would reopen years later as the holocaust is shown to be more than a top down directive.

The start is pretty basic with a lot of arguing with the man-on-the-street. It's a he-says-he-says debate. The movie could probably go into more details on the false photos discovery. This documentary digs a little deeper into the massacres and finds some eye-opening information. A single movie is probably too short to fully examine the totality of the crimes. It does get a bit mind-numbing as the atrocities pile up.

Germany's consciousness about its horrible past in the Nazi regime comes to the fore in this excellent documentary. "The Unknown Soldier" goes far beyond the usual factual accounts of the horrors of the holocaust. It probes much deeper into the "who" and "how" of the holocaust and of the other horrible widespread killing of innocent children, women and men, especially in the eastern front of World War II.

The subtitle to the film, "What Did You Do in the War, Dad?" sets the stage for the film. It is a product of a huge public exhibit put together by the Hamburg Institute of Social Research. The interest for this new and broader look at the Nazi pogroms was prompted by a large public exposure in Germany. Many of the younger generation in the late 20th century began to ask questions about photos in family albums. Personal photos by German soldiers taken during the war showed regular soldiers of the Wehrmacht executing civilians, abusing Jews and women, and taking pleasure in displays of brutal killings. Many were of these young Germans' grandfathers posing in scenes of brutality during the war.

But the film also shows a part of the exhibit that portrays some German officers and soldiers who did not follow orders from above to kill innocent people. The film and exhibit point out that there isn't a single incident in the German Army court martial records of any German officer or soldier being disciplined for failing to follow orders to kill civilians.

The film is a report on the exhibitions from a Hamburg Institute project in Germany, from 1997 through 2001. A unique aspect of the film is that it also covers the public reactions to the exhibit. Neo-Nazi groups demonstrated and picketed the exhibits. Some former German Army veterans and relatives of veterans were interviewed and either denied the events or spoke against the exhibits. But, many more people lined up by the thousands to view these exhibits in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and elsewhere. And several historians, sociologists and authors were interviewed. The mayors of Munich and Berlin, a former Secretary of State of Germany, and a parliament member expressed their support for the exhibits and the need for Germany to come to terms with the truth of its past.

Not all soldiers were so cold blooded or complicit in the killing of innocent people. But the film supports the conclusion by a growing majority of historians that the widespread holocaust and killing of innocent millions would not have been possible by the Nazi leadership and SS alone. It could only be accomplished by a willing participation by the regular Army. It's interesting to see the disbelief in this possibility by some of those who were opposed to the exhibits. Yet the photographic evidence and records that have become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union are extensive and further support the vast collection of personal photos from family albums that the young Germans brought forward.

I served in the Army during the Cold War, and in 1962 visited Dachau Concentration Camp near Augsburg, Germany (then it was West Germany). How could a people tolerate such inhumanity, I wondered then. How could the German people living around that town turn a blind eye toward the cruelty and barbarism that was practiced right before them? How could they deny the reality of what was taking place?

Thirty-five years after my time in Germany, my 25-year-old daughter visited Dachau with a German girl she had met and befriended three years earlier. She said that the young German woman didn't even know that Dachau had been a Nazi Concentration Camp for political prisoners; nor did she seem to know anything about the Holocaust. My daughter said the girl too was horrified with what she saw. That was in 1997.

I few years ago, I went to eastern Europe and visited Auschwitz in southern Poland. The Nazis put all of their big Holocaust killing sites in other countries. Auschwitz was the largest of the killing camps for extermination of the Jews. It received Jews from across Europe, but also received Polish academics, clerics and other political prisoners. As I stood and looked at piles of thousands of shoes, eyeglasses, dolls and toys, and luggage pieces, I asked myself, "How could human beings do this to other human beings?"

One of the cells at Auschwitz was where 10 prisoners were starved to death as punishment for the attempted escape of two other prisoners. One of those 10 was a Catholic priest, Maximilian Kolbe, who offered himself in exchange for a Jewish man who had a family with two children. The Jewish man lived through the end of the war and attended the Catholic Church canonization of the priest as a saint in 1982.

Today, with the exhibits on the Nazi regime in Germany, and films like "The Unknown Soldier," the German people are coming to grips with the horrors of their past. It was a time when many of their ancestors were the ones committing such atrocities. Or when their ancestors turned a blind eye to what was going on around them. Or when their relatives denied it or acquiesced to the atrocities by their silence.

A film like this is extremely important, and should be a reminder to future generations of the denial that can cover up such horrible atrocities as the killing of innocent human beings. This is a denial that is still very much with us today, in the 21st century.

He who is without sin is absent throughout this documentary. Instead, the hand writing is on the wall and it is not pretty. Propaganda is a strong tool and years were spent dehumanizing the Jews so they could be killed like animals with little regret or remorse. However, fighting a war is one thing and murder is another. AND...Let's be clear. How anyone can justify killing the elderly, women and children is beyond discussion. If this group were shooting people and lugging bombs, so be it. If not, one of the worst atrocities of man against man has been committed. It is also very hard for any German citizen to deny what they were seeing, hearing and smelling for death to the Jews and others was blatant and out in the open. When you think you are going to win the war, you can do anything you want. Its losing that makes it all catch up with you. There are still people around today that support this wasn't that bad toning it all down with aggressive denial tactics while explaining it away by saying everyone shown dead or hung was already that way. The people cremated were from Allied forces bombings disposed of after-wards. This very stance convicts the one taking it. This type of denial only keeps the hate alive. For all to move on, there must be repentance which means "change" in the Greek. Be sorry, admit it was orders or bad judgment, regret it and ask for forgiveness and all the controversy will start to diminish. Deny it, and museums, documentaries and sworn statements will continue to point the finger. 40 million people died and that is no happenstance or accident. Ask yourself this. What was the fighting all about? Did the rest of the world want to live under the dictatorship of Hitler Germany? I think not. Excellent educational presentation. Have something tasty to drink. Hold the food until after-wards. No snacks on this either. Pay attention. Oh, and one more very important thing. Those shown murdered...what were they thinking as they entered into their last futile moments of life? Stare at them and...Give them their justice

I know some people are tired of the subject.

But this is an important movie for those who just believe that the bad stuff in the war just came from a handful of SS or Gestapo people. Seems more Germans have blood on their hands that I thought. And it makes actually sense.

Just a few people could not have killed the millions of civilians at the Eastern Front. It was also interesting to know that people who refused orders to shoot civilians got away with no trial. Yes, Hitler could not have done it without the help of most of the German people.

That's maybe not so nice if your father was a German soldier during the war.