"Nazism"

"Then, gentlemen, not you will be the ones to deliver the verdict over us, but that verdict will be given by the eternal judgment of history, which will speak out against the accusation that has been made against us. I know what your judgment will be. But that other court will not ask us: Have you committed high treason or not? That court will judge us, their quartermaster-general of the old army, its officers and soldiers, who as Germans wanted only the best for their people and Fatherland, who fought and who were willing to die. You might just as well find us guilty a thousand times, but the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear up the motions of the state's attorney and the judgment of this court: for she finds us not guilty."


     It is in these last words of Hitler one can get an insight into his disturbing and psychotic mind. For Hitler to  begin to assume that History would judge him one day as a "quartermaster-general of the old army... who wanted only the best for their people and Fatherland" is unfathomable.  It is unbelievable that such a character would ultimately think that the genocide for which he was responsible would be justified by the "goddess of the eternal court." His plea of not guilty, only reflects his arrogance and his unwillingness to accept any of the crimes that he committed. Furthermore, his attitude of doing what was best for the Fatherland, underlines the totalitarian ideal which he believed in. The horrors of the Holocaust will forever leave and an imprint in German history and Hitler will be the dent that made it possible.


The current films that I watched are completely different from the previous films. The introduction of color and dramatized documentary transforms these new films into reality. In the first film "Triumph of the Will" the viewer is drawn to the impressive aerial views of a city in Germany. The film displays Hitler's militarized persona and the nationalistic sentiment that followed him.  Another important point to highlight is the impressive armed forces that Hitler had at his command, not to mention the willingness of every soldier to fight till death. Regardless of the atrocities that Hitler committed, it is impressive to see how one man could gain so much power and respect.
With the second film "Night and Fog" the back and forth effect gives the film a very realistic contrast of the past and the present.  The nature of the film is very grotesque and hard to watch. It takes the viewer into the reality of concentration camps, and the endless suffering to which the Jewish community were subjugated too. It was very hard to watch the last film, because it left me angry for no one took responsibility for their actions, as if they were somehow manipulated into doing such horrible things. Nevertheless, both films allow the viewer to catch a glimpse of a past "real" reality; cold, unapologetic and very real.