The film shows an accurate depiction of actual historic events that took place in 1942 during the Wannsee conference. This is the conference responsible for the ‘final solution of the Jewish question’ during the World War II (Roseman, 2002 p.11). The meeting meant to find an implementation strategy for Adolf Hitler’s policy of eliminating the growing population of Jews. Hitler believed that Germany should be free of Jews, and the Nazi government committed itself to finding the most effective strategy to eliminate the Jews.
The conference, therefore, featured top Nazi government officials actively involved in solving the ‘Jewish problem’. The characters in the film depict the actual officials who took part in the conference in 1942. The film captures the event surrounding the meeting and the lengthy discussions that occurred during the meeting. Solving the ‘Jewish problem’ required suggestions from the members and most of them seemed to suggest the execution of the Jews using various methods.
The film focuses on these suggestions and relates them to the personalities of the contributors. It takes a psychological approach to history through analyzing the individuals responsible for important historical events. The events depicted in the film are real events that actually happened in the history of Europe. Therefore, it contributes to the recording of the areas’ history and recreation of past events. It enables the modern world to understand historical events through their recreation and allows the analysis of these events. Through the film, one can understand the context of the controversial decision and the reasons behind the decision.
The director’s agenda was to explore the psychology of the Nazi officials to demonstrate their ruthless nature. He wanted to demonstrate the personalities within the government for outsiders to understand the quality of decisions emerging from them. The massacre of the Jews is a historical event that still sends shivers across people’s spines across the world. It became the identity of the Nazi government giving it an inhuman identity.
It, therefore, becomes important to explore the personalities and virtues of individuals who served in the government. Through this examination, one begins to understand why some events occurred under the watch of several people. The director explores the characters of the individuals as well as their contribution to the final decision on the fate of the Jews. From the film, Eichman appears as an inhumane and cold murderer very keen on following up figures of the dead Jews.
Hedrich is an even more terrifying character with Gestapo as the right-hand man. Kritzinger is a pastor’s son who lacks knowledge of the actual plans for dealing with the Jews. After discovering about the actual plans, he left the conference and expressed regret for involvement in planning the death of so many people. The characters indicate two groups of individuals with some proposing the inhumane elimination of the Jews while the others provided a moral voice of reason.
However, the individuals with a cold personality came out stronger and managed to influence the decisions (Roseman, 2002, p.21). Despite the devastating results of the conference, the director is keen to show that not every Nazi official supported the idea of executing the Jews. He also portrays an image of the men behind one of the most traumatizing events in history. Through their characters, the viewers observe the inhumane ideologies guiding the Nazi government.
References
Roseman M. (2002). The Wannsee conference and the final solution: A reconsideration. New York: Metropolitan Books.
