The Decent One

Showings

Film Info
Director(s):Vanessa Lapa
Country:Austria
Israel
Year of Production:2014
Running Time:96 min

Description

On May 6 1945, soldiers of the 88th US Infantry Division occupied the Himmlers’ family home in Gmund on Lake Tegernsee where they discovered hundreds of private letters, documents, journals and photographs. The fascinating and gripping documentary makes use of these materials and copious archive footage to sketch the biography of SS commander Heinrich Himmler who committed suicide at the end of May 1945 by taking a cyanide capsule. How did he see himself and how was he perceived in private by his wife Margarete, his daughter Gudrun and his mistress Hedwig? How could the man who often referred to so-called German virtues such as order, decency and goodness also write home in the midst of the war and Holocaust: ‘I am well in spite of my heavy workload’? What was it that caused his daughter to say after a visit to Dachau concentration camp: ‘It was lovely …’