Saturday, August 6, 2016

Saturday Short

Sometimes it is hard to remember.*
~ Brunhide Pomsel


Film Poster

Today, Saturday Short offers a look at several trailers for the film A German Life (Blackbox Film & Medienproduktion GmbH, 2016) from directors and writers Christian Krones, Olaf S. Muller, Roland Schrotthofer, and Florian Weigensamer.

The 113-minute documentary, which debuted at Visions du Reel Nyon (Switzerland; World Premiere, April 18) and was screened earlier this summer at Munich Filmfest (June 27-30), Jerusalem Film Festival (July 9-10), and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (American premiere, July 24-25), features Brunhilde Pomsel, a secretary, stenographer, and typist for Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945). Pomsel, now 105 years old, talks about her work for the Third Reich's propaganda minister and describes herself as a "figure on the margins", without guilt or blame for the Holocaust.

In German with English subtitles, the film includes archival footage and is intended for "mature" audiences (some describe it as "harrowing").

Think about the questions about morality and human nature the film raises.


Everything that is beautiful is also tainted. 
And whatever's horrible also has its bright side.



. . . Goebbels was . . . an outstanding actor.


A German Life - Trailer 2 from BLACKBOXFILM on Vimeo.


* Also see a teaser on Vimeo (a different segment of the film).

A German Life on FaceBook

Blackbox Film on FaceBook

Charly Wilder, "Goebbels's Secretary Struggles With Her Responsibility", The New York Times, July 5, 2016


Jochen Kurten, Interview, "'A German Life' Film Meets Goebbels's Secretary", DW

Introduction to the Holocaust and Nazi Propaganda and Censorship (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)

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