Product Description

The crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi regime are often thought of as the work of the Waffen SS and Gestapo, under the direction of leaders like Himmler, Eichmann, and, ultimately, Hitler. The ordinary German soldier is usually seen as a noble pawn. Until now. In this astonishing, searing and vitallly important documentary, Michael Verhoeven director of the Oscar-nomintad Nasty Girl, unearths the long-buried truth - while simultaneously showing modern Germany in the thores of an identity crisis. The Unknown Soldier documents Germany's controversial Wehrmacht Exhibition, which for the first time ever revealed the personal letters, photographs and film footage implicating the common foot soldier in horrific acts. While nationalists and far right groups led street protests against it, saying the evidence damning their fathers and grandfathers had been falsified, Verhoeven iterviewed historians and experts, soliders and eyewitnesses, and traveled to the killing fields of the Eastern Front. The result is both an invaluable document and a revealing look at an insecure nation, still reconciling ist proud history with a unique and horrible wartime legacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74230 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Review
Searingly thorough.....the line between wishful denial and nationalist pathology evaporates with terrifying ease. --Time Out NY

Review
Provocative.....intriguing.....punctures the closely held belief that everyday citizens and low-ranking soldiers were blameless for the crimes of the Third Reich. Very few want to think of Grandpa as a Nazi. --Los Angeles Times

Review
Both chilling and fascinating. Impressive. --The New York Times

Customer Reviews

Subjective and uncritical treatment of the Wehrmacht controversy, little groundbreaking or new material.
The subject of this documentary is the opening of the Wehrmachtaustellung (Wehrmacht Exhibition) in 1995, the now famous collection of photographs and documents that provided graphic evidence of German atrocities throughout the Second World War. What distinguished the exhibition from past scholarship on the 3rd Reich, was its depiction of the German Army, or Wehrmacht, as one of the main perpetrators of .the Holocaust - essentially no different from the SS, SD, or other Nazi organizations commonly associated with the brutality and mass murder of Hitler's regime. Although a full rehash of the Wehrmacht Exhibit isn't appropriate here, in short, the controversy that persists to this day is whether the photographs show individual acts of barbarism committed by German troops or, as the Exhibit maintains, irrefutable evidence of the German Army's complicity in Nazi crimes. In other words, are these photos proof that ordinary, rank-and-file German soldiers willingly, even enthusiastically, participated in mass murder? Or are these merely isolated cases that should not (or cannot) be distorted to represent the behavior of the over eleven million men who passed through the army's ranks?

Now to the documentary:

Scope: The film purports to provide an objective, balanced account of the Wehrmacht Exhibition, in particular the controversies over the exhibition itself, the public attention it aroused throughout Germany, and the circumstances of its premature closing due to inaccuracies among its photographs. In addition, the documentary attempts to further investigate the complicity of the Wehrmacht in Hitler's crimes and refute the notion that German Army had been a mere spectator, or pawn, during the Holocaust. To accomplish this, commentary from leading scholars, former Wehrmacht members, and Holocaust survivors would provide critique and broach a discussion on the merits and shortcomings of the exhibition.

Focus: From the outset, the film veers off topic from the original opening of exhibition and a discussion German atrocities and digresses to crimes committed by the SS, the first use of gas vans at concentration camps, and Auschwitz. Roughly 1/3 of the film consists of tangents on the mass murder of the Jews and the 3rd Reich's genocidal policies in the USSR and Eastern Europe. This desultory format is annoying at best - one has a hard time keeping track of the producer's arguments as the interviews and footage appear cobbled together with little forethought. Moreover, no new material is introduced about Wehrmacht atrocities during WWII.

Objectivity: This is by far the biggest disappointment. My hope was to see an unbiased, objective analysis of the Wehrmacht Exhibition and the subject of German war crimes under Hitler. I was looking forward to hearing feedback from historians and scholars advocating different viewpoints and walk away with new insights or at least a better understanding of the controversies this exhibit evoked. Instead, it was immediately clear which side the documentary took: while there was indeed a panel of respected history professors, authors, and politicians present throughout the film, without exception they were either directly affiliated with the exhibition itself or proponents of its overall message (I gave 2 stars because many of their arguments were compelling). Yet for counterarguments and critique against the exhibition, the film relies exclusively on soundbytes and interviews from right-wing (neo-nazi) politicians, angry, shouting skinheads, and a handful of disgruntled veterans. One gets the impression that those who disagree with the exhibition's thesis are either poorly educated or neo-fascist hooligans. Of the 10 or so professors and professional historians that appeared, not a single one offered any substantive critique, rather they lauded the exhibit or diminished those who disagreed with their views. The controversy and questions over Wehrmacht involvement in war crimes continue to this day. There are numerous journal articles and books written that by distinguished historians in Germany and the U.S. in criticism of the exhibition, and new research continues to emerge. As such, I expected a degree of critical dialogue and some back-and-forth debates. Very disappointing.

Conclusion: Ultimately - a letdown. One-sided, entirely subjective portrayal of the exhibit and the Wehrmacht itself, "The Unknown Soldier" doesn't offer any fresh insights or new arguments. Unfortunately, it's the only English language documentary on this topic to date.

Expanding Our Minds
"The Unknown Soldier"

Expanding Our Minds

Amos Lassen
The darkest period in the history of the world without question was the Holocaust and even though there is a lot that we know about it, there is also a great deal that we do not know and even more that we don't understand. Michael Verhoeven takes another look at the Holocaust in his documentary "The Unknown Soldier"(First Run Features) in which he examines the crimes against humanity which were committed by the Nazi regime. It has long been thought that it was the Gestapo, the Waffen SS and powerful Nazis like Himmler and Eichmann and Hitler who were directly responsible for the extermination of millions of people and that the ordinary German soldier was but a mere pawn. This film will change that opinion.
Verhoeven manages to bring to light that the German soldier was not fee of guilt and he shows this by showing modern Germany existing in the throes of an identity crisis. "The Unknown Soldier" documents the extremely controversial Wehrmacht Exhibition which brought to the public eye for the first time personal letters, photographs and film footage which implicate the German soldier in horrific and heinous acts. The film deflates the closely held belief that everyday German citizens and low-ranking German military men held no blame for the crimes of the Nazi regime. In fact, we see, in many cases that Grandpa was a Nazi.
Idealist and far right groups led street protests against the Wehrmacht Exhibition and claimed that the evidence implicating that the testimonies of German fathers and grandfathers were falsified. Verhoeven weaves together interviews with historians, experts, soldiers and experts and he traveled to the places where executions took place on the Eastern front. He shatters taboos and gives us a picture of Germany that we have never had before--and it is frightening. In watching the film we expand our thinking about the Holocaust to beyond the concentration camps and the gas chambers. We have a look at a Germany that is still examining its history and looking at its very tragic wartime legacy. The film shocks and also shows the thin line between wishful thinking and national pathology and we watch that idea evaporate very quickly.
The cover of the DVD case asks very simply, "What did you do in the warm Daddy?" Verhoeven answers that question and I now find it even harder to think of Germany as a member of the world community.

I completely disagree with the other reviewer that we should forget and move on. Should we also forget the millions who lost their lives for no reason? Forgetting something so horrible also gives license to allow it to happen again. Germany is not and never will be free from blame for the murder of six million of my people as well as millions of others. Forget? I don't think so.

Were All Wehrmacht Soldiers War Criminals?
This documentary, designed for modern German and Austrian audiences, is startling, and for Germans born in the 1950s and 1960s it damns the older members of their families with a universal war guilt sometimes far beyond anything they can imagine. For some Germans, it is indeed cathartic to air the dirty laundry of the past; for others it's absolutely necessary, and for a third group, it can be a tragically horrid experience. This documentary rocked Germany's socks. I was a Fulbright Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Muenster in 1995, just when the Hamburg Exposition exploded on the scene. It did much harm as it did much good. Some old Wehrmacht soldiers, once proud of their wartime service, could hardly look their families in the eye. In a higher view of World War II, it does tell an essential and sad truth: that the wanton destruction of innocents including the premeditated wiping out of an entire people throughout Europe cannot be forgiven easily regardless of how much time has passed since 1945.