It’s been well documented that I am a huge fan of anything that either based on a true story or a true documentary – really doesn’t matter what the subject is. There have been a billion documentaries and movies about the Holocaust and Hitler, and this week we get another one. This time around we get FINAL ACCOUNT, which is a collection of interviews that began filming in 2008 with the focus on the surviving members of Hitler’s Third Reich. The documentary raises many questions about who was at fault, who conformed, the overall memories of those interviewed, and what role they may have played in arguably the greatest human crime in history.
With any real-life documentary about a subject like Hitler, this one is tough to watch and it is in German with English subtitles. Right from the start, we hear a chilling tale of a song that used to be sung that talked about sharpening knives to put through the bellies of Jews. We are all aware of the atrocities that took place back then by Hitler and his army, but it is still quite shocking to hear something like that directly from the mouth of someone who used to sing it. There are stories about people shooting random Jews and nobody wanting to do anything about it. Does that mean they were perpetrators? See something, say something was not an option back then so it is tough to say what should or should not have been done to try to stop this.
The writer/director/producer, Luke Holland, who actually died of cancer last June at the age of 71, grew up completely unaware that he was Jewish and that his maternal grandparents were killed in concentration camps. It was because of that reason that he set out to find the few remaining members of Hitler’s Third Reich and some civilians as well to find out what was happening back then and if it was widely accepted or not. Were people able to understand how bad things were and were just not saying anything because they feared for their lives? The subjects of the interviews are mostly in their 80s and 90s in 2008 and are mostly deceased now. They spoke about becoming Hitler Youth and the pride that was taken in serving in the Nazi armed forces at the ages of 9 or 10 years old.
FINAL ACCOUNT is really well-thought-out documentary on a very difficult subject that has been talked about many times. Luke Holland captured these stories of 80 and 90-year-old people that looked back on what happened when they were much younger and just are disgusted at themselves. One woman said she couldn’t believe what humans were doing to other humans. That’s what we all are, right? Humans. The unfortunate part of all of this is that in all these years, hatred is still around. It’s simple when you think about it – no matter what our background or skin color is, we all breathe the same air and bleed the same red blood. We have got to do better as a society and that starts with ending the hate.
The Verdict
Hated IS STILL AROUND. That’s why it was so important to get Trump out of office. America could easily have been the next third Reich under that hateful Ahole. White supremicists who worship Hitler abound in America. Finally remember the words of one of the prosecutors at Nuremberg ” Evil is so banal”.
I’m sure so many of us have wondered what a world without hate would be like. I imagine it to be pretty glorious.