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Ghosts  of  the  Third  Reich  A  film  by  Claudia  Sobral  and  Tommaso  Valente  

 

STUDY  GUIDE  for  individual  reading  and  class  discussion  

 

Prepared  by  Dr.  Suzanne  Free  July  2013  

   

Dr.  Zipora  Gur  Executive  Director  

Classrooms  Without  Borders              

 

STUDY GUIDE: Ghosts of the Third Reich A film by Claudia Sobral and Tommaso Valente “[God] will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34: 7 “Chromosomes are funny things. . .They may skip a generation. . . [But] blood will tell.” Hermann Goering “Only the guilty are guilty – their children are not.” Elie Wiesel “I learned that as a German. . . I could turn guilt into ploughshares.” Bernd Wollschlaeger I. Introduction On the DVD cover of Ghosts of the Third Reich, the following quote appears: “[This film] documents the poignant and anguished stories of descendants of the Nazis, who communicate . . . their most profound feelings of guilt by inheritance.” What is “guilt by inheritance?” Do you believe in it? For many Germans, the Holocaust is “the past that will not pass.” Psychiatrist Josef Shaked explains that the second, third, and fourth generations of descendents of Nazi perpetrators carry the guilt and shame of their ancestors as if they were their own. Does the millennia-old book of Exodus (see reference above) have it right? Can the innocent children and grandchildren of evil-doers just let go and “move on?” If not, why not? The film asserts that, nearly 70 years later, ghosts of the Holocaust are haunting Germany. What kinds of ghosts? Who haunts Ursula Boger, Bettina Goering, and Bernd Wollschlaeger? Do you understand their anguish? Considering what happened to millions in the death camps, is their shame no more or less than you’d expect? Or are they simply “stuck” in the past? Ghosts of the Third Reich explores how hard it is for Germans to acknowledge the “darkest darkness” of their country’s past. Some even wrestle with the idea that their families’ genetic roots are “poisoned.” They are wary of having children, afraid they might pass on a “cruelty” gene to the next generation. (Can a capacity for extreme cruelty be passed down in families like a talent for the violin - or left-handedness?) At the same time, Jewish survivors wrestle with the grim fact that they have no roots at all, since, in many cases, their entire families were wiped out by the Nazis. Can we spare any sympathy for the descendants of the perpetrators? Should we? Why or why not?

If you were a young German today, how would you handle this situation? Would you try to escape the past by distancing yourself from it? (“That was then, this is now!”) Would you be tempted to deny it ever happened (“It’s all lies!” as Bettina Goering’s grandmother used to say)? Or would you simply stay silent on the subject (“Totschweigen”) “to make death go away”? How does this film differ from other films you have seen on the legacy of the Holocaust? What is Ghosts of the Third Reich really about—and where does it leave you? II. Principal voices in the film (1) Ursula Boger -- Granddaughter of Friedrich Wilhelm Boger, who was a member of the SS and a principal actor in the crimes of Auschwitz; inventor of the tortuous device called “the Swing” by which broken men were hung up and beaten to death. He never repented of his war crimes nor accepted any personal responsibility. He died in prison when Ursula was 7 years old. -- She grew up thinking of the Holocaust as an “abstraction,” until, at age 13 or 14, “Suddenly it was my own grandfather. . . and [I learned] that he was one of the cruelest.” -- Haunted by “terrible nightmares. . .” “I felt completely alone.” -- Why does she carry her long-dead grandfather’s guilt within herself? Can you understand it? Would you do the same thing? -- Has Wilhelm Boger left his granddaughter “hanging” on a kind of psychological swing? Can you imagine any solution to Ursula’s emotional torment? (2) Bettina Goering -- Grand-niece of Herman Goering, who was second in command under Hitler, authorized the full implementation of the Final Solution, and Hitler’s designated successor. -- She feels haunted – “a lot of ghosts still around.” Remembers her grandmother as one who felt “superior to everyone else.” -- Was raised in happy household of “Totschweigen” – by which the Holocaust (and her great-uncle’s role in it) were “silenced to death.” This went beyond merely ignoring the past; it was buried, unspoken of for decades, as if it had never happened. -- Her great uncle never repented, never expressed remorse; he believed himself to be a “martyr.” -- As Bettina gradually learned the devastating truth (portrayed in the documentary film “Bloodlines”), she became caught up in a personal struggle that continues to this day. -- Can you understand Bettina’s emotional struggle? Why is she so haunted?

-- How would you feel in her position? Why did she go so far as to choose to be sterilized? What would you have advised her to do? -- What is her path to healing and hope? (3) Bernd Wollschlaeger -- Son of Arthur Wollschleiger, highly decorated World War II tank commander, personally commended by Adolf Hitler; a graduate of NAPOLA, the “West Point” for future leaders of Nazi Germany, a corps of superior men (“uber-mensch”) who “justify the existence of the human race.” -- Bernd grew up in a household of silence about the war; suffered the contempt of his father for any show of emotion; only toughness and achievement met with Arthur’s approval. -- Bernd’s growing sympathy for victims of the Nazis infuriated his father. -- His mother’s advice: “Why poke at the past? We all suffered. We were all victims.” -- Bernd gradually identifies with Jews; refuses to serve in German military during Cold War; finally disconnects from family. -- How hard was it for Bernd to say aloud, “My father was not a hero. . . [he was] the embodiment of evil”--? -- What does his mother mean by “We were all victims.” Is this fact? Rationalization? Both? Do you agree with her? -- Bernd “feels responsible for the Holocaust, but not guilty.” What does he mean—and what is the difference? -- You have heard the phrase “My country, right or wrong, my country” or perhaps, “My family, right or wrong, my family.” Was Bernd right or wrong in his decision to abandon both? (4) Samson Munn -- Son of Polish Jewish Holocaust victims; many members of his father’s side of the family were murdered, including his father’s parents. -- His mother spent two years in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen; was found buried under a pile of corpses—“all but dead;” her parents murdered. -- Speaks of the “legacy” of the Holocaust as “shattered lives and a new language of cruelty.” “While Nazi perpetrators indulged in silence and denial after the war, their descendents have struggled with knowledge.” -- Founded “The Austrian Encounter” in 1995. -- What is The Austrian Encounter? -- How can dialogue (“with little or no agenda”) between descendants of Holocaust victims and descendants of perpetrators make a difference?” In your opinion, can bridges between them be built? Can tensions be eased and prejudices diminished? -- What are the requirements of those who participate in these dialogues? -- Samson says, “I am no longer interested in the tribalistic benefit of aligning myself with Jews; I am more interested in aligning myself with

humanity.” What does he mean? What is to be lost or gained from such a switch in alignment? (5) Professor Josef Shaked -- As a psychiatrist and specialist in post-war trauma, he observed a pattern: The first generation of perpetrators of Germany’s unprecedented war crimes denied their guilt – “were unable to cope with it.” -- Their guilt and shame was transmitted “sub-consciously” to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations—who carry it with them to this day, though they are innocent. -- Compare this with the passage in Exodus 34:7. Is this a spiritual, emotional, or psychological phenomenon? Is such guilt a “disorder” to be cured or an inevitable consequence to be endured? (6) Primo Levi -- To think about, quoted near the end of the film: “The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense. . .and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.” -- Was cowardice the tap root of the Holocaust, the Reich drawing sustenance from the depths of human fear? (7) Elie Wiesel -- The film’s last words are: “Only the guilty are guilty, not their children.” -- If this is so, why do the children feel guilty? III. Further Study Questions As you continue to think about this film, consider other ethical, religious, historical, and psychological questions: (1) What would it be like to grow up in a house where questions are never asked and close relatives, alive or dead, are never acknowledged? (2) Have you ever felt trapped in “a past that will not pass?” (3) Is there any justification for “genetic profiling?” Can megalomania, sociopathy, and psychopathy be passed down in families? Was Goering right when he wrote that “Blood will tell”? (4) Are people born good or evil? Or is Elie Wiesel right? (5) What were “Nazi eugenics?” Who was targeted and why?

(6) How long should Germany feel guilty for the Holocaust? To the third and fourth generations? The thousandth generation? (7) Is there more than one way to deny the Holocaust? (8) What is the difference between collective responsibility and collective guilt? What did author Fyodor Dostoyevski mean by “All are responsible for all”? (9) Is there such a thing as unpardonable sin—something even God cannot forgive? (Note: American author Nathaniel Hawthorne thought there was. See his short story, “Ethan Brand.”) (10) Can descendents of the perpetrators of the Holocaust ever be reconciled to the descendents of the victims? What should the “terms” of reconciliation be? (11) What is the danger of “wrong education?” What is right education? Who should decide what’s wrong or right in the classroom? (12) It is 70 years since the Holocaust. Will it be forgotten in 70 more years? In 700? Is it necessary to forget in order to “move on?” Forget what exactly? (13) Participants in the “Repair the Future” conference in 2010 in Weimar regarded the Holocaust as “a long story still not finished.” What remains to be told? (14) “Our only hope is in dialogue.” What kind of dialogue? Is it surprising that Nazi training academies (NAPOLA schools) “banned all discussion?” (15) Compare “I could turn guilt into ploughshares” (spoken by Bernd) with the biblical verse, Isaiah 2:4. What does Bernd mean? Is this a way out of the maze? (16) Who or what has shaped your character? Can you be re-shaped, for good or evil, on the “anvil” of rapid social, political, and economic change? Prepared by Dr. Suzanne Free for CWB July, 2013