"Aus einem deutschen Leben" (1977)

[Hans1906]

Good afternoon,

one of the best movies I have seen ever is "Aus einem deutschen Leben", starring the german actor Goetz George as
Rudolf Höß, the infamous commander of the german concentration camp Auschwitz.

The movie in the german Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aus_einem_deutschen_Leben

The whole movie in german language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxtVF61b3X4

German actor Goetz George, (1938-2016) was the son of Heinrich George.

Attached a shot from the 1977 movie, George as Rudolf Höß / Hans Korte as Heinrich Himmler.

Hans1906

P.S. The film is one agony, and hardly bearable. The actor George in his most important role.

[Hans1906]

Very strange...

The shot from the movie was looked at more than 700 times, without any comment, very strange.

The german actor Götz George probably the perfect role model for a typical german "Nazi".
Hard, pitiless, merciless, completely cold, and following an order.

That is what still fascinates people today, the lack of mercy, the indifference, and the absence, besides all the killings.

Any one of us could have been in this situation and had to act on an order like this.
All this happened before 1945, please do not imagine how I myself would have acted then.

I was born in 1956, years after all this horrible scheisse happened, but it's all tied up in my life.
As a German, as an heir, as a child of these grandfathers, and fathers.

This is the legacy of the one thousand year old empire. Our heritage, our past, our history, our future.
I hate it, but I'm right in the middle of it, as a german.

Hans

[Mathil92]

I will watch this film immediately.

[Hans1906]

You will, for sure...

Watch the very last few minutes in the movie, "Franz Lang" writing down his "life memories"...
Over commanding and obedient, one of the very best movie scenes about the "Endlösung".

Incredible, but still history.

Hans

P.S. Sorry, this "movie" only available in german language, what a shame.

[Ivan Ž.]

Thank you for the recommendation, Hans. I've watched many Holocaust-related movies, but not many German ones. Actually, the only titles that come to my mind at the moment are "Die Wannseekonferenz" (1984) and "Amen" (2002). Any other (German movie) recommendations?

Cheers,
Ivan

[Hans1906]

Ivan, you are welcome...

The german documentary play "Die Wannseekonferenz" from the year 1984 here:
Original german edition:


German actor Dietrich Mattausch as the infamous Reinhard Heydrich perfect, like a 1:1 copy.

Link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Wanns ... enz_(1984)

[Ivan Ž.]

German actor Dietrich Mattausch as the infamous Reinhard Heidrich perfect, like a 1:1 copy.

I particularly liked him imitating Heydrich's "akimbo" pose, with his fists high on his waist (higher than most people would hold them):

rh.jpg (86.25 KiB) Viewed 4329 times

Cheers,
Ivan

[Hans1906]

Corrected "Heidrich" to Heydrich,sorry.

Ordinary and german bureaucrats, neat and taut, agree on the "Final Solution" of the so called "Jewish Question"
That's all the film is, german thoroughness, neatness, and some mass murder, it all seems very familiar to me...

After 1945, absolutely nobody was invented in all this, nobody, everyone was a victim of the Nazi Regime, they all
suffered, for sure.

[Hans1906]

Good morning Ivan,

I was thinking about your comment on what you called an "Akimbo Pose", and thanks for the photo of Heydrich and the still shot of
Dietrich Mattausch as Heydrich from the documentary "Die Wannseekonferenz".

In the german language we say: "Arme / Hände in die Hüften stemmen".
Translation attempt to english language: "Putting arms / hands in the hips"

This pose stands in german for "Machtbewusste Körperhaltung...", in english translation "power-conscious posture..."

A comparable pose was used, for example, by the drum majors of military bands, and not only in Germany, but also in many other countries,
even still today...
There is an old photo of a "drum major" (german: "Tambourmajor") of the former Wehrmacht online, unfortunately I can't find the picture at the moment? The photo shows the typical military pose of that time.

I have seen this strange pose several times on historical photo material, the infamous Julius Streicher can be seen in this pose on several
photos, I will attach one example:

Btw, aggressive little childen in their kindergarten age, they sometimes try to show such a pose, any relationship expressly excluded.

Greetings from Germany!

P.S. Body language is a very interesting topic, many years ago I had the opportunity to participate in a longer seminar on this topic.
A very good experience, highly recommended!

[Ivan Ž.]

Good morning/afternoon, Hans

I agree, a very interesting topic and I like the "power-conscious posture" description, it's probably the most accurate one.

Now compare Streicher's posture with Heydrich's; Heydrich holds his fists much higher on his waist, as high as possible, making his elbows as wide as possible, i.e. looking as big as possible. He's like a strutting peacock (it's well known that animals too have a tendency to try to look bigger, from cats and pigeons to crocodiles, usually when they're trying to scare someone off or to impress during the mating season).

Cheers,
Ivan

PS
A "strutting" Tambourmajor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVgXtvNBy4&t=0m11s

[Hans1906]

Moin Ivan,

"strutting" in german is "stolzieren", like a rooster puffing itself up in front of its hens, that's certainly a fitting comparison.

The so called "Defilee" of the SS Totenkopf Standarte is another good example, thanks for the video.

After seeing this short video, I remember the so called NVA parade in East Berlin from the year 1989,
40th birthday parade for the DDR, on october the 7th, 1989.

Link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehrenpara ... ag_der_DDR

The very first time, a DDR military parade was shown on TV all over Germany, we never saw something like this before.
impressive, and also frightening, if I remember correctly, the complete parade takes a good 4 hours.
The TV broadcast at that time was live, I saw the whole parade on TV.

What is astonishing about this transmission at that time is the so-called Prussian Ceremonial still in use.
In West Germany at that time already taboo for a long time, the NVA of the GDR still cultivated all old traditions, especially during such parades.

Excerpt from the over 4 hours long live broadcast: (45 minutes)



* Change just a little bit, and you are back in Berlin before 1945, not much had changed, only the politicians in the stands at that time wore civilian clothes, well, and a few other rather marginal differences.
German enthusiasm for militarism, 1989, did we all learn anything from that, I don't think so.

Greetings from

Hans

[Ivan Ž.]

* Change just a little bit, and you are back in Berlin before 1945, not much had changed, only the politicians in the stands at that time wore civilian clothes, well, and a few other rather marginal differences.
German enthusiasm for militarism, 1989, did we all learn anything from that, I don't think so.

Hello, Hans

If it's any consolation (and I know it isn't), the Earth goes around in circles, and so does everything else on it. The Germans are no exception. That's why we have the repeating history, repeating fashion, you name it. (But where are the dinosaurs then?!) Anyhow, hope the moderator won't mind us taking the thread into a different direction; the funny thing is, when you look at the topic title itself (Aus einem deutschen Leben), our digressions kind of did remain on-topic

Cheers,
Ivan

PS
I've watched many postwar German parades and also saw little-to-no difference between them and the prewar/wartime ones. They may have changed some details on their uniforms and a couple of marches, but the spirit remained the same. As we say in this part of the world: a wolf may change his fur, but never his nature (there are similar sayings in other countries as well).

[Hans1906]

Ivan,

thanks for the qoute about the wolf, and I am sorry to abuse this topic, sorry.

A well known german quote is: "You can't get out of your skin!"
"Du kannst nicht aus deiner Haut heraus!"

And each of us inherits our skin from our fathers, our grandfathers, and perhaps also from our great-grandfathers.
That is it, our few answers we have to find ourselves, or not.

Hans1906