Revisiting the crimes of the past: the image of the perpetrator in recent German Holocaust film

Ward, Elizabeth M.

Abstract

More than seven decades after the liberation of concentration camps across Europe, we are witnessing the jostle between communicative and cultural memory to determine how the Holocaust is inscribed in a post-victim and post-perpetrator world. This article will explore how German filmmakers are responding to the shift from memory to remembrance through three films: Im Labyrinth des Schweigens (Labyrinth of Lies, 2014), Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer (The People vs. Fritz Bauer, 2015), and Die Akte General (The General’s File, 2016). Underpinning each of these films is the call for individuals to interrogate the foundations of societal narratives of the past. In doing so, the films not only raise important questions about the changing nature of Holocaust remembrance, but they also offer a critical re-examination of the ways in which the Federal Republic of Germany did–and did not–grapple with its recent past in the 1950s.

Citation

Ward, E. M. (2019). Revisiting the crimes of the past: the image of the perpetrator in recent German Holocaust film. Holocaust Studies, 27(2), 339-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2019.1637503

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 8, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 8, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jul 21, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 9, 2021
• Journal: Holocaust Studies
• Print ISSN: 1750-4902
• Electronic ISSN: 2048-4887
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 339-349
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2019.1637503
• Keywords: Holocaust; Film; Perpetrator; Im Labyrinth des Schweigens; Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer; Die Akte General
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/2217356
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17504902.2019.1637503