Ganz normale Männer - Der 'vergessene Holocaust'

2022 [GERMAN]

Documentary / History / War

5
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 2231 2.2K

mass murder holocaust (shoah) world war ii jew persecution mass shooting european history

Plot summary

Six million Jews died during World War II, both in the extermination camps and murdered by the mobile commandos of the Einsatzgruppen and police battalions, whose members shot men, women and children, day after day, obediently, as if it were a normal job, a fact that is hardly known today. Who were these men and how could they commit such crimes?

Director

Manfred Oldenburg Photo
Manfred Oldenburg

Top cast

Brian Cox Photo
Brian Cox as Self - Narrator
Stefan Klemp Photo
Stefan Klemp as Self - Interviewee / Historiker, Autor 'Nicht ermittelt. Polizeibataillone und die Nachkriegsjustiz'
Stefan Kühl Photo
Stefan Kühl as Self - Interviewee / Soziologe
Harald Welzer Photo
Harald Welzer as Self - Interviewee / Sozialpsychologe, Autor 'Täter. Wie aus ganz normalen Männern Massenmörder wurden'
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
537.78 MB
1280*720
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   ar   cz   dk   de   gr   es   fi   fr   il   in   hr   hu   id   it   ja   kr   ms   no   nl   pl   pt   ro   ru   sv   th   tr   uk   vi   cn  
25 fps
12 hr 58 min
Seeds 3
994.71 MB
1920*1080
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   ar   cz   dk   de   gr   es   fi   fr   il   in   hr   hu   id   it   ja   kr   ms   no   nl   pl   pt   ro   ru   sv   th   tr   uk   vi   cn  
25 fps
12 hr 58 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ThereelscoopwithKK 8 / 10

Very Chilling But An Essential Wake-up Call

There are a lot of very important lessons to be learned here that were not previously examined with studies on the Holocaust before. It's very easy for people to accept the pictures of the evil Nazi zombie like character, but much harder to accept that "seemingly" ordinary people can be so easily swayed into committing mass murder of innocents on a global scale with just the slightest nudge. As the documentary displays they even had a choice not to without punishment. This destroys the common myth that they had no choice.The documentary does a fine job of simplifying the psychological phenomenon at play of the perpetrators. It is mind blowing and extremely concerning how the human brain can find ways to justify even the worst acts a human could even commit. I do also appreciate that it added that people need to be more equipped to be aware of the forces trying to manipulate their thinking.A weak spot in the documentary was possibly using too much time repeating other fairly known facts and using up valuable time that could be focused more on their more recent findings. At the same time, these historical recaps could be necessary to helping remind people of critical information. Clearly with genocides reoccurring people can never be reminded of the history enough.I thought the parts with Benjamin Ferencz were absolutely fascinating. It was amazing to be able to hear his perspective from the events that unfolded at the trial.A final thing I will say about the documentaries conclusion is that it relies too heavily on what the Germans said after they were caught to justify their behaviors. What someone tells interviewers or in a court of law why they committed their behaviour does not necessarily prove that was what was going through their minds when they committed the acts. If their brains were able to justify doing the acts, of course their brains now are trying to spin what they did to appear in what they hope is a better way than stating they simply just hated Jews. By manipulating the story in a way that suggests that any ordinary person would do what they did allows them to feel better about their actions . In accepting their explanations for their behavior it can be providing greater relief for these murders conscience than they deserve.I would have liked if they'd stressed more that as an individual you always have a choice. It is a bit defeatist in suggesting that the best we can do is to try to be aware of external forces operating on us. At the end of the day , we should be building a society with people willing to stand up to difficult choices with the courage of their convictions.Overall, certainly a worthwhile watch.
Reviewed by iulianturicianu 10 / 10

Food for thought

I've watched a lot of documentaries about the holocaust and the WW2, and I can say this one is of the good ones, especially since it tries to answer the question 'how could so called normal people do such despicable and cruel acts'. Even though it's a subjective approach, it does being you closer to understand the thought process of those people involved.Another aspect I really enjoyed was getting to know better the last surviving persecutor of the Nurnberg Trials, Benjamin Ferencz (unfortunately passed away recently), who is such an inspiration and a highly intelligent but kind person. The contrast between his stature and the courage that he had to confront some of the biggest nazis, adds even more charm to his on screen presence. I definitely recommend giving this a watch if you're into WW2 history and would like to get more insight!
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