My Nazi Legacy

The subject of the holocaust is a difficult one to discuss on film, not least because so much has been done on it before. Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands’s latest feature, My Nazi Legacy, alternatively titled A Nazi Legacy: What Our Fathers Did, begins as a fairly standard effort, with archive footage, moody music and a slightly monotonous voiceover. The subjects are two men in their 70s, an Austrian and a German, who are the sons respectively of Nazi war criminals Otto Wächter and Hans Frank. Both were key architects of Hitler’s policies throughout the eastern part of Germany, collectively responsible for thousands of deaths. Horst von Wächter and Niklas Frank are interviewed over a series of months about their fathers, families and lives during and after the war.

The film gains a real hold, however, when it becomes apparent that a rift is growing between the two men. Niklas becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Horst’s determinedly rose-tinted view of his father, who was known by some as “the butcher of Poland”. Niklas condemns his own father for his crimes and for his lack of paternal affection, while Horst firmly believes that von Wächter was good inside and had little idea over the atrocities being committed under his command. He pities Niklas, saying that he is an egomaniac whose “life is practically annihilated by his father”. The fascinating difference between two men with such similar backgrounds becomes the documentary’s most interesting element, with Sands’s increasingly difficult relationship with von Wächter adding an unusual tension not seen in the average history documentary.

The voice over by Sands, who is neither a documentarian nor an actor, grates initially, distracting from the rest of the film. Once established though, he becomes an effective narrator, infusing his comments with the pain which comes from his ancestors’ shared tragic past with the families of Frank and von Wächter. While not entering into the genius realms of documentaries such as Shoah or Night and Fog, My Nazi Legacy is a fascinating glimpse of the devastation left by the holocaust for future generations to carry. Moving and sometimes painful to watch, it is an important film which everyone should see.

Isabelle Milton

 

My Nazi Legacy is released in select cinemas on 20^th November 2015.

For further information about the 59^th London Film Festival visit here, and for more of our coverage visit here.

Watch the trailer for My Nazi Legacy here:

Sunday 11^th October, 6.00pm – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1

Sunday 18^th October, 12.00pm – Vue West End, Screen 7