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by Jordan Hiller

The Goebbels Experiment (2005)

The latest trend in Holocaust theme filmmaking is to humanize the devils. In the last two years there have been, for really the first time, movies made that portray figures like Hitler as not just a symbol of something terrible, but as a character (Downfall, Hitler: The Rise of Evil). Yes, these men and women seem to be almost mythologically evil and what they did inconceivably demonic, however they were in fact born, spanked, zit-faced, awkward, happy, sad, and ultimately insane, heartless human beings. As the years go by and the iron begins to cool somewhat, our reaction to these individuals naturally sweeps from pure anger and resentment to curiosity and confusion. Of course we will never forget that our parents and grandparents were in camps and suffered beyond the imaginable, but the current generation, almost three removed from the war itself, will grow up, in the security of their suburban enclaves wondering why.

Lutz Hachmeister and Michael Kloft’s documentary is nicely done and undeniably authentic. It is hard to go wrong when your research turned up reel after reel of Nazi era footage and dozens of audio tapes from the regime. Most impressively, the narrator of the film about Goebbels, Hitler’s infamous master of propaganda, is Goebbels himself. Using the cool, soulless voice of actor Kenneth Branagh, we are hearing the story of Goebbels' rise in the Nazi party through his own words, taken from his diary. With these ingredients, the film reaches impressive levels of insight into the mind of a madman. The question then becomes whether we care or not about the motivations of such men. Does it matter that he had a bad relationship with his father or that he couldn’t play with the other children because of a leg injury? It seems that we are very concerned with representing certain evil, specifically Nazi evil, as almost supernatural, as Amalekesque. There is a commandment to kill Amalek because they are bad to the core, an evil that transcends any rationale – we cannot worry about their psychological condition because that would lead us to the conclusion that if the cause is something in their consciousness then it possibly could be fixed with therapy or conferences. No, Amalek needs to be something that acts without reason, that hates without consideration - a wickedness that is and cannot be altered. Therein lies the danger in humanizing a Hitler or a Goebbels, because G-d forbid they become someone with the tzelem Elokim somewhere inside under all the blackness. How horrible it would be to hear such individuals “explain” themselves...because of course their crimes tell us everything we need to know about their alleged humanity.

Strangely, and almost thankfully, The Goebbels Experiment, outside of two or three notes about the Jews and their un-German ways, deals in no direct way with their extermination. I can only speculate as to why. What the film does provide, whether you consider it valuable or not, is the opinions and sentiments of Mr. Goebbels. Most of his musings are obvious – he adores and is in awe of Hitler, he is a cold as stone thinker and critic, his god is Germany, he desires Nazi success over the communists. Outside of these “revelations” the rest is geared toward giving Goebbels a human face. Included are family films and his discussing his feelings for his wife. In the end, as could be assumed, we won’t be able to answer why. Did socioeconomic factors leading up to the election of Hitler as chancellor play a role? Sure. Did Goebbels expertise and obsession with “good” propaganda influence the masses? No doubt. But first we need to ask ourselves whether we are dealing with Amalek here. Only then can we figure the relative worth of a film that educates us as to the foundations of evil.

One thing I did find pleasantly ironic was that propagandists today, students of Goebbels, are intent on minimizing the Holocaust, in convincing the young people that none of this really happened, and if it did happen it wasn’t as bad as the Jews would like you to believe. While watching The Goebbels Experiment it struck me that our greatest antidote to the propaganda of today are the films that Goebbels himself created and utilized in the 1940’s to destroy the Jews. Goebbels and Hitler could not in their time perceive their place in the fabric of history and this was their greatest failure. As the walls crumbled around the Nazis it was mind boggling to them that their efforts did not lead to a rousing success. What they did leave behind, because of their horrifying misconceptions, is the greatest testament to man’s potential for destruction.