Der Anständige

In cooperation with WDR – Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln

In a letter to her husband, she picks a quarrel with him over his compulsory attendance of his »boss's« speeches. She argues that he always knows full well what will be said ahead of time. He replies by pointing out that it is his duty to ensure the man's safety. A very mundane conflict of a married couple: his job keeps him away all the time, she doesn't understand the need. However, this correspondence is an important source for posterity – because this is Magda Himmler complaining to her husband Heinrich. The »boss« at issue is Adolf Hitler. Israeli filmmaker Vanessa Lapa has made a film about the Reichsführer of the SS, with a voiceover track solely consisting of Himmler's and his family's written testimony, read by Tobias Moretti, Sophie Reus and other actors. Lapa illustrates her motion picture with matching images gleaned from archives as well as from what Himmler himself left behind. The spectacular source material was pilfered by U.S. soldiers from the Himmler family estate at Lake Tegernsee in 1945. After she had had an opportunity to look through it in 2007, the director decided to let the material speak for itself. The resulting film is an almost frighteningly conclusive testament to what Hannah Arendt called the »Banality of Evil.«