''Shadows of Memory'' is a 2000 documentary by

Claudia von Alemann Claudia von Alemann (born 23 March 1943 in Seebach) is a German filmmaker. Personal life Claudia von Alemann is the daughter of German military officer Hans von Alemann Heine and his wife Ludmilla. She majored in sociology and art history at t ...

that describes the rise and fall of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

from the perspective of a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

supporter—Alemann's 84-year-old mother.

Summary

''Shadows of Memory'' caps a series of documentaries von Alemann filmed on the history of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, this time turning her lens on the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. She returns to the town of her family's origins where the lush landscapes contrast with the jarring truth her mother shares with daughter and granddaughter. Letting their conversation flow naturally, the intimate documentary explores how

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

developed in Germany and how average citizens ignored the evils of the Holocaust. Alemann juxtaposes the serenity and placidity of the nature shots with the brutality and horrors her speakers are forced to address. They sit on park benches or walk down forested paths, but the intensity of their thoughts distract them from the beauty of their surroundings. The film opens with the documentary maker herself sitting on the edge of a lush pond with her mother. While the beauty of the lavish greens, the warm sun, the gentle rustling of the water cannot be ignored, the loaded conversation quickly begins to dominate the viewer's attention. And that is not the only contrast in appearance. Many people would be embarrassed to admit their own ignorance and prejudice, but von Alemann's mother is unafraid. With her curly white hair, glasses, and a soft face full of wrinkles, she looks like a benevolent, cookie-baking, story-telling grandmother. But her stories reveal the role she played in perpetuating a

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

that lead to

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. Raised in the small

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

town of Seebach, she was led to believe Germans were an especially brave, hardworking, and moral race. She had no direct experience with Jews, so when she was told as a child that Jews had "crooked noses and crooked legs" she accepted the slander blindly. When she was introduced to Jews for the first time, at a dance, she was surprised and commented to a friend, "They’re just like us." Still, as a young adult reading Hitler's

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

, she sympathized with, and felt excited by, the pro-German sentiment, while glossing over the anti-Semitism. And she was proud of her husband for serving as a commanding soldier in the German army. ''Shadows of Memory'' lets camera linger on the faces of the speakers, picking up on the thoughts their expressions reveal that their words do not. The unrelenting camera also traps the speakers in its grasp, forcing them to confront the difficult subjects they are discussing. Just as the camera does not look away, the characters cannot ignore the horrors that have transpired in their own land, on their own watch. Misty eyes blink repeatedly, lips are bitten, and faces contort in an attempt to control overwhelming sorrow and frustration. The documentary explores how one person's actions affect other people. While von Alemann's mother was not directly involved in the torture or murder of Europe's Jews, her ignorance, compliance and

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

allowed the atrocities to occur. The effects of her inaction – and that of the ordinary German citizens of her generation – continue, rippling down to her granddaughter's generation as well. The seventeen-year-old girl is forced to grapple with frustration, shame, and sorrow that is the legacy left by her grandmother.

Production

Film festivals

*Figueira da Foz, International Film Festival, Portugal *

Women Make Waves Women Makes Waves is a film festival based in Taiwan since 1993. It is the first and only women's film festival in the country. It is the largest women's film festival in Asia, and predates the Taipei Film Festival, which was founded in 1998. Sinc ...

Film Festival, Taiwan *Dubrovnik International Documentary Film Festival, Croatia *Women's Film Festival, Seoul, Korea *International Documentary Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro *Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire, Montreal

Reception

''Shadows of Memory'' is sensitive to the fact that Alemann's mother's prejudice was rooted in ignorance. But, nonetheless, the documentary is still critical of her behavior. The film has been described as "candid" and "deeply moving."

Notes

References

{{cite web , last = Alemann , first = Claudia , title = Shadows of Memory , publisher = Woman Make Movies , year = 2005 , url = http://www.wmm.com/filmCatalog/pages/c569.shtml , accessdate = 13 August 2007 , url-status = dead , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045753/http://www.wmm.com/filmCatalog/pages/c569.shtml , archivedate = 2007-09-27

External links

''Woman Making Movies'' review of Shadows of Memory
2000s German-language films 2000 films Documentary films about the Holocaust Documentary films about World War II German documentary films 2000 documentary films 2000s German films