Hitlers Children – A Powerful Documentary

Ever since the end of World War II in 1945, stories have existed about the suffering that those who had been in concentration camps or in the numerous Ghettos of Europe had to endure. Survivor stories have appeared in film, documentaries, on television, in print, and elsewhere. And while each of these stories is heartbreaking, terrifying, and powerful, there is another group of victims of Hitler's madness that are often overlooked.
 
Those who were born with the name Goering, Hoess, Frank, or Himmler were born into a legacy of darkness and evil that is inescapable. Even changing one's name isn't enough to hide from the shadow cast by their parents. The new film Hitler's Children is about these men and women. By focusing on the stories of the descendants of Hitler's highest ranking Nazi officers, it presents another side of the Holocaust that many people have never even considered before.
 
Made by award winning filmmaker Chanoch Ze'evi, Hitler's Children explores the ways that these descendants struggled with the burden of a family legacy marked by murder and associated with evil. These men and women battle guilt, shame, and responsibility every day and although their suffering is nowhere near what the survivors of the Holocaust went through, it is still true that they are victims as well, in their own tragic way.
 
Hitler's Children debuted in 2011 on Israeli television before screening at various film festivals in Europe. It was broadcast in 2012 on the BBC and has since received widespread acclaim from critics around the country.  The Times called it a 'Remarkable documentary" and a "superb film", and The Guardian called it an"…exceptional hour of filmmaking…" 
 
Through the use of interviews, candid examinations, and more, Ze'evi takes a close look at how the children and grandchildren of Hitler's top officials related to the Holocaust survivors, how they feel about their parents' past, and how they go through their days. The movie hopes to stimulate further discussion about the Holocaust, silence Holocaust deniers, and provide another perspective on the senseless tragedy that occurred during Hitler's reign of terror.
 
There's no way to remove the past, but with films like Hitler's Children, filmmakers are working towards helping future generations understand it and the effects that it has had on the world as well as on the individuals who were affected directly by it. It's received high praise, and is set to begin screening in America during the early months of 2013.