After many years of reading about WW-II, the National Socialists, Hitler and a host of other topics related to one of the blackest chapters of mankind in recent European history, I stumbled upon a film that is definitely worth the time and effort: Napola by Dennis Gansel.
NaPolA stands for “Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten”; officially abbreviated NPEA, commonly abbreviated Napola for Nationalpolitische Lehranstalt, meaning National Political Institution of Teaching.¹ These schools functioned as the breeding grounds for the prospected elite of Hitlers Global Empire.
The main reason why I liked this film, is because it puts across a profound sense of authenticity about real life in a war-thorn Germany; almost of the same order as Wolfgang Petersens immaculate film “Das Boot” does.
Now Das Boot is a genuine masterpiece, and by all means very hard to match. Napola is well made, well directed and the acting is VERY convincing. It is also in German, which beats an English speaking Von Stauffenberg in a totally superfluous film with this Cruise fellow by a boat length ANY time.
In my interviews with the German witnesses of Hitlers despotic regime and his devastating war, I talked to people who were between the ages of 18 and 35 years old in the period of 1939 – 1945. The kids depicted in the film Napola are roughly on the younger side of this spectrum. So the film gave me an insight into how the real lives of some of my respondents must have been like at the schools they visited. This gave the people, who in some cases told me their darkest memories which had been stashed away for decades, an extra dimension.
After seeing Napola I can imagine so much better how any German could have got sucked into the vortex of the Nazi state, its regime and – in fact – its way of life. The sheer overwelming-ness of it made Nazi-life almost inescapable, especially for young people who were very susceptible to anything that promised them power, a high position and a strong sense of belonging to a chosen Herrenrasse. Young people still are; everywhere.
What the film also does well, is that it puts a face to the usually faceless German SS soldiers. They become truly human, as opposed to what normally is the case in the films made in Hollywood. This is quite a courageous thing to do for a German director. In my interviews with war witnesses and in discussions with Germans of my own generation, I perceived a lot of guilt over the first and second world war as one of the most proliferated and pronounced sentiments amongst them. And I find it commendable if a German artist can step over this, and is capable of addressing a topic – which lies in the centre of Germany’s ugly history – in a truthful way without trying to tip-toe around sore or sensitive issues. To make these SS people real has the potential to invoke hefty reactions from the audience. This was for instance the case with the film “Der Untergang” by Oliver Hirschbiegel, in which the last few days of Hitler are depicted. The main critical note vented about his film was that Hitler was made “too human” by the masterful acting job of Bruno Ganz. As if Hitler wasn’t!
Dehumanising Germans, in relation to what happened in WW-II, is a common thing. I hear it all the time in my own innocent Netherlands, where collaboration with the 3rd Reich criminals and Nationaal Socialistisch Bond (NSB) membership thrived abundantly. And, not to forget, where the currently largest newspaper, “de Telegraaf”, had a publishing ban for 20 years after the war because it sided with the Nazi’s.² Maybe dehumanisation of Germans serves as an instrument to forget the role of ones own nation or ones own grandparents in that time. It definitely affects the Germans themselves, who seem to notice this “Entmenschung” deeply when they talk about their own past to foreigners like me. It usually gives them a slightly meek attitude. I can very much appreciate seeing someone from Germany breaking that mould. It fits in the way I know the Germans to go about their historical sore points. (See also the film RAF by Udi Edel.) Or any problem they face for that matter.
But, admittedly, I happen to like most Germans I have encountered until now, so that might give me a serious slant towards a positive bias. So be it. At least Germans seem to be able to deal with their past like I have not seen many nations do. Most are – unfortunately – too protective of their own, national sentiments.
1) Source: Wikipedia
2) I am quite convinced that the Telegraaf would do that again. What can be expected of the largest newspaper of a country anyway? If the Netherlands turned into a communist country today, the Telegraaf would be a communist paper by tomorrow.
