Nazis Remember Their Pasts
Dina Gold reviews the new German language documentary Final Account with never before seen testimony from the last generation of WWII.
19
May
05
May
Stolen Legacy—Nazi Theft and the Quest for Justice with Dina Gold
When she was growing up in England, Moment senior editor Dina Gold used to listen to her grandmother’s stories about her glamorous life in 1920s Berlin and of her dreams of one day recovering the building which, she claimed, had been stolen from the family by the Nazis, Dina talks about her search to unearth the details of her long-dead grandmother’s claims and the legal case she launched to recover the property.
12
Feb
Jojo Rabbit and the Nice Nazi
Much ink has been spilled on director Taika Waititi's portrayal of Hitler in his Nazi satire Jojo Rabbit, which just won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Some have praised Waititi's take on the genocidal ruler, saying that his light and humorous version of the dictator provides useful social commentary on how we approach political tyrants. Others were not impressed, arguing that the director’s message failed to dig into the horrors of the Nazi regime and its leader.
Less attention, however, has been paid to Sam Rockwell's Captain Klenzendorf, a murderous Hitler Youth camp director with a strong hatred of Jews. Throughout the film, Klenzendorf takes a liking to Jojo, serving as a surrogate father figure to the young boy’s imaginary Hitler. When he discovers that Jojo is hiding Elsa, a young Jewish woman, in...
13
Nov
Illustrated Book Review | Belonging by Nora Krug
Belonging:
A German Reckons with History and Home
Nora Krug
Scribner
2018, 288 pp., $30
All drawings by and photos courtesy of Amy Kurzweil, inspired by Nora Krug
12
Nov
Book Review | Hitler’s American Friends By Bradley W. Hart
Hitler’s American Friends:
The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States
By Bradley W. Hart
St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne Books
2018, 304 pp, $28.99
Four days after Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war against Japan, Nazi Germany inexplicably declared war against the United States. John Kenneth Galbraith, then a New Deal economist in Washington, later called it “a totally irrational thing for to do...and I think it saved Europe.” But for Hitler’s gratuitous challenge to Washington, Galbraith was suggesting, it would have been possible to imagine a U.S. mobilization limited to a war against Japan, effectively giving a free pass to the Nazis in Europe.
The Nazis’ declaration ended the long debate over U.S. entry into the war in Europe. Young men of the isolationist America First Committee enlisted, or were drafted, into the conflict they had enthusiastically...
24
Apr
Why No Jew in Albania Was Turned Over to the Nazis
Few Americans have heard of Besa, but Besa is the reason that during the dark days of the Nazi takeover of Albania not a single Jewish citizen of Albania, nor any other Jew seeking refuge in Albania, was turned over to the Nazis or sent to the death camps.
23
Apr
The Rabbi Who Tracked Down Nazis
While a handful of authentic former Nazis were gathered at the New York meeting along with like-minded individuals, so was a Jew.
17
Apr
Photo Essay: Inside the Story of ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’
In 2014, inspired by reading Ackerman’s book, Moment editor Nadine Epstein, visited the zoo as a guest of the foreign ministry of Poland.
12
Jan
The Polish Republic of Untruth
It didn’t take long for the recently elected government to have a troubling impact on the state of the country’s democracy.
18
Jun
Visual Moment // “Degenerate” Art
In July 1937 Germany’s National Socialist Party opened an exhibition in Munich it termed “Entartete Kunst,” or “Degenerate Art.” Intentionally housed in cramped, poorly lit conditions and awkwardly hung, the works on view were accompanied by inflammatory, denigrating labels. The exhibition was an open declaration of the Nazis’ state-run war on modern art and the effort to impose their officially sanctioned conception of art through propaganda and force.