Research behind the film on Nazi greed and Post-war plunder..
345869
Painstaking research behind the fascinating documentary, Rape of Europa. Lynn Nichols compelling book of the same title explores broad efforts to safeguard European masterpieces from Nazi greed and plunder. She shifts her focus from capital to countryside, from the one border to the next.  While she records art historians' views on looting and valued artifacts retained by conquering nations,  she also turns her lens onto the less-publicized cases of Allied looting, the cases of victorious soldiers purloined objets d'art as souvenirs.  In the final chapter, Nichols describes the fate of the heirs to American military plunder finding that the stolen items, while valuable, are unsalable,  Some are returning stolen items anonymously discovering that there is still a penalty attached to war-time loot; others are forced to surrender objects identified by German investigators tracking historical collections spirited beyond its borders.  The German government lost paintings taken back to the Soviet Union in train loads where they are still held as  compensation for monstrous ravage and destruction;, the art world as a group monitors the markets for individual pieces going for auction and ponders in general the moral dilemma posed by war loot and restitution.
  The compelling moral directive still remains as one of massive concerted Allied effort from the top down to discover, identify and return thousands of pieces of stolen art to their rightful  owners--if they still be among the living, a story that continues through this day.
3847535
While this film does not go into gory personal details about Madoff or his family, it provides an excellent analysis of the way in which his fraud (and others throughout history) is connected to the economic/historical environment. It's produced by the history channel, so this is clearly their focus. I would recommend this for introductory criminology courses or sociology of deviance courses if you are an instructor.  A concise, interesting overview of Madoff's Ponzi and its place in the history of frauds, the film has interviews with victims and prominent journalists who have written about the case. One problem is that the film ends before Madoff's sentencing, so that story and its symbolic significance is lost, as well as the way in which Picard then went after victims through clawback schemes. Overall, though, a recommended film.
3815406
Caleb Pirtle III has painted a picture of what could have happened on both sides of the Atlantic in the years just prior to Hitler's march into eastern European countries. Throughout his story, he uses neutral colors of gray, white, black, pale, ashen to help define the oppression of the Nazi movement, especially against the Jewish population in Baden-Baden, Germany. He describes the horror of Kristalnacht, or as it's called in the book, Night of Broken Glass. The story progresses through settings in Dallas, Baden-Baden, and Washington, D.C. At the crux of the story are five undeveloped rolls of film. During the Nazi terrorism on the Night of Broken Glass, businesses not only had their storefront windows smashed, but young men were dragged off not to be seen again, old people tortured and killed, young women raped, and children left to fend for themselves. Benjamin Gruner, a local photographer, was determined that the world would see what was happening. He took his camera, hid where he could, and began taking pictures of as much of the action as time would allow. His daughter, Rachel, confiscated the rolls of film after her father died. Ambrose Lincoln and Rachel have a mission--to make sure the film never falls into enemy hands, but finds its way to America and publication in the news. The reason? To refute the political propaganda being foisted on the world outside of Germany. The author takes the reader on a powerful journey of suspense as Ambrose and Rachel spend their nights trying to escape the death hunt of Nazi soldiers. They meet people Rachel has known from childhood in her Jewish community that can or cannot be trusted to help them. They learn that fabricating their stories is the only life-saving way to survive.. Even the weapons they carry hidden on their person are no guarantee for safety. On the other side of the Atlantic, we meet Atticus Chandler, an unpaid advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Atticus has business interests in Germany which would cost him millions of dollars if the films are developed and land in the American press. Neither the President nor Atticus want the United States to go to war with Germany, and do what they can to avoid a breakdown that could lead them right into Hitler's fight. The question the reader asks is what happened to the rolls of film? Caleb Pirtle gives us a powerful story as he develops a sequence of events that lead to an ending totally unimagined. His effective use of dialogue, its clipped sentence structure, his vivid description of each character, surpass the reader's imagination.  Through it all, he makes the reader wonder who owns the harsh, brittle voice that Ambrose hears in his mind throughout the book?
There is periodically the ray of hope shining throughout that can be symbolized by the author's use of moonlight breaking through the black night of clouds. The ray may be bright or it may be a sliver of light. And Ambrose periodically has a vision of a woman-ghostly though she may be, but his strength to continue in his quest comes through the words she speaks to him.
Secrets of the Dead will bring a tear to the eye, tension to the nerves, and hope in the heart of the reader.
1233383
I am an amateur historian and this is one of the best documentaries made on the Nazi's Final Solution.  You know exactly what the German cameraman were told to do and why.  The outtakes are priceless.  If you are interested in this period of history, this film is a must see.
4758044
If you have become interested in the art theft during WWII, this documentary is a must-see.  The  scope of Hitler's plans are made clear and the historical footage is amazing.
4310945
I am reminded that in life treasure is a subjective word, except when it conveys a tangible route to the past. Like many who fight wars, Hitler and the Nazis pilfered and hoarded vast amounts of artwork and other treasures. The book, while a slow start, develops into a romping adventure to save that which had been plundered. The vast amount of secret facilities where these priceless artifacts were hidden, is staggering. Aside from the book, the Nazis were also forging banknotes, artwork, anything they could smuggle out and sell to the Allies in an attempt to both finance their own operations, but also to devalue the British Pound and the US Dollar. This aspect is heavily covered in Robin Melhuish's excellent novel <a href="http://amzn.to/2uiQJHP">All That Remains</a> that follows the trail to the 'treasure' while also including the historical accuracy shown in The Monuments Men. Both are excellent reads.
1683339
It seemed to me that much of the movies influence came from the research based book The China Study. The movie did a great job of summarizing the book. I appreciate that the movie was more, matter of fact, versus in your face....you better believe this or else. Worth the time to watch. So worth it to me, I want to own it and share it with others.
590167
There's an old addage:  "Forwarned is forearmed."  What happened with the almost hidden rise of the 3rd Reich......may very well happen again today, if we're not careful to see the signs ahead of time.  This documentary shows all the subtleties that most people were not aware of, and you can actually see all the prevailing circumstances of why the German people were so easily bamboozled into accepting the "pie-in-the-sky" picture that Hitler was presenting to them.  We would all do well to watch this film, considering how upside down our morals are in today's society.
141561
This is the new DVD release of a fascinating documentary made by a German filmmaker during the 1980's. It consists of interviews with people who either knew Wilhelm Reich and/or followed in his footsteps, both in Europe and in the United States. It is therefore mainly of interest to people who are already familiar with Reich's life and work. To all newcomers: the film is NOT an introduction to Reich's life and work (as an earlier DVD release made by another publisher with an added-on misleading subtitle might suggest). For that, I recommend to get&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Orgone-Accumulator-Handbook-Construction-Plans-Experimental-Use-and-Protection-Against-Toxic-Energy/dp/0962185507/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Orgone Accumulator Handbook: Construction Plans Experimental Use and Protection Against Toxic Energy</a>, and of course Reich's own books, also available here on Amazon.
3978766
This is quite an enjoyable to watch movie, even though it covers a dark time in history that tells the story of Irena Sendler's actions in Warsaw during German occupation which saved countless children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and into unofficial foster families before they were to be loaded onto freight trains and a probable death in the concentration camps. The cameras follow Anna Paquin for the majority of footage and she does a great job of portraying the Polish hero as do the other actors in the minor roles.  Shot in an historic Latvian town, the setting looks pretty authentic to old photos of Polish towns in that era, as do the vehicles and clothing. If I was being critical I'd say the clothing especially in the ghettos was a bit clean and new looking but this was a made for TV movie after all. If you're prepared to read a good movie, a similar story in another Polish town&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/In-Darkness/dp/B008533DUS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">In Darkness</a>&nbsp;has Polish actors telling the tale of a sewer worker who saved a group of Jews by hiding them in the sewers. It gets more into the venturing through the putrid sewers and living there and that sort of experience from the Jewish people's point of view than A Courageous Heart does which concentrates more on Irena. Both are good films, just concentrating on different perspectives.

The DVD version (sold in Australia anyway you might want to check) comes with a pretty interesting documentary on making the film and teaching the fake made up accent to Anna (who's a New Zealander) and all the other actors. They also talk to the camera about the film and the real Irena Sendler.
2424130
A must-see film for any student of the Holocaust.  The viewer learns about the many diverse interests at play and sometimes in conflict with one another and how they ultimately are subordinated to the will of the leadership.  The result is a terrible resolve which cost millions of innocent lives.  There is a quiet drama to this film.  I think it is brilliantly done.
4830779
I'm Rachel Gonzalez, Mick's wife. I bought the book and am reading it now. I always wondered how the Nazis seemed to know so much so quickly about people's past, jobs, ethnic and religious backgrounds. As I watched the author on a TV program talking about the book I immediately thought of one of my professors in college, almost 40 years ago. He had been a captain in the German Army and said he was captured in North Africa where he had spent his entire war career. He'd been sent to a camp near Milwaukee for the duration. About 20 years later he and his family moved to the states and he taught at the university where I was a student. I became a research assistant for him. He had boxes of strips of paper with a list of German words and single digit numbers next to each word. Those numbers were put on keypunch cards. About six years or so ago I saw this prof as a younger man in a documentary about WWII and he was not in Africa; he was in Germany doing some sort of research. After seeing Black on this more recent show and now reading the book I really wonder if what he was researching in the 70s was lef tover from WWII and what use it was in the 70s.
The research for this book had to have been intense and long. Thank you.
75667
This book is a combination of carefully researched historical analysis, biographical vignettes, and personal memoir written by medical anthropologist Gretchen Schafft.  It documents work done by German anthropologists employed by foundations, academic institutions and the German government from the 1930s until the end of World War II.  These anthropologists apparently embraced Nazi ideology so thoroughly that they left behind their scientific methods and ethics to become co-opted into the processes undertaken by the Nazi party, the SS and other government officials to eliminate political opponents, people of color, homosexuals, Roma, Polish, and Jews from German and German-occupied territory.  Their ability to deceive themselves into believing that their work in categorizing people destined for death camps was scientifically valuable is astonishing.  The fact that they were never punished for their complicity in the Final Solution is extremely sad.

Dr. Schafft has done an extremely thorough job of reviewing holocaust literature and newly available archival materials from both the Smithsonian Institution and sources in Europe to bring the reader extensive understanding of this co-option.  She places the activities of the Third Reich's anthropologists in the context of other well known events from the rise of Nazism and the war.  This convincing saga has, as Schafft says "no smoking gun" pointing to the crimes (including euthanasia, trafficking in body parts, and unethical torture filled medical experimentation) that these anthropologists very probably were complicit in.

I bought this book because I am interested in the moral lessons of the holocaust.  As an applied anthropologist myself, this disturbing and detailed story awakened in me a desire to deeply evaluate my own work as an applied anthropologist.  The book is well written, although some of the translated German memos have a stuffy bureaucratic sound--attesting to their authenticity, no doubt.  I recommend this book to general readers as well as professional specialists in history, anthropology, and the history of science.  It will change how you think about the German public's awareness of the evils perpetrated by Hitler's regime.

by Charlotte Miller, Ph. D.
4254314
Archiv-DVD's newest release, "Jud Suss: Holocaust Studies Series" is the definitive Holocaust collection which features the uncut version of Veit Harlan's vicious anti-Semitic costume epic.  For anyone to suggest this film had very little to do with the heinous crimes committed by the Nazis is not only scandalous but a slur against the slain six million during the Holocaust.  This is perhaps the only motion picture produced during the Third Reich which encompasses the true anti-Semitic ideology expounded under National Socialism.  Much of the screenplay was obviously penned by Goebbels with suggestions by Rosenberg and Streicher.  This single film was the cornerstone and exponent of the pre-launching of the official campaign against the Jews of Germany and then Nazi Occupied Europe from 1940 onwards.  It is certainly no coincidence nor accident that Goebbels ordered this film produced as early as 1938.  And it is neither a coincidence either than Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the entire SS and uniformed police to screen the film prior to going into active service on the Eastern Front by the coming Winter 1940.
This film was as well heavily screened in European areas prior to any official anti-Jewish aktion against the local population.  It was also heavily screened to SS guards and camp personnel at all the Nazi concen-tration/extermination camps.  One does not have to have much of an imgaination what the end results were.  And it is certainly no surprise to anyone that this film was entered into as evidence for the prosecution at the International Military Tribunal (The Nuermberg Trails) during 1945-1946.  Its director was tried twice for "Crimes against Humanity" for creating the film and acquitted twice.  It was agreed that the original negative be destroyed following the trial.  This never happened.  It is no suprise as well that this film is still banned by the German Govern-ment to this day as an official law exists banning this specific film.
I thoroughly suggest this film as an excellant example of Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda in the way art can be twisted to fit ideology, no matter how tainted it may be.  "Jud Suss" was quite obviously a celluloid blueprint for genocide no matter how subtle other reviewers may claim in their own naive opinion.
425130
The Plight of the Jews in WWII rekindled! The Eastern Europeans take central stage here! Very few Nazi's troop across the screen. The truth hurts. Watch it and weep. Traveled to the East recently, things have not changed!
3776437
The Book Thief
 Young French Canadian actress Sophie Nelisse forces herself to our attention in the title role as an orphaned girl reared by foster parents in World War II Germany.  Nelisse carries off the complicated role with deft aplomb, taking the character from a stunned, nearly mute, terrified child to a too quickly mature survivor in the midst of the worst war in human history.  She has an engaging screen presence.  I hope to see her again and again as she finds other roles to play.
 Very few films have been built around the theme of the civilian German victims of Hitlers mad war.  Perhaps after nearly 70 years the time has come.  We see Germans terrified by their own government, reduced to slow malnutrition by short rations and suffering from the mass night time air raids of the American Air Corps.  I didn't find much in the film to relieve the relentless horror of the young girls situation.
 But Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as the adoptive parents displayed the kind of stoic courage, and in the case of Rush as Papa, astonishing kindness and touching humanity.  Australian author Markus Zusak won a slew of awards for his novel as well as the gratitude of his many readers.
 Director Brian Percival has this project as his entry into the big world of Hollywood directing.  He has uneven success.  One scene that he did very well showed a Nazi Party staged book burning.  Percival captures the event from the view point of the townsfolk.  The movie viewers are caught up in the emotionalism of the staged event. We can understand how dictators manipulate the citizenry by playing on our hard wired instincts.  I became enlightened, chilled and sickened all at once.  On the other side of the balance, Percival has his young actress react to every turn in the plot by hugging somebody or other, repetitious to banality by the fifth hug.
 Michael Petroni adapted the novel to the big TV.  The movie is rated PG-13 but perhaps because of the theme, wars inescapable horror, it might have been rated a notch higher.  The film runs a lengthily two hours and 11 minutes.  I couldn't discover the films budget but its harvest at the box office is a tiny $8 million.  Do not take popularity or the lack of it as a reflection on the quality of the film.  This dark tragedy deserves its three saw blade rating.  The acting should boost the rating but the weakness in the original text and uneven direction prevent more saw blades.
 Even the score by world class movie composer John Williams could not, for me, relieve the blanket of melancholy in a movie narrated-literally-by the voice of Death.
3693806
I recently finished reading your extremely interesting book "IBM and the Holocaust" and want to commend you for a thorough investigation of the subject. Several years ago I too had been to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and seen the exhibit of the Dehomag Hollerith machine and wondered what was the entire story. Now I know, and I no longer view IBM the same way as I once did. Thanks for a well researched and interesting, if depressing, examination of when corporate loyalty and profits are placed above human suffering and survival.