DISCUSSION 3A:  HUMANIZING HITLER?

INTRODUCTION

"Should a monster be portrayed as a human being?"  The headline screams out from the German tabloid Bild in response to the release of the movie "Downfall," a recent big-budget production set in Adolf Hitler's bunker in the final days of World War II.  That question provides the central focus for this set of readings.  Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin may have been responsible for as many deaths.  But it is Hitler who remains the villain par excellence of the twentieth century.  Certainly any attempt to empathize with the man, if not even to understand him or to portray him as anything less than the embodiment of evil, can lead to resistance.

The exercise is divided into two segments.  The first section highlights several news stories about Hitler and contemporary popular culture.  Featured prominently here are articles about the recent German feature-length film, "Downfall."  Told from the perspective of Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge, the film breaks one of the taboos of German cinema by placing Hitler (the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz) in a starring role.  The second group of articles describes the rediscovery of Hitler's bunker in the No Man's Land where the Berlin Wall once stood, and the resulting controversy over whether to bury, destroy, or commemorate the site.

READING ASSIGNMENT

SECTION 1.  HITLER AND POPULAR CULTURE

Browse carefully in several of the web-sites listed below.

• Steve Rosenberg, "Germans Learn To Laugh At Hitler," BBC News, January 11, 2007.

• "Adolf On The Couch," Sign And Sight, January 10, 2007.

• "Hitler Film Breaks Comedy Taboo," BBC News, January 2, 2007.

• Martin Patience, "Hitler Musical Big Hit In Israel," BBC News, April 7, 2006.

• Ray Furlong, "Made In Germany: A Hitler Comedy," BBC News, January 2, 2006.

• Downfall:  A portal to a series of links about the controversial German movie.

• "Downfall Wins BBC World Film Gong," BBC News, January 26, 2006.

• "Hitler Film To Be Shown In Israel," BBC News, April 14, 2005.

• "Downfall Is A Hit In Israel," Guardian Unlimited, April 14, 2005.

• David Cesarani and Peter Longerich, "The Massaging Of History," Guardian, April 7, 2005.

• Charlotte Higgins, "Bunker Film 'Is Too Kind To Nazis,'" Guardian, April 5, 2005.

• Phillip French, "Inside Hell's Bunker," Observer, April 3, 2005.

• Neil Smith, "Director's Look at 'Human' Hitler," BBC News, April 1, 2005.

•   Peter Bradshaw, "Downfall," Guardian, April 1, 2005.

• Stephen Moss, "Stormtrooper Superstars," Guardian, April 1, 2005.

• "Desperately Seeking Adolf," Guardian, March 25, 2005.

• Sue Summers, "Now The Germans Have Their Say," Observer, March 20, 2005.

• "Adolf Hitler, Man Or Monster?," Telegraph, March 15, 2005.

• "Hitler Movie Leads German Cinemas," BBC News, September 21, 2004.

• "Germans Flock To See Hitler Film," BBC News, September 17, 2004.

• Ray Furlong, "'Human' Hitler Disturbs Germans," BBC News, September 16, 2004.

• Sandra Smith, "What To Say About . . . The Hitler Film," Guardian, August 31, 2004.

• Gina Thomas, "Bunker Mentality," Guardian, August 27, 2004.

• "German Film Breaks Hitler Taboo," BBC News, August 24, 2004.

• Luke Harding, "New Films Flout Hitler Taboo," Guardian, July 5, 2004.

• "'Downfall' From Ganz and Hirschbiegel," Fresh Air, February 28, 2005: An audio feature with the director and lead actor of "Downfall."

• "German Film 'Downfall' Mulls Hitler's Last Days," Morning Edition, February 25, 2005.  A radio review of the movie.

SECTION 2.  HITLER'S BUNKER

• "Hitler's Bunker Location Marked," BBC News, June 8, 2006.

• "'Hitler's Nurse' Breaks Silence," BBC News, May 2, 2005.

• Luke Harding, "'His Authority Was Extraordinary.  He Was Charming' -- Hitler's Nurse On His Final Hours," Guardian, May 2, 2005.

• "Berlin Hands Over Hitler's Bunker To Nazi Victims Group," ClariNews, November 19, 2003.

• Scott Shuger and Donald Berger, "Hitler Slept Here: The Too-Secret History Of The Third Reich's Most Famous Place," Slate, April 13, 2001.

• Mark Franchetti, "Hitler's Burnt Bones Tipped Into Sewer," Sunday Times, October 31, 1999.

•   "Berliners Debate What To Do With Hitler's Bunker," CNN, October 15, 1999.

• "Hitler's 'Suicide Bunker' Unearthed," BBC News, October 15, 1999.

• Hitler's Bunker, Discovery Channel.

• Hitler's Bunker In Berlin: The companion web-site for a book that offers a history of Hitler's war-time headquarters.

• Hitler's Death, Wikipedia:  An entry from the on-line encyclopedia.

• Hitler's Skull, National Geographic Channel.

THE DISCUSSION FORUM

THE PRIMARY QUESTION:  Should Hitler be "humanized?"  What are the risks involved in doing so and what, if any, are the problems in failing to do so?

SECONDARY QUESTIONS:  What should be done with Hitler's bunker?  Why?

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