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#Post#: 3045--------------------------------------------------
THE LAST OF THE UNJUST (2013 documentary)
By: agate Date: October 6, 2020, 1:23 am
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THE LAST OF THE UNJUST (2013 documentary)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQzOTIzNDM4Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDMxNDA…
[font=verdana]
This remarkable documentary may turn out to have more value as a
contribution to the archival material documenting the Holocaust
than for its cinematic merits. It consists almost entirely of
Claude Lanzmann�s interview of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last of
the �Jewish elders� in the Nazis� �showcase� camp,
Theresienstadt�interspersed with Lanzmann�s reflections, as a
much older person, while at the Theresienstadt site. There is
some footage from the Nazi propaganda film featuring the
allegedly well-cared-for �residents� of Theresienstadt.[/font]
[font=verdana]It helps to come to this film with some awareness
of the facts of Murmelstein�s life. The title of the movie can
be taken somewhat ironically, for instance, given the material
presented in it. The movie has been accused of being merely an
attempt at whitewashing a person whom many regarded as having
betrayed his own people, and in his remarks Murmelstein shows
very little feeling about any of his past actions.[/font]
[font=verdana]But a premise underlying this movie may have been
that those who weren�t part of the Holocaust experience can�t
ever say how they would have behaved in those
circumstances�precisely because the situation was unique�and so
uniquely tragic that any judgment has to be withheld. So we have
Murmelstein stating the facts as he knows them, with Lanzmann
doing everyone an immense favor (in my opinion) by asking apt
questions in a gently probing way.[/font]
[font=verdana]Murmelstein knew Adolf Eichmann very well�and did
his bidding, as later he was to follow the commands issued by
his Nazi superiors in Theresienstadt. On the other hand, he was
quietly maneuvering to arrange for Jews to find ways of getting
out of the camps�and on to England or other countries where they
could be safe. Perhaps he accepted bribes along the way, perhaps
he did many shady deals, possibly for a complex variety of
reasons. The movie is by no means an exploration of his
misdeeds. But the fact is that he, as a respected rabbi and one
of the �Jewish elders,� had considerable power, which he often
wielded to help people escape.[/font]
[font=verdana]He says at one point, �Who doesn�t like power?�
and goes on to make it clear that he sees power as a way to help
people. He had many opportunities for leaving the Reich, but
when pressed about his reasons for staying, he first mentions
his wife and child (who would have been left behind), then
demurs, and finally comes up with: �Perhaps I had a thirst for
adventure.�[/font]
[font=verdana]So perhaps Murmelstein thrived on being at the
center of the action. Perhaps, as the reviewer J. Hoberman
asserts (review
in[/font][font=verdana]Tablet[/font][font=verdana]), he had a
�grandiose sense of himself.� To me he didn�t come across as
someone determined to inflate his own importance in this film,
however.[/font]
[font=verdana]He seems like a very intelligent and highly
educated man who was trying to do the best he could in an
impossible situation.[/font]
[font=verdana]The original interview took place in 1975.
Murmelstein died in 1989. Lanzmann waited until 2013 to release
this movie. Nearly 30 years elapsed between the time when
Murmelstein talked to Lanzmann and the public�s exposure to
those talks. The passage of so much time, and the fact that most
survivors of the camps have now been silenced by death, should
make this documentary, for all of its flaws, a very valuable
record.[/font]
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