Abstract:
Two films show the enormous moral and political challenges regarding memory in Germany in the first half of the 20th century, to which not only the individual, but also society as a whole were exposed to the ability to judge independently and humanely. The first film is “The white ribbon” (Michael Haneke, 2009), which takes place at the beginning of the First World War in 1914 deals with humiliation and violence. The second film is “Der Überläufer” (Florian Gallenberger, 2020), based on the novel of the same name by Siegfried Lenz, which was written in 1952, is about a young German soldier in the final years of World War II in 1944/45 who was with the Wehrmacht in Poland and deserted. The first film describes the collapse of the independent judgment, which favors the later rise of National Socialism, the second film first the recovery of the individual judgment of conscience, then the beginnings of a public, democratic judgment.
Keywords:
Memory; Judgement; Germany