Blind Spot. Hitler's Secretary (2002)

Documentary featuring interview footage with Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's personal secretaries during WWII.

Directors:

André Heller, Othmar Schmiderer

Writers:

André Heller, Othmar Schmiderer

Star:

Traudl Junge

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Traudl Junge	...	Self

Storyline

Traudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's private secretary, from Autumn 1942 until the collapse of the Nazi regime. She worked for him at the Wolfsschanze in Obersalzberg, on his private train and, finally, in his bunker in the besieged capital. It was Traudl Junge to whom Hitler dictated his final testament. In her first ever on-camera interview, 81-year-old Junge talks about her unique life. In the spring of 2001, Andre Heller succeeded in convincing Traudl Junge how valuable it is to record her unique memories. Fifty-six years after the end of the Second World War, an important eyewitness reveals her experiences to us. What she saw and heard turned her into an furious opponent of National Socialism; an opponent, moreover, who is still painfully aware and seems incapable of forgiving the young girl she once was--for her naivete, ignorance, and her liking for Hitler.

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Plot Keywords:

shooting oneself | suicide by shooting one's self in the head | national socialism | bunker | nazi | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material

Did You Know?

Goofs

The official sites of this film claim that these interviews are Traudl Junge's first public appearance, that she "kept quiet for nearly 60 years".

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Quotes

Traudl Junge: And I think it's also the case that if you value and respect someone you don't really want to destroy the image of that person... you don't want to know, in fact if disaster lies beyond the facade.

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Connections

Edited into Downfall (2004)

User Reviews

hype problem: Ms Junge had broken silence well before this film

André Heller is one of the most original and daring artists of post-War Austria. Singer/songwriter, circus organizer, garden architect, multimedia artist and more, he has maintained a highly personal style (a postmodern baroque) which never slid into routine. This interview film sees him once again doing something quite unlike his previous projects, and the idea - to have Hitler's private secretary talk uninterrupted as in a solitary anamnesis - is valuable, remarkable, admirable. But why does everyone fall for the hype formula that this is the time when the film's subject, Traudl Runge, broke a silence kept for almost sixty years after the fall of the Third Reich? I have seen this Traudl Junge give inside views of Hitler's household staff in earlier documentaries on the top Nazi echelon and the Third Reich. They were made-for-TV documentaries shown on the National Belgian (Flemish) television, as well as Super Channel. So while the testimony given here is valuable, it is not totally new. The film over-sells itself on that score.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [United States]

Country:

Austria

Language:

German

Release Date:

22 March 2002 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Az utolsó óráig - Hitler titkárnőjének visszaemlékezései

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,216, 26 January 2003

Gross USA:

$378,382

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$378,382

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dor Film Produktionsgesellschaft

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1