I have always been interested in the lives of perpetrators. There are numerous accounts of victims – whether they be victims of violent crime or wholesale genocide like the Holocaust.
It is insightful (I suppose) to get a perspective of the darkness that motivated these individual perpetrators. Why did these people do what they did? There are a number of books on the subject; Gita Sereny and Daniel Goldhagen are authors that come to mind. There are few documentaries. This documentary is not about a perpetrator per se but of the daughter of one – in this case Amon Goth, who achieved visible notoriety in 'Schindler's List' by Steven Spielberg.
Let me also state outright that the children of perpetrators should never be blamed or held responsible for the evil of their parents.
The daughter – Monika – is consumed by considerable remorse by the evil deeds of her father. Monika never physically knew her father; she was born in 1945 and her father was incarcerated after the war and executed in 1946.
Monika contacts one of the victims of her father - Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig – and they both agree to meet in Poland at the scene where Amon Goth was commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp and responsible for the liquidation (murder) of the Jewish community in Krakow.
The meeting between these two very different women in Poland forms the focal point for this intensely human and rewarding documentary. Even though both women obviously have different backgrounds, each is a victim of the same person. Both have suffered for their entire lives because of Amon Goth (and Nazism). One would like to think that right is on the side of Helen (because she is a victim) but it is never that simple. For Monika this will not be the case – it would seem that she is almost alone with her extreme sadness of being the child of such a father. There are unforgettable scenes in this documentary – like during the initial meeting between Helen and Monika at the concentration camp where Monika breaks down, or in the villa of Amon Goth where Monika consoles Helen when she is looking out a window that brings back painful memories.
One also comes to admire the courage of these two women who agreed to meet after years of painful anguish. One hopes that they each found some solace from the experience because they are both warm and decent people.
It is insightful (I suppose) to get a perspective of the darkness that motivated these individual perpetrators. Why did these people do what they did? There are a number of books on the subject; Gita Sereny and Daniel Goldhagen are authors that come to mind. There are few documentaries. This documentary is not about a perpetrator per se but of the daughter of one – in this case Amon Goth, who achieved visible notoriety in 'Schindler's List' by Steven Spielberg.
Let me also state outright that the children of perpetrators should never be blamed or held responsible for the evil of their parents.
The daughter – Monika – is consumed by considerable remorse by the evil deeds of her father. Monika never physically knew her father; she was born in 1945 and her father was incarcerated after the war and executed in 1946.
Monika contacts one of the victims of her father - Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig – and they both agree to meet in Poland at the scene where Amon Goth was commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp and responsible for the liquidation (murder) of the Jewish community in Krakow.
The meeting between these two very different women in Poland forms the focal point for this intensely human and rewarding documentary. Even though both women obviously have different backgrounds, each is a victim of the same person. Both have suffered for their entire lives because of Amon Goth (and Nazism). One would like to think that right is on the side of Helen (because she is a victim) but it is never that simple. For Monika this will not be the case – it would seem that she is almost alone with her extreme sadness of being the child of such a father. There are unforgettable scenes in this documentary – like during the initial meeting between Helen and Monika at the concentration camp where Monika breaks down, or in the villa of Amon Goth where Monika consoles Helen when she is looking out a window that brings back painful memories.
One also comes to admire the courage of these two women who agreed to meet after years of painful anguish. One hopes that they each found some solace from the experience because they are both warm and decent people.