Downfall Notes (HW 5- HW 10)

Downfall (2005) is the first WWII movie, regarding the intimate side of Hitler, shot in German. All previous attempts at the same topic were banned by the German government. The movie was based off of first hand accounts from all the people in the bunker, in addition to certain accounts from the Nuremberg trials. The purpose of the movie was to capture the fall of Hitler in one single movie. Hitler had a team of advisors that he kept with him at all times, but didn't necessarily follow their advice. Hitler had little to no military experience, and ignored all the advice of his generals, thus adding to the conflict of the invading Soviet forces. The Hitler youth later began to hold an active role in the fighting, which was a shift from the usually twisted education/political-only orientation they usually held. Toward the end of the war, because the number of soldiers began to dwindle, girls began to be allowed to join the Hitler youth, which was previously strictly banned. Hitler believed that Germany hadn't lost WWI due to any sort of military loss, but rather that greedy Jewish businessmen and the democrats that signed the Treaty of Versailles had betrayed Germany. This became known as the "Stab in the Back" theory. Hitler used this to sway the minds of the people. The Soviet army got closer and closer to Berlin, most of Hitler's generals began to panic and urge him to leave. Hitler refused and became increasingly paranoid. Hitler greatly overestimated the number of troops he had and thought he would be saved at any moment. The Soviet army drew closer and closer and Hitler grew desperate enough and committed suicide along with his recently-wedded wife, Eva Braun. This signaled the end. Many generals wanted to surrender, but many others, even after Hitler's death were still following his orders to never give up. Frauline Goebbels decided that she would rather have killed her children then have them live in a world without Hitler's influence. The Soviet army reached the entrance to the bunker and many of the generals committed suicide, arguably not out of devotion to Hitler, but out of fear as to what the Soviet troops would do to prisoners of war. The Soviets were notorious for the brutality in which they kept their prisoners, and after such a long and bloody war, the fate of a high ranking German general was sealed. There were a few discrepancies in the film however. Most of the accounts from thing inside the bunker were taken from the notes of a Gen. Speer. This only offers a one-sided look into the accounts and the film does hint and him being more "good" than the other officials. The film is meant to chronicle the times of a Frau Traudl, as Hitler's newest secretary. The film fails to mention however, that Frau Traudl was a Nazi party member prior to working for Hitler, which is a stark contrast to how the film portrays her as a naive young woman who unknowingly accepts a job from Hitler.