By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: André Heller | Othmar Schmiderer
Original language title: Im toten Winkel: Hitlers Sekretärin
Country: austria
Year: 2003
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0311320
Ellen says: “The entire film consists of Traudi Junge telling her story of being the secretary to Hitler in the final days of the Hitler regime. I heard complaints that no new information was revealed but I found it thoroughly fascinating to hear this very ordinary woman tell of being part of this very extraordinary time.”
Bruce says: “Traudl Junge, the woman who typed Hitler’s last personal and political testaments, is in front of the camera for the entire hour and a half of BLIND SPOT: HITLER’S SECRETARY. She certainly is not boring. She relates in great detail how serendipity led her to such a bizarre position. Raised in Munich by a divorced mother, there was no money for high school so she went to a business school. Because Traudl Junge wanted to be a dancer she asked for a transfer to Berlin. A friend of her sister exerted some influence otherwise such a move would have been impossible.
“Initially she had a job opening Hitler’s mail which included many love letters. Finally she was interviewed by Hitler himself for the secretarial job. He said, ‘My child, don’t be nervous,’ as she prepared for a trial dictation exercise. She liked Hitler. He had a protective attitude something she missed growing up without a father. One on one, Hitler did not employ the rolling R’s of his political speechesnor did he roar and clip his words. Frau Junge claims that Hitler never spoke of love and was uneasy about the erotic. In her words, ‘Hewasn’t able to let himself go, an important element of an eroticrelationship.’
“Much of the film is focused on the final days of the Third Reich, livingin a Berlin bunker with Hitler and many others. Hitler’s moodsswiveled from rage to euphoria. Finally he lost touch with reality. Hewanted to drag everyone down with him. Much of her testimony on filmoverlaps her autobiography, Until the Final Hour: Hitler’sLast Secretary published in 2004. The superb film DOWNFALL is a dramatization of those final days and is based in part on Frau Jung’s memoirs.
“Hitler never mentioned Jews in his daily life. Traudl Junge says, ‘If I ever met Hitler again I would ask him what he would do if he found Jewish blood in his own family tree. Gas himself?’ This comes from a woman who with age has gained the perspective she lacked during her World War II days. She is articulate, reflective and contrite.
“This film demonstrates how oral histories can be valuable learning tools providing the subject is an expert witness. Traudl Junge passes the test. Most of what I know about wartime Germany comes from the printed page. Listening to Frau Junge speak about the Third Reich’s final hours adds a dimension to the subject I could not have otherwise experienced. 4 cats”