The Downfall
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Essay
In order to prepare a two-page-essay on a topic of my choice, I wanted to write about a subject that has a political context and is currently under discussion in public and in the media.
Above all, I sought after a topic that would be related either to me personally or to me as a representative of the German nation.
That is why I am going to write about the German movie "Der Untergang" ('The Downfall') that was released nationwide on September 16. It attempts to 'humanize' Adolf Hitler by portraying the Nazi leader during his final 12 days in a bunker beneath the ruins of Berlin and caused huge controversy.
Based on eyewitness accounts and on the book of that name by historian Joachim Fest, the movie captures the situation of Berlin in 1945.
The nation awaits its downfall. Fighting rages in the street of the capital. Hitler and his closest confidantes have barricaded themselves in the Fhrers Bunker. Among them Traudl Junge, Hitler's private secretary. Whilst the situation outside escalades, Hitler experiences the downfall of the Third Reich behind thick bunker walls...