A Generation Offers Its ‘Final Account’ of Nazi Germany

The popular history of World War II demonizes the Nazi leadership but tries to ignore the role that a generation of German citizens and soldiers played in executing their leaders’ plans. “Final Account” is a 21st-century documentary that asks everyday Germans to explain their cooperation with the Nazi agenda.

Everyone who agreed to participate in director Luke Holland’s film is incredibly old by the time they tell their stories (hence the title), which means that some stories are aided by a lifetime of reflection and others are glossed-over reminiscences colored by senior-citizen nostalgia. Holland began filming these men and women in 2008. Although the end credits don’t reveal any details about what’s happened since, it’s hard to imagine that many of the people we see on camera are still alive in 2021.

The denials are every bit as affecting as the confessions. “Final Account” makes it clear that there were citizens who survived the war who never accepted that they may have contributed to the regime’s crimes, and more than a few who continued to agree with the “Germany First” ideology promoted by the Nazis.

Of course, it’s the men and women who’ve struggled to deal with their complicity who are the most affecting. Most of the people who were still alive to participate in this documentary were children in the 1930s and raised in the culture of the Deutsches Jungvolk, League of German Girls and the Hitler Youth. Everyone makes it clear how much fun they had in these youth programs and how easily they transitioned to active roles as adults in Nazi society once the war came.

The most powerful scenes in the movie are the contrasting interviews with SS veterans Karl Hollander and Hans Werk.

Hollander is a proud veteran who sees nothing but honor in his “elite” service to the Waffen SS. He refuses to blame Hitler for what happened to Germany and insists that “the idea was correct.” When asked directly whether he committed criminal acts during the war, Hollander replies, “I would dirty myself if I were to admit that.” That’s what they called a “non-denial denial” back in the Watergate era.

Werk struggles to make sense of why he served. Late in the film, he attends a seminar for students in the Wansee villa, where Nazi leaders signed off on plans for the Final Solution. He tries to humanize his choices to a new generation, giving them a warning about how people who consider themselves decent can be led to perform unspeakable acts.

There’s one student (there’s always one) who, under the guise of playing devil’s advocate, keeps attacking Werk for his story. Why is he ashamed to be German? Shouldn’t he be proud to have fought for the Fatherland? As the exchange gets more heated, it’s apparent that the kid’s opinions are actually more his own than they are theoretical. Werk gives an impassioned speech, filled with regret, but there’s a sense that he’s leaving this room more worried about the future than when he walked in.

And that’s why this isn’t really just a World War II movie. Ideologies that fueled the chaos and destruction in the decades after the first World War have enjoyed a resurgence in Europe over the past decade. There are leaders now in the United States who, confronted with a similar crisis to the one we faced in 1940, hold attitudes that would make that era’s isolationists look soft.

“Final Account,” now playing in theaters, isn’t an easy watch, but the men and women interviewed are fascinating and incredibly normal. If they weren’t speaking German, they could pass for a group of World War II-era Americans. The film’s power comes from how Holland uses these interviews of normal citizens to make World War II a contemporary and compelling story.

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