Sins of the Father

Imagine being the daughter of a mass murderer.  Meet Monika Hertwig, daughter of Amon Goeth, the man in charge of the Nazi concentration camp in Płaszów which was featured in the film Schindler's List.

In the documentary we learn that Monika was a child when she had first begun to learn of the horrors of what her father, Amon, had done.   

Inheritance is about Monika's struggle to come to grips with these horrors and the meeting that took place in 2004 between Monika and Helen, the Jewish woman from the concentration camp that had Amon choose to live in his house and become his maid.   

Monika in front of the house built for Amon during WWII.

It is heart wrenching to see the burden of guilt she carries for the evils perpetrated by this one man, her father, Amon.   I cried terribly for her anguish. 

Amon Goeth, Monika's father

Amon in Schindler's List portrayed by Ralph Fiennes

Helen Jonas

Helen says the sexual attraction Amon has for her in the film, Schindler's List, is fictional and did not exist.  Helen was tortured and beaten and lived in fear for her life.

If I lived in Europe during those times and had knowledge of or witnessed these horrifying atrocities and did nothing to stop or help the suffering ones and stood silently by, I'd be just as guilty as the perpetrators.  I wouldn't be able to live with myself and I think that I would commit suicide just like Monika's mother did.  Although we'll never know if that is the reason why she did it, after all, she had Amon's picture on the wall above her bed where she died.  Makes me wonder, did she miss the monster?  

I love history and truly enjoy watching movie's about The Civil War and WWII especially.  I never tire of them, even documentaries are fascinating to me.  I know many people do not want to see or remember the horrors of what the Nazi's did to humankind and find it hard to stomach.  It does make me sick and I do cry and my heart is broken but I also know that we must never forget and must teach it to our children and grandchildren.  They need to know what really happened to the innocent and it shouldn't be glossed over or romanticized.    

I'm not morbidly obsessed with this subject but next up in my Netflix Queue is a movie Meryl Streep and James Woods starred in titled, Holocaust, a t.v. miniseries made in 1978.