KZ (2005)

Directed by: Rex Bloomstein | 97 minutes | documentary

Rex Bloomstein’s documentary ‘KZ’ begins in the town of Linz. There a guide tells tourists about the Habsburgs who once held sway there. We watch the tourists and the guide, but hardly hear what she is saying. This opening scene tells a lot about Bloomstein’s intentions. He is less interested in actual history than in the way people deal with that history. And that makes for a very fascinating documentary.

‘KZ’ differs in approach from most documentaries about concentration camps. No archive footage, no conversations with survivors, no ominous music. We do, however, accompany groups of visitors on a tour of the Austrian camp Mauthausen. Although the images and stories are well known, the hair still stands on end. You can see the young visitors who are still chattering happily into the gate getting more and more stuffy.

Yet this is not a film about horrors. As mentioned, ‘KZ’ is mainly about how people deal with the past. Some older Mauthauseners don’t want to think about it anymore, others have learned to live with it. Still others buy a nice house there and don’t want to be held back by the past. The young guides of the camp turn out to be all conscientious objectors with grandfathers who once served in the SS. And what about the behavior of some guests? There are visitors who have stolen shower heads from the gas chambers. Other visitors painted a swastika on the wall. And the text that a Muslim visitor writes in a memoir says it all about how cultural differences can shape attitudes towards the past.

In addition to the captivating main theme, ‘KZ’ also deals with an unsolvable dilemma, embodied by an elderly guide who suffers from depression and alcoholism. How can you keep the past alive without destroying yourself spiritually? Rex Bloomstein does not answer this, but does ask the right questions. This often produces the best documentaries, as in the case of ‘KZ’.