The Wannsee Conference (2022)

Directed by: Matti Geschonneck | 108 minutes | drama, history | Actors: Philipp Hochmair, Johannes Allmayer, Maximilian Brückner, Matthias Bundschuh, Fabian Busch, Jakob Diehl, Lilli Fichtner, Godehard Giese, Peter Jordan, Arnd Klawitter, Frederic Linkemann, Thomas Loibl, Sascha Nathan, Markus Schleinzer, Frederik Schmid, Simon Schwarz, Rafael Stachowiak, Matthias Brandt

On January 20, 1942, the most infamous meeting in history takes place in a villa just outside Berlin overlooking Lake Wannsee. The participants are high-ranking officials, state secretaries and senior SS officials from different parts of the Third Reich. Topic of discussion: the practical implementation of the “Final Solution”, the “final solution” of the Jewish question in Europe. ‘Die Wannsee Konferenz’ was filmed as a docudrama for the German TV channel ZDF in 2022, because it will be 80 years since the conference took place. The film was partly shot on the location itself, which now houses a memorial center and museum. The villa on the Wannsee is located in a luxurious environment, because in 1942 many “golden pheasants”, as party leaders are nicknamed, also live in the area. The meeting itself lasts less than two hours, including short breaks for snacks and consultation. The film uses a distant, businesslike style – without music – and reconstructs the meeting as best as possible. The makers base this on the only surviving copy of the minutes. The remaining 29 original minutes were destroyed by the Nazis, but the last copy is found by the Americans after the war in the archives of the State Department.

The fifteen men are the deputies of their political bosses and the links between the top men and the organization below them. They are there at the invitation of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the RHSA (Reichssicherheitshauptambt, the overarching National Security Service) and deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Heydrich, played by Austrian actor Philipp Hochmair, is the driving force behind the performance of the Final Solution. That veiled term means that all Jews in Europe must be murdered. It is sometimes sometimes claimed that the final solution will be decided at the Wannsee conference, but that is a misconception. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring already gave Heydrich a written order in 1941 to organize the Final Solution. The decision has long since been taken, the conference is a coordination meeting between all kinds of ministries, agencies and services about who does what – and above all that the SS is in charge of this operation and the other organs of the Third Reich must follow the command of the SS. add. The conference has also been postponed, actually it was supposed to take place on December 9, 1941, but due to a counter-offensive by the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (December 5) and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7) that led the Americans into the war. it will be moved to that January 20th.

Final solution or final solution, there are more euphemistic terms in the minutes. That is also agreed upon by Heydrich and his closest collaborators SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller (Jakob Diehl), head of the Gestapo, and SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann (Johannes Illmayer), so that it sounds less “harsh” on paper and doesn’t scare people. – and yet everyone knows what is meant. Although Heydrich is the central figure, Hochmair remains a bit in the background. In this film he mainly behaves as a process supervisor, courteous and amiable, but very sporadically there is a glint of fanaticism behind his smile. It’s intriguing to look at, but his Heydrich remains a bit colorless here. A portrait that doesn’t seem to quite match the image of Heydrich we have: a man so extremely numb that he was called “the man with the iron heart” and nicknamed “the blond beast” because of his broad appearance. ” and “the butcher of Prague”. Next to him, it is mainly Diehl who seems to be filled with barely hidden aggression by Gestapochef Müller and who looks at the resisting participants with piercing looks and a scornful look on his face. The Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Foreign Affairs have delegated state secretaries or deputy secretaries of state. Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart (Godehard Giese) sits at the table on behalf of the Interior. He is co-author of the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws, the legal basis on which Jews are excluded from everyday life in the Reich. His orderly legal mind struggles with the casual manner in which the SS handles the legal rules he has drawn up. There are also reserves with the Secretary-General of the Reich Chancellery, Friedrich Kritzinger (Thomas Loibl). At 51 years old, the oldest is present. A veteran of the First World War, he shudders at the use of poison gas. Most of the others present mainly want to retain their own power or say in their own field. State Secretary Josef Bühler (Sacha Nathan) of the Generalgouvernement (the former Poland) wants to have priority in advance, so that “his” Jews are the first to act. Furthermore, it is actually a completely normal meeting in terms of procedures – and that is what makes “Die Wannsee Konferenz” so oppressive. The agenda is checked, points of view are exchanged, explanations are given, short suspensions are held and work is done towards a consensus and conclusions. It is only what is discussed that makes this meeting so exceptional and monstrous: the practical implementation of the extermination of 11 million Jews in Europe.

What is also striking about the film is that the Nazi salute, the standard greeting in the Third Reich, is almost omitted. The guards at the gate of the villa also bring the traditional military salute to the temple with the right hand, instead of the outstretched right arm. Furthermore, the film exudes a lot of authenticity precisely because of its sober and sleek style. The fact that German is spoken in the film also contributes to this. The film is deliberately presented as a snapshot and deliberately – according to the makers – provides little context. It is up to the viewer to place the events. It does help to know the pre- and post-history.

This is the third film about this conference. An eponymous and strong German TV movie was already made in 1984 – in much the same style as this version from 2022. In 2001 there was a British-American version entitled ‘Conspiracy’, in which Kenneth Branagh takes on the role of Heydrich . In that film there are much more lively discussions and the emotions run much higher. In the 2022 film, no one even raises their voice. It is precisely this matter-of-factness and the almost complete lack of emotion that makes the film so oppressive. All three versions are worthwhile and ‘Die Wannsee Konferenz’ from 2022 can certainly compete with the two predecessors.