Inheritance (2006 film)

Inheritance
Directed by	James Moll
Produced by	James Moll, Christopher Pavlick
Starring	Vivian Delman, Monica Hertwig, Reinhardt Hertwig, Helen Jonas
Music by	Andrés Goldstein, Daniel Tarrab
Cinematography	Harris Done
Edited by	James Moll
Production company	Allentown Productions
Distributed by	PBS (theatrical)
Release dates	25 June 2006 (2006-06-25) (USA)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English

Inheritance is a 2006 documentary film about Monika Hertwig a.k.a. Monika Christiane Knauss,^[1] the daughter of Ruth Irene Kalder and Amon Goeth, Commandant of Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. Monika Hertwig was 10 months old when her father was hanged in 1946 for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. She discovered the truth about him only as a young adult, because her own mother told her in childhood that he was a good man and a war hero.^[1][2]

The film was produced for PBS by James Moll, film director, documentary producer and the Founding Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute focusing on testimonies of the Holocaust survivors. In 2009, Inheritance was nominated by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Interview.^[3]

Synopsis

Monika Hertwig traveled to Płaszów on the outskirts of Kraków, Poland in an attempt to learn more about her father, SS-Hauptsturmführer Amon Goeth, who was portrayed by actor Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. The film by Spielberg deeply affected Monika, and she claimed to hate Spielberg after watching it.^[4][5] In her search for more information, Hertwig had a meeting arranged at the scene of the former concentration camp with Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig,^[6] the Holocaust survivor born in Kraków, who was interned during World War II at Kraków–Płaszów, and forced to work as a maid for Amon Goeth. More than 60 years after his execution, the two women first met there in person.^[7]

Amon Goeth had two Jewish housemaids who stayed with him in the villa: Helen ("Lena") Hirsch (now Helen Horowitz) and Helen ("Susanna") Sternlicht (now Helen Jonas, formerly Helen Rosenzweig). As part of Monika Hertwig's search for more answers, she was given the opportunity to meet the woman from the Kraków Ghetto enslaved and preyed upon by her father during the Holocaust in Poland.^[5] He shot Helen Jonas' boyfriend Adam dead in front of her.^[8] In an historic moment, the two women attempted to bring some closure to their painful memories, yet raised new questions.^[4]

Amon Goeth was a married man, with wife Anni, and two children in Vienna.^[1] He met Monika's young, attractive mother Ruth Kalder – a beautician and aspiring actress originally from Gliwice (or Wrocław, sources vary) – through his friend Oskar Schindler in Kraków in 1942 (or early in 1943). She worked as secretary at Schindler's factory at that time.^[9] The two had an ostentatious camp affair which Goeth's Austrian wife knew nothing about. They were partying, playing tennis and horseback riding together. Ruth saw him hunting humans (in fact, he killed hundreds), but in her 1983 interview with the BBC she attempted to defend him nevertheless. – She was shown the transcripts of his trial, and committed suicide a day later.^[1] Monika, who was 37 years old at the time, thus first heard her mother speak like that, to total strangers.^[6][10][11] Monika Hertwig, Goeth's illegitimate child, and his camp maid Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig, spoke in person for the first time in 2004.^[6] Hertwig had requested the meeting with Jonas, but Jonas was hesitant because her memories of the past were so traumatic. She eventually agreed after Hertwig wrote to her: "We have to do it for the murdered people."^[6] Jonas shared her sentiment and offered to meet at the Płaszów Memorial Monument in Poland and tour Goeth's villa with her for the documentary Inheritance; her own husband had committed suicide in 1980 suffering from survivor guilt syndrome.^[12] James Moll, the film's director and an associate of Steven Spielberg, brought the women together in front of a camera in order to make his film.^[6][10][11]

Release

Inheritance was completed in 2006. It was produced by James Moll's company Allentown Productions. The primary footage was shot over the course of 13 days on location in Poland, but footage was also shot at Helen's home in New Jersey and on the outskirts of Munich, where Monika lived.^[5] The film premiered on June 25, 2006 at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was shown internationally as Der Mördervater in Germany, as Förintelsens arv in Sweden, and as My Father was a Nazi Commandant (TV title) in the UK.^[7]

Critical response

The documentary received critical acclaim and positive reviews from a number of critics, including David Cornelius of DVD Review ("simple but stunning documentary"),^[13] William Lee of DVD Verdict ("a remarkable story"),^[14] Prof. Cynthia Fuchs at PopMatters ("they live with the past, each moment a lesson"),^[8] and Michael Atkinson of IFC ("a fascinating dialectic for a number of reasons").^[15]

Production notes

James Moll, the director, said in production notes that he first came in contact with Monika Hertwig in 2003 only to ask her permission to use photographs of Amon Goeth for a separate project connected with Schindler’s List video release. He expected the worst but changed his attitude upon hearing her speak. One of her statements became the genesis of Inheritance for him. “I am not my father” she said. Around the same time, Moll was introduced to Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig through Shoah Foundation of University of Southern California. He taped an interview with Helen for Spielberg. He also told Helen about Monika. Helen's own growing sense of higher responsibility made the filming of Inheritance possible for him.^[16]

References

External links

• Inheritance. Official website.
• Inheritance at the Internet Movie Database