Conference taveng::bagels

    I saw part of it on WGBH last week and I found it to be very scary.
    From my knowledge, I would have to agree with .0 in that it was
    VERY accurate.
    
    I found the discussion on the "half-Jew problem" to be particularly
    bothersome.  On the one hand, there was the fear that German blood in
    these [half-]Jews would allow for a [half-]Jew to excel (which was 
    considered dangerous).  And, on the other hand, anyone that had any
    Jewish blood in them was considered a threat that had to be eliminated.
    
    In case .0 didn't mention, the show was in German with English
    subtitles, which, due to my [somewhat] knowledge of German, made it
    that much more real.
                                                  .steve.

I saw this movie at an adult ed program in our Shul.  The scariest part was
that these bastards sat around discussing the elimination of millions of people
in an atmosphere not unlike any regular business meeting - just like they were
discussing how to market a new product or something else just as reasonable.
There was no furtiveness or anything else to indicate that they were doing
something as horrible as what was going on.  It never ceases to astound me that
people like this could gain positions of power.  And it scares me that the
world is still naive enough so that it really could happen again unless we
work very hard to prevent it.

    Re .1 & .2:
    
    I agree with you both. From the standpoint of how Germany was doing
    at that particular point in WWII, it was ironic how confident the
    Nazis at that conference were about their occupation of Soviet Russia,
    as if it would go on forever. It is obvious to us now, almost fifty
    years later, that the apparatchiks of the Party hadn't consulted
    with the Wehrmacht Generals on the Russian Front who knew the war
    was lost when the Germans didn't take Moscow in December, 1941.
    
    I also found the comments about the "half-Jews" extremely revealing,
    especially in light of the acknowledgement that the German war effort,
    from a civilian and military viewpoint, *needed* the skills and
    expertise of these "half-Jews" in order to stay in the war. So much
    for "German" technology! The sobering aspect, of course, was that
    a Jew who had a skill the Germans could use in their war effort
    was allowed to live while those who had nothing to offer (as far
    as the Germans were concerned) were consigned as slave labor or
    worse. What a sad commentary on how one people (the Germans) viewed
    the sanctity of human life.....
    
    I'm glad movies like this are available. Nothing can beat a portrayal
    of what really happened in my opinion. I have never forgotten the
    French-produced documentary entitled "Night and Fog" (which I saw
    over 20 years ago) and I probably never will.
    
    Mark