The Accountant of Auschwitz

 

March 15, 2020, Congregation Beth Israel, 5716 Carmel Valley Road

3 PM Film and panel discussion (film ticket required) / Wine & Food Reception follows panel (one reception ticket required)

Partners: Catholic Diocese of Monterey, Universalist Unitarian Church of the Monterey Peninsula

 

Documentary / Canada / 2018 / PG-13

Director: Matthew Shoychet

Running Time: 80 minutes

German and English with subtitles

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In 2015, 94-year-old former German SS officer Oskar Gröning, nicknamed "The Accountant of Auschwitz", went on trial in his home country, charged with complicity in the murder of 300,000 Jews at Auschwitz in 1944. Gröning's trial made headlines around the world as a frail old man took the stand to face his former victims. Out of the 6,500 SS guards at Auschwitz, only 49 were prosecuted in West Germany. After the war, the country wanted to forget the past and move on. It was hard for the German public to accept that so many of its citizens were responsible for the horrific crimes committed under the Third Reich. Many of the lawyers and judges writing the new legal code were themselves former Nazis. Now, 70 years later, a new generation of lawyers armed with a change in legal thinking opened up a new wave of investigations against aging Nazi guards, now in their 90s. Most have perished but for a man who, at age 21, collected the stolen loot of prisoners as they were carted off trains at Auschwitz. The Accountant of Auschwitz is a gripping look at the race against time to prosecute the last living Nazi war criminals before it's too late. Gröning's trial reflects not only one frail bookkeeper's penitence, but also the world's responsibility to hold the worst of human horrors forever to public view. Bringing war criminals to justice, with no statute of limitations, asks fundamental moral questions with few simple answers. From Nuremberg to the new alt-right, The Accountant of Auschwitz constructs a stark reminder that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

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Awards

2019 Atlanta JFF- Jury Prize Human Rights
2019 Seattle JFF – Audience award for Best Documentary
2019 Washington JFF – Audience award for Best Documentary
2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – Audience award (second place)