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'Final Account' is a chilling documentary with interviews from those in Nazi Germany

Posted at 1:20 PM, May 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-20 13:20:45-04

(WXYZ) — You won't forget what you heard after watching "Final Account," a documentary from late filmmaker Luke Holland. The documentary interviews some of the last remaining people who were alive, and even were part of, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Holland reportedly spent 10 years making the film before he died of cancer in June 2020, and interviewed more than 300 people for the documentary.

Holland also found out when he was 14 that he was Jewish and his grandparents were killed in the Holocaust, which inspired him to make the film.

What is most shocking, is what some of these people say on camera about what they did during those times. For instance, one elderly man tells a story about how he called guards to tell them about Jews who would escape a nearby concentration camp.

There were people interviewed who were in the Hitler Youth, the SS, and the Wehrmact, the German armed forces of Nazi Germany.

In another story, interviewees tell the story of Kristallnacht, also known as The Night of Broken Glass, and the pride they saw in synagogues burning.

Arguably the most shocking was when a former SS member meets with young students, who ask him why he isn't proud of what he did during his time in the SS and why he feels bad for "standing up for the Fatherland."

It's been 76 years since the death of Hitler and the surrender of Nazi Germany, and these interviews may well be the final account from those who lived and grew up during Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Holland knew that when he was doing the interviews, and the documentary is perfectly titled for that.

The film comes out Friday, May 21.