Searching for the Root of Evil

This documentary recounts personal stories of the Holocaust, from those who have suffered the most atrocious, absolute evil. They are told by children and grandchildren, who are indirectly victims of this painful heritage. It is a well-known pain, although always renewed in memory.

Then, there come other stories, apparently opposite: those of the children and grandchildren of the executioners, of the Nazis massacred millions. It is an equally absolute pain, caused by the infamous sins of their fathers and grandfathers.

We undertake a journey to some of the places where this evil took place, symbolic places of the painful memory of the twentieth century: from the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, to the Plaszow concentration camp, to the peace of the Niepolomice forest, in Poland. Some of the places that witnessed the massacre in silence. The “Platform 21” in Milan, from which the train of the deportees departed and the Fosse Ardeatine in Rome, symbol of the Resistance to Nazi-Fascism.

In the film, each of these places is the setting for an extraordinary event: here, the children and grandchildren of Shoah meet, for the first time in front of the camera, with the descendants of the Nazis, to talk to each other, to tell each other stories of pain.

A journey into the depths of the human soul, in search of the roots of evil. With a final message of hope for the future, in the awareness that, in order for the past not to repeat itself, history, as well as the many different stories of the protagonists of this film, must be understood, as well as remembered.

The Protagonists

Elio Limentani, nephew of Errina Fornaro Di Veroli, survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Rawensbruk.

Fabiana Di Segni, granddaughter of Fatina Sed, survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Silvia Wachsberger and Clara Wachsberger, daughters of Olga Wiener in Wachsberger and Arminio Wachsberger, survivors.

Giulia Spizzichino, niece of Moses Di Consiglio, who died at the “Fosse Ardeatine” with his uncles Cesare and Salomone Di Consiglio and his cousins Franco, Marco, Giovanni Di Consiglio. She died in 2016.

Federica Belli Paci, daughter of Liliana Segre, survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, deported from “Track 21” in Milan, survivor of concentration camps.

Daniel Di Porto, nephew of Giuseppe and Marisa Di Porto, survivors of the concentration camps.

Alexandra Senfft, daughter of Erika Ludin and granddaughter of war criminal Hanns Elard Ludin, representative of the Nazi regime in Slovakia. Her latest book is titled “The Perpetrators’ Long Shadow. Descendants Face their Nazi Family History”.

Beate Niemann, daughter of Bruno Sattler, German criminal police officer and Wermacht major.

Friederike Wallbrecher, niece of Matthias Pesch, “Offiziersanwärter”/ “Trainee Officer” in the German Army. She founded the association “Let’s Remember Together” with her husband Tobias and the sisters Rivka, Grazia and Sara Spizzichino, great-grandchildren of Settimia Spizzichino, who survived 16 October 43.

Jürgen Müller-Hohagen, psychotherapist, founder of the Dachau-Institut-Psychologie und Pädagogik. Since 1983 he has been working on the psychological consequences of the Nazi period.

Press Review