(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
A number of documentaries have been made about the concentration and extermination camps of the Second World War. More will and should probably be, as it is obviously important to remember this horrific part of our still close history.
Ukrainian Sergei Loznitsas Austerlitz however, stands out from other such films, as it does not primarily address what was going on in these camps, but how we remember this. Specifically, the film focuses on the hordes of tourists who visit the German concentration camps as if they were at any tourist attraction, and how this contrasts in some stark contrast to the historical seriousness of these cities.
Observes from a distance. Austerlitz – whose title is taken from WG Sebald's novel, while acting on a misconception of the name "Auschwitz" – can safely be called an observational documentary. Here are no "talking heads" or explanatory narrative voices, only longer, tabloid sequences where a static camera captures crowds moving through different parts of Dachau and Sachsenhausen, filmed from a certain distance.
"We are used to World War II and concentration camps being in black and white, from actual documentary material to Schindler's list. "
It is tempting to say that the devil is in the details, when tourists have chosen to wear t-shirts with inscriptions such as "Just Don't Care", "Cool Story, Bro" and "Jurassic Park" – or simply with a image of a heavy skull. Such clothing choices are hardly consciously made on the occasion of the impending excursion to the camps where so many people have been taken by days, but appear just as full as strikingly inadequate. (Out of respect for the people in the film, I shall fail to draw a parallel to our own Per Sandberg's distasteful choice of t-shirt some time back.)
Likewise, you can shake your head at the girl who entertains her companion by balancing a water bottle on her head, while a guide tells the group next to why there were their own prisons inside the concentration camps. (To isolate and torture people who may have put on important information, the explanation reads.)
selfies. In addition, a lot of text messages are sent, and not least the visitors take a lot of "selfies", with and without a selfie stick. It poses in front of gas chambers and crematoria, in front of poles that were used for painful leveling, and perhaps especially in front of the well-known sign above the entrance gate with the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei". Rarely has this photo trend been a clearer picture of the exaggerated and unsympathetic self-focus in today's SoMe and YOLO culture.
One can also marvel at what the guides say, such as when one of them proclaims that hope "is only a survival mechanism" that prevents people from rebelling, while another describes the causes of the Holocaust as "petty, petty political motives, basically". Or when a guide tells their packed lunch companion that they can take it easy, because it is hardly the last time they will have the opportunity to eat.
Contrasting experience. I myself visited the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland last summer. Without exalting myself above the people in this film, I experienced that this was characterized by seriousness, respect and dignity, something our skilled guide also contributed greatly to. But I'm not sure if we would have come out of it alone if Loznitsa had been there with his camera. I suspect that it looks a little different from the considerable distance the film invites, than when you are actually there, as part of these tourist groups. (I also remember how uncomfortable it felt when I discreetly had to send a work-related SMS while we moved after the guide between two of the buildings in Birkenau.)
In this context, it should also be mentioned that none of the tourists in Austerlitz seems aware that they are being filmed, which is a prerequisite for the entire film project. One can ask questions about whether this is ethically acceptable – but if the concentration camps are defined as public places, it is possibly legally unproblematic. And for all I know, it may have been stated through posters or the like that one would be filmed by a documentary team during the visit.
"Rarely has the 'selfie' trend been a clearer picture of the exaggerated and unsympathetic self-focus in today's SoMe and YOLO culture."
War in black and white. In addition to the consistent use of static images in unbroken shots, the director has made an eye-catching aesthetic choice that in part breaks with the seemingly unprocessed, observational approach: he has filmed in black and white. This becomes a kind of meta-grip that brings to mind how we remember and how we mediate these events. In a way, we are used to the fact that World War II and the concentration camps are in black and white, from actual documentary material to Schindlers liste.
As absurd as it may seem that the Nazi concentration camps have become tourist attractions, this is probably a consequence of the desire to get as many people as possible to visit these places. However, it is thus a necessity that they are considered attractions? At least my own experience from Auschwitz and Birkenau does not confirm that a large number of visitors in themselves go beyond the seriousness one feels or the respect one shows.
It should also be emphasized that among all the visitors we see in Austerlitz, there are also many who seem characterized by just respect and seriousness. But even if the film largely leaves it to the audience to draw conclusions, it's easy to be left with the impression that the hordes of people in these places are becoming a kind of consumers of a grotesque and tragic past, which they do not really take inwards. This may indicate that we should try to rethink how we should convey this story.
The film will be shown at the Tromsø Film Festival in January.
