My review of the movie The Flat by Arnon Goldfinger

http://www.amazon.com/The-Flat/dp/B00BSBUPB4/

   In his award-winning, emotionally riveting documentary, THE FLAT, Arnon Goldfinger follows the hints his grandparents left behind to investigate long-buried family secrets and unravel the mystery of their painful past. The result is a moving family portrait and an insightful look at the ways different generations deal with the memory ... Starring: Arnon Goldfinger, Hannah Goldfinger Directed by: Arnon Goldfinger Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes Release year: 2012 Studio: IFC Films http://www.amazon.com/The-Flat/dp/B00BSBUPB4/ 5.0 out of 5 stars For true German Jewish reconciliation there has to be a true recognition of the past, June 12, 2013 By Jason Mark Alster M.Sc "Millenium man" (Wethersfield , CT) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Flat (DVD) This was a very interesting story that brought to my mind some questions. Did Middlestein , an associate of Adolf Eichman, successfully avoid the Neuremberg trials and keep up the facade by keeping on the surface a friendship with an Israeli German Jew unwitting to the role that Middlestein had in the war? Were there not any Germans during the war that were willing to oppose Hitlers final solution even Germans who had close relationships with Jewish friends and neighbors and shared the same meals? Today Germany the country and Israel are allies , and Germany has made a true effort at reconciliation and that has to be commended. Yet, for a true reconciliation between Jews and Germans to happen, the past can't be swept under the carpet because that will mean the Germans did not really learn the lessons of their past even though they might be atoning for them in a collective way. As my father was a holocaust survivor from Germany who came to the USA , he never held a true malice to the German people even though his immediate family were sacrificed. He still enjoyed German food , language , and culture as did many of my German family relatives who survived, so I can totally understand the needs of the German Israeli grandfather and grandmother to travel to Germany, a country they loved but was betrayed them. In my book " Leaving Home, Going Home,Returning Home: A Hebrew American's Sojourn in the land of Israel" I myself also talk about my own visits to Germany and my encounters with young German's who to my surprise treated me very very well. I also saw this in the heart felt greetings the Israeli family had by the German families in the movie. Yet, it is time for Germans to deal completely with their past honestly for themselves and not live in denial- so that what happened in Germany can really never ever happen again. I understand that it might be painful to dig up the not so distant past. Yet, the Holocaust was painful too and will be with the Jewish people for generations to come.