Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary

Throughout André Heller and Othmar Schmiderer’s Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary, 81-year-old Traudl Junge recounts the Führer’s last days before his suicide on April 29, 1945. The publication of Junge’s memories helped provide historians with an accurate account of what life was like inside Hitler’s bunker. A lucid Junge remembers her infamous employer as a sweet but elusive father figure repulsed by physical contact, not to mention his own bony white knees. If Junge’s memories prove banal for some, there’s good reason. Though he was responsible for the systematic extermination of six million Jews and other “undesirables,” Hitler refused to discuss the horrors that took place inside his concentration camps. This is what Junge called his “policy of denial.” She also fascinatingly reveals Hitler’s fear of death; according to the octogenarian, Hitler refused to allow flowers in any of his rooms. After the war, many youths were excused for associating with the Nazis and determined to be “denazified.” While Blind Spot makes for a remarkable video exclusive, Junge’s anecdotes overwhelm her feelings of guilt and desperation (discussed mainly in the film’s end credits). Only a few hours after Blind Spot premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, Junge succumbed to her battle with lung cancer.