An Iron Box

The filmmaker Nils Olger suspects that his grandfather was involved in massacres in Italy during WWII. With the help of a few photos, he sets out in search of this family history. Olaf Jürgenssen, Nils Olger's grandfather, served as a medic in the SS at the end of the war. During the withdrawal from northern Italy, his unit committed a series of massacres on the civilian population. But Jürgenssen was also a photographer and he kept his negatives in an iron box. Olger uses the photographic negatives as points of reference as he compares landscapes and buildings then and now, and he strikes up conversations with people who still remember what happened.

Keywords

  • Austrian Films
  • Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Film
  • Exclusive Docs: New Perspectives
  • Holocaust
  • Sooner Exclusives
  • Topic: Oral History
  • world war II
  • history
  • national socialism
  • photography
  • sixpackfilm
  • war

Director

  • Nils Olger

Biography, Independent


1h 42min


12

DE

Austria
Germany
2018
A filmmaker discovers evidence of a Wehrmacht massacre in Italy in his grandfather's estate and investigates the case himself.

A filmmaker discovers evidence of a Wehrmacht massacre in Italy in his grandfather's estate and investigates the case himself.


The filmmaker Nils Olger suspects that his grandfather was involved in massacres in Italy during WWII. With the help of a few photos, he sets out in search of this family history.


Olaf Jürgenssen, Nils Olger's grandfather, served as a medic in the SS at the end of the war. During the withdrawal from northern Italy, his unit committed a series of massacres on the civilian population. But Jürgenssen was also a photographer and he kept his negatives in an iron box.


Olger uses the photographic negatives as points of reference as he compares landscapes and buildings then and now, and he strikes up conversations with people who still remember what happened.

Festivals

Cast & Crew