A German Life

Brunhilde Pomsel was Joseph Goebbels' secretary from 1942 to April 1945. Even in the last days of the war, after Goebbels' suicide, she was still typing briefs in the bunker and became a direct witness to the "downfall". Although she came closer to one of history's greatest criminals than almost anyone else, she describes herself as a marginal figure. In A GERMAN LIFE she speaks for the first time comprehensively about her personal experiences in the closest circle around Hitler's greatest agitator and mass seducer, about her doubts, fears and her sense of guilt. The film is also her last testimony: in January 2017, Pomsel died at the age of 106. Pomsel's memoirs are of alarming relevance in times when populists all over the world are gaining more and more support and right-wing ideas are spreading again, especially in Europe. Her life story illuminates the banality of horror, confronts us with the explosive question of the responsibility of the individual for the political events of the day, and is an urgent warning from the past to future generations.