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Conspiracy
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Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })Conspiracy is a 2001 HBO / BBC TV film that dramatizes the story of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, one of several meetings of German civil and party officials which authorised the Security Police department of the SS to organize the deportation of Jews from and to anywhere it wished as part of what would ultimately be called "Operation Reinhard" note The benefits for the Security Police department were three-fold. Firstly, the removal of all Jews from certain districts would endear them to the district leaders. Secondly, district leaders in the (now-overburdened) districts the Jews were deported to would then be forced to choose between risking rebellion (through insufficient rations), running at a budgetary loss (through sufficient rations), or direct euthanasia. Thirdly, since the district leaders in the destination-districts would presumably euthanize the Jews, the Security Police could rightfully claim that it had played a leading role in eliminating those Jews (and so beat the District Security Chiefs (HSSPFs), Order Police, and Special Task Forces (Einsatzgruppen) who had hitherto played the largest roles in eliminating Jews) It is an English-language adaptation of Die Wannseekonferenz, a German film that tackled the same subject matter; both films are shot in Real Time and used the only surviving copy of the minutes of the meeting, which was found in the papers of Undersecretary Martin Luther, as the basis for their scripts.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })Starring an Ensemble Cast, including Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, the film follows SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Adolf Eichmann as he organizes the meeting itself. Represented are the Security Police (under Heydrich), Criminal Police, Regional Security Chief for the ''Generalgouvernement'', a representative of Hans Frank's ''Generalgouvernement'', Alfred Rosenberg's Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Foreign Office, the Party Chancellory, the Reich Chancellory, the SS Race and Settlement Office, and the Luftwaffe's Four Year Plan Organisation. All have been recalled to the Berlin suburb of Wannsee from their duty stations for a conference, but very few have heard what the conference is actually meant to cover. After a round of genial introductions and conversation over appetizers, SS-Obergruppenführer (General-equivalent) Reinhard Heydrich, the conference's ranking member, arrives and explains that they are there to discuss what to do with 'The Jews'.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_1'); })Though the meeting is phrased as a discussion panel for the formulation of policy, Reinhard Heydrich quickly makes it clear that the policy has already been decided and he is there to inform everybody of their roles: namely, starting in the summer the 'unskilled' Jews currently held in Germany's eastern districts and the Generalgouvernement will be deported to extermination facilities (currently under construction) in the Generalgouvernement staffed by local police forces (under the command of the SS District Chiefs). Those who argue against this policy, either because they feel the mass execution of all 'unskilled' Jews goes too far or because they feel the policy has been poorly thought out and will have negative consequences for Germany, are persuaded or threatened by Heydrich into agreement in a series of private conversations during brief lulls in the meeting. The Generalgouvernement, on the other hand, would like the process sped up so that it will not have to keep shouldering the burden of feeding so many Useless Mouths.The film is a unique examination of the psychology and logic of genocide. It is one of very few attempts to tell the human story of those who planned elements of the Holocaust, and how they came to terms with what they felt they had to do. To help in this regard actors were expected to remain both in-costume and in-character for each day of filming. Kenneth Branagh, who played Reinhard Heydrich, has said that filming Conspiracy was one of the most disturbing experiences of his acting career. The film was shot in ten minute takes, often requiring actors to memorize a large amount of script, using only one fixed set, and natural lighting. There is no soundtrack.All portrayed characters were actual German officials who took part in the real Wannsee Conference, with their accurate ranks and areas of responsibility. | |
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Conspiracy / int_1206dd74 | type |
Victory Is Boring | |
Conspiracy / int_1206dd74 | comment |
Victory Is Boring: After Heydrich blackmails Kritzinger into submitting to his authority, Kritzinger warns him where his genocide will lead by telling Heydrich a story about a man whose life was rendered meaningless after his goal in seeing the abusive father whom he hated finally die was completed. Heydrich later discusses the same matter with Mueller and Eichmann, and wonders what they would do with an ideology and creed built around hate if all the Jews in the world were eradicated. Eichmann doesn't know the answer, but the point goes right over Heydrich's head, who bluntly states that he won't miss them. | |
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Conspiracy / int_12dc4d97 | type |
Greedy Jew | |
Conspiracy / int_12dc4d97 | comment |
Greedy Jew: Discussed Trope. There's an interesting back-and-forth between Heydrich and Kritzinger when the former gets fed up with the latter's recalcitrance to sign off on the Holocaust. Heydrich parrots the usual Nazi party line of a Jewish conspiracy controlling the banks when Kritzinger basically calls him a liar to his face. Realizing that they're never going to see eye to eye, Heydrich resorts to death threats instead to get him on board. | |
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Conspiracy / int_14780a0b | type |
I Don't Pay You to Think | |
Conspiracy / int_14780a0b | comment |
I Don't Pay You to Think: When Heydrich notes that the secretary will be discreet about the proceedings that will discuss mass murder, Eichmann replies that the man in question agrees. Heydrich sarcastically replies "He agrees? Excellent". | |
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Conspiracy / int_1528593d | type |
Thousand-Year Reign | |
Conspiracy / int_1528593d | comment |
Thousand-Year Reign: Referenced several times, as the film takes place at a time when the Nazis were absolutely convinced that they were moments away from victory. | |
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Conspiracy / int_1645005b | type |
Evil Versus Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_1645005b | comment |
Another one in the Evil vs. Evil conflict is between Heydrich and Kritzinger. The latter consistently objects to the "Final Solution" which Heydrich is pushing because he is the only man among the Nazis who thinks that exterminating the Jews is wrong. Heydrich eventually deconstructs Kritzinger's attempt at Even Evil Has Standards, because he knowingly consented to sterilizing and enslaving them before. Heydrich is an evil mass murderer, but he acknowledges this, whereas Kritzinger deludes himself into thinking that making a moral stand at that point somehow negates the crimes he has already committed. | |
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Conspiracy / int_18baa751 | type |
Historical Villain Downgrade | |
Conspiracy / int_18baa751 | comment |
Historical Villain Downgrade: Stuckart may or may not have pushed for sterilization as a humanitarian alternative to the Endloesung. The film plays with this by giving him, as part of his protestations against extermination, a virulent anti-Semitic rant, and his protests are clearly based on legalistic grounds more than any kind of moral objection to mass murder. One gets the impression he'd be quite happy for the extermination process to occur so long as they were operating according to his Nuremberg Laws. Lange was an unrepentant Nazi and there is no indication that he felt anything other than joy at shooting dead thousands of Jews. The film version is a Shell-Shocked Veteran, although this is used in order to highlight the Real Life problems the Nazis had with mass shootings (that they turned men into "psychopaths or neurotics.") Kritzinger did testify to being ashamed of the actions of the Nazis during the Nuremberg trials, but there's no indication in history that he was as strongly opposed to the Final Solution as he is in the film. The film also glosses over the fact that he had been a Nazi since the 1930s, and had faithfully executed the government's antisemitic policies up to that point. Though it is at least nodded at; in their private conversation, Heydrich notes the hypocrisy in Kritzinger supporting every mistreatment of the Jews up to, but not including, actually killing them. | |
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Conspiracy / int_19851b86 | type |
The Sociopath | |
Conspiracy / int_19851b86 | comment |
The Sociopath: Heydrich shows all of the classic traits: Superficial charm, glibness, personal manipulation, compulsive recklessness ("the secret to enjoying life is to live dangerously," he says), and an utter lack of empathy. Kenneth Branagh came away from the role convinced that inside the man, there was no principle, no passion, and no emotion except for a desire to dominate others. He went so far as to say that Heydrich didn't even seem especially anti-Semitic: The man simply lusted after power, and the fact that said power meant the murders of six million Jews was incidental. Schoengarth also qualifies, in a different way. Like Heydrich, he enjoys bullying others and has no apparent empathy. However, Heydrich's bullying relies on subtle threats and is coated in impeccable manners, while Schoengarth is more blunt, uses his imposing stature to intimidate others, and is openly rude and mocking to anyone he considers beneath him. Heydrich is a sociopath who masks his true nature, which Schoengarth either cannot or does not bother to do. | |
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Conspiracy / int_19dcd4bc | type |
Sand in My Eyes | |
Conspiracy / int_19dcd4bc | comment |
Sand In My Eyes: When they finally get past the preamble of the meeting and Eichmann begins describing, in detail, the method of mass gas extermination, Otto Hofmann becomes visibly sickened and excuses himself to rush to the bathroom. He at first claims it is because he mixed wine and whiskey while eating, and then that it was probably a bad cigar. | |
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Conspiracy / int_19fc58a2 | type |
A Lighter Shade of Black | |
Conspiracy / int_19fc58a2 | comment |
A Lighter Shade of Black: Kritzinger, while still a proud servant of the Fuehrer who's glad to oppress the Jewish people, is the only one appaled by the concept of complete extermination. | |
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Conspiracy / int_1c6ded94 | type |
Wicked Cultured | |
Conspiracy / int_1c6ded94 | comment |
Wicked Cultured: Played straight with Heydrich: he finds a record of Franz Schubert's String Quintet in C Major and comments "The adagio will tear your heart out." Later on, when Heydrich has left, Eichmann averts it: he puts the record on at the adagio and listens to it for a moment. The butler stops and listens to it too. The conference as a whole: a business luncheon - held at a palatial estate in a fancy Berlin suburb, catered with mouth-wateringly depicted food and drink - convened by some of the most evil men in history for the purpose of planning mass murder on a horrifically unprecedented scale. Lange overlaps this with the Cultured Warrior; the only one of the participants currently serving in frontline combat, his first words to Eichmann are to gush over the beauty of the house they're meeting in. | |
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Conspiracy / int_1d47b2b7 | type |
Unable to Cry | |
Conspiracy / int_1d47b2b7 | comment |
Unable to Cry: Offscreen, Dr. Kritzinger tells Reinhard Heydrich a story about an old friend who had an abusive father but a doting mother. The man was unable to cry at his mother's funeral, but was strangely broken down in tears and sobbing uncontrollably at his father's funeral. It was because his father's hatred defined the man's life more than his mother's love ever did, rendering him an empty shell who had lost his purpose when the object of his hatred was gone. This ties into a warning that Kritzinger is trying to give Heydrich about Nazis' anti-Semitism. | |
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Conspiracy / int_1f4bb5b4 | type |
Let Me Tell You a Story | |
Conspiracy / int_1f4bb5b4 | comment |
Let Me Tell You a Story: Kritzinger relates a story to Heydrich as a warning to what he is trying to accomplish, which Heydrich later relates in turn to Müller and Eichmann at the end. It concerns a boyhood friend of Kritzinger, who hated his abusive father fiercely but was devoted to his loving mother. When his mother died some years later, the man tried to cry as her casket was lowered into the grave, but wasn’t able to. When his father died at a much older age, the man couldn't control his tears. The moral of the story is that being consumed by hatred for something will mean that once that thing is gone, the hater's life will be nothing but a hollow shell anymore. | |
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Conspiracy / int_20860a0e | type |
Punch-Clock Villain | |
Conspiracy / int_20860a0e | comment |
Punch-Clock Villain: This trope is taken to its most terrifying extreme, as the Nazis are debating the planning of a genocide of millions as matter-of-factly as they would if it were a business meeting between the heads of a major company. In the end it's simply an administrative job for them, discussed over lunch, as they're all part of a larger machine with only Heydrich having any real authority. Then again it varies from one character to the next. For some, it's just a job, and they enjoy doing their job effectively. Others actually enjoy what they're doing. Eichmann himself was the most notable example of this trope, being completely emotionally detached from his actions; in the film he actually comes off as one of the least inherently anti-Semitic characters who even paid some Jewish rabbi to learn some Yiddish and Hebrew words. It's no coincidence that the famous phrase the banality of evil was coined by Hanna Arendt in regards to him. Heydrich was arguably this as well in Real Life; in the film, however, he seems to actually believe in what he's doing. | |
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Conspiracy / int_24321e44 | type |
Only Sane Man | |
Conspiracy / int_24321e44 | comment |
Only Sane Man: An incredibly depressing one comes in the form of Dr. Kritzinger. He tries to make a moral stand while everyone else is concerned with bureaucracy or power-play, but he's shot down and eventually goes along with it after realizing the futility of objecting. It is summed up by this exchange at the end of the film: | |
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Conspiracy / int_267ce120 | type |
Dirty Old Man | |
Conspiracy / int_267ce120 | comment |
Dirty Old Man: Several Nazis, upon hearing about a new sterilization injection, ask where they can get it, as it would be "useful with the ladies." Luther points out that you would not need the injection, just the papers to say you had had it. Klopfer in particular lusts after the villa's maid, and later talks about "how [the Jews] love to make the beast [with two backs]." | |
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Conspiracy / int_297edb93 | type |
British Nazis | |
Conspiracy / int_297edb93 | comment |
British Nazis: Every Nazi except Eichmann (who is played by the American Stanley Tucci) has a British accent. This was deliberate - the mainly British actors kept their natural accents, as it was felt that putting on an accent would shift the focus from the evil of the protagonists to how well Kenneth Branagh could do "Saxony-Anhalt". | |
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Conspiracy / int_2b2c66c3 | type |
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor | |
Conspiracy / int_2b2c66c3 | comment |
Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: A sick sense of humor, as the Nazis specialize in Black Humor and racist jokes that are only funny to other Nazis. Roland Freisler probably makes the worst one when he cracks a joke about the effects of the gas chambers on "Communist" Jews. | |
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Conspiracy / int_2dae4381 | type |
My Master, Right or Wrong | |
Conspiracy / int_2dae4381 | comment |
My Master, Right or Wrong: Major Lange is briefly mentored by General Heydrich after Lange notes how disturbed he is by all the massacres in the east. When Heydrich later asks Lange for his opinion at the table, he simply submits to the chain of command and states that he has no other gods before it. | |
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Conspiracy / int_2e8441c9 | type |
The Bad Guy Wins | |
Conspiracy / int_2e8441c9 | comment |
The Bad Guy Wins: They're all bad guys, mind you. It's just that the lesser bad guys are overruled by the more evil ones by the end. Heydrich gradually squashes any dissenting opinion and forces all the other ministries that opposed the genocide in some way to fall into line with the SS, and the Holocaust goes ahead as planned. Some of the attendees were punished for their crimes during and after the war such as Heydrich being assassinated and Eichmann captured in Argentina and dragged to Israel for trial, but to serve their own national self-interest the British and American occupation authorities ensured that the rest became Karma Houdinis. | |
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Conspiracy / int_2eb94abd | type |
Deadly Euphemism | |
Conspiracy / int_2eb94abd | comment |
Deadly Euphemism: As befitting a film about the Holocaust, these are used frequently — "evacuation" is the term finally agreed upon when discussing the future policy of the regime. Lange gets so pissed off by this he confronts Heydrich, asking if mass killings were meant by "evacuation". Heydrich simply responds that they were. Infamously, this is Truth in Television regarding all official Nazi documents, in which direct references to the deadly nature of the Final Solution were strictly avoided. During the conference itself, however, the participants discussed everything in very blunt terms, not at all bothering with the euphemisms, according to Eichmann's testimony. | |
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Conspiracy / int_319e4a2f | type |
Even Evil Has Standards | |
Conspiracy / int_319e4a2f | comment |
Even Evil Has Standards: Some are stated outright, but a lot are subtly hinted at. Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger epitomizes this. Despite being (as Heydrich points out) willing to go along with the persecution, enslavement, and even mass sterilisation of the Jews, it becomes clear from the beginning of the conference that he is the only one there with a moral issue with the planned "elimination" of the Jews, and when it becomes clear his colleagues mean to flat out murder 12 million Jews his utter horror and shame at what he is a part of are obvious and he seems to come the closest of any man present to actually say that this is morally wrong. It's noted in the epilogue that of all the attendees, he is the only person to express remorse at having been complicit in the Holocaust. In Real Life Kritzinger tried to resign immediately after the conference, although historians are conflicted on whether it was because he truly felt the Operation Reinhard was morally wrong or if the timing was just a coincidence. Dr. Stuckart offers a different style of standard. Throughout the film he is the most vocal and aggressive opponent of the genocide, but he claims it is because the proposed plans are haphazard and unworkable and opposed to the laws of Germany. He himself launches into an anti-Semitic diatribe explaining the flaws of the Jews, but then continues to protest their extermination. While not having any moral objection or qualm about the planned genocide, and generally acting like the biggest and most disgusting scumbag in a room full of supremely evil nazis, even Klopfer is shocked for a moment over just how many Jews will be murdered every day as the plans progress. He stops chewing his food and freezes completely motionless. Lange is a ruthless officer currently involved in the genocide, but he finds shooting and disposing of Jewish noncombatants (families and children mainly) to be increasingly unsettling. He takes personal offense when Heydrich keeps insisting on euphemisms for the killings, as it does not reflect what he has been doing in the field. Eichmann, despite being the biggest supporter of the genocide after Heydrich, becomes uncomfortable when describing the extermination process used in the gas chambers. Heydrich later relates that Eichmann fainted when he saw the results first-hand, which Eichmann quickly denies. Josef Buehler points out to the ignorant Luther that it is often distressing for their soldiers, who have some semblance of honor, to shoot unarmed women and children in mass slaughters. His tone seems to indicate he agrees with them. Otto Hoffmann is visibly sickened when he learns the details of the gas chambers and has to excuse himself from the table to go to the bathroom. He at first tries to blame it on mixing alcohol at lunch, and then on a bad cigar. | |
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Conspiracy / int_3255968b | type |
Implied Death Threat | |
Conspiracy / int_3255968b | comment |
Implied Death Threat: Heydrich to Kritzinger and Stuckart. | |
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Conspiracy / int_35b241c0 | type |
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping | |
Conspiracy / int_35b241c0 | comment |
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: David Threfall as Dr. Kritzinger is one of the few actors who attempts a German accent. However, when he expresses his outrage at being lied to by Hitler, his natural British accent comes through rather clearly. | |
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Conspiracy / int_35f57671 | type |
Minion with an F in Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_35f57671 | comment |
Minion with an F in Evil: Deconstructed by Heydrich to Kritzinger. | |
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Conspiracy / int_3ae6199a | type |
Psychopathic Manchild | |
Conspiracy / int_3ae6199a | comment |
Psychopathic Manchild: Schoengarth seems to be a rather chillingly realistic example of this; he's boisterous and petty, but at the same time completely detached from any consequences of his actions and childish in his cruelty and sadism, enthusiastically imagining and clapping at the idea of genocide. Neatly encapsulated when Heydrich forces them to stop smoking cigars, Schoengarth, in the midst of cutting a new one, actually goes "awwww". | |
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Conspiracy / int_3bc88a7f | type |
Foregone Conclusion | |
Conspiracy / int_3bc88a7f | comment |
Foregone Conclusion: The participants at the meeting are summoned under the pretence that their views and perspectives on potential solutions to the 'Jewish Problem' are being sought. It eventually becomes clear, however, that the solution has already been determined, and they are there to basically receive orders and rubber stamp everything. It was also a Secret Test of Character to see how they would react. | |
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Conspiracy / int_3eee0728 | type |
Captain Obvious | |
Conspiracy / int_3eee0728 | comment |
Captain Obvious: "Hoffmann, SS Race and Settlement Main Office, we deal with matters of race and settlement." | |
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Blatant Lies | |
Conspiracy / int_40bb59d0 | comment |
Blatant Lies: Heydrich is a 'font' of these. | |
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Conspiracy / int_40c57041 | type |
Manipulative Bastard | |
Conspiracy / int_40c57041 | comment |
Manipulative Bastard: Reynhard Heydrich. He is very good at putting on an outer face of pleasantness and respect, but it gradually becomes apparent that the conference is not a discussion of whether or not to enact the mass killing of Jews, but a briefing in which the various departments are being told what their role in the already decided-on genocide will be. At most, Heydrich gives them some points of clarification, but otherwise, he isn't really interested in anything they have to say, though he maintains the pretense of this for a while. Heydrich verbally dominates the entire conference. Frequently, when one of the other men at the table attempt to interject a question, he earnestly and politely brushes it off by saying that he will take questions in a moment, but hasn't quite finished what he's saying. After a couple of rounds of this, it becomes clear that Heydrich is just saying this to shut people up, and he has no intention of ever getting around to their questions. All of this is said with a cheerful smile. This works with most of them, but when Stuckart adamantly insists that he doesn't like being cut out of the loop on important matters like this, Heydrich lets the mask drop for a moment, and bluntly make the offhand threat that it would be a shame if the bullies in the SS heard what an obstructionist he's being. | |
Conspiracy / int_40c57041 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_40c57041 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_40c57041 | |
Conspiracy / int_4127eb1 | type |
ShutUpHannibal | |
Conspiracy / int_4127eb1 | comment |
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Downplayed. When Neuman is talking to Mueller towards the end of the meeting, and Mueller begins to again restate his usual speech about unity of vision and avoiding internal conflict, Neuman just holds up his hand and says "Spare me" before walking off in the middle of his sentence. | |
Conspiracy / int_4127eb1 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_4127eb1 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_4127eb1 | |
Conspiracy / int_42c9f1ec | type |
Downplayed Trope | |
Conspiracy / int_42c9f1ec | comment |
Stuckart is a downplayed example. He does object against the holocaust and brutality of his companions, but not on moral grounds (and indeed, he's an unapologetic anti-Semite), rather because the plan involves arbitrary violations of the Nuremburg Laws (co-written by himself), which cannot be accepted by any means, and suggests sterilization as a more "lawful" approach. He also thinks the approach of mass extermination will generate global outrage, whereas a legal method of sterilization will fly below the radar. | |
Conspiracy / int_42c9f1ec | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_42c9f1ec | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_42c9f1ec | |
Conspiracy / int_43b154c9 | type |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent | |
Conspiracy / int_43b154c9 | comment |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Only minor characters attempt a German accent. All the actors playing Nazis at the table use their native accents, although Stanley Tucci tones down his New York accent slightly. | |
Conspiracy / int_43b154c9 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_43b154c9 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_43b154c9 | |
Conspiracy / int_45fe3a2e | type |
Utopia Justifies the Means | |
Conspiracy / int_45fe3a2e | comment |
Utopia Justifies the Means: Heydrich has a personal talk with Major Lange about the duties of soldiering. Heydrich seems to view himself as some sort of impromptu mentor figure to Lange (who was the lowest-ranked man at the meeting, personally selected by Heydrich because of his experience of the mass killings in Latvia), as he tries to convince Lange that all the death they're causing (including annihilating an entire people) is for a "better future". Given Heydrich's sociopathic qualities it's doubtful that he actually believes it himself and was instead just turning up the charm, but Lange takes the message at face value. | |
Conspiracy / int_45fe3a2e | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_45fe3a2e | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_45fe3a2e | |
Conspiracy / int_469e3e2f | type |
In-Universe | |
Conspiracy / int_469e3e2f | comment |
Invoked In-Universe when several delegates favour the sterilization plan. Eventually Heydrich loses patience and states bluntly that killing is the best method of wiping out the Jews and that's what they're going with; see Stating the Simple Solution below. | |
Conspiracy / int_469e3e2f | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_469e3e2f | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_469e3e2f | |
Conspiracy / int_4971b851 | type |
Aggressive Categorism | |
Conspiracy / int_4971b851 | comment |
Aggressive Categorism: Heydrich and Stuckhart are on opposite ends of this trope. Stuckhart maintains that the Jews are a homogeneous population and the dividing line between them and Germans must be clear. Heydrich is in favor of a much looser definition of a Jew, basically meaning anyone he and the SS considers to be worthy of killing. | |
Conspiracy / int_4971b851 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_4971b851 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_4971b851 | |
Conspiracy / int_4c506837 | type |
The Snack Is More Interesting | |
Conspiracy / int_4c506837 | comment |
The Snack Is More Interesting: The attendees often seem as interested in the refreshments as the subject of their discussion. | |
Conspiracy / int_4c506837 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_4c506837 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_4c506837 | |
Conspiracy / int_4d7a7d53 | type |
I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You | |
Conspiracy / int_4d7a7d53 | comment |
I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You: When everybody is introducing themselves to the group, SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Rudolf Lange gives his title and says "among other things." Heydrich responds that they all have "other things." His "other things" just so happens to be command of an Einsatzkommando unit, charged with executing Jews, Gypsies, communists, and other undesirables behind the advancing German army; essentially a mobile Holocaust unit. At a certain point in point in the meeting, he completely drops any pretense of secrecy about what he does, and he and Kritzinger have a rather frank discussion about it during their lunch break. | |
Conspiracy / int_4d7a7d53 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_4d7a7d53 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_4d7a7d53 | |
Conspiracy / int_51300dbf | type |
FatBastard | |
Conspiracy / int_51300dbf | comment |
Fat Bastard: Klopfer, overweight and vile. (The real Klopfer wasn't fat at all.) | |
Conspiracy / int_51300dbf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_51300dbf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_51300dbf | |
Conspiracy / int_51c70be6 | type |
Obliviously Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_51c70be6 | comment |
Obliviously Evil: Otto Hoffman somehow manages to get through the entire meeting without realizing that he's just receiving marching orders for a genocide. At the end, he still seems to think Heydrich's orders are merely suggestions, and that his opinions regarding sterilization will still be considered. | |
Conspiracy / int_51c70be6 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_51c70be6 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_51c70be6 | |
Conspiracy / int_5313c266 | type |
Bookends | |
Conspiracy / int_5313c266 | comment |
Book-Ends: The opening and closing shots of the film parallel each other. It begins with a member of the villa's staff (the maid) turning the lights on inside the conference room in the morning, and ends with another one (the butler) turning them off in the evening after everyone has long left. | |
Conspiracy / int_5313c266 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_5313c266 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_5313c266 | |
Conspiracy / int_537dd8fe | type |
Affably Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_537dd8fe | comment |
Affably Evil: An extremely chilling example of this trope. A group of intelligent, cultivated, soft-spoken men having a secret conference in Germany in 1942 about what to do with the "storage problem" of the Jews in Europe. And it is based on the minutes of the actual meeting. | |
Conspiracy / int_537dd8fe | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_537dd8fe | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_537dd8fe | |
Conspiracy / int_53f5119f | type |
The Dragon | |
Conspiracy / int_53f5119f | comment |
The Dragon: Technically speaking, Heydrich is this to Big Bad Heinrich Himmler (who is, in turn, The Dragon to Greater-Scope Villain Adolf Hitler). For the purposes of the film, however, Heydrich is pretty much Big Bad on his own. | |
Conspiracy / int_53f5119f | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_53f5119f | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_53f5119f | |
Conspiracy / int_556a4e20 | type |
The Empire | |
Conspiracy / int_556a4e20 | comment |
The Empire: The protagonists are bureaucrats of a totalitarian, conquering empire which is presently invading the rest of Europe and engaging in genocide. | |
Conspiracy / int_556a4e20 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_556a4e20 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_556a4e20 | |
Conspiracy / int_55bf1a48 | type |
At Least I Admit It | |
Conspiracy / int_55bf1a48 | comment |
At Least I Admit It: Heydrich's final conversation with Kritzinger reveals that his disdain for the man isn't just because he's opposing him. It's also because he was perfectly fine with the persecution, abuse, impoverishment, enslavement, eventual sterilization and indefinite imprisonment of the Jews, but only now, when outright genocide is on the table, does he suddenly have a moral objection. Even Heydrich is visibly disgusted by this, since he has no issue with admitting what he is, what they're going to do, and why. | |
Conspiracy / int_55bf1a48 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_55bf1a48 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy / int_55bf1a48 | |
Conspiracy / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
Conspiracy / int_56515a39 | comment |
Artistic License – History: While the source material available to historians contains most of reservations voiced by the characters In-Universe, the arguments never reached the level shown in the film (there were no breaks during the session in Real Life, and according to Eichmann, Heydrich was actually pleasantly surprised by the lack of resistance on part of the others). However, the film takes the position that the historical record was doctored by Eichmann to create the illusion that everyone quickly and easily came to a consensus. In-universe, Eichmann is wrong when he says that Wannsee House was owned by a Jew - in fact, it had been owned by Friedrich Minoux, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who sold it to the Heydrich-controlled Nordhav Foundation in 1940 after being jailed for defrauding the Berlin Gasworks. The money to purchase it (ℛℳ145000000 in all) may have come from expropriated Jewish property, however. | |
Conspiracy / int_56515a39 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_56515a39 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_56515a39 | |
Conspiracy / int_572249f0 | type |
Straight Edge Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_572249f0 | comment |
Straight Edge Evil: Nazi official Eichmann is a very composed man who doesn't indulge in the foods or cigars prepared for the attendants at the villa and is reluctant to drink on duty until Heydrich orders him to. Heydrich himself is obviously irritated by the lecherousness of the other attendees when they talk about sterilization and does not touch the drink or the cigars until the conference is finished. | |
Conspiracy / int_572249f0 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_572249f0 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_572249f0 | |
Conspiracy / int_57c004fc | type |
Threat Backfire | |
Conspiracy / int_57c004fc | comment |
Threat Backfire: When Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart explains, almost ranting, why Operation Reinhard is a bad idea (because of all the German laws they are violating and the mess they would create), Dr. Gerhard Klopfer, having been directly insulted numerous times over the course of said explanation, leans across the table and says, very lowly: "I'll remember you." Stuckart responds "You should. I'm very well known." | |
Conspiracy / int_57c004fc | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_57c004fc | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_57c004fc | |
Conspiracy / int_5a963d1c | type |
False Reassurance | |
Conspiracy / int_5a963d1c | comment |
False Reassurance: Kritzinger believes that the 'Final Solution to the Jewish Question' that is being discussed will not involve their complete annihilation because "That possibility has been personally denied to me by the Fuehrer!" When it looks like the discussion is progressing in this fashion, he brings this up again in outrage — and Heydrich, the chairman of the meeting, simply replies "And it will continue to be." Kritzinger finally realises that Heydrich is not saying there will be no extermination, but that Hitler will instead continue to lie about it for plausible deniability. | |
Conspiracy / int_5a963d1c | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_5a963d1c | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_5a963d1c | |
Conspiracy / int_5b565147 | type |
Meaningful Background Event | |
Conspiracy / int_5b565147 | comment |
Meaningful Background Event: In the beginning of the film, when all the participants are arriving at the house before the meeting begins, several short scenes focus on different groups of people introducing themselves and engaging in small talk. In almost all of these scenes Eichmann can be seen in the background just behind the people talking. He does not participate in the conversations, but is simply there, observing everything and everyone. | |
Conspiracy / int_5b565147 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_5b565147 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_5b565147 | |
Conspiracy / int_5ca80293 | type |
Pragmatic Villainy | |
Conspiracy / int_5ca80293 | comment |
Pragmatic Villainy: Many objections are raised to the impending Holocaust, but other than Kritzinger's, none of them have anything to do with moral concerns. Stuckart, in particular, is passionate about the the consequences of ignoring established laws, giving virtually unlimited power to the SS, and creating a tidal wave of inheritance claims. Others point out that the loss of slave labor will exacerbate labor shortages, and that diverting soldiers, vehicles and trains from the Russian front will weaken the war effort. The closest anyone gets to pointing out the horrors of genocide are concerns that ordering soldiers to kill unarmed women and children en masse would cause 'morale problems' - and then the only solution proposed is to simply change the method of killing. Encapsulated perfectly by Doctor Meyer: | |
Conspiracy / int_5ca80293 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_5ca80293 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_5ca80293 | |
Conspiracy / int_5d6db368 | type |
Four Eyes, Zero Soul | |
Conspiracy / int_5d6db368 | comment |
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Dr. Alfred Meyer, the bespectacled Secretary of the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, urges the others to proceed with the genocide as quickly as possible to depopulate Eastern Europe. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Martin Luther looks like a refined gentleman with his suit and glasses, but in fact he's immensely arrogant, easily cowed and submissive, and wholly supportive of the field executions of unarmed civilians. | |
Conspiracy / int_5d6db368 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_5d6db368 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_5d6db368 | |
Conspiracy / int_613ecc2d | type |
Riding into the Sunset | |
Conspiracy / int_613ecc2d | comment |
Riding into the Sunset: The film ends with the maid (who is clueless about the whole affair) being picked up by her boyfriend (the radio operator, also in the dark) on his bicycle. They ride away and can be heard giggling. | |
Conspiracy / int_613ecc2d | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_613ecc2d | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_613ecc2d | |
Conspiracy / int_63c6a75c | type |
Evil Lawyer Joke | |
Conspiracy / int_63c6a75c | comment |
Evil Lawyer Joke: When the law keeps being brought up as an obstacle to the proposed policies, Dr. Gerhard Klopfer remarks that they will just change the law. After all, how many of the people here are lawyers? When the majority of members of the conference all raise their hands (Including himself) he laughs and remarks that it was even worse than he thought. | |
Conspiracy / int_63c6a75c | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_63c6a75c | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_63c6a75c | |
Conspiracy / int_6469d82f | type |
Euphemism Buster | |
Conspiracy / int_6469d82f | comment |
Euphemism Buster: Eventually, after yet another mention of "evacuation", Lange — the only person present who is currently active in combat — stands up and asks whether he "evacuated 30,000 Jews already by shooting them." Kritzinger, whose department has proceeded on assurances the Jews will be held in "liveable conditions", never lets Eichmann or Heydrich get away with cloaking brutality with ambiguity. On the other hand it's clear that the "liveable conditions" are in reality overcrowded Polish ghettos with a high risk of disease. Heydrich later calls Kritzinger on his hypocrisy for being willing to accept everything short of genocide. | |
Conspiracy / int_6469d82f | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_6469d82f | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy / int_6469d82f | |
Conspiracy / int_697b5232 | type |
Those Wacky Nazis | |
Conspiracy / int_697b5232 | comment |
Those Wacky Nazis: Averted in that like Schindler's List it's a realistic film, not a portrayal of any particular Nazi stereotypes. In fact, aside from the men who actually worked directly in the concentration camps, these are among the worst of the lot. Played with in that they're the protagonists of the story. | |
Conspiracy / int_697b5232 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_697b5232 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_697b5232 | |
Conspiracy / int_6b05b601 | type |
Jerkass Has a Point | |
Conspiracy / int_6b05b601 | comment |
Jerkass Has a Point: When Kritzinger finally has a one-on-one conversation with Heydrich, the latter points out how hypocritical his moral objections to the Final Solution are. He's accepted everything short of outright murder prior to this, including enslavement, marginalization, and imprisonment, so why should this be any different? Even Kritzinger can't manage a response to that. When Stuckart goes on a rant about how ignorant and misinformed the Nazi Party's antisemitism is, Klopfer not-so-subtly threatens to report Stuckart to a higher authority. Stuckart brushes him off, saying that the Party has no dominion over the government, but Heydrich takes him aside and very strongly implies that Klopfer wasn't just blowing hot-air, and that the Party is, in fact, dominant over the government in Hitler's esteem. Several of the conference members opposed to the Final Solution make the argument that reducing the population of available labor while fighting a war is a bad idea. Josef Buhler points out that, in the Eastern ghettos at least, none of the Jews are fit for labor anyway: all of them are old or diseased, and those that aren't have never worked a day of hard labor in their lives. | |
Conspiracy / int_6b05b601 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_6b05b601 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_6b05b601 | |
Conspiracy / int_6bd689ca | type |
Meaningful Echo | |
Conspiracy / int_6bd689ca | comment |
Meaningful Echo: Before the meeting begins, Dr. Kritzinger comments on how the SS always want more, even though they already have everything. When Heydrich later demands Kritzinger's support for his plans, Kritzinger explains that he will not oppose him, but Heydrich says that he needs more. Kritzinger's only response is "Of course." Luther arrives for the meeting with a "memorandum of recommendations" for Eichmann to give to Heydrich, which Eichmann politely brushes off. Later, Heydrich thanks him for the memo, but when Luther claims he "heard some of what I wrote in what you have already said," Heydrich bluntly replies, "I think not." | |
Conspiracy / int_6bd689ca | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_6bd689ca | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy / int_6bd689ca | |
Conspiracy / int_6eeba1cb | type |
Shut Up, Kirk! | |
Conspiracy / int_6eeba1cb | comment |
After getting fed up of Stuckart's very vocal advocation of mass sterilisation, Heydrich puts him back in his place: | |
Conspiracy / int_6eeba1cb | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_6eeba1cb | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_6eeba1cb | |
Conspiracy / int_729c69f3 | type |
Politically Incorrect Villain | |
Conspiracy / int_729c69f3 | comment |
Politically Incorrect Villain: Every character is a Nazi. Were you even remotely surprised that they're all foul racists? | |
Conspiracy / int_729c69f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_729c69f3 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy / int_729c69f3 | |
Conspiracy / int_74c69a97 | type |
Nazi Protagonist | |
Conspiracy / int_74c69a97 | comment |
Nazi Protagonist: Every single character is either working for the Nazi government or one of its subsidiary organizations. | |
Conspiracy / int_74c69a97 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_74c69a97 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_74c69a97 | |
Conspiracy / int_7831c048 | type |
So Much for Stealth | |
Conspiracy / int_7831c048 | comment |
So Much for Stealth: Stuckart argues that you just can't 'evacuate' millions of people without non-Jewish relatives clogging the courts for decades settling issues of inheritance or divorce. "What happens to your secret killings then?" | |
Conspiracy / int_7831c048 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_7831c048 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_7831c048 | |
Conspiracy / int_78c5ce7e | type |
Screw the Rules, I Make Them! | |
Conspiracy / int_78c5ce7e | comment |
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: This is the general attitude of the SS, who wish to throw out the carefully crafted categories of the Nuremberg laws in favor of their own determinations of who is and isn't Jewish and what to do about it. When Stuckhart, who wrote the law, complains, they suggest that he just make new ones. | |
Conspiracy / int_78c5ce7e | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_78c5ce7e | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_78c5ce7e | |
Conspiracy / int_7a143509 | type |
Shell-Shocked Veteran | |
Conspiracy / int_7a143509 | comment |
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Of a sort; of the participants at the conference, Lange is the only one who is currently directly involved in the extermination of the Jews and, while he's certainly pretty enthusiastic about the killings, is clearly a bit haunted by his experiences. This also leads him to hold a certain degree of contempt for the bureaucrats and euphemistic language he's surrounded by. | |
Conspiracy / int_7a143509 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_7a143509 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_7a143509 | |
Conspiracy / int_7d89315b | type |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech | |
Conspiracy / int_7d89315b | comment |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: There's a peculiar one in which Dr. Stuckart rants about how Klopfer and his colleagues in the Nazi Party are a bunch of simple-minded thugs who believe every word of Party propaganda about Jews being unintelligent vermin, and notes that "pigs don't know how to hate". In the course of doing this however, he establishes that he's just as anti-Semitic as Klopfer, just a more intellectual and articulate one. Another one in the Evil vs. Evil conflict is between Heydrich and Kritzinger. The latter consistently objects to the "Final Solution" which Heydrich is pushing because he is the only man among the Nazis who thinks that exterminating the Jews is wrong. Heydrich eventually deconstructs Kritzinger's attempt at Even Evil Has Standards, because he knowingly consented to sterilizing and enslaving them before. Heydrich is an evil mass murderer, but he acknowledges this, whereas Kritzinger deludes himself into thinking that making a moral stand at that point somehow negates the crimes he has already committed. | |
Conspiracy / int_7d89315b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_7d89315b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_7d89315b | |
Conspiracy / int_7febc23b | type |
Establishing Character Moment | |
Conspiracy / int_7febc23b | comment |
Establishing Character Moment: From the very moment that he swaggers into the mansion (cheerfully boasting that he plans to acquire it after the war), you know what Heydrich is: A classic sociopath, to whom mass murder means no more than buying a house. Also of note - Heydrich is unique in not responding to the "heil Hitler" greeting in kind, a hint at his lack of actual loyalty. Also, the very first scene of the movie is him flying into Wansee in his plane, capturing his narcissism and flair for the dramatic. It also says something that Eichmann, who has already been established as ruthless in his own right (see below) and has been simply a polite host to the other attendees, displays absolute deference to Heydrich from the moment he walks in. Eichmann has one when he forces the terrified waiter who broke the plates to pay for the damage, then asking the butler if they have enough. Meticulous and terrifying. Lange has one the second he steps out his car: "No silence in Latvia - no silence like this..." Stuckart and Kritzinger get one with their first conversation together. They believe in the supremacy of law and detest the SS for disregarding all of it to get more power by heading a genocide. Kritzinger has another when he refuses to partake in the rumor-mongering about the situation in Moscow, stating bluntly that the German forces are stalled for the winter. "N-Neumann, Office of the Four Year Plan, so good to see you..." Klopfer barging into the mansion like a pompous buffoon, demanding to see Eichmann so he can explain why his colleagues had to momentarily miss his presence, then guzzling sausages and belittling Neumann in very rude terms. Luther's first act on reaching the conference is to track down Eichmann (all but ignoring the other attendees, who are making small talk) and hand him a "memorandum of recommendations", with a second copy for Heydrich. Eichmann is visibly annoyed, but politely brushes him off. Double Subverted with Alfred Meyer. He is introduced laughing and joking with the others, which is the last time he so much as cracks a smile. His actual moment comes when the meeting actually starts, cutting off his subordinate's introduction to curtly introduce himself and having to be reminded by Stuckhart to actually give his name. | |
Conspiracy / int_7febc23b | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_7febc23b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_7febc23b | |
Conspiracy / int_82384b1 | type |
Never Hurt an Innocent | |
Conspiracy / int_82384b1 | comment |
Never Hurt an Innocent: Downplayed. It's pointed out that the massacres in the east are causing problems because the soldiers are upset at being ordered to shoot women and children, especially if the victims are German. | |
Conspiracy / int_82384b1 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_82384b1 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_82384b1 | |
Conspiracy / int_854601b3 | type |
Government Procedural | |
Conspiracy / int_854601b3 | comment |
Government Procedural: All the main characters are government officials, and the film revolves around their proceedings, which culminates in genocide. | |
Conspiracy / int_854601b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_854601b3 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_854601b3 | |
Conspiracy / int_8573ac0a | type |
The Social Darwinist | |
Conspiracy / int_8573ac0a | comment |
The Social Darwinist: When Heydrich finishes the conference, he echoes the Nazi views on evolution as he gloats that the genocide of the Jews will "advance the human race to greater purity in a space of time so short Charles Darwin will be astonished". | |
Conspiracy / int_8573ac0a | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_8573ac0a | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_8573ac0a | |
Conspiracy / int_86f4f393 | type |
Stating the Simple Solution | |
Conspiracy / int_86f4f393 | comment |
Stating the Simple Solution: After all the legal and manpower issues are raised, Stuckart says the easiest solution is to sterilize the entire Jewish population, letting them die out naturally. After getting fed up of Stuckart's very vocal advocation of mass sterilisation, Heydrich puts him back in his place: | |
Conspiracy / int_86f4f393 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_86f4f393 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_86f4f393 | |
Conspiracy / int_898ff050 | type |
Villain Protagonist | |
Conspiracy / int_898ff050 | comment |
Villain Protagonist: Every character in this film is a member of the Nazi party and a high-ranking official of a totalitarian regime engaging in wars of conquest and extermination, while their objective is to organize a continental genocide. | |
Conspiracy / int_898ff050 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_898ff050 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_898ff050 | |
Conspiracy / int_8a4ec732 | type |
Forced into Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_8a4ec732 | comment |
Forced into Evil: Stuckart and Kritzinger are threatened with "attention" from the SS if they do not play along, although they were both already in favour of the sterilization and persecution of the Jews before things progressed to extermination. | |
Conspiracy / int_8a4ec732 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_8a4ec732 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_8a4ec732 | |
Conspiracy / int_8cb01d0e | type |
Category Traitor | |
Conspiracy / int_8cb01d0e | comment |
Category Traitor: Some of the Nazi officials are concerned with the plight of German spouses of the German Jews they want to murder when those people's husbands and wives are taken away. Others counter that they feel they're "race traitors" anyway and should be treated as such. SS General Heinrich Mueller goes so far as to say that he'd happily throw them all on the same transport if it were up to him. In that same scene, Klopfer and Stuckart get into a verbal spat over euthanasia and sterilization, and Klopfer accuses Stuckart of sympathizing with Jews. Subverted, as Stuckart clarifies that he's simply a different type of anti-Semite than Klopfer, who sees Jews as subhumanoids, whereas Stuckart sees them as diabolical geniuses plotting to take over the world. | |
Conspiracy / int_8cb01d0e | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Conspiracy / int_8cb01d0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_8cb01d0e | |
Conspiracy / int_90e31482 | type |
Laser-Guided Karma | |
Conspiracy / int_90e31482 | comment |
Laser-Guided Karma: Heydrich is the most evil Nazi in the film and the biggest instigator of the genocide, and also the first to die after the conference. Within several months he is assassinated by Czech operatives sent by the British, before he even sees the culmination of his plan. After his death it was named Operation Reinhard in his honour. Catches up with Adolf Eichmann in the epilogue text. Abducted from Argentina by the Israeli Mossad and flown to face trial in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann became the only man ever executed by the state of Israel. | |
Conspiracy / int_90e31482 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_90e31482 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_90e31482 | |
Conspiracy / int_928ca2cc | type |
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness | |
Conspiracy / int_928ca2cc | comment |
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Eichmann expands on his obsession with Jews by telling a story about how he arranged with a Rabbi to teach him Hebrew, even paying the man out of his own pocket after his superior denied him the funds. The Rabbi was suddenly deported, and Eichmann notes that if the Rabbi had asked him he would have protected the man... until his lessons were complete. | |
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Conspiracy / int_928ca2cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_928ca2cc | |
Conspiracy / int_95b7c400 | type |
Faux Affably Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_95b7c400 | comment |
Faux Affably Evil: Heydrich knows how to switch on the charm and barely raises his voice throughout the movie. It quickly becomes clear that that's largely because he doesn't have to. | |
Conspiracy / int_95b7c400 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_95b7c400 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_95b7c400 | |
Conspiracy / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
Conspiracy / int_970c790a | comment |
Big Bad: Reinhard Heydrich. He's the most high-ranking and powerful Nazi in the film, and directs every step of the Holocaust and the conference. | |
Conspiracy / int_970c790a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_970c790a | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_970c790a | |
Conspiracy / int_99305f1f | type |
Round Table Shot | |
Conspiracy / int_99305f1f | comment |
Round Table Shot: Done twice: first when the participants introduce their names and ranks, second when the conference's chairman Reinhard Heydrich asks them all individually for their support for his "solution". | |
Conspiracy / int_99305f1f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_99305f1f | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_99305f1f | |
Conspiracy / int_997d5872 | type |
"Ass" in Ambassador | |
Conspiracy / int_997d5872 | comment |
Ass in Ambassador: Martin Luther is the Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, representing Joachim von Ribbentrop at the conference. He's almost as obnoxious as Klopfer, participates in a bunch of lurid jokes about forced sterilization and proudly declares that he would be willing to sign up for Major Lange's death squad if they needed someone to shoot women and children. | |
Conspiracy / int_997d5872 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_997d5872 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_997d5872 | |
Conspiracy / int_9b06e314 | type |
Greater-Scope Villain | |
Conspiracy / int_9b06e314 | comment |
Greater-Scope Villain: The unseen Adolf Hitler. It's abundantly clear the orders for Heydrich to organize the genocide ultimately come from him, and the Nazis are shown paying lip service to their dictator, but he remains a distant higher figure of the system - and it's explicitly stated that he'll never admit to having given the relevant orders in the first place. | |
Conspiracy / int_9b06e314 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_9b06e314 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_9b06e314 | |
Conspiracy / int_9c47b23b | type |
Dirty Communists | |
Conspiracy / int_9c47b23b | comment |
Dirty Communists: In-universe, the Nazis view all Jews as this and Germany's war with the U.S.S.R is mentioned in passing. Roland Freisler, however, argues that the Russian people themselves are not communist at all, but will simply accept whatever role is forced upon them provided they are given the basic needs of survival...in an extremely racist but manner unsurprisingly that is inadvertently complimentary to the Jews by comparison. | |
Conspiracy / int_9c47b23b | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_9c47b23b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_9c47b23b | |
Conspiracy / int_9f970427 | type |
Secret-Keeper | |
Conspiracy / int_9f970427 | comment |
Secret Keeper | |
Conspiracy / int_9f970427 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_9f970427 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_9f970427 | |
Conspiracy / int_a2cb509b | type |
Tested on Humans | |
Conspiracy / int_a2cb509b | comment |
Tested on Humans: The Zyklon-B gas they plan to use has already been used on the terminally ill, the hereditary disabled and some Jews. | |
Conspiracy / int_a2cb509b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_a2cb509b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a2cb509b | |
Conspiracy / int_a3cdf764 | type |
Drinking on Duty | |
Conspiracy / int_a3cdf764 | comment |
Drinking on Duty: Invoked. Heydrich offers Eichmann a drink at the end to congratulate themselves on organizing a genocide. Eichmann notes he is still on duty, so his superior simply orders him to indulge himself. | |
Conspiracy / int_a3cdf764 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a3cdf764 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a3cdf764 | |
Conspiracy / int_a70223 | type |
Karma Houdini | |
Conspiracy / int_a70223 | comment |
Karma Houdini: As explained in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, the British and American (OMGUS, Office of Military Government United States) occupation authorities ensured that most of the participants served prison terms of no more than six years, were acquitted at trial and went free, or were never brought to trial and charged with anything in the first place. This was partly to save money, but mostly to preserve the upper-echelons of the German civil service and military so that Germany would be as cooperative and effective an alliance partner (against the nascent Eastern Bloc) as possible. To this end they also blocked some extradition requests by the postwar communist governments of Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union et al. since they tended to execute their Génocidaires. Klopfer, in particular, is among the most repulsive characters in a film full of villains, but faced no punishment for his part in the Holocaust and lived longer than any of the others, dying of natural causes more than 40 years after the war. | |
Conspiracy / int_a70223 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a70223 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a70223 | |
Conspiracy / int_a7aef9ff | type |
Obfuscating Stupidity | |
Conspiracy / int_a7aef9ff | comment |
Obfuscating Stupidity: Variation. Neuman really is a twitchy, nervous guy without the assertiveness to be taken seriously by the other participants, it is not an act or ploy, but he also is intelligent in his own areas of expertise. When the discussions actually come around to matters under his control he speaks a lot more clearly and forcefully, even interrupting other people, than he does in other conversations. | |
Conspiracy / int_a7aef9ff | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a7aef9ff | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a7aef9ff | |
Conspiracy / int_a80ad52c | type |
Hanging Judge | |
Conspiracy / int_a80ad52c | comment |
Hanging Judge: Roland Freisler of Ministry of Justice. While technically not a judge at the time of the conference (a few months later he was appointed President of the People's Court - the highest judicial position in Nazi Germany), he is malicious, bloody-minded, and openly contemptuous of the concept of rule of law. In real life, he was at least as vile as he is played here - which makes his death by the collapse of the column of the court-building Poetic Justice in more ways than one. | |
Conspiracy / int_a80ad52c | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a80ad52c | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a80ad52c | |
Conspiracy / int_a8559a9f | type |
RealLife | |
Conspiracy / int_a8559a9f | comment |
Eichmann himself was the most notable example of this trope, being completely emotionally detached from his actions; in the film he actually comes off as one of the least inherently anti-Semitic characters who even paid some Jewish rabbi to learn some Yiddish and Hebrew words. It's no coincidence that the famous phrase the banality of evil was coined by Hanna Arendt in regards to him. Heydrich was arguably this as well in Real Life; in the film, however, he seems to actually believe in what he's doing. | |
Conspiracy / int_a8559a9f | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a8559a9f | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a8559a9f | |
Conspiracy / int_a8593e70 | type |
Real Time | |
Conspiracy / int_a8593e70 | comment |
Real Time: Like the German original, the events within the conference room strictly follow the minutes of the meeting that took place, which was over in less than 90 minutes. | |
Conspiracy / int_a8593e70 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_a8593e70 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a8593e70 | |
Conspiracy / int_a863ef67 | type |
Cultured Warrior | |
Conspiracy / int_a863ef67 | comment |
Lange overlaps this with the Cultured Warrior; the only one of the participants currently serving in frontline combat, his first words to Eichmann are to gush over the beauty of the house they're meeting in. | |
Conspiracy / int_a863ef67 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_a863ef67 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a863ef67 | |
Conspiracy / int_a969c74a | type |
Final Solution | |
Conspiracy / int_a969c74a | comment |
Final Solution: Follows the detailed formulation and dissemination of the plan for the Final Solution. | |
Conspiracy / int_a969c74a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_a969c74a | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_a969c74a | |
Conspiracy / int_acf33d00 | type |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain | |
Conspiracy / int_acf33d00 | comment |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: The only reason we have any idea what happened during the conference is because Martin Luther neglected to destroy his notes as instructed. | |
Conspiracy / int_acf33d00 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_acf33d00 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_acf33d00 | |
Conspiracy / int_acf8f71a | type |
Dispense with the Pleasantries | |
Conspiracy / int_acf8f71a | comment |
Dispense with the Pleasantries: Variation. When Heydrich walks into the villa to chair the Wannsee meeting, the other senior Nazis all perform a Hitler salute. Heydrich orders everyone to forego the greeting for the remainder of the discussions to cut down on time. This immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film: Heydrich's sole objective is to remove all red tape standing in the way of the Holocaust, not to discuss policy in any meaningful sense. | |
Conspiracy / int_acf8f71a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_acf8f71a | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_acf8f71a | |
Conspiracy / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
Conspiracy / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: One SS driver has such a reaction when he turns round after a snowball fight and sees Eichmann standing there. This only gets worse as Eichmann threatens him with the Russian Front. | |
Conspiracy / int_ad1db87c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_ad1db87c | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ad1db87c | |
Conspiracy / int_adfd3165 | type |
For the Evulz | |
Conspiracy / int_adfd3165 | comment |
For the Evulz: Lampshaded by Dr. Friesler, who questions whether the meeting was even necessary, if the crucial decsion had in fact already been made. Muller's explanation is that it's just Heydrich's style: he'd rather have the chance to persuade rather than just give orders. | |
Conspiracy / int_adfd3165 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_adfd3165 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_adfd3165 | |
Conspiracy / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
Conspiracy / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: Stuckart, who has been consistently ignored and undermined throughout the entire meeting, when asked on his final opinion/approval/collaboration, simply says, with a completely straight face, that his enthusiasm is boundless. | |
Conspiracy / int_ae3d6438 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_ae3d6438 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ae3d6438 | |
Conspiracy / int_aeb62a57 | type |
No Delays for the Wicked | |
Conspiracy / int_aeb62a57 | comment |
No Delays for the Wicked: Played out realistically, as invocation of this trope is in fact Heydrich's ultimate objective during the conference—to cut through all the bureaucratic objections and red tape to start his genocide as quickly as possible. He does this by invoking his authority to convince all the other officials to play along and blackmailing those who still refuse. Near the end he declares that the train system to the death camps will start moving in days instead of weeks, and later boasts that within a year the Nazis will have exterminated every Jew in Europe. While his estimate thankfully fell short of the mark, the trope was successfully invoked in Real Life: after Wannsee Conference the Third Reich was still plagued by bureacracy and Interservice Rivalry, but they rarely interfered with the proceeding of Final Solution. | |
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Conspiracy / int_aeb62a57 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_aeb62a57 | |
Conspiracy / int_aff674af | type |
Malevolent Mugshot | |
Conspiracy / int_aff674af | comment |
Malevolent Mugshot: The promotional material featured one of Eichmann and Heydrich◊. | |
Conspiracy / int_aff674af | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_aff674af | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_aff674af | |
Conspiracy / int_b3096202 | type |
Oedipus Complex | |
Conspiracy / int_b3096202 | comment |
Oedipus Complex: Kritzinger relates a story to Heydrich about an old friend of Kritzinger who hated his abusive father but loved his doting mother. To the friend's surprise his mother's death didn't affect him all that much, but his father's death made him cry uncontrollably. The tragedy was that the son's hatred for his father became more important to him than his mother's love, turning him into an empty shell after the man's death. | |
Conspiracy / int_b3096202 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_b3096202 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_b3096202 | |
Conspiracy / int_b42b7e7b | type |
Moral Myopia | |
Conspiracy / int_b42b7e7b | comment |
Moral Myopia: The Nazis have more qualms about killing German Jews than Polish or Russian ones. | |
Conspiracy / int_b42b7e7b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_b42b7e7b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_b42b7e7b | |
Conspiracy / int_b5b3599d | type |
Amoral Attorney | |
Conspiracy / int_b5b3599d | comment |
Amoral Attorney: Several characters are either lawyers or Justice Ministry officials. | |
Conspiracy / int_b5b3599d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_b5b3599d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_b5b3599d | |
Conspiracy / int_b77808f2 | type |
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue | |
Conspiracy / int_b77808f2 | comment |
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Heydrich and Eichmann get a brief narration at the end describing what happened to them during the remainder of the war. The entire cast each get a brief text exposition, with a picture of the real person, explaining their ultimate fate after the war. | |
Conspiracy / int_b77808f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_b77808f2 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_b77808f2 | |
Conspiracy / int_bb76c854 | type |
Classified Information | |
Conspiracy / int_bb76c854 | comment |
Classified Information: Eichmann takes thorough measures to ensure there's minimal evidence of the meeting, even removing the guest book and ensuring a list of damages for broken crockery is sent to him personally. Fortunately for history one copy of the minutes was not destroyed by the person it was sent tonote It was Martin Luther, in case you're wondering - he probably wasn't able to because he was arrested by Nazis themselves. | |
Conspiracy / int_bb76c854 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_bb76c854 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_bb76c854 | |
Conspiracy / int_bc00493f | type |
Precision F-Strike | |
Conspiracy / int_bc00493f | comment |
Precision F-Strike: Heydrich tells Eichmann to stop being so stiff and have a fucking drink. Leibbrandt, who is otherwise depicted as well spoken throughout the conference, tells Neumann, "Fuck the extrapolatons!" when the latter tries to explain the labor shortage that will result if no Jews are left alive for use as slaves. | |
Conspiracy / int_bc00493f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_bc00493f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_bc00493f | |
Conspiracy / int_bc502e4b | type |
You Are What You Hate | |
Conspiracy / int_bc502e4b | comment |
You Are What You Hate: The movie features the rumors that Heydrich himself was partly Jewish in a back-and-forth between Klopfer and Mueller; ultimately it neither confirms nor denies them. There were such rumors in Real Life, but there is no evidence to support them. | |
Conspiracy / int_bc502e4b | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_bc502e4b | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_bc502e4b | |
Conspiracy / int_bc74ef27 | type |
Berserk Button | |
Conspiracy / int_bc74ef27 | comment |
Berserk Button: Eichmann is incredibly angry when the SS drivers are found having a snowball fight outside, especially when one of them tries to excuse himself by saying "it just happened". Eichmann actually strikes the man across the face and insists that nothing ever "just happens" when they are in uniform, and threatens to have them sent to the Russian front. | |
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Conspiracy / int_bc74ef27 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy / int_bc74ef27 | |
Conspiracy / int_bce16d24 | type |
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? | |
Conspiracy / int_bce16d24 | comment |
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Luther asks this, only to by told by Lange that soldiers break down psychologically when they're asked to kill thousands of unarmed 'enemies', including women and children, many of whom were also German nationals. Luther is unimpressed, proclaiming that he would be ready to shoot Jews personally. But then Heydrich adds that it's a waste of time, manpower, and bullets. Then he turns the subject to gas. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_bce16d24 | |
Conspiracy / int_c0d598fe | type |
Evil Gloating | |
Conspiracy / int_c0d598fe | comment |
Evil Gloating: Schoengarth gives a contemptuous wink to Buehler and Meyer when they confront him about undermining them. | |
Conspiracy / int_c0d598fe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_c0d598fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_c0d598fe | |
Conspiracy / int_c1fffb62 | type |
Industrialized Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_c1fffb62 | comment |
Industrialized Evil: The planning and practical execution of industrialized evil is the central event of the film. Heydrich openly boasts about how they applied the assembly line concept to a genocide. | |
Conspiracy / int_c1fffb62 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_c1fffb62 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_c1fffb62 | |
Conspiracy / int_c213d569 | type |
Snowball Fight | |
Conspiracy / int_c213d569 | comment |
Snowball Fight: The younger SS soldiers who are guarding the Wannsee compound engage in a snowball fight near the end of the conference, before Eichmann angrily berates them for unprofessional conduct and threatens to send them all to the Russian front. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_c213d569 | |
Conspiracy / int_c7d86fbe | type |
Plausible Deniability | |
Conspiracy / int_c7d86fbe | comment |
Plausible Deniability Towards the beginning of the film the radio operator takes a call for General Heydrich, after which Heydrich instructs Eichmann to end all further calls. Kritzinger is particularly frustrated by the meeting since everything Heydrich says goes against the public instructions he has received. Eichmann removing the guest book and burning the one page used is a clear indication from the beginning that the conference is being kept as off the books as possible. He also frequently motions the stenographer to pause his recording when the conversation veers into anything that could be clearly construed in a courtroom as conspiracy to murder. | |
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Conspiracy / int_c7d86fbe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_c7d86fbe | |
Conspiracy / int_c9aea8c8 | type |
Armies Are Evil | |
Conspiracy / int_c9aea8c8 | comment |
Armies Are Evil: The paramilitary factions of Nazi Germany are a major presence at the conference. The conflict between the SS officers and the civilian officials is frequently expressed by the SS stressing absolute obedience to the 'chain of command'. Stuckart protests that they're not a nation of armies, but in fact he's quite wrong. General Heydrich voices his belief to Major Lange, who has been carrying out ad hoc massacres in the field, that the duty of a soldier is "to be willing to do the unthinkable". | |
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Conspiracy / int_c9aea8c8 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_c9aea8c8 | |
Conspiracy / int_cbe687ab | type |
Corrupt Corporate Executive | |
Conspiracy / int_cbe687ab | comment |
Corrupt Corporate Executive / Honest Corporate Executive: Kritzinger hovers uncomfortably above both tropes. While willing to exploit Jewish slave workers, keep them in squalid ghettos, and attend a conference supposedly to better exploit them, not to mention being more or less on board with their wholesale sterilization, is STILL the most moral and sympathetic man in the room given he alone has moral qualms about their wholesale extermination. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_cbe687ab | |
Conspiracy / int_ce70175b | type |
Sociopathic Soldier | |
Conspiracy / int_ce70175b | comment |
Sociopathic Soldier: Deconstructed. SS Major Lange is the closest you could get to this, as he's leading one of a number of huge death squads through the occupied Soviet Union shooting unarmed civilians en masse and encouraging racist locals to kill Jews in mobs. However, he and his men are becoming increasingly disturbed by the sheer level of inhumanity they're supposed to inhabit. Heydrich introduces the gas chambers to make the murders easier to carry out for the perpetrators. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ce70175b | |
Conspiracy / int_ce767e6f | type |
Co-Dragons | |
Conspiracy / int_ce767e6f | comment |
Co-Dragons: Mueller and Eichmann, to Heydrich. | |
Conspiracy / int_ce767e6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_ce767e6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ce767e6f | |
Conspiracy / int_d001c42c | type |
Anti-Villain | |
Conspiracy / int_d001c42c | comment |
Anti-Villain: Dr. Kritzinger is the only Nazi official present at the conference who feels that the wholesale extermination of the Jews is wrong. He feels legitimately betrayed when he figures out that he has been kept in the dark with false promises that they would be spared by the regime. Heydrich deconstructs this for Kritzinger by noting that he's only barely better than the rest of them because he never had any problems with terrorizing, enslaving and sterilizing the Jewish populations in Europe so long as they weren't immediately being killed. Stuckart is a downplayed example. He does object against the holocaust and brutality of his companions, but not on moral grounds (and indeed, he's an unapologetic anti-Semite), rather because the plan involves arbitrary violations of the Nuremburg Laws (co-written by himself), which cannot be accepted by any means, and suggests sterilization as a more "lawful" approach. He also thinks the approach of mass extermination will generate global outrage, whereas a legal method of sterilization will fly below the radar. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_d001c42c | |
Conspiracy / int_d3aad64a | type |
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate | |
Conspiracy / int_d3aad64a | comment |
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Several of the attendees have doctorates (in law, as was the custom for government lawyers at the time), and the effects of medical experiments involving euthanasia of mental patients are also mentioned. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_d3aad64a | |
Conspiracy / int_d54b9eb3 | type |
Inter-Service Rivalry | |
Conspiracy / int_d54b9eb3 | comment |
Interservice Rivalry: Much of the tension at the table is provided by the rivalry between the SS, the Party Chancellery, the Generalgouvernement, the Interior and Justice Ministries and the Office of the Four Year Plan. It's notable that in Real Life, Adolf Hitler specifically invoked this in a social darwinist method. Having all these factions fighting with each other left him to reign supreme above the rest of the system, and it would supposedly result in having the "strongest" prevailing over the others. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_d54b9eb3 | |
Conspiracy / int_d5dfb30a | type |
Professional Butt-Kisser | |
Conspiracy / int_d5dfb30a | comment |
Professional Butt-Kisser Martin Luther fits the mold perfectly, shamelessly kissing up to Eichmann and Heydrich. It's telling that he can't remember Neumann's name or job title, but can remember that he works under Reichmarshall Goering. Neumann is hell-bent on ingratiating himself to all of the other guests, particularly Dr. Stuckhart. | |
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Conspiracy / int_d5dfb30a | |
Conspiracy / int_d7ecbd57 | type |
You're Insane! | |
Conspiracy / int_d7ecbd57 | comment |
You're Insane!: Actually "We're insane", danced around but not said outright by some of the conspirators. | |
Conspiracy / int_d7ecbd57 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_d7ecbd57 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_d7ecbd57 | |
Conspiracy / int_dbed9cf7 | type |
I Was Never Here | |
Conspiracy / int_dbed9cf7 | comment |
I Was Never Here: "This meeting is not taking place." | |
Conspiracy / int_dbed9cf7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_dbed9cf7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_dbed9cf7 | |
Conspiracy / int_dc3e1299 | type |
Argentina Is Nazi-Land | |
Conspiracy / int_dc3e1299 | comment |
Argentina is Nazi-Land: Eichmann flees to Argentina after the war before he is captured by the Israeli Mossad and tried and executed for his crimes. | |
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1.0 | |
Conspiracy / int_dc3e1299 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_dc3e1299 | |
Conspiracy / int_de56f2bf | type |
Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide" | |
Conspiracy / int_de56f2bf | comment |
Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": The words "extermination" are almost never used, and are not written down as such by the secretary. Instead, everything is couched in euphemisms. Interestingly this was before the specific word "genocide" to denote such mass slaughters was coined. Coupled with the Translation Convention, Kritzinger and Lange struggle to come up with something that would encapsulate it as "war" is thoroughly insufficient and settle on "chaos". | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_de56f2bf | |
Conspiracy / int_e16217f8 | type |
Historical Villain Upgrade | |
Conspiracy / int_e16217f8 | comment |
Historical Villain Upgrade: Whilst the real Erich Klopfer was just as evil and unpleasant as the one portrayed in the film, he was neither a glutton nor lecherous. | |
Conspiracy / int_e16217f8 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_e16217f8 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_e16217f8 | |
Conspiracy / int_e563bf09 | type |
Insistent Terminology | |
Conspiracy / int_e563bf09 | comment |
Insistent Terminology: Heydrich insists on referring to the slaughter of Jews as "evacuation," even long after its been made clear that they're talking about a massacre. After a while, the conference members all start correcting each other when they use a different term. While Eichmann and Heydrich are describing their "modificaitons" to the Nuremberg Laws, Stuckart attempts to interrupt the at regular intervals to make sure they're using the terminology that's actually in the laws. Naturally, since they're intending to disregard the law entirely, they ignore him. | |
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Conspiracy / int_e563bf09 | |
Conspiracy / int_e5c64f3f | type |
Shame If Something Happened | |
Conspiracy / int_e5c64f3f | comment |
Shame If Something Happened: When talking to Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart, who opposed any sort of ad hoc policy that looked to make a mess of German law, Heydrich convinced him to stop opposing Operation Reinhard by off-handedly mentioning how he would hate for his subordinates to notice Stuckart's obstruction. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_e5c64f3f | |
Conspiracy / int_e5fd8bc2 | type |
Hate Sink | |
Conspiracy / int_e5fd8bc2 | comment |
There's a peculiar one in which Dr. Stuckart rants about how Klopfer and his colleagues in the Nazi Party are a bunch of simple-minded thugs who believe every word of Party propaganda about Jews being unintelligent vermin, and notes that "pigs don't know how to hate". In the course of doing this however, he establishes that he's just as anti-Semitic as Klopfer, just a more intellectual and articulate one. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_e5fd8bc2 | |
Conspiracy / int_e68b72 | type |
TheLoad | |
Conspiracy / int_e68b72 | comment |
The Load: When Luther broaches the subject of the inevitable response of their Italian allies to the Holocaust, the rest of the participants let out a collective groan. Heydrich quickly sums up the German Nazis' sentiment: | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_e68b72 | |
Conspiracy / int_e8ca5cb3 | type |
Freudian Slip | |
Conspiracy / int_e8ca5cb3 | comment |
Freudian Slip: Although Stuckart claims his position isn't based on "pride of authorship", he at one point refers to the Nuremberg Laws as "my" before correcting himself to "the". | |
Conspiracy / int_e8ca5cb3 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_e8ca5cb3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_e8ca5cb3 | |
Conspiracy / int_eb04f8d5 | type |
Fascist, but Inefficient | |
Conspiracy / int_eb04f8d5 | comment |
Fascist, but Inefficient: Stuckart argues that the system for determining who has enough 'Jewish blood' is unworkable. The timetable for genocide is also impractical, as history showed. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_eb04f8d5 | |
Conspiracy / int_eb8ec7c8 | type |
Jerkass | |
Conspiracy / int_eb8ec7c8 | comment |
Jerkass: One of the things that makes Dr. Klopfer a Hate Sink in addition to an evil Nazi is that he's obnoxious and rude even to his fellow Nazis. | |
Conspiracy / int_eb8ec7c8 | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_eb8ec7c8 | |
Conspiracy / int_f23ad6de | type |
Food Porn | |
Conspiracy / int_f23ad6de | comment |
The conference as a whole: a business luncheon - held at a palatial estate in a fancy Berlin suburb, catered with mouth-wateringly depicted food and drink - convened by some of the most evil men in history for the purpose of planning mass murder on a horrifically unprecedented scale. | |
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Conspiracy / int_f23ad6de | |
Conspiracy / int_f2877d9e | type |
IncrediblyLamePun | |
Conspiracy / int_f2877d9e | comment |
Eichmann removing the guest book and burning the one page used is a clear indication from the beginning that the conference is being kept as off the books as possible. He also frequently motions the stenographer to pause his recording when the conversation veers into anything that could be clearly construed in a courtroom as conspiracy to murder. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f2877d9e | |
Conspiracy / int_f3da74ff | type |
Creepy Crows | |
Conspiracy / int_f3da74ff | comment |
Creepy Crows: Are heard at the beginning of the film. Crows commonly symbolize death, so the connection to the planned genocide is quite obvious. | |
Conspiracy / int_f3da74ff | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_f3da74ff | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f3da74ff | |
Conspiracy / int_f4fe270 | type |
Villainous Glutton | |
Conspiracy / int_f4fe270 | comment |
Villainous Glutton: Dr. Klopfer is an obnoxious, obese Nazi who indulges himself with the food and other niceties prepared for the attendees in the villa. He's still mowing down leftovers when the other Nazis have already departed. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f4fe270 | |
Conspiracy / int_f52ae5d8 | type |
Enemy Civil War | |
Conspiracy / int_f52ae5d8 | comment |
Enemy Civil War: Discussed. Mueller at several points in the film interjects when other characters protest the way that the SS is dominating the situation, explaining that there must be a single guiding hand to form policy. If there are multiple objectives then the entire process can fall into shambles as they compete against one another; he likens it to an animal having two heads and a ship having two captains. He explicitly points out that having Martin Bormann and Herman Goering fight it out would be disastrous. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f52ae5d8 | |
Conspiracy / int_f6b30338 | type |
Murder Is the Best Solution | |
Conspiracy / int_f6b30338 | comment |
Murder Is the Best Solution: Since this is about the Wannsee Conference, where the "Operation Reinhard" phase of the Holocaust was authorised, the various German government agencies are noting with coldblooded earnestness why killing the Third Reich's "undesirables" truly is the best means of dealing with them. Only one of the men has any genuine moral problems with the mass murder — the rest are simply quibbling over the minutiae. Generalgouvernement's representatives point out epidemics and food shortage in the already overcrowded Polish ghettoes. While murder is not necessarily the best solution for them, they really do need to find some way of reducing the number of people if they want to avoid excessive budgetary strains and spreading infection to Germans. Invoked In-Universe when several delegates favour the sterilization plan. Eventually Heydrich loses patience and states bluntly that killing is the best method of wiping out the Jews and that's what they're going with; see Stating the Simple Solution below. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f6b30338 | |
Conspiracy / int_f740a274 | type |
Historical Beauty Update | |
Conspiracy / int_f740a274 | comment |
Historical Beauty Update: Varies from character to character. Some are a pretty good fit for their real life counterpart, but for instance the dashing Colin Firth plays the ugly-looking Wilhelm Stuckart. Inverted with Gerhard Klopfer, who was perfectly ordinary looking◊ in real life, but is played by an obese, unpleasant-looking actor◊. | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f740a274 | |
Conspiracy / int_f818b637 | type |
Dude, Where's My Respect? | |
Conspiracy / int_f818b637 | comment |
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Neumann works directly under Goering, Hitler's Number Two, and is in charge of economic policy for the whole country. In any sane government, he would be one of the most important people in the room. In the Wannsee Conference, he is mocked and generally ignored by everyone. Likely justified by the backdrop of the film: Goering is engaged in a power struggle with the Nazi Party and the SS, the latter two of which make up the majority of the conference. This also reflects a curious Truth in Television, in that much of the high-levels of Nazi government (including Hitler) weren't very interested in and in fact disdained economic management except as a means of fueling their military ambitions, to the point that immediately before the war Germany was in real danger of complete economic collapse. | |
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Conspiracy / int_f818b637 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_f818b637 | |
Conspiracy / int_f8e010ce | type |
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good | |
Conspiracy / int_f8e010ce | comment |
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Kritzinger is only "good" in relative terms, but in any case it's zigzagged with the story he tells about the man whose life was defined by hatred. When Heydrich retells it, Eichmann thinks for a moment before saying he doesn't understand, playing this trope straight, while Heydrich is able to explain the point Kritzinger was making, averting it (however, the original telling was offscreen, so we don't actually know whether Heydrich understood immediately or if Kritzinger had to explain it, and it would be well within Heydrich's character to tell it as if he understood the point from the start.) | |
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Conspiracy / int_f8e010ce | |
Conspiracy / int_fc151e9d | type |
Department of Redundancy Department | |
Conspiracy / int_fc151e9d | comment |
Department of Redundancy Department: Otto Hofmann introduced himself as being from the Race and Settlement Department, then explains that they deal with race and settlement. | |
Conspiracy / int_fc151e9d | featureApplicability |
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Conspiracy / int_fc151e9d | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_fc151e9d | |
Conspiracy / int_fcd9b657 | type |
Gallows Humor | |
Conspiracy / int_fcd9b657 | comment |
Gallows Humor: Klopfer bids Eichmann farewell with a "Shalom." | |
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Conspiracy / int_fcd9b657 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_fcd9b657 | |
Conspiracy / int_fe0330fb | type |
Brick Joke | |
Conspiracy / int_fe0330fb | comment |
Brick Joke: In the opening scene, of the background characters and staff preparing for the meeting, one waiter accidentally drops a tray of glassware and Eichmann instructs the head waiter to make sure that the dropper stays out his sight for the rest of the meeting. Towards the end of the film, Eichmann goes into the kitchen for a drink and medicine to calm his nerves and stomach after giving the details about gassing the Jews, and sternly remarks "I wasn't talking to you" when the dropper tries to offer him a glass of water. | |
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Conspiracy / int_fe0330fb | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_fe0330fb | |
Conspiracy / int_ff7f34c5 | type |
Pet the Dog | |
Conspiracy / int_ff7f34c5 | comment |
Pet the Dog: When Eichmann's description of the gas chambers makes Hoffman sick to his stomach, Major Lange steps in to comfort him and even offer the other guests the excuse of a bad cigar. It's hardly surprising that Lange, who had been assigned to slaughter civilians by the thousand, would sympathize with not having the stomach for that sort of thing. | |
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Conspiracy / int_ff7f34c5 | featureConfidence |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ff7f34c5 | |
Conspiracy / int_ffad4e9f | type |
Shown Their Work | |
Conspiracy / int_ffad4e9f | comment |
Shown Their Work: Very much so. The minutes of the actual conference, as well as Eichmann's Mossad interrogations, were used for the screenplay. Granted, much of the work had been done for them by the German predecessor, but the period details, especially the uniforms, are perfect, as is the small talk. Heydrich really was like that (and he really was late and really did turn up in a Fieseler Storch). | |
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Conspiracy | hasFeature |
Conspiracy / int_ffad4e9f | |
Conspiracy / int_ffb79066 | type |
Chromosome Casting | |
Conspiracy / int_ffb79066 | comment |
Chromosome Casting: Justified, as all Real Life conference participants were men (Nazi government considered politics a purely masculine field). The only female character in the film is a maid who briefly appears. | |
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Conspiracy |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
KennethBranagh | seeAlso |
Conspiracy |
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