The Counterfeiters Film Analysis

I was always taken aback when I told people that I was in a class about the Holocaust and they would respond with something along the lines of “Oh! I love learning about the Holocaust!” or “ Do you enjoy it?” I constantly wondered how could one “love” learning about the Holocaust? How could one “enjoy” having a class about the Holocaust? I know that people probably do not love or enjoy the Holocaust but instead, they are just interested in it. I strongly believe this class, or any class about the Holocaust, provides a gaining of knowledge and provides critical thought that is critical for everyone to learn. The Holocaust is one of the most important and effective subjects for examining the spiritual, physical, psychological, and cultural degradation

This film is based off memoirs of Adolf Berger and focuses on the story of Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The Counterfeiters touches on themes of morality, politics and survival within Operation Bernhard. Sally was a known counterfeiter at the time who was arrested and eventually sent to a concentration camp where he was coerced into counter fitting money for the Nazi’s war effort. The film is ironic and makes one question why he was arrested, Sally was arrested for counter fitting and that is exactly what he is doing as he serves his time in Sachsenhausen. But thankfully, the familiarity of the money copying and the skills he used before he was in the camp are very important to his survival. Art reminds the Jews of being human and the close acquaintance with and knowledge of counter fitting helped Solly and the others survive, “only by surviving, we can defeat them.” With the will to survive, Solly and the others gained political power with their skills among the Nazi’s. The Nazi’s were dependant on these skilled men to help them prosper in the war. The need for these men kept the S.S. from killing them and the men gained advantages like weekly showers, civilian clothing, lighting, adequate food, sheets and pillows, and comfortable bunks to persuade good work. Solly used his power to his advantage, he knew the Nazis needed him so Sally and Berger stalled production for as long as he could to make sure Nazis would not have a much of an advantage as they wanted or planned. Even though Solly had an advantage over the Nazis it did not mean the abuse did not occur, they were still in a concentration camp and death happened all around. This film is a good example of how an amoral universe can occur within the Holocaust. Everyone wants to do what is right but the concentration camp system was built so that it was very difficult to do the right thing in such a