Human Failure

The many cruelties perpetrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust included something often overlooked in light of more extreme, camp-related horrors: the systematized theft of personal belongings from the Jews, which Hitler's minions couched in the term "state reappropriation." Adding insult to injury was the fact that these vile actions benefitted not simply the Gestapo but the entire population of Germany, via collection by clever tax officials. In this disturbing documentary, director Michael Verhoeven concurrently undertakes a systematized search for German legal documents proving the expropriations, and offers a series of first-hand accounts from survivors, who reflect on the subsequent competition that materialized between beaucrats and tax offices, over how to most effectively organize the stolen assets.