On March 20th, 7PM, a documentary The Decent One (Der Anständig) directed by Vanessa Lapa, will have its Rijeka premiere. The film is composed of private diary entries, letters and photos by Heinrich Himmler and his family, his lover and friends, and of lesser-known or never publicly screened archive recordings. The film will be shown on the occasion of the 70th anniversary from the end of the WW II, in the program Kino Victory held by Croatian National Theatre Ivana pl. Zajca and the Association UKUS. The screening will be preceded by the choir of the Opera with a program of several anti-fascist songs, and the director Lapa will address the audience in a video message.

The documentary The Decent One, except for bringing us less known or unknown intimate details about the architect of the Holocaust, the commander of the SS and the Gestapo, and the Minister of Interior in Hitler’s government Heinrich Himmler, also contributes to a better understanding of the famous thesis of Hannah Arendt on the banality of evil.

Director Vanessa Lapa, Belgian with Israeli address, came into possession of hundreds of private Himmler letters, diaries and photos. It is the same material that American soldiers seized from Himmler family home in 1945, two weeks before Himmler commited suicide. Part of these materials disappeared, to be found 40 years later in Tel Aviv, under one bed.

When she came into possession of the material, the director started the extensive research work. Himmler’s niece Katrin was also among the researchers. Thorough research has resulted in a fascinating film that allows us a glimpse of the “Himmler’s intimacy”, and of his relationship with his wife, daughter, lover, and with the nation which he probably loved the most.