Presented by the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival
in Association with Kat Kramer's Films that Change the World

Psychologists, historians and moralists have long debated how seemingly ordinarily people can do monstrous things. 

A recently discovered cache of hundreds of personal letters, diaries and photos belonging to the Nazi Gestapo chief, Heinrich Himmler seems to reveal a thoughtful, loving husband and devoted father to his daughter. The documents first found in the Himmler's family house in 1945 were hidden in Tel Aviv for decades and sold to the father of the Israeli documentary filmmaker, Vanessa Lapa. Through readings of Himmler's and his family's most personal writings and rarely seen restored film footage from key German archives, Lapa has fashioned a fascinating case study: a portrait of the man responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Second World War, who thought of himself in heroic terms.

Discussion with director Vanessa Lapa and Michael Berenbaum, renowned scholar, moderated by Katharine Kramer.

The LA Jewish Film Festival is a program of The Jewish Journal.