The first shots show Roma portraits done in somber charcoal by Otto Pankok, whose work was declared “degenerate” art as soon as Adolf Hitler’s regime took power. Using as a starting point the commonalities of Nazi victims, Peter Nestler, one of the most important figures of German documentary filmmaking from the second half of the 20th century, starts out to trace the history of anti-Gypsism in Germany. In this documentary made during Nestler’s Swedish exile with his wife and co-author Zsóka Nestler, survivor testimonies and expert interviews, which Nestler brought forth in the middle of the public debate on denazification in Germany, serve as an indictment of the recent past, as a springboard for exploring the long history of persecution, isolation, and dehumanization of Roma, as well as evidence of the continuity between the deeds of the past and the present plight of the Roma in Europe. A somber, necessary film that is unfortunately prophetic for what followed after 1970. (by Mona Nicoară)
