The Decent One

The Decent One (German: Der Anständige) is a 2014 German-Austrian-Israeli documentary directed by Vanessa Lapa about Heinrich Himmler. The film was based on a cache of letters and diary entries that were purchased by Lapa's parents and published in the German newspaper Die Welt. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received mixed reviews.

The documentary examines Heinrich Himmler's life through dramatic readings of diary entries, letters, and memos. Early in his life, Himmler records in his diary that he wishes to fight in World War I but regrets that he is too young to see action. Later, when he attends college, he expresses anti-Semitic views and complains that nobody likes him. In his 20s, he joins the Schutzstaffel. He eventually falls in love with Margarete "Marga" Himmler, and the two exchange letters to each other that are sequentially numbered. When World War II begins, Himmler writes to his wife and vaguely references his duties, and the two complain that they have little time to see each other. Later letters discuss Himmler's affair with Hedwig Potthast, his secretary. Internal Nazi memos reveal bits of Himmler's philosophy, including the title of the documentary itself, a reference to Himmler's belief that the SS is composed of "decent men". Himmler states that the moral qualms that the SS officers feel about their duties prove that they are more moral than the Jews, and they will be remembered for their decency.

US Army soldiers seized the documents used in the film from the Himmler household. Against orders, they failed to hand over the evidence to their superiors and divided it into two groups: early life and contemporary documents. The early life documents were eventually sold to the Hoover Institution, but the contemporary documents have no recorded trail until Chaim Rosenthal, an Israeli artist and diplomat, acquired them. Rosenthal announced in 1982 that he had purchased the letters from an adjutant to Karl Wolff, though he is rumored to have purchased them in America; the Times of Israel tracks his purchase potentially to an American flea market in the 1960s. Philip Oltermann wrote in The Guardian that the documents failed to generate much interest because of the faked Hitler Diaries. However, Himmel's documents were later authenticated by the German Federal Archives. In 2006, Lapa's parents purchased the later documents with the intention of having their daughter create a documentary based on them. Lapa said that her generation was the first one far removed enough from the Holocaust to be able to make the film.