Michel Friedman

After the brutal massacre by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, the worst act of bloodshed against Jews since World War II, anti-Semitism has reached a new qualitative dimension worldwide, including in Germany: arson attacks on synagogues, Star of David markings on front doors, graffiti on Holocaust memorials, well-attended demonstrations with anti-Israel slogans and shouts of "get out of here" at German universities by supposedly left-wing extremists, whose blatant threatening gestures and threats of annihilation are more reminiscent of the views of their Nazi grandfathers. Where is the state taking consistent action against such hostilities and where is the loud protest from the middle of society? Is Jewish life still safe in Germany? The documentary film has followed four German Jews in their fight against hatred over the last three months since the massacre and lets them report on their experiences.

The symbol of the SS, Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, stands for terror and the murder of millions. The penniless graphic artist Walter Heck was given the job of designing the jagged, rune-like characters in 1929. The “sig” rune was rooted deep in the ideological cosmos of the Nazis and their supporters. They saw themselves as the descendants of the Teutons and declared the runes to be humanity’s original Germanic script. The symbol was meant to unite Heinrich Himmler’s “Black Order”. But did it escape their notice that it was originally of Semitic origin? In October 1945, the Allies passed a law banning the Nazi Party and all associated organizations, including the SS. The young Federal Republic even forbade all Nazi symbols. This documentary tells the gripping story of the SS symbol, from the Middle Ages to the present day.