The Nazi Officer's Wife 2003

Filmmaker Liz Garbus, known for The Farm: Angola, USA, expertly chronicles the remarkable journey of Edith Hahn in The Nazi Officer’s Wife. Through a compelling mix of archival newsreel footage, personal photographs, and candid interviews with Hahn, her daughter Angela, and several acquaintances, the documentary is narrated by Susan Sarandon and features the voice of Julia Ormond, who eloquently reads excerpts from Hahn’s autobiography.

The film takes us on a journey back to Hahn’s youth, revealing her experiences growing up in Vienna during the ominous rise of the Nazis. We witness her education, the profound loss of her father, and a college romance with a half-Jewish intellectual, all set against the backdrop of a perilous time. As the Nazi party gained power, Hahn’s sisters escaped to Palestine, believing them safe, while Hahn remained convinced she could weather the storm in Vienna.

The narrative swiftly escalates as we learn that Hahn, a diligent law student, was thrust into a slave labor camp. By the time she returned home, the grave news of her mother’s deportation to a concentration camp in Poland darkened her reality. With the inevitable threat of deportation looming over her, Hahn made the daring choice to remove the yellow star from her clothing and vanish into the shadows.

With help from unexpected allies, including two notable figures within the Nazi regime, she adopted a new identity as a young Aryan woman, bravely fleeing Vienna to Munich—the very heart of the Third Reich. There, she secured a job as a nurse’s aide for the Red Cross.

It is in Munich that she encountered a charming and articulate Nazi, Werner Vetter, who initiated a conversation during a visit to a museum. Against her instincts, a romance blossomed between them, ultimately leading to an improbable marriage and a child. The facade Hahn maintained throughout this time was intricate, carefully concealing her true identity from all except her husband. She suppressed her own vibrant personality, instead succumbing to the role of a submissive Aryan housewife in a world fraught with danger.

“It was a matter of life and death, and I had to become someone entirely different.”

This poignant documentary paints a vivid picture of resilience and survival amidst unimaginable adversity, telling a story that is both deeply personal and historically significant.