The unsaid

Documentary, Germany 2025, 97 min. (abridged version) directed by Patricia Hector and Lothar Herzog

The documentary The Unsaid (2025) brings together interviews with eleven people who were born between 1920 and 1936. Some of them had never talked about their experiences and experiences during the National Socialist era before or for a long time. Patricia Hector and Lothar Herzog are trying to find out exactly what the interviewees thought and felt back then and how they assess their involvement and involvement in the Nazi regime today. The statements of the eight men and three women are partly painfully honest, partly disturbing, but also touching, yet characterized equally by moral conflict, repressed feelings of guilt, trauma and grief. Almost all respondents were positive about National Socialism as young people — in contrast, the reports from the two Jewish survivors testify to the hostility and persecution they experienced. The cinematic version of the film, which lasts just under two and a half hours, can be seen in an abridged version for school workshops.

Patricia Hector completed acting training for stage and film in Berlin from 2009 to 2012 and has appeared in various plays and short film productions. As a director, she staged the puppet show “Nathan the Wise.” From 2015 to 2022, she studied psychology (minor in philosophy) in Potsdam and Innsbruck.

Lothar Herzog grew up in Paris. He studied cultural studies in Hildesheim, film studies in San Francisco and film direction at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. His first feature film 1986 was released at the cinema in Germany in 2021. The film The Unsaid, created jointly by Patricia Hector and Lothar Herzog, premiered at the Hof Film Festival in October 2025 and won the Granit Prize there.

Stephanie Bohra is a research assistant and head of the educational program of the Topography of Terror Foundation.