Synopsis

Brunhilde Pomsel describes herself as an "apolitical girl" and a "figure on the margins," but she got closer to one of the worst criminals in world history than anyone else left alive. Today aged 104, Pomsel served as Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels' stenographer. Brunhilde Pomsel's life mirrors all the major breaks and continuities of the 20th century. Many people think that the dangers of war and fascism have been overcome. Brunhilde Pomsel makes it clear that this is not case. "A German Life" makes the viewer automatically ask: How would I have acted? What principles might I have betrayed to advance my career? Her extraordinary biography and personal journey into the past lead to the disturbing but timeless question: How reliable is my own moral compass?

Brunhilde Pomsel describes herself as an "apolitical girl" and a "figure on the margins," but she got closer to one of the worst criminals in world history than anyone else left alive. Today aged 104, Pomsel served as Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels' stenographer. Brunhilde Pomsel's life mirrors all the major breaks and continuities of the 20th century. Many people think that the dangers of war and fascism have been overcome. Brunhilde Pomsel makes it clear that this is not case. "A German Life" makes the viewer automatically ask: How would I have acted? What principles might I have betrayed to advance my career? Her extraordinary biography and personal journey into the past lead to the disturbing but timeless question: How reliable is my own moral compass?