Himself
The documentary is issueing the life of people being victims of the childrens "medical" department "Am Spiegelgrund". Victims and relatives of victims tell their problems handling memories that determines their life up the present days. The documentary is concentrated on the path of four persons to enable the viewers to get an impression of their memories. The victims stories are surrounded by statements of experts about the historical and medical background, among others: Elisabeth Brainin, doctor of psychiatrics, Wolfgang Neugebauer, chairman of the documentary archives of Austrian resistance, and Werner Vogt, medical doctor, who was engaged in a defamation court battle with Heinrich Gross (and aquitted in 1981). Dr Gross' trial started on March, 21 in Vienna. After one hour the judge adjourned the proceedings for an indefinite time, ruling that Dr. Gross was not mental fit enough to follow the trial.
Mann
This film is a fascinating showcase for Emil Janning's theatrical play. He's a gentle school teacher who believes in his boys and is easily fooled about all things, while the other town officials want him dismissed. Curiously it's very hard to see what the film is exactly aiming for. Disaster strikes and the lax prof proves to be too far removed of the real problems of the world, on the other hand his enemies are shown in the most unsympathetic, satirical way denouncing the militaristic, bourgeois ideology of the Kaiserreich.
