'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

in German history and scenes of funerals, including documentary footage of Rosa
Luxemburg before she was murdered and the state funeral of Field Marshall Erwin
Rommel, who was compelled by Hitler to commit suicide in 1944. Past and present
converge in a striking manner, when, in an interview, Manfred Rommel, son of the Nazi
Field Marshall and mayor of Stuttgart, demands a dignified burial for the RAF terrorists.
In his 26-minute section of the collaborative film, Fassbinder also illustrates the
legacy of the past in the present. The director appears as himself, dramatizing his
personal reactions to the political situation of Autumn 1977 and giving the viewer what
Kaes calls a “psychogram of his anxieties and aggressions” (79). On the one hand,
Fassbinder accuses West Germany of not having learned anything from its fascist past,
citing the state‟s persecution of leftist individuals. On the other hand, he perpetuates
fascist patterns of behaviour in his own private sphere, treating his mother in an
authoritarian manner and physically attacking his lover, Armin, when the latter opposes
Fassbinder‟s opinion. As Gabriele Weinberger suggests, Fassbinder depicts himself as
“the epitome of the post-war generation that has come of age as the victimized turned
victimizer” (10). Moreover, Fassbinder depicts the interconnectedness of past and present
in a staged conversation with his mother about German traditions of state violence and
political resistance, specifically raising the question whether the West German
government is legitimized in breaking the law in the fight against terrorists. Fassbinder
tells his mother that precisely because she had lived through the Hitler regime, she should
have a deeper respect for democracy. Instead, his mother advocates a retreat from
democracy stating, “In such a situation you simply can‟t get by with democracy… The
best thing would be an authoritarian ruler, but one who is good, kind, and well-meaning”
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