MHM Film Club: The Wave (Die Welle) (2008)

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum Film Club will be screening “The Wave” (Die Welle), Germany 2008, 107 min, German (English Subtitles).
Directed by Dennis Gansel

High school teacher, Rainer Wegner, may be popular with the students, but he’s also unorthodox. He’s forced to teach about autocracy for the school’s project week. He’s less than enthusiastic at first, but the response of the students is surprising to say the least. He forces the students to become more invested in the prospect of self-rule, and soon the class project has its own power and eerily starts to resemble Germany’s past.

Can Wegner and his class realize what is happening before the horrors start repeating themselves?

Guest Speakers:

Sue Hampel OAM

Sue Hampel served at Melbourne’s Mount Scopus Memorial College as an English and History teacher for over 30 years. She is currently working as International Programs Co-ordinator and as a senior tutor in Holocaust, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies at the  Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (ACJC), Monash University. She also serves as co-president of the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre.

In 2015, Sue was selected as an accredited expert with the IHRA Education Working Group to represent Australia at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) plenary meetings in Hungary and Romania.

Sue has been recognised for her community service and is a recipient of several awards, among them a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through the promotion of understanding and tolerance through education. She holds a Masters degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and has led numerous groups of students and adults to Poland and Rwanda.

Armin Schoepf is the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s new Austrian Intern.