2 or 3 Things I Know About Him is a documentary film in which German director Malte Ludin

Malte Ludin

Malte Ludin is a German filmmaker. He was born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1942.He studied political science at the Free University of Berlin....

 examines the impact of Nazism

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 in his family. Malte's father, Hanns Ludin

Hanns Ludin

Hanns Elard Ludin was a German diplomat.Born in Freiburg to Friedrich and Johanna Ludin, Ludin began his Nazi affiliation in 1930 by joining the party, and was arrested for his political activities the same year...

, was the Third Reich's ambassador to Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

. As such, he signed deportation

Deportation

Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...

 orders that sent thousands of Jews to Auschwitz. Hanns Ludin was executed for war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s in 1947.

Production

Malte Ludin did not undertake this film until after the death of his mother, Erla. The documentary does include clips of earlier interviews he conducted with Erla, however. Malte also interviews his sisters, who recall their father with some fondness.

Plot

Malte's sister Bärbel is shown defending her father and insisting that he could not have known the full truth about Auschwitz, that he tried to resist or subvert the Nazi's most inhumane policies, and that the victims of Auschwitz should be thought of as casualties of war. Malte also includes testimony from a member of the Jewish family in Slovakia whose house was expropriated by the Ludins in the early 1940s.

Release

2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß was first shown in 2005. In 2007, it was released as 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 by the National Center for Jewish Film

National Center for Jewish Film

The National Center for Jewish Film is a non-profit motion picture archive, distributor, and resource center. It houses the largest collection of Jewish-themed film and video outside of Israel...

. It opened at Film Forum

Film Forum

Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...

 on January 24, 2007, and was paired with Torte Bluma, an English-language short by Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross is a writer and film director based in the UK.. From a handful of films since the early 1990s, his most noted work is The Young Poisoner’s Handbook – based on a real-life poisoning case. Ross’ latest screenplay is for Napolean and Betsy - set to feature Harry Potter star Emma Watson...

.