'Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis' review: One of America's darkest secrets revealed

Still from Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (Image via Sportskeeda)
Still from Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis (Image via Sportskeeda)

Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis is an investigative animated documentary, running for 34 minutes, exposing a shockingly dark secret in America’s history. Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy direct the short documentary. It is produced by Benji and Jono Bergmann.

Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis has been nominated for a Critics Choice Documentary Award in the Best Short Documentary category. It was released in the US on September 24th, 2021, and made available on Netflix.


Premise of 'Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis'

Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis is the story of a few Jewish refugee soldiers in the US. They were deployed on a classified mission to extract intelligence from German scientists. The Jewish soldiers were tasked with guarding a top-secret interrogation center called Post Office Box 1142 near Washington DC, where the American government housed the scientists.

Most of these Jewish refugees had enlisted in the army with the expectation of going to war against the Nazis. However, this group of soldiers were sent on a unique assignment.

Select soldiers were deployed as morale officers at the Post Office Box 1142, where they were tasked with looking after a group of German scientists, including Wernher von Braun, who was brought over illegally from Germany to the United States during World War II. They were Hitler’s top-secret rocket scientists entrusted with developing the V2. The United States was trying to court these scientists to win the war.

Instead of going to war against the men they hated, these Jewish refugee-soldiers now had to provide company and look after the needs of the men who had been involved in an attempt to eradicate Jews systematically. The soldiers found themselves questioning their morals and values but had no choice but to follow orders. This mission remains an obscure footnote in the dense history of World War II.


What is interesting about the documentary

For over 50 years, Post Office Box 1142 remained classified. In 2006, the National Park Service interviewed the veterans involved in this top-secret mission, where they opened up to the world about their experience. Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis is inspired by that interview.

The short documentary features two veterans, Arno and Peter, talking about their experience in the mission in the backdrop of animated visuals. The animation is interluded with news clips and interviews for the audience to connect the voices to the living, breathing faces who were a part of the mission. This makes Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis an exciting watch. The veterans narrate the horror, pain, and emotional turmoil they underwent by protecting predators hunting them.


Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis is a short but emotionally draining watch. However, it’s not an easy subject matter to digest, hearing the story of people who were on the receiving end of the holocaust. However, this documentary is a must-watch for all. Catch Camp Confidential: America's Secret Nazis streaming on Netflix.


This article reflects the opinions of the writer.

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