Three generations removed from the Holocaust, Yaar is a young Jewish Berliner desperate to leave the past behind him. Along with his friend Marcel, they develop a computer game set in 1940s Germany featuring a young Jewish girl based on Yaar’s grandmother Rina, and an SS officer inspired by Marcel’s ancestor, in which Jews can defend themselves and Nazis can act humanely. Yaar’s father is shocked, and the work opens up old family wounds. Thus begins a painful confrontation with history that will forever change Yaar’s relationships with his father and his friend: the grandchildren of victims and perpetrators. As the game ceases to be a game, Tacheles – The Heart of the Matter explores with growing self-awareness how trauma of survivors is inherited, and asks the burning question from the perspective of a 21-year-old: what does the Holocaust have to do with me?
“Tacheles is a very important film. It shows how crimes and injustice can ruin the lives not merely of the survivors but also of the following generations decades after they took place.” – Wenzel Michalski, Germany director, Human Rights Watch
