Edgar Feuchtwanger, a Holocaust survivor, had the unique and harrowing experience of living opposite Adolf Hitler for ten years. From 1929 to 1939, when he was between the ages of 6 and 16, Feuchtwanger lived in a bourgeois apartment building right across the avenue from Hitler’s residence in Munich. This meant that for a decade, the young boy and his family bore witness to the rise of Nazism from their own windows.
As a result of his experiences, Edgar Feuchtwanger has gained international attention as a featured interviewee in several documentaries. In particular, 2018’s award-winning BBC documentary ‘Hitler’s Whopping Lie: The Life of Edgar Feuchtwanger’ provides an insightful look into the life of this remarkable man – with never-before-seen footage – and reveals how he survived during one of history’s darkest times.
The documentary shows how Feuchtwanger’s family was affected by growing anti-Semitism before WWII began. When Hitler came to power in 1933, there were hundreds of laws enacted that made it more difficult for Jewish people like Edgar and his family to live peacefully in Germany. Even though they were living right across from Hitler himself, they still felt the full brunt of Nazi discrimination and oppression.
Despite all this hardship however, Edgar Feuchtwanger managed to persevere throughout his teenage years and eventually left Germany at age 16 after receiving an education abroad scholarship. Since then, he has gone on to become an accomplished academic who taught at universities throughout Europe and America until his retirement in 2010.
As one of only a handful of Holocaust survivors who lived so close to Hitler for so many years before World War II broke out, Edgar Feuchtwanger is an astonishing example courage – not just during wartime but also during peacetime when Jews faced extreme persecution every day. We highly encourage everyone to watch ‘Hitler’s Whopping Lie: The Life of Edgar Feuchtwanger’ and learn more about this remarkable man’s story – it will surely be educational as well as inspirational!
