History is messy. Usually, we like our stories about the Holocaust to be clear-cut—heroes on one side, monsters on the other. But then you watch Love It Was Not, and everything gets complicated. It’s a documentary that forces you to sit in the gray area of human survival.
Have you ever heard of Helena Citrónová?
She was a young Jewish woman from Slovakia, sent to Auschwitz in 1942. She should have died there. Most people did. Instead, she ended up in a relationship—if you can even call it that—with an SS officer named Franz Wunsch.
It’s an uncomfortable premise. Honestly, it’s gut-wrenching. Director Maya Sarfaty spent years piecing together this story through interviews, archival footage, and these strange, eerie photo montages called "Dream-like" sequences. It isn't a romance. It’s a survival story wrapped in a moral nightmare.
The Brutal Reality Behind the Screen
In Love It Was Not, we see the sheer absurdity of the situation. Wunsch wasn't a "good" guy. He was a violent SS guard who participated in the selection process at the ramps. He beat prisoners. He was part of the machinery of death.
Yet, he fell for Helena.
It started when she was told to sing for his birthday. She sang a song called "Love it was not" (hence the title). He was captivated. From that moment on, he protected her. He protected her sister, Roza. He gave them extra food. He moved them to the "Canada" warehouse, where prisoners sorted the belongings of those sent to the gas chambers.
Survival in Auschwitz often came down to pure, dumb luck or "protektsia"—having a protector. Helena had the most dangerous protector imaginable.
What the Witnesses Say
Sarfaty didn't just rely on Helena’s testimony. She tracked down other survivors who were in the warehouse with her. This is where the documentary gets its weight. These women, now in their 80s and 90s, speak with a bluntness that only comes from having seen the end of the world.
Some of them were jealous. Some were disgusted. Others were just glad she survived because it meant they might survive, too.
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"He loved her," one survivor says in the film. "But he was a murderer."
That’s the core tension. Can "love" exist in a place where one person has the power of life and death over the other? Most historians would argue no. They’d call it a trauma bond, or a survival tactic, or a form of extreme coercion. Love It Was Not doesn't try to give you a single answer. It just lets the witnesses talk.
The Trial and the Aftermath
The story doesn't end when the camps were liberated.
Fast forward to 1972. Vienna. Franz Wunsch is on trial for war crimes. Helena Citrónová, living in Israel, gets a letter. Wunsch’s wife—yes, he got married and had a life—asks Helena to testify on his behalf.
Think about that.
Helena actually went. She stood in that courtroom and told the truth: that he saved her life and her sister’s life. But she also had to face the victims he didn't save. It’s a scene that feels like it’s out of a movie, but it’s 100% real. The documentary uses the actual transcripts and audio from the trial.
Wunsch was eventually acquitted. The jury found that while he was involved in the atrocities, his "positive" actions toward certain prisoners created a legal loophole or "state of necessity" in their eyes. It’s a verdict that still feels like a slap in the face to many.
Why This Story Matters Now
We live in a world of "cancel culture" and black-and-white morality. Love It Was Not is an antidote to that oversimplification. It shows that even in the darkest pits of human history, people are inconsistent.
Franz Wunsch could save a Jewish woman and her sister while sending thousands of others to their deaths. Helena Citrónová could hate the uniform and the man, yet feel a debt of gratitude that lasted a lifetime.
It’s messy.
It’s human.
It’s horrific.
The film uses a unique visual style. Sarfaty uses "multi-layered" stills. She takes old photos and cuts them into layers to create a 3D effect. It feels like a pop-up book from hell. It reminds the viewer that these aren't just characters; they were flat images in history books that are being pulled back into the three-dimensional world.
Critical Reception and Global Impact
When the film premiered at IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), it won Best Israeli Film. Critics weren't just impressed by the story; they were floored by the lack of sentimentality.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both noted that the film avoids the "Hollywood-ization" of the Holocaust. There is no swelling orchestral music trying to make you cry. The tears come from the sheer weight of the contradictions.
Expert historians, like those at Yad Vashem, often point to this case when discussing the "Grey Zone"—a term coined by Primo Levi. The Grey Zone is that space where the line between victim and collaborator blurs because of the extreme pressure of the environment. Helena lived in the Grey Zone.
How to Watch and Process
If you’re going to watch Love It Was Not, don't expect a feel-good movie.
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- Watch the background. Pay attention to the women being interviewed in the present day. Their faces tell a story that words can't capture.
- Research the "Canada" Commando. Understanding what Helena’s job was—sorting the clothes of the dead—adds a layer of horror to the "gifts" Wunsch gave her.
- Look into the 1972 Vienna Trials. The legal fallout of the Holocaust is often overlooked compared to the war itself.
The documentary is currently available on various streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and Apple TV, depending on your region. It’s a vital piece of cinema for anyone interested in psychology, history, or the sheer resilience of the human spirit.
Actionable Insights for the History-Minded
If this story moves you, don't just stop at the credits. History requires active participation.
First, look into the work of Maya Sarfaty. She has a knack for finding these specific, narrow stories that illuminate massive historical events. Understanding the "micro-history" is often more impactful than reading a textbook about "macro-history."
Second, read Primo Levi’s "The Drowned and the Saved." He explains the "Grey Zone" better than anyone ever has. It will give you the vocabulary to understand why Helena’s choices were so complex.
Finally, visit or support digital archives. The interviews in Love It Was Not were only possible because organizations like the Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem preserved these voices for decades.
History isn't just about what happened. It’s about how we choose to remember the people it happened to. Helena Citrónová didn't ask to be a symbol of a moral dilemma. She just wanted to live.
Franz Wunsch wasn't a hero. He was a man who found a shred of humanity in a place designed to erase it, even while he helped erase it for everyone else.
That is the uncomfortable truth of Love It Was Not. It doesn't give you closure. It gives you questions. And maybe, in a world that thinks it has all the answers, that's exactly what we need.