"Remarkably expressive images and black and white photography intensify a story about guilt, repression and oblivion, making this film a true discovery."
— The Museum of Modern Art

"In this film the production team broke new ground with the formal aspect and the avant-garde direction of their work."
— Ralf Schenk, film Historian

"A radical film."
— Erika Richter, film journalist

"The film is a landmark for its frank portrayal of East German complicity in Nazi crimes, but also for canted shots used for psychological effects. Uncanny touches, such as lightly suggested incest, borrow from the vernacular of Hollywood's subversive Europeans: Sirk, Preminger, Wilder."
— The Boston Phoenix

“An idiosyncratic film…the cinematographic narrative mode engenders and immense and ultimately unsettling impact."
— Erika Richter, Film und Fernsehen