Generation War / Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter
Factors to keep in mind: PTSD
Dominant Introverted Intuition (Ni): Friedhelm has clever solutions to impossible problems that didn’t occur to anybody else. He looks at the war from an incredibly big-picture view, against it from the start and disillusioned with it by the end. He’s the ultimate idealist-cynic. Friedhelm is future-oriented, and accurately predicts the long-term outcomes of current events: “The war will bring out the worst in us.” From the beginning, he is confident that Germany’s war will fail. Friedhelm is a sharp-witted, deep thinker who understands the mind of his enemy. He likewise has an intuitive understanding of his brother’s exact thought-process as to why he won’t tell Charly how he feels and easily understands.
Auxiliary Extraverted Thinking (Te): Most of the time, Friedhelm doesn’t let his emotions affect him, but acts based on firm principles (that is, until his Ni big-picture view realises that there is no way out of the system). By the end of the war, he has become emotionally detached from everyone and everything. Friedhelm is a clear communicator when he wants to be, but otherwise talks above other people, using riddles and arcane logic. He also speaks Russian better than anyone else in his platoon (and I would infer from his taste in poetry that he probably also speaks French). He asserts his opinions bluntly and often makes fun of the short-sightedness of other people’s attempts to predict war outcomes.
Tertiary Introverted Feeling (Fi): Friedhelm is is called a coward for his refusal to kill or hurt others, but he is simply rooted in deep principles. He cares less about other people’s morality than his own. His emotions tend to be rather deadened and become more so as the war progresses. For the first half of the war, he is defiant of expectations and orders and is firm in his opinions. He tends to reject opportunities to make new friends and doesn’t allow anyone to get close to him. Over time, he gradually loses most of his ideas about morality. He learns to follow orders without question, merely becoming disillusioned with the morality, rather than stubbornly refusing to give in to it.
Inferior Extraverted Sensing (Se): Friedhelm is able to improvise when the situation calls for it (for instance, taking over his brother’s leadership position briefly after witnessing his supposed death) and he often uses his surrounding as an aid. When people remark to him asking him how he became so hardened, he’s aware that he’s changed, but doesn’t particularly view the change as a progression. Rather, he views himself merely as what he presently is. Seeing a corpse in the woods, his first thought is to steal the man’s gear to keep warm (meanwhile Wilhelm cuts down a Christmas tree).
The Book Addict's Guide to MBTI: 
Could someone tell me what are the Authors Friedhelm likes? This is mentioned when his brother introduces him. I know one is Arthur Rimbaud, but I couldn’t get what it’s the other one. Thanks in advance
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Was Rilke one of them? I don’t recall
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I think he is an INTP, not an INTJ, for the simple reason that I would have acted like him, and I am an INTP. In the first few episodes, he shows very like INTP behavior. Rebellious, and challenging to authority. “He looks at the war from an incredibly big-picture view, against it from the start and disillusioned with it by the end. ” That is a very shallow analysis of a person. Even my ISTJ friends think the same about the war. In fact, anyone who does not see this about war is just an idiot, and you do not Ni to see that. I see more Fe in him than Fi. Recall the scenes when tells his brother and the nurse to stay and part, etc. He also has a resemblance to Rustin Kohl from true detective in his views, who is also an INTP.
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Out of curiosity, what do you make of all the negative reviews of the series? I got around to watching it and thought it was impressive, but nearly all the U.S. reviewers complained about it–mostly because they didn’t think it was true to history. I thought it was at least plausible (in any case, a director can’t make a movie by averaging out the experiences of every single young German). And I appreciated the lesser-known aspects of the war that the film brought out, such as the anti-Semitism of some resistance groups in Poland. I’m not a WWII expert, but the film critics probably aren’t, either. Some of the reviews were so harsh as to be almost funny–one reviewer concluded that the film shows an artist, an intellectual, and a Jew being punished while the two most Aryan-looking cast members get cleanly away. That certainly wasn’t what I got from the series.
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As a UK resident, I’d have to say that most American films are not greatly accurate representations of history (much less so, I think, than most of the German films I’ve seen).
The things that I took away from the series were completely different than what most of the reviews said (mind you, I’m probably more familiar with European history/culture than most U.S. reviewers), so I didn’t really take them seriously.
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Ha, I’d have to agree about the historical inaccuracies of American movies. My medieval history prof in college said that Braveheart is a great movie, but the historical errors make her want to slide off the couch and chew on the carpet. :p
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Most historically accurate film ever: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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I finally watched the mini-series, it has its issues but the point of view is interesting.
I think you made very good analyses of Friedhelm I agree with most of it except I don’t think he had PTSD it might seems like it but the effect which is seen on him, is him ignoring his Fi from effecting him once he knows he can’t live by his moral compass any more and he only let it out few times:
* When he thought Wilhelm is killed that charge was Fi maybe even Fe taking over.
* In the telegraph post when he went for the dog-tags he said “I’m sorry” and meant it.
* When he saved Viktor and killed the SS Officer.
His suicide at the end was also Fi controlled, he knew he had a chance but he also recognised that he disappointed himself by not being able to uphold his moral code, he felt responsible for the part he played, the kamikaze charge was his last chance of redeeming himself in his own eyes.
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Not all people experience PTSD the same way. While ignoring your Fi is a lot less stereotypically PTSD, it does apply to the oft ignored emotional detachment symptom of the disorder. It happens to be one of the symptoms that I have, so I recognise it immediately when I see it in others.
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