For me, “Stalag 17” manages to create an entertaining film about a prison camp without trivializing the experience (as “Hogan’s Heroes” does). Billy Wilder (himself a refugee from Nazi Germany) in his typically cynical fashion shows that not all Nazis look or sound like Hollywood’s stereotype of them (I won’t give away the central twist of the plot).

Probably the most devastating depiction of the horrors of the Nazi regime is one of the simplest, Alain Resnais’ “Night and Fog.” It’s a powerful antidote for feelgoodism.