Netflix's German drama Barbarians has had to walk a tightrope in avoiding appealing to Nazis and other far-right extremists

The New York Times

"For those unfamiliar with German history, the new Netflix show Barbarians might not seem especially provocative," explains The New York Times' Thomas Rogers. "The historical epic — reminiscent of the long-running History channel series Vikings — centers on a tribe of villagers in the first century A.D. trying to survive in a forested region of what is now northern Germany. Its rugged protagonists clash violently with rival tribes and, most of all, with the Roman forces who control the area. But the show’s six episodes build toward the first fictionalized depiction on German TV of an event that remains fraught even after two millenniums: the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, which put an end to the Roman Empire’s aspirations of controlling much of what is now Germany. German nationalists, including the Nazis, have used the battle as an ideological rallying point — a supposed foundational moment for German civilization and proof of their superior pedigree and fighting skills. To this day, the battle, and the tribes’ leader in the fight, Arminius, remain sources of inspiration for far-right extremists, who regularly make pilgrimages to related sites. The Netflix show arrives at a moment of increased German interest in the period, coinciding with a high-profile new exhibition of archaeological finds, 'The Germanic Tribes,' at the James Simon Gallery on Museum Island here. Both the Barbarians creators and the exhibition curators faced the dilemma of how to depict the period for a broad audience without giving oxygen to extremists."