Europa, Europa

• Film Title: Europa, Europa
• Original Year of Production: 1990
• Studio: Central Cinema Company Film
• Director: Agnieszka Holland
• Cast: Marco Hofschneider, Julie Deply, Andre Wilms
• Producers: Artur Brauner, Janusz Morgensterm, Lew Rywin

The film Europa, Europa was based on the autobiography of Solomon Perel. Solomon was a German Jew who hid his heritage and became a member of the Nazi youth. The central argument of this film is one that the Nazi’s would not have taught in schools during their reign. The argument that prejudism is cruel and wrong. The fact that the Nazi’s taught and tried to ethnically cleanse an entire nation of a group of people was morally wrong and without merit. Although much of the film has many parts that find humor in rewriting Perel’s autobiography in order to present a more entertaining version to the audience, the film does provide a strong anti-prejudice argument.

The film tells the story of the Solly and his ducking, dodging, and eventual joining of the Nazi’s during WWII. This young, handsome, and courageous young man fools almost everybody into thinking he was an Aryan. In one scene, Solly is recognized as a hero after accidently leading hid German comrades to a battalion of Soviet soldier. Afterwards, Solly is recognized for his heroism and initiated into the Hitler Youth, a sect of the German Army that was supposed to symbolism the superior qualities of pure-breed Aryans. Not only did Solly fool his fellow German soldiers in one scene, he also fooled a professor into thinking he was of pure Aryan blood through a few obviously scientifically flawed tests. In the picture above, Solly is represented as having an “Aryan” Nazi body, in addition to a Jewish face. This is supposed to represent that although his body may seem like an Aryans to the Germans, his Jewish heritage and knowledge has to be hidden deep inside him-self as shown in the eyes without a face. The important turning points of the film were when he was discovered to be circumcised by a homosexual soldier named Robert, and when his he joined the Nazi Youth. These scenes had the possibility to transcend Solly into a criminal, but they sealed his future as a Jewish boy hiding within the ranks of the German Army. For only Jews were usually circumcised in Germany, and this caused Solly to hide a piece of his body from other men in wartime that you eat, sleep, fighting, and could potentially die with. It is in the scene that Robert lustfully reaches for Solly, from behind, while he is taking a bath. One could argue that the director, Agnieszka Holland, could be making a suggestion that even the “pure Aryans” were in fact in contradiction with their own prejudice beliefs of homosexuals within their own members.

Such a controversial movie was not very well received by audiences in Germany. The well criticized film was not accepted amongst the members of the German Export Film Union as worthy of being nominated for an Oscar. “Director Agnieszka Holland attributed that decision to a general German failure to “come to terms with the past”. (Donahue, 109)  One might consider that this would be a touchy subject that many German artists would have felt was not a part of their true identity and therefore would try to avoid whenever possible. However, there were some scenes that could Germans would find bothersome. The character of Robert playing an aggressive homosexual, while in one moment trying to unwillingly touch a minors genitals and then posturing up once discovering he was a Jewish and deciding to befriend Solly. In addition, the portrayal of the Germans, with the possible exception of Robert, as mostly loyal and onboard with the policies of the Nazi’s could be seen as false and wrong to many anti-Nazi Germans in 1990. For it was during this time that the Russians tore down the Berlin Wall a year later in 1991. Germany had felt the crippling defeat of WWI, II, and resulting Cold War.

Although the film seems to portray the times in an accurate way, there are seems examples that were clearly fabricated by the director. According to an article written by William Collins Donahue, when “Perel turns himself over to the Russians, is about to be executed as a Nazi perpetrator, and is saved at the last moment by his brother David, who recognizes him in the nick of time” never occurred and is therefore false. (Donahue, 111)  This leads to an important question presented by Rosenstone, “Can we really represent the past, factually, or fictionally, as it was, or do we always present only some version of the way it possibly was or may have been? “ (Rosenstone, 135) This is such an issue that historians wrestle with when analyzing movie that base some claims on history.