Europa Europa
Encyclopedia
Europa Europa is a 1990
German language
film directed by Agnieszka Holland
. Its original German title is Hitlerjunge Salomon, i.e. "Hitler Youth
Salomon". It is based on the 1989 autobiography of Solomon Perel
, a German
Jewish
boy who escaped The Holocaust
by masquerading not just as a non-Jew, but as an elite "Aryan
" German. The film stars Marco Hofschneider
and Julie Delpy
; Perel appears briefly as himself. The film is an international co-production
between companies in Germany
, France
, and Poland
.
The film should not be confused with the 1991 Lars von Trier
film Europa, which was initially released as Zentropa in the United States to avoid such a confusion.
. On the eve of Solek's bar mitzvah
, Kristallnacht
occurs, and his sister is killed by Nazi goons. The Perel family (Solek, his parents, and his two brothers, David and Isaak) moves to Łódź, Poland, where they will be safe - for the moment. But less than a year later, World War II
begins when Germany invades Poland
. Isaak and Solek flee toward eastern Poland, which has been invaded by the Soviet Union
. (In an ironic scene, as Solek and other Jewish refugees cross a river in a small boat, a boat carrying Polish refugees fleeing the Soviets passes in the opposite direction.) The brothers are separated, and Solek is placed in a Soviet orphanage in Grodno with other Polish refugee children.
Solek lives in the orphanage for two years, where he joins the Komsomol
and receives Communist
indoctrination. But being a teenaged boy, he is really interested in Inna, the pretty young woman instructor. He even climbs outside the building to peep in her bedroom window. One scene features a Russia
n version of the German Communist song Dem Morgenrot Entgegen ("Towards The Dawn") before mail call, where Solek receives a letter from his parents who have been re-settled in a ghetto
.
Then, with the crash of a bomb, Germany invades the Soviet Union
. The orphanage is evacuated, but Solek is left behind, to be found by German soldiers. Solek gets rid of his identity papers, and tells the Germans he is "Josef Peters", a Volksdeutsche
(ethnic German) from Latvia
whose parents were arrested by the Soviets. The soldiers believe him. He speaks German and Russian, and becomes their interpreter. When the unit captures Yakov Dzhugashvili
, the son of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
, they declare "Jupp" to be their "good-luck charm", and adopt him as an auxiliary. He accompanies the unit for several weeks, and sees all the horrors of war, including murdered civilians, as the Germans seek to crush Soviet resistance.
Nonetheless, Solek is still in danger. He cannot let anyone see him bathing, because his circumcised penis
would expose "Jupp" as a Jew. Robert, one of the soldiers, is a homosexual
, and sneaks in on "Jupp" when he finally manages a private bath. Solek rejects Robert's sexual overture, but both of them have secrets the Nazis would kill them for, and they become friends.
Then a bizarre combat incident occurs. Robert is killed and Solek, left alone, tries to get to the Soviet lines. As he crosses a bridge, the unit charges across behind him, and the Soviet troops there surrender. "Jupp" is hailed as a hero.
The company commander decides that such a fine young German should be properly educated. He is childless himself, so he tells "Jupp" that he will adopt him and that "Jupp" will be sent to the
elite Hitler Jugend
Academy in Berlin
. (This is much to Solek's consternation, but of course he cannot refuse.)
He is escorted for much of the trip by Rosemarie, a middle-aged female Nazi official. Rosemarie thinks "Jupp" resembles Hitler
, and learns that he even has the same birthday. On the train, she seduces "Jupp", and as they have sex, cries out "Mein Führer!!"
At the school, "Peters" is introduced to the other boys as a heroic combat veteran. The problem of concealing his circumcision continues, and Solek uses string and rubber bands in various painful ways to simulate a foreskin. He evades a medical examination by pretending to have a violent toothache.
Girls from the Hitler Youth serve meals at the Academy. Leni, one of these girls, becomes infatuated with "Jupp", but he dares not take advantage - Leni is a fervent Nazi and even speaks of wanting to kill Jews. Leni strongly hints that she would happily bear "Jupp"'s child, but after a particularly venomous anti-Jewish remark he refuses any intimacy. She calls him a Schlappschwanz ("limp-dick"), and they break off.
A less serious threat is the visit to the Academy of a Nazi "expert" in racial pseudoscience
, who claims particular skill in detecting Jews. The Nazi selects "Jupp" as his subject for a demonstration, and carefully measures his head and face. He then calculates "Jupp"'s anthropometric indexes
, and pronounces him of "pure Aryan stock".
After several months without seeing Leni, Solek visits her mother, who has no love for the Nazis. She tells him Leni is pregnant and intends to "give the child to the Führer", in the Lebensborn
program. Solek realizes that the child's father is his best friend and classmate Gerd. When Leni's mother presses Josef on his identity, he breaks down and confesses that he is a Jew; she promises not to betray him. Leni never finds out.
Solek's pretense is nearly exposed when the Gestapo
investigates "Jupp"'s supposed parentage. He is summoned to Gestapo offices, but cannot show a Certificate of Racial Purity, which he claims is in Grodno. The Gestapo official says he will send for it, and then rants about how the war will be won by Hitler's Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons"). As Solek leaves, the building is destroyed by Allied bombs. Solek's relief is tempered by Gerd's death in the bombing.
As Soviet troops close in on Berlin, the Hitler Youth at the school are sent to the front. There Solek manages to surrender. His captors refuse to believe that he is a Jew. "If you're a Jew, why don't you look like this? Look!" demands a Soviet officer as he shows Solek photos of murdered Jews from the death camps they had liberated. They are about to have Solek shot by an elderly Communist political prisoner (wearing a red triangle on his camp uniform) when Solek's brother Isaak, just released from a concentration camp, identifies Solek and saves him. Before leaving the camp, Isaak tells Solek to never reveal his story to anyone, saying it would never be believed. He is released shortly thereafter and emigrates
to the British Mandate of Palestine, the future State of Israel, where he embraces his Jewish heritage. The films ends with the real Solomon Perel, as an old man, singing a song.
and was nominated for the Academy Award: Best Writing Adapted Screenplay
, but lost the award to The Silence of the Lambs. It had been expected to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
but Germany did not submit it.
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
film directed by Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland is a Polish film and TV director and screenwriter. Best recognized for her highly political contributions to Polish cinema, Holland is one of Poland's most prominent filmmakers.-Personal life:...
. Its original German title is Hitlerjunge Salomon, i.e. "Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
Salomon". It is based on the 1989 autobiography of Solomon Perel
Solomon Perel
Solomon Perel is an author and motivational speaker. He was born 21 April, 1925 in Peine, Lower Saxony, Germany to a German Jewish family. He escaped persecution by the Nazis by masquerading as an ethnic German...
, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
boy who escaped The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
by masquerading not just as a non-Jew, but as an elite "Aryan
Nazism and race
Nazism developed several theories concerning races. The Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy of human race; at the top was the master race, the "Aryan race", narrowly defined by the Nazis as being identical with the Nordic race, followed by lesser races.At the bottom of this...
" German. The film stars Marco Hofschneider
Marco Hofschneider
Marco Hofschneider is a German actor known for his biographical portrayal of Solomon Perel in the 1990 acclaimed World War II film Europa Europa...
and Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
; Perel appears briefly as himself. The film is an international co-production
International co-production
An international co-production is a production where two or more different production companies are working together, for example in a film production...
between companies in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
The film should not be confused with the 1991 Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
film Europa, which was initially released as Zentropa in the United States to avoid such a confusion.
Plot
Solek (a nickname for Solomon, also called "Solly") and his family live in Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. On the eve of Solek's bar mitzvah
B'nai Mitzvah
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are Jewish coming of age rituals. According to Jewish law, when Jewish boys reach 13, they become responsible for their actions and become a Bar Mitzvah . The age for girls is 12...
, Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
occurs, and his sister is killed by Nazi goons. The Perel family (Solek, his parents, and his two brothers, David and Isaak) moves to Łódź, Poland, where they will be safe - for the moment. But less than a year later, World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
begins when Germany invades Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
. Isaak and Solek flee toward eastern Poland, which has been invaded by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. (In an ironic scene, as Solek and other Jewish refugees cross a river in a small boat, a boat carrying Polish refugees fleeing the Soviets passes in the opposite direction.) The brothers are separated, and Solek is placed in a Soviet orphanage in Grodno with other Polish refugee children.
Solek lives in the orphanage for two years, where he joins the Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
and receives Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
indoctrination. But being a teenaged boy, he is really interested in Inna, the pretty young woman instructor. He even climbs outside the building to peep in her bedroom window. One scene features a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n version of the German Communist song Dem Morgenrot Entgegen ("Towards The Dawn") before mail call, where Solek receives a letter from his parents who have been re-settled in a ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
.
Then, with the crash of a bomb, Germany invades the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. The orphanage is evacuated, but Solek is left behind, to be found by German soldiers. Solek gets rid of his identity papers, and tells the Germans he is "Josef Peters", a Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
(ethnic German) from Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
whose parents were arrested by the Soviets. The soldiers believe him. He speaks German and Russian, and becomes their interpreter. When the unit captures Yakov Dzhugashvili
Yakov Dzhugashvili
Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili was one of Joseph Stalin's four children . Yakov was the son of Stalin's first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze...
, the son of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, they declare "Jupp" to be their "good-luck charm", and adopt him as an auxiliary. He accompanies the unit for several weeks, and sees all the horrors of war, including murdered civilians, as the Germans seek to crush Soviet resistance.
Nonetheless, Solek is still in danger. He cannot let anyone see him bathing, because his circumcised penis
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
would expose "Jupp" as a Jew. Robert, one of the soldiers, is a homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, and sneaks in on "Jupp" when he finally manages a private bath. Solek rejects Robert's sexual overture, but both of them have secrets the Nazis would kill them for, and they become friends.
Then a bizarre combat incident occurs. Robert is killed and Solek, left alone, tries to get to the Soviet lines. As he crosses a bridge, the unit charges across behind him, and the Soviet troops there surrender. "Jupp" is hailed as a hero.
The company commander decides that such a fine young German should be properly educated. He is childless himself, so he tells "Jupp" that he will adopt him and that "Jupp" will be sent to the
elite Hitler Jugend
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
Academy in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. (This is much to Solek's consternation, but of course he cannot refuse.)
He is escorted for much of the trip by Rosemarie, a middle-aged female Nazi official. Rosemarie thinks "Jupp" resembles Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and learns that he even has the same birthday. On the train, she seduces "Jupp", and as they have sex, cries out "Mein Führer!!"
At the school, "Peters" is introduced to the other boys as a heroic combat veteran. The problem of concealing his circumcision continues, and Solek uses string and rubber bands in various painful ways to simulate a foreskin. He evades a medical examination by pretending to have a violent toothache.
Girls from the Hitler Youth serve meals at the Academy. Leni, one of these girls, becomes infatuated with "Jupp", but he dares not take advantage - Leni is a fervent Nazi and even speaks of wanting to kill Jews. Leni strongly hints that she would happily bear "Jupp"'s child, but after a particularly venomous anti-Jewish remark he refuses any intimacy. She calls him a Schlappschwanz ("limp-dick"), and they break off.
A less serious threat is the visit to the Academy of a Nazi "expert" in racial pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
, who claims particular skill in detecting Jews. The Nazi selects "Jupp" as his subject for a demonstration, and carefully measures his head and face. He then calculates "Jupp"'s anthropometric indexes
Anthropometry
Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the human individual...
, and pronounces him of "pure Aryan stock".
After several months without seeing Leni, Solek visits her mother, who has no love for the Nazis. She tells him Leni is pregnant and intends to "give the child to the Führer", in the Lebensborn
Lebensborn
Lebensborn was a Nazi programme set up by SS leader Heinrich Himmler that provided maternity homes and financial assistance to the wives of SS members and to unmarried mothers, and also ran orphanages and relocation programmes for children.Initially set up in Germany in 1935, Lebensborn expanded...
program. Solek realizes that the child's father is his best friend and classmate Gerd. When Leni's mother presses Josef on his identity, he breaks down and confesses that he is a Jew; she promises not to betray him. Leni never finds out.
Solek's pretense is nearly exposed when the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
investigates "Jupp"'s supposed parentage. He is summoned to Gestapo offices, but cannot show a Certificate of Racial Purity, which he claims is in Grodno. The Gestapo official says he will send for it, and then rants about how the war will be won by Hitler's Wunderwaffen ("wonder weapons"). As Solek leaves, the building is destroyed by Allied bombs. Solek's relief is tempered by Gerd's death in the bombing.
As Soviet troops close in on Berlin, the Hitler Youth at the school are sent to the front. There Solek manages to surrender. His captors refuse to believe that he is a Jew. "If you're a Jew, why don't you look like this? Look!" demands a Soviet officer as he shows Solek photos of murdered Jews from the death camps they had liberated. They are about to have Solek shot by an elderly Communist political prisoner (wearing a red triangle on his camp uniform) when Solek's brother Isaak, just released from a concentration camp, identifies Solek and saves him. Before leaving the camp, Isaak tells Solek to never reveal his story to anyone, saying it would never be believed. He is released shortly thereafter and emigrates
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to the British Mandate of Palestine, the future State of Israel, where he embraces his Jewish heritage. The films ends with the real Solomon Perel, as an old man, singing a song.
Box office
The film was released on June 28, 1991 and grossed $31,433 in its opening weekend in two theaters. Its final grossing in the US was $5,575,738.Awards
The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language FilmGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
and was nominated for the Academy Award: Best Writing Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
, but lost the award to The Silence of the Lambs. It had been expected to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
but Germany did not submit it.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Marco Hofschneider Marco Hofschneider Marco Hofschneider is a German actor known for his biographical portrayal of Solomon Perel in the 1990 acclaimed World War II film Europa Europa... |
Young Solomon Perel |
| Julie Delpy Julie Delpy Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise... |
Leni |
| René Hofschneider | Isaak |
| Piotr Kozlowski | David |
| André Wilms | Soldier Robert Kellerman |
| Ashley Wanninger | Gerd |
| Halina Łabonarska | Leni's Mother |
| Klaus Abramowsky | Solomon's Dad |
| Michèle Gleizer | Solomon's Mother |
| Marta Sandrowicz | Bertha |
| Nathalie Schmidt | Basia |
| Delphine Forest | Inna |
| Martin Maria Blau | Ulmayer |
| Andrzej Mastalerz | Zenek |
| Solomon Perel Solomon Perel Solomon Perel is an author and motivational speaker. He was born 21 April, 1925 in Peine, Lower Saxony, Germany to a German Jewish family. He escaped persecution by the Nazis by masquerading as an ethnic German... |
Himself |