Europa Europa Blog

The movie Europa Europa explores some of the darkest moments in World War II.  The movie follows the main character, Solly, a German Jew and his journey to escape the Nazis.  The great irony of the movie is that in trying to escape persecution he is enrolled in an elite Hitler youth school.  By enrolling in the school, Solly see firsthand how from youth German children are brain washed to hate Jews, homosexuals, and other undesirables.  He sees how the Nazis attempt to rationalize all human rights violations they commit, such forcing people to give up their livelihood and them finally murdering those that do not happen to conform to the Nazi ideas of racial purity.

            When the movie begins the Nazis have begun a campaign to target and humiliate Jews.  Solly’s family store has its windows broken by brown shirts and other Nazi thugs, during the chaos Solly’s sister is killed.  After this, Solly’s father decides to move to Poland hoping his family will be safe.  When Hitler invades Poland, Solly and his brother Isaak flee, but Solly’s eldest brother and his parents are forced into the ghetto of Lodz.  Years later Solly visits the ghetto while on vacation from the Hitler youth school.   While in the ghetto Solly sees either starving or already dead.  Solly knows that all these people have been forced from their homes simple because they were Jews.

            Near the end of the film Solly is captured by Soviet forces and they believe to be a Nazi.  He was captured near a concentration camp and Jewish prisoners can be seen nearby.  Solly is shocked by the fact that the Jews were starved and worked to death in the camps, because throughout the movie he was told that the Jews would simply be sent to Madagascar or some other far away location.  Solly’s shock at what the  Nazis have done is mirrored by the entire world who were so incredibly shocked that and nation could commit genocide on an industrialized scale.  Solly is also incredibly shocked at the fact that he lived it luxury compared to the other Jews in Germany and has all but given up on life until his brother sees him and convinces the Soviets not to kill Solly.