Europa Europa Relection: A Jewish Nazi

In the beginning of the film, Solly, who ran away naked from the Nazi attack, had no option but to wear the Nazi leather coat in order to return home. This theme is repeated throughout the film as Solly is forced to make decisions that are against himself and his family. As I was watching the film, a thought repeatedly came to mind: “what would I have done if I were in that situation?” Putting myself in Solly’s shoes, I realized that I would have made similar choice as he did in the movie. As a human, fear of death is something that is inevitable. When the Nazi soldiers asked him if he was a Jew, Solly heard the gunshots on the other side of the field. To admit that he was a Jew would have been the same thing as saying, “Yes, I don’t mind dying.” This film most affected me as I realized how terrible this situation was: a young Jew left to choose between death and the death of his identity. I could imagine the excessive mental stress and discomfort he and some other Jews would have gone through as they were forced to become an enemy of themselves and their beloved ones. 

Europa Europa exemplifies the violation of several human rights, but it deals mostly with article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights. Article 1 states a simple but crucial right—we are all born free and equal. The Nazi’s believed that Jews were different from birth and that there was no way to make them better. Leni, Solly’s girlfriend, exemplifies this discrimination in the movie, as she hopes to give birth to a “pure German bred baby” for the Furher. Another right that was overly violated in the movie was article 5 from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Solly sees bodies being stacked and thrown away as he rides back and forth the Ghettos. 

Overall, I enjoyed the film because it was a fresh approach at the Holocaust. Europa Europa did a good job capturing Holocaust from the eyes of two in one—Solly was a victim yet a perpetrator, a Jew yet a Nazi.