Transcreating Holocaust and Carceral Childhood on Screen: Ethnic Erasure in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) and My Best Friend Anne Frank (2021)
Payel Ghosh, Department of English, Coochbehar Panchanan Barma University, Panchanan Nagar, Cooch Behar, West Bengal
Abstract:
War synonymous with death, devastation, violence, and mortality has been a blot in the history of mankind. Literature reflects life and shares insights about human life. Holocaust literature focuses on sharing the dark experience of the German Nazis’ occupation during the Second World War. In this proposed study I would like to explore the conflict, trauma, and violence of the Holocaust through the eyes of child protagonists. Here, I am considering two screen texts- Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) and Ben Sombogaart’s My Best Friend Anne Frank (2021). The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas based on John Boyne’s novel of the same name talks about a nine-year-old German boy named Bruno with his Jewish friend, Shmuel, who lives inside the concentration camp during the Holocaust. The second film is based on the book Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by an American author, Alison Leslie Gold who wrote the book with the help of Hannah Goslar, who lives in Israel now. The Dutch historical drama film tells the story of the friendship between Hanneli Goslar and Anne Frank. Hanneli or Hannah is a Holocaustsurvivor and is best known for her friendship with Anne Frank, known for her The Diary of a Young Girl. Here both the filmmakers have attempted in many ways to unearth the trauma, and suffering of the millions of Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis from the point of view of children. This study aims to focus on children’s experience of the Holocaust and the major social issues included in the films: the ethnocentric Nazi’s beliefs about German superiority, slavery, child labour, class difference, and marginalization toward women. The results imply that children’s literature can also present social issues that may raise awareness about the cruelty of the Holocaust.
Keywords: Holocaust, Children’s literature, Nazisploitation, Ethnic cleansing, War,
Carceral memory.
Introduction
Children’s literature, a category of popular culture is mainly concerned with the children, the primary audience or the readers. Lesnik-Oberstein points out that in the case of this genre, the author’s target audience is children and it should delineate the life of children. Nodelman asserts that children’s literature attempts to narrate an incident in a naïve, simple way making it simple and appropriate for the age of the children. Children’s literature rarely discusses the events of history, world wars as these horrific events of human suffering are baffling and perplexing for the child psyche. But children’s literature often becomes the scathing critique of the social issues being described from the naïve point of view of the child protagonists. One of the most petrified misfortunes in human history is the Holocaust which summons the tragic fate of the Jews imprisoned and exterminated by the Nazis. The present study aims to talk about the two films- Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) and Ben Sombogaart’s My Best Friend Anne Frank (2021) that focus on children’s experience of the Holocaust. These films endeavour to visualize the Nazi occupation and cruelty during Holocaust from the standpoint of the child protagonists of the films. Here the child protagonists’ understanding of the grimmest history of humanity may highlight the German people’s ignorance of the cruelty and reality of the concentration camp. Both films have become influential for the portrayal of social issues like- the Nazi’s belief about German superiority, class difference, child labour, slavery, discrimination, marginalization, female suffering etc.
Plot summary of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and My Best Friend Anne Frank
The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas based on John Boyne’s novel of the same name which was published in 2006 as a children’s book. The film portrays a nine-year-old German boy Bruno who lives with his parents and an older sister Gretel during the Holocaust. His father is promoted as a Nazi Commandant, and the family moves to the countryside near the concentration camp. The other protagonist is a nine-year-old boy named Shmuel who lives inside the concentration camp. After a while, Bruno makes friendship with Shmuel, who sits on the ground on the other side of the adjoining wire fence. He is wearing a pair of blue striped pyjamas with a number tag and a Star of Davis on them. Shmuel is a Jewish boy separated from his parents after being transferred to a concentration camp. Bruno and Shmuel become friends and meet every few days. However, their friendship does not last for long leading to their tragic death inside a gas chamber.
The film My Friend Anne Frank (2021) is based on the book Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by an American author, Alison Leslie Gold who wrote the book with the help of Hannah Goslar, who lives in Israel now. The Dutch historical drama film tells the story of the friendship between Hanneli Goslar and Anne Frank. Hanneli or Hannah is a Holocaust survivor and is best known for her friendship with Anne Frank, known for her The Diary of a Young Girl. Filmmakers have attempted in many ways to unearth the trauma, suffering of the millions of Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Sombogaart’s new film, My Friend Anne Frank sheds new light on the legacy of Anne Frank and here, Sombogaart tells the story from the point of view of Anne’s friend Hanneli. Before making the film, Sombogaart meets Hannah Goslar who is living in her 90’s in Israel and it adds more piquancy to the words coming out of the actress’s mouth.
The film opens with two friends Hannah Goslar and Anne Frank in 1942, Amsterdam. The gravity of the situation is that they have to wear their yellow stars all the time, people are being beaten up in the street, some of their teachers are not coming to class, German soldiers sniff at them with disgust and claim that the city is stinking because of the Jews. Thereby, the film poignantly portrays the everyday life of Amsterdam under the claws of the Nazi government. Suddenly, the scene shifts to a dark place where there is the sound of indistinct whimpering, coughing, indistinct whispering. Very soon we come to know that the colourful, bright days are shown in flashback and now it is 1945 and Hannah is in the Bergen-Belsen exchange camp with her little sister Gabi while her father fighting his illness in the camp’s medical centre. The movie cycles through two different time periods- the first period focuses on Hannah and Anne living in their Jewish Quarter as the Netherlands is under Nazi control. The second part takes place in the concentration camp where Hannah and her little sister Gabi are all alone. Her mother dies in childbirth just before their evacuation, and her father also dies in the camp hospital. They are not sent to the worst part of the camp as they have papers and passports and Nazis consider that they can be used in exchange for prisoners of war.
Research Findings and Discussion
In the course of the Second World War, the Nazis conducted a genocide that took the lives of nearly six million Jews. The Nazis believed that the Germans were racially superior and Jews were the low race. The main goal of the Nazis was to wipe out the Jews from Germany. Though Jews were the primary victims of this segregation, the Nazis also persecuted political prisoners- communists, socialists, homosexuals. Holocaust victims were tortured and exploited in various ways. They were employed in various farms, factories and mining sites. During the time of the Third Reich, Nazi Germany formed more than 44,000 camps and incarceration sites. The Nazis opened many forced labour camps where the prisoners died of starvation and work pressure. Camps were built to imprison the opponent groups. The concentration camps refer to the camps where people are incarcerated under harsh conditions without any proper legal protocols. The first concentration camp was Dachau, established in March 1933 and it was the longest-running camp. In the many camps, the bodies of the victims were used for medical experiments by the Nazi doctors. Gas chambers were also installed in the camps. The Nazis killed millions of people in gas chambers. Memories of the Holocaust still continue to be profoundly disturbing and disruptive. Western Holocaust consciousness has become instrumental in Hollywood productions such as Schindler’s List (1993), The Pianist (2002), Defiance (2008) and many others. But the present two films under critical study venture to shed light on the terrific event of human history called the Holocaust through the mouth of the child protagonists and its impact on the lives of innocent children. They focus on the social issues during the period of the Holocaust which will be discussed in the following sections.
A. Class Discrimination
Both films are set during WWII when Germany occupied the Jewish countries based on their anti-Semitic ideology which declared Germans as the higher race and could control the lower races like Jews. The same view is uttered through the mouth of an innocent nine-year-old boy Bruno says- “Well, because Germany is the greatest of all countries” (Herman 00:17:11) and this is what he has overheard from the discussion of his father and grandfather. This is the belief system of the Germans about their ethnocentric superiority to other races in Europe. Bruno is a little boy; he does not have any understanding of the Nazisploitation and Holocaust. He states what he has heard from his elders. Moreover, the Germans and the Nazi children had been taught about the superiority of their race. So, the film highlights the issue of German ethnocentric belief and how this prejudiced belief system can manipulate children’s ideals and perceptions.
My Friend Anne Frank opens with Nazi occupied Amsterdam where the two friends Hannah and Anne are living in their Jewish Quarter as Netherlands is under Nazi control. Here, the Jews are randomly being beaten up by the Nazis. In front of the theatre, there is a signboard that says “voor Joden Verboden” (Jews are not allowed) (Sombogaart 00:17:08). The Jews are ordered to wear yellow stars all the time and it is an atmosphere of dread and apprehensions.
B. Slavery
After Bruno’s father’s promotion to a commanding Nazi officer, their family shifts to Poland and their house is very close to the Auschwitz concentration camp which innocent Bruno calls Out-With. So, Bruno is completely unaware of the anti-Semitic rule and the operations of the camp. Despite Shmuel’s simple description of what the Jews are told to do in the camp, Bruno cannot realize that the camp is a prison where the Jews are captured and exploited as slaves by the Nazis. Thousands of Jews are enslaved here and are forced to work without any payment and are forced to die because of overwork and extreme poverty.
Pavel, a former Jewish doctor, is now assigned to work in the kitchen of the commanding officer. Instead of practicing medicine, he now peels potatoes in the kitchen and he is not paid for his work. In a scene, we find that Lieutenant Kotler shouts at Pavel saying- “And afterwards, when you return to the kitchen, make sure you wash your hands before touching any of the food, you filthy beast” (Herman 01:30:25). Once he was a doctor, now he is considered as filthy which Bruno feels ashamed to hear. Pavel is getting smaller and unhealthy day by day because of the work he is forced to do for the Nazis. Pavel’s deteriorating health is indicative of the fact that Pavel does not get proper food in the camp and moreover, he receives physical and verbal abuse from the Nazis.
Hanneli and her little sister Gabi along with other Jewish women are living in a dingy, shabby and unhygienic camp where all are forced to work and in return, they are not paid. They are not given proper food or water; moreover, they are physically and verbally abused by the Nazi officers as we see one soldier shouts out- “stand up straight, you dirty Jews” (Sombogaart 00:08:10).
C. Child Labour
One of the mistreatments in the concentration camp during the Holocaust was child labour. Shmuel, the nine-year-old boy is assigned as a helper in the house of the commanding officer. That is how Bruno and Shmuel become friends but Bruno is unaware of Shmuel’s presence in his house as a child labour. Shmuel is assigned to wipe sixty-four glasses which will be used to celebrate Bruno’s father, Ralf’s birthday. Bruno and Shmuel are of the same age but Bruno notices that Shmuel looks unhealthy and skinny and his hands are worse than ‘dying twigs’ which suggests that Shmuel does not get proper food, health care in the camp. Bruno also remarks that he has never seen any boy who is as skinny as Shmuel before. Shmuel seems perpetually hungry and every time he meets Bruno, he asks for food. The same is the thing with Hanneli, Gabi and Anne who are shown in camp as filthy, skinny and hungry. Hannah’s little sister Gabi always tells her sister that she is very hungry and Hannah tries to console her by saying- “Wait a little bit we will go for shopping. Do you see that dairyman over here? He has fresh milk and eggs. Next to it is a bakery… fresh bread… do you smell it?” (Sombogaart 15:41-16:14). When Hannah finally finds Anne, she looks sick and hungry and she also tells Hannah to give her some food. So, these scenes clearly exhibit the miserable condition of the children in the camp during the Holocaust.
D. Suffering of the female inmates in My Friend Anne Frank
The camp is huddled with terrified Jewish women. Their suffering is very much visible from their dirty faces, tattered clothes, and feeble bodies. There is always indistinct chatter on the PA, alarm ringing, and dogs barking in the camp. In the next scene, we find that women are standing in a queue and their heads are being counted like- one: Irma Abraham, two: Gotte Abraham and so on (Sombogaart 00:07:28-00:08:10). During this counting, one soldier shouts out- “stand up straight, you dirty Jew” (Sombogaart 00:08:49). Suddenly, Hanneli listens to a whistle which her friend Anne used to make (Sombogaart 00:08:10) and she starts looking around the place from where the whistle sound is coming out. Again, in flashback the good old days are revived back when Hanneli and Anne promised to each other that they would remain together (Sombogaart 00:13:25). Through flashback, the film depicts a scene where the two friends are sitting under a tree in a gleeful mood and the place is full of greeneries, the mild breeze is blowing (Sombogaart 00:09:07). This scene is in contrast with the gloomy, dark, suffocating environment of the camp.
The film touches the audience with the pangs of the imprisoned female victims of the camp. Female inmates are beaten up, they are not given proper food and water. Every morning during attendance the German soldiers curse them with their foul mouths, sometimes they are dragged down, and sometimes they are shot to death. Hannah’s little sister Gabi always tells her elder sister that she is hungry. Hanneli tries to console innocent little Gabi saying that very soon they will go for shopping to buy fresh milk and eggs. Later Hannah goes to the hospital to meet her father in excuse of her fake illness and seeing apples (which are for the sick) in the hospital, Gabi tells her sister- “can I have a bite?” (Sombogaart 00:35:34). Hannah somehow manages to give Gabi a bite of an apple. The victims in the camps are starving of food day after day. Innocent little Gabi is unaware of the fact that her parents are dead, she has only her sister and Keniechel (her doll).
Ultimately, Hannah finds out Anne in the same camp separated by a wall made of hay and Hannah manages to speak to Anne and comes to know that Anne is with her elder sister Margot and they have not eaten anything in days. Hannah promises Anne to bring food for her by night. She collects the bread crumbs given by the women as an offering when Hannah’s father dies in the hospital. She packs it all in a box and throws it across the wall to Anne. She tears apart the hay from the wall to get a glimpse of her friend. Anne is now clean-shaven, wearing coarse clothes and starved of food and water for days. Hanneli also gives Anne the ring which she has as the only memento from her father. They are watching each other after three years and this rekindles their friendship and this is the last time, they see each other (Sombogaart 01:30:37-01:33:37).
A Tale of Enduring Friendship
Both films are manifestations of lovely friendship between little boys Bruno and Shmuel and the two teenage girls Hannah and Anne during WWII. Bruno is told by his father not to go near the fence and the people in ‘striped pyjamas are not ‘really people at all’. Though Bruno knows little about Shmuel’s captivity but he supersedes his father’s advice and makes friendship with the Jewish boy Shmuel. He is neither aware of the anti-Semitic ideology nor the suffering of the Jews in the camp. His innocent mind does not understand the difference of nationality, race, or religion and finds a bond of solidarity with a boy from a lower race. After entering the camp, with his head shaven, Bruno finds little difference between him and Shmuel and ultimately dies in the gas chamber despite being a son of a Nazi officer. They both influence each other lives and their friendship points out how similar the two boys are. So, the film attracts our attention to the fact that despite class, gender, and religious differences, we all are equal and deserve the same level of dignity and compassion.
The second film is also a heartbreaking story of two friends torn apart and reunited against all barriers and trials. During her stay in the camp, Hannah always looks around the place for her best friends she has lost. Ultimately, she finds her friend in the same camp separated by walls. Amidst dodging German soldiers, and search lights at night, Hannah takes risk to give food to her sick and starving friend Anne. The film ends with sombre music and from the subtitle, we come to know that after release Hannah becomes a nurse and she still travels the world every day with Anne. It also describes what happened to Anne from 1942 to 1945. To Hanneli, Anne always remains her best friend. The film delineates the events of that time period from the perspective of Hanneli but her story begins and ends with Anne. Hannah does not have particular meaning without Anne’s presence in her life.
Conclusion
To conclude, we may say that the films use the Holocaust as their setting and attempt to highlight the social issues of that time period. They focus on the lives of the child protagonists and the impact of war and the Holocaust on their lives. Though the films present the horrific events of the Holocaust through the eyes of naïve children, they are capable enough to highlight social issues like racism, class discrimination, slavery, child labour, marginalization, and discrimination towards women. These films can be used to educate children about the grimmest tragedy of human history. When such a terrific history is told through the point of view of nine-year-old boys and teenage girls, it may become a simplified portrayal of the tragic history. But the films are effective enough to reveal the bitter truth of history through the mouth of child protagonists in a simple and naïve way.
Bibliography
Lesnik-Oberstein, K. Essentials: What is children’s literature? What is childhood? In P.
Hunt (Ed.). Understanding Children's Literature. Routledge, 1998. pp. 15-29.
My Friend Anne Frank. Directed by Ben Sombogaart, Interstellar Tv, 2021.
Nodelman, P. The hidden adult: Defining children’s literature. The John Hopkins
University Press, 2008.
The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. Directed by Mark Herman, Miramax Films BBC, 2008.