Overused Tropes in Holocaust and Civil Rights Films

Last semester my documentary production professor told my classmates and I to avoid making films that were too much like Holocaust or civil rights films. This really struck me as an almost cold statement, however this semester in both this class and the film and Holocaust class that I took I began to understand what he meant. After reading much of Aaron Kerner’s book I saw even more, it wasn’t a statement on the subject matter but the filmic techniques that have been overused in the genres. The most burnt out are the tropes within each film; like the crafty jew trope, the jew as a victim, or as a hero, and the usage of naziploitation. These are all found in films revolving around the Holocaust and the film Europa Europa (Agnieska Holland, 1990)

The viewer often sees Solomon or “Jupp” in the position of the victim, almost held hostage by his jewish heritage. The best example of this is visible during “Jupp’s” time in the Hitler Youth when he attempts to use a needle and thread to make it look like he wasn’t circumcised and keep his identity hidden. This caused him serious health problems and was a constant source of anxiety for him. Nonetheless he was still able to carefully keep his true self hidden until he breaks down and tells Leni’s mother the truth about why he and her daughter never got together. After this admission “Jupp” breaks down because he has finally admitted to someone the truth about himself and is momentarily no longer the crafty jew or the jew as a victim. In that moment he is just a scared little kid. It could be argued that Solomon was not in the role of a victim because compared to what his family and friends went through he got off fairly easily. But that can be quickly countered with the fact that he was more or less very passive about his fate, he went with the flow of everything around him and didn’t exactly fight it very often. There were moments where he did run but the first time it was mistaken as a gutsy act of heroism to distract the Soviets and got him sent to the Hitler Youth and on track to be adopted by a Nazi officer. He didn’t exactly fight these opportunities that were forced upon him. As well as the

The two shots that show Solomon riding the trolley have him peering through small peepholes made in the whited out windows of the trolley. From here he sees a woman who he thinks to be his mother and there is nothing that he can do, for if he makes a scene and tries to go see her then he will be discovered and most likely meet a tragic