Europa Europa (available in German as Hitlerjunge Salomon, meaning "Hitler Youth Salomon") is a 1990 historical war drama movie directed by Agnieszka Holland. It features actors Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, Hanns Zischler, and André Wilms. The film is based on a 1989 autobiography by Solomon Perel, a German-Jewish boy who survived the Holocaust by pretending to be a Nazi and joining the Hitler Youth. Solomon Perel appears briefly in the movie’s ending as himself. The film’s title refers to how Europe was divided during World War II, causing changes in countries’ alliances, identities, and battle lines.
The movie was created by a German company called CCC Film and companies from France and Poland. Europa Europa won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1992.
Plot
In 1938, in Nazi Germany, on the night before thirteen-year-old Solomon "Solek" Perel's bar mitzvah, Kristallnacht happens. Solek escapes the Nazis and later learns his sister has been killed. His father decides the family will move to Łódź, Poland, thinking it will be safer. Less than a year later, World War II begins, and Germany invades Poland. Solek's family decides he and his brother Isaak should flee to Eastern Europe. The brothers travel to the eastern border of Poland but discover the Soviets have invaded. The brothers are separated, and Solek ends up in a Soviet orphanage in Grodno with other Polish refugee children.
Solek lives in the orphanage for two years. He joins the Komsomol, receives a communist education, and learns Russian. He develops feelings for Inna, a young instructor who helps him when the authorities learn his family background is bourgeois. Solek receives a letter from his parents telling him they are imprisoned in the Łódź Ghetto.
Solek is captured by German soldiers during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He hides his identity papers and tells the Germans he is "Josef Peters," a "Volksdeutscher" from Grodno. The soldiers believe Josef's parents were ethnic Germans and that he was in the orphanage because his parents were killed by the Soviets. Using his knowledge of German and Russian, "Josef" helps the unit identify a prisoner as Yakov Dzhugashvili, Joseph Stalin's son. The unit is impressed and makes Solek their interpreter because of his fluency in both languages.
Solek avoids public bathing or urinating to hide his circumcised penis, which would reveal he is Jewish. A German soldier named Robert, who is homosexual and hides his identity, discovers Solek's secret but shows support because they both face danger from persecution. During combat, Robert is killed, and Solek, the only survivor of his unit, tries to reach the Soviets. As Solek crosses a bridge, German soldiers chase him, and Soviet troops surrender. Solek is celebrated as a hero. The company commander decides to take Solek in and send him to the Hitler Youth Academy in Braunschweig for a Nazi education.
At the school, Solek carefully hides his circumcision. Leni, a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel who serves meals at the Academy, becomes fond of Solek. He feels the same way but does not act on it to avoid exposing himself.
During a break from the Academy, Solek visits Łódź to find his family. The ghetto is locked down and guarded. Solek rides a tram through the ghetto and sees people suffering from torture and starvation. Later, Solek visits Leni's mother, who does not support the Nazis. She tells him Leni is pregnant by Solek's roommate, Gerd, and will give the child to the Lebensborn program. When Leni's mother asks Josef about his identity, he breaks down and admits he is Jewish. She promises not to tell anyone.
Solek is called to the Gestapo offices. He is questioned about his parentage and asked to show a "Certificate of Racial Purity." When Solek says the certificate is in Grodno, the Gestapo official says he will send for it. As Solek leaves to meet Gerd, the building is destroyed by Allied bombs. Solek survives, but Gerd dies in the attack.
As Soviet troops approach Berlin, the Hitler Youth are sent to the front. Solek leaves his unit and surrenders to the Soviets. His captors doubt he is Jewish and accuse him of being a traitor. There, Solek learns about Nazi death camps. The Soviets prepare to execute him until Solek's brother Isaak, recently released from a camp, recognizes him. Isaak explains their parents were killed years earlier when the Łódź Ghetto was destroyed. Soon after, Solek moves to the British Mandate of Palestine.
The real Solomon Perel, seen in modern times, sings Psalm 133 as the film ends.
Release
The film had a limited release in the United States on June 28, 1991, and earned $31,433 during its first weekend in two theaters. Its total earnings worldwide reached $5,575,738.
Europa Europa received strong praise from critics. On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 95% approval rating based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 7.8 out of 10.
Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times praised the film’s complex structure, describing it as a tense suspense story, an ironic romance, and a dark comedy that builds toward a serious identity crisis.
Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote that the film successfully portrays the Holocaust by showing specific, powerful details that go beyond common stories.
Hal Hinson of the Washington Post praised the film’s direction, noting that the filmmaker, Agnieszka Holland, balances humor and tragedy well. He also highlighted the film’s focus on the difficult choices made by the main character, Solly. Desson Howe of the same publication found the film emotionally distant and said it did not fully explore Solly’s moral struggles.
During the 1991 awards season, Europa Europa won four major awards for best foreign-language film from American critics’ groups. It was considered a strong candidate for the Best Foreign Film Oscar at the 64th Academy Awards. However, the German Export Film Union, which oversees Oscar nominations for German films, did not submit the film for consideration. The committee said the film did not meet certain rules, such as not being classified as a German film. The film was a co-production between Germany, Poland, and France, and much of it is in German, with a German producer, cast, and crew. Committee members reportedly called the film “junk” and “an embarrassment.” The film’s use of dark humor in a Holocaust story may have influenced the decision. This led some German filmmakers, including Werner Herzog, Wolfgang Petersen, and Wim Wenders, to publicly support the film and its director.
Despite not being nominated for an Oscar, the film was a critical and commercial success in the United States. It became the second most successful German film in the country, after Das Boot (1981). The film also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Home media
The film was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on March 4, 2003. The Criterion Collection released a special edition Blu-ray of the film on July 9, 2019.