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Corey Bruner Prof. Joshua Hoeynck Modern War in Film and Fiction April 18th 2012 Germanys last Night in Stalingrad The definition of war is the state of armed conflict between different nations. By allowing that vague definition to encompass the events of war, we belittle the reality of death and destruction that war brings. War is always worse than predicted, and the physical loss never justifies the political means. Stalingrad, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, portrays the struggle on the Eastern front as the Germans are surrounded by Russians during World War II. Night, by Elie Wiesel, tells the story of a Jewish community that is brutally shipped to a concentration camp, and then either killed or tortured by the Nazis. These two sources show loss of nationalism and religion, how camaraderie can break down or become a source of power, and how dehumanization during war can cause men to regress into a child-like state. Although these media depict two entirely different aspects of World War II, both offer excruciatingly detailed descriptions of the hardships associated with war. There are many instances in these two sources that show the transition of faith by Elie and nationalism by Lieutenant von Witzlands. On the first page of Night, Elie describes how he would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple (Wiesel 1). As a thirteen year old boy, he is very religious. So much so that he asks his father for a master in order to study Kabbalah, as esoteric method of discipline and thought. Even at the beginning of the book, it is clear that Elie has an extraordinary fondness for religion and learning. He is so passionate towards prayer that he even cries while praying. This passion for religion parallels

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von Witzlands nationalism at the beginning of Stalingrad. As the soldiers are lined up for the award ceremony, the newly appointed Lieutenant von Witzland has a pompous aura about him that conveys borderline arrogance. He is proud to be a Lieutenant in the German army, and his nationalism is strong largely due to his new promotion. As time progresses however, Elie and his community are shipped off to a concentration camp, and von Witzland and his troops are ordered to the Eastern front. Life in the camp for Elie is hard and he begins to lose his faith. This unbearable situation makes him doubt Gods ability to intervene which leads to his gradual denial of religion. This is shown when he says Where God is? This is where hanging here from the gallows(p 65). In terms of von Witzlands nationalism however, he loses it much more quickly than Elies faith. When they arrive outside of Stalingrad, von Witzlands first glimpse of war is not at all what he had imagined. They get off the car and march down the factory alongside hundreds of wounded German soldiers. As if this sight wasnt enough, von Witzland sees some Germans abusing a Russian prisoner and pleads for mercy amongst the other officers. As they laugh in his face, the Lieutenant realizes that war is not as full of glory, righteousness, and nationalism as he had first thought. Clearly as Elies faith is lost as his hope slowly diminishes, von Witzlands nationalism is crushed like a bug almost immediately after his arrival in Stalingrad. No one denies that war has the ability to promote comradeship amongst soldiers who fight alongside one another. However, in Night, as Elie and his father are fighting for their lives in the concentration camp, they grow farther apart. This situation doesnt yield the expected outcome of bringing a father and son closer together, mostly because Elie thinks of his father as a burden and an embarrassment. Elie realizes that he is sharing his soup grudgingly with his father and exclaims that like Rabbi Eliahus son, he had not passed the test (107). Their relationship

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ended when Elie decided not to return his fathers beckoning call on his deathbed. Although both Elie and his father were fighting for their lives, the camps made everyone fight for themselves in order to stay alive. However, the main characters in Stalingrad continued to support each other as the war tried to tear them apart. This is shown throughout the movie as Lieutenant von Witzland becomes less like an officer and more like an enlisted man. On the train ride to Stalingrad, the Lieutenant describes the men around him to be his men. The scenes later on in the movie (particularly the firing squad scenes) depict von Witzland as sheepish and afraid to stand up to his fellow officers, thus indicating that he has become more like an enlisted man. In addition to realizing that he does not deserve to be an officer, he doesnt stand up to the commanding officer solely because he feels more and more comfortable taking on the role of those who he has felt closest to, the enlisted soldiers. After analyzing these two sources, it shows how camaraderie can bring soldiers together into a strong and powerful unit or destroy a once strong relationship between a father and son. Generally speaking, war has a habit of dehumanizing those who are involved; whether it is describing people as numbers or animals, they are looked down upon. It is striking how similar the scenes with the train cars are in Night and Stalingrad. As the German soldiers approach Stalingrad, they are loaded up in train cars like cattle for slaughter. This scene is exactly like the one in Night where Elie and his community were led into trains and, like the German soldiers, shipped off towards the slaughter waiting for them at the concentration camps. The only difference between the two train rides is the sense of mystery enveloped by the Jews. They are packaged into the pitch black car with no sense of time or destination. In Stalingrad however, the soldiers are well aware of their destination because most of them have seen combat before. Joseph Vilsmaier focuses on this train ride on purpose in order to introduce the holocaust

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as an underlying struggle occurring behind the scenes as the battle of Stalingrad is raging on hundreds of miles away. During both of these train rides, the cattle is unsuspecting of the sheer tragedy waiting for them at the end of the rails. The shock is visible on the soldiers faces in Stalingrad as they are lead through a factory which remarkably resembles a human assembly line producing young men for the front of the war. In Night, Elie describes a similar assembly line as the SS officer says, Men to the left, women to the right(p29). After they line up, they are either led to the camp or the oven, which is equally as shocking as the death produced on the front lines. These assembly lines are the perfect example of dehumanization because they literally treat humans like animals with no sense of free thought or objection. As Elie and von Witzland lose their innocence after being exposed to the horrible attributes of WWII, there is an ironic role reversal that transforms the protector into the protected and vice versa. In the beginning of Night, Elies father is looked upon by the community as being as source of wisdom and council. Elie looked up to his father and recognized how powerful his father was in the eyes of his neighbors. This is shown clearly when Elie says his father took care of his business as well as the community (p 8). As Elie and his father endure the concentration camps however, Elies father becomes ill and relies on Elie to aid him throughout most of the second half of the book. As lieutenant, von Witzland is the commanding officer at the beginning of the movie. He shows his authority at the award ceremony and on the train leading up to Stalingrad. von Witzlands situation also ends up on the other side of the

spectrum as he relies on the lives of his lower ranked enlisted soldiers, Fritz and Gege, help keep him alive after he seems to be incapacitated at the airfield. The common theme of Elie switching places with his father and von Witzland switching with his men shows how a situation such as war can change the expected duties and responsibilities someone carries in times of crisis.

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The Holocaust was the most atrocious event of the 20th century and possibly of all time. Although Night is a personal memoir of the events that occurred at the concentration camps, Stalingrad provides an equally awful portrayal of the events surrounding the Holocaust. Vilsmaier successfully tells the horrific story of the Holocaust by stressing certain aspects of the battle of Stalingrad. Dehumanization is emphasized by the train ride into Stalingrad, but the abuse by commanding officers is present in both of these sources as well as death and starvation. The scene in Stalingrad on Christmas shows the men fighting over scraps of bread which parallels the scene in Night where pieces of bread are being thrown to the starving prisoners in the concentration camp. By doing this, Vilsmaier adds another dimension to the classic war story, thus making it extremely relative to Elie Wisels Night. Vilsmaier does an excellent job of detailing the tragic events that led up to the outcome of the battle at Stalingrad. He does an even better job however of shedding light on the tragic events of the Holocaust which are only revealed to the audience after comparing the film to a novel such as Night. There are many similarities between these two media such as dehumanization, the effects of camaraderie, and ironic role reversal. Night shows how the loss of innocence can change a persons view of how the world works, which is what I believe Vilsmaier was hinting at throughout the film.