EUROPA EUROPA [GerMAn tItLe: HITLERJUNGE SALOMON] 107
the movie focuses on the duel between Zaitsev and König, it “works with rare con-
centration” (Ebert, 2001).
Reel History Versus Real History
Enemy at the Gates is a loose blending of broad fact and pure fiction. There was
most certainly a Battle of Sta lin grad and a Rus sian sniper named Vassili Zaitsev.
However, Danilov and Tania Chernova are fictional, as is, of course, the entire
romance subplot. Zaitsev’s duel with the German sniper, Major König, is also
prob ably apocryphal, likely a morale- boosting propaganda concoction that
became a national legend. There was never a German sniper school at Zossen,
and there is no extant rec ord of a German sniper named either Heinz Thorvald
or König— but, then again, lots of Nazi military ser vice rec ords were destroyed
during the war. Rus sian WWII historian Valeriy Potopov (who hated the film)
also notes Danilov could not have been a commissar throughout the entire movie
because the Institute of Commissars was abolished in the Red Army as early as 9
October 1942.
EUROPA EUROPA [GERMAN TITLE:
HITLERJUNGE SALOMON] (1990)
Synopsis
A French- Polish co- production, Europa Europa is a war film directed by Agnieszka
Holland. Starring Marco Hofschneider, the film is based on the 1989 autobiogra-
phy of Solomon Perel, a German Jewish youth who pretended to be a Nazi to escape
the Holocaust.
Background
After a health scare in 1983 Holocaust survivor Solomon “Solly” Perel began to write
his memoirs: an incredible story of survival he had kept under wraps for almost
40 years. In the preface to the English- language edition of Europa Europa, Perel
admits that “he could no longer suppress the trauma... To free myself of it I had
to write it all down—to get it off my chest” (Perel, 1999, p. xii). Polish Jewish film
producer Artur Brauner (Morituri), a native of Łódź, also a Holocaust survivor,
learned of Perel’s book well before its publication, secured the film rights, and asked
director Agnieszka Holland, with whom he had just collaborated on another Holo-
caust film— Angry Harvest (1985)—to direct the film. Working closely with Solo-
mon Perel, Holland wrote the screen adaptation, with help from Paul Hengge (Angry
Harvest). Brauner’s own production com pany, Central Cinema Compagnie- Film
GmbH (CCC), joined forces with Les Films du Losange (France) and two Polish
companies— Telmar Film International Ltd. and Zespol Filmowy “Perspektywa”—
to finance the proj ect. Holland wanted to cast German actor René Hofschneider in
the lead role, but it took three years to put financing in place, by which time
Hofschneider was 29 and a bit old for the role, so Holland cast his younger brother
Marco instead. Rene ended up playing Solomon Perel’s older brother Isaak.