{"id":239,"date":"2019-04-04T15:58:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T19:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/?p=239"},"modified":"2019-04-04T15:59:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T19:59:07","slug":"1945-is-a-haunting-tale-of-post-holocaust-suspicion-and-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/1945-is-a-haunting-tale-of-post-holocaust-suspicion-and-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"‘1945’ is a Haunting Tale of Post-Holocaust Suspicion and Guilt"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni<\/em><\/p>\n

On Monday, April 1, The Holocaust Through Film series kicked off its April movie selection with a screening of Ferenc T\u00f6r\u00f6k\u2019s haunting feature <\/span>\u201c1945.\u201d <\/span>Assistant Professor of French and series co-organizer Jennifer Cazenave introduced the film to the group of students and community members gathered in CAS 224.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe movie is an adaptation of a short story called \u2018The Homecoming\u2019 by a Hungarian writer named Gabor T. Szanto,\u201d she said. \u201cThe story centers on two Jews that return to a small Hungarian village, and the events that follow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the title proclaims, the tale is set in 1945, a turbulent year that saw the liberation of the concentration camps, the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the subsequent end to the second world war.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film, however, opens with far more tranquil scenes shot in stunning black and white. We watch as two men disembark from a large steam train transporting wooden crates filled with what they claim to be women\u2019s cosmetics and perfume. Their work is slow and deliberate as they shift their cargo from the locomotive onto a horse-drawn flatbed. Once everything is properly loaded, their journey through the village begins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"An
Mystery and suspicion swirl around an elderly Orthodox Jew (Ivan Angelus) and his adult son (Marcell Nagy) in ‘1945.’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a continual air of mystery swirling around these two men, an elderly Orthodox Jew (Ivan Angelus) and his adult son (Marcell Nagy). This ambiguity exists, in part, because the pair remains eerily silent throughout the majority of the film. They do not stop to chat with any passersby, nor with each other. Their identities and withdrawn dispositions send the townsmen and women into a complete frenzy as each fear the duo have returned to reclaim their property post-Holocaust. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to give it all back,\u201d Bandi (Jozsef Szarvas), the portly village drunk proclaims to Istvan, the hot-tempered town clerk. Calamity ensues, as women and men band together to hide valuables, burn deeds, and destroy photos of their friends\u2019 past–friends that had been subjected to unfathomable cruelty at the hands of the Nazis. This defensive group mentality is a direct extension of said cruelty. The townspeople turn their guilt and terror into damning action, shoving stolen goods into cupboards and the car trunks, all while clinging to the facade that they have done nothing wrong. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see that with all this chaos the people in the town don\u2019t actually talk to the strangers in their midst,\u201d said Associate Professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature Abigail Gillman in a conversation following the screening. \u201cThere is this cloud of suspicion between what they want and why they\u2019re there, but no one actually asks them until the very end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That conversation consists of a brief exchange between the strangers and the town clerk who asks them what business they had in the village.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come for a burial,\u201d the elder Jew replies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you burying?\u201d Istvan counters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s left of our dead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Istvan offers a handshake and his condolences, but ultimately nothing is done to recognize any past wrongdoings. The two men simply gather their remaining belongings and move onwards on a second journey, this time with a far less certain destination. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Holocaust Through Film Series continues on April 8 with a free screening of \u201cSon of Saul.\u201d This event is open to all Boston University students, faculty, and staff. For more information visit <\/span><\/i>http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/jewishstudies\/calendar\/events\/<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Katherine Gianni On Monday, April 1, The Holocaust Through Film series kicked off its April movie selection with a screening of Ferenc T\u00f6r\u00f6k\u2019s haunting feature \u201c1945.\u201d Assistant Professor of French and series co-organizer Jennifer Cazenave introduced the film to the group of students and community members gathered in CAS 224. \u201cThe movie is an … Continue reading ‘1945’ is a Haunting Tale of Post-Holocaust Suspicion and Guilt<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6765,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/ewcjs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}