Soyoung
Lee
November
11, 2004
Holocaust
to German Unification
Dr. Esa
“Coping
with the Past…”
Histories
are stories or records of important past events connecting with a person of a
nation that can never be forgotten. The term “past”, and adjective, means: put
it behind, or something that meant a long time ago. In The Nasty Girl,
and The Reader are both placed in history, where the characters are
coping with the past in wanting to find out the truth.
The
movie, The Nasty Girl, by Michael Verhoeven,
was based on the life of Anna Rosmus, a
well-educated, brilliant, and brave woman. She was highly respected in her
hometown of Passau; until one day she wanted to write
an essay about how the members of the Catholic Church was resistance fighters
during the time of Nazi period. While researching for information, Rosmus revealed evil prospers, where hundreds of foreign
children died in labor camps, and 1,700 prisoners of war were massacred during
the trauma of the Nazi period. In the movie, Sonya’s curiosity about the past
became an obsession. She was determined to find out answers, even though her
family was in danger. Sonya went through court cases after court cases to get
“Top Secret” information about the Jew who got hung because of false
information that were given and acts that were done by the church, state, and
people. The church, state, and people were concealing their past because no one
wanted to take the blame since they were egotistic and carried too much pride.
The
novel, The Reader, by Bernherd Schlink, was about a boy with hepatitis, and who had a
relationship with an older woman, with a dark past. The older woman named Hanna
was sentenced for being involved in the death of innocent Jewish mothers and
daughters in charged that was bombed by the Allies. During her time in prison,
Hanna became independent and her view of having pride was diminished since she
taught herself to read and write. She wasn’t opinionated and egotistic, and she
had an open-mind and decided to read about the concentration camps, “…Several
years ago I had to get her a general concentration camp bibliography, and then
one or two years ago she asked me to suggest some books on women in the camps,
both prisoners and guards…(Schlink
205)” and help the unfortunates, “Frau Schmitz always lent some tapes to the
aid society for blind prisoners…(Schlink 205).” Hanna
had positives thoughts throughout her imprisonment, which showed how everyone
at the prison had a lot of respect for her, “She was greatly respected by the
other women, to whom she was friendly but reserved (Schlink
207-208).”
The
Reader showed how
everyone had a role in coping with the past such as the state and the people.
The boy, Michael Berg, couldn’t stop thinking about his relationship with
Hanna, the older woman. No matter how many times he tried to stop thinking
about her, in the back of his head, the image of Hanna stood tall. He did so
by, reading books to her; for having to loose his innocence, the only type of
woman he ever dreamed of was Hanna. Though he didn’t like the actions of Hanna
during the Nazi period, he still managed to find Hanna job, a place to stay,
and social freedom. He also sent cassette tapes of stories, “So I read aloud…it
was Hanna who predominated, I read to Hanna. I read to Hanna on tape (Schlink 183).” Michael still went to visit Hanna, even
though he didn’t want to, “I went the next Sunday. It was my first visit to a
prison (Schlink 195).” As for Hanna, she was coping
with her past by having to get punished for her wrong doings because she had
too much pride, and never told anyone that she was illiterate in reading and
writing. For Hanna being illiterate, she made girls in the concentration camps
read to he, while in present she made Michael read to her.
A
question that randomly comes to mind, “Is there collective guilt?”
The Nasty Girl. Dir. Michael Verhoeven. Perf. Lena Stolze, Monkia Baumgartner, Germany. 1990.
Bernherd
Schlink. The Reader.
The