Życie po życiu. Reprezentacje Żydów (Ocalałych i kolejnych pokoleń) we współczesnym kinie niemieckim i austriackim
Life after life. Cinematic representations of Jews (Holocaust survivors and subsequent generations) in contemporary German and Austrian film productions

Author(s): Olga Wesołowska
Subject(s): Cultural history, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, History of Antisemitism
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Austrian cinema; German cinema; contemporary cinema; Jews
Summary/Abstract: The research premise addresses the question whether and how the historical politics of Germany and Austria affects the cinematic representations of Jews. Both countries are responsible for the consequences of World War II, but they have dealt with their wartime heritage differently. The dissertation investigates to what extent the assumed rhetoric of the debate on Nazism and the Holocaust shapes the cinematic representations of Jews. Also, taking into account the present situation of the Jewish minority in these countries. Selected examples from Austrian and German films make up interesting research material for comparative analysis. By stressing possible similarities and differences between the two national cinemas, it allows to capture certain patterns in presenting Jews as well as indicates their national invariants. The methodological approach draws on theories in the field of memory studies. Particular attention is directed to the question whether analysed films reproduce anti-Semitic stereotypes, or whether their approach is creative and subversive. The dissertation also reflects on the problem whether the generation of Survivors and their descendants are presented in the same way, or whether their cinematic images are constructed in relation to the same or different stereotypes: the Jew as the Other, or the Jew as a Victim?

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