The Victim and the “Cremator”
The “Jewish Theme” in Czech Literature and Film
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The fate of the Jews in the 20th century is a central theme in Czech literature and film. After the war, an ideological approach dominated at first. In the 1960s, attitudes involving psychological identification and self-criticism gained in importance. Books and films on the “Jewish theme” became a means of indirectly discussing the Communist regime. The dichotomous relationship of Czechs to their own people is reflected in the ambivalences of the fictional treatment of the “Jewish theme.”
(Osteuropa 6/2008, pp. 341–356)