Survival…

Last updated on: September 8, 2008 at 10:13 am by J. Ryan Parker

Survival… 2008-09-08T10:13:13-07:00 J. Ryan Parker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For two weeks during the summer, I took a course on American slavery and the Holocaust. Talk about summer time fun time! From the start, we sought to avoid “invidious comparisons” between the two events that would eternally debate who suffered more or which event was more horrific. Instead, we looked at issues of race, power, economics, and evil in an attempt to understand how events like these could happen and how ordinary people could collude with such extraordinarily evil circumstances. The question of how ordinary people could survive such horrific circumstances, though never explicitly raised for discussion, inevitably followed readings about the Middle Passage or any number of Nazi death camps. To illustrate the lasting psychological damage that these events exacted on their victims, we watched two films, Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker and Jonathan Demme’s Beloved. Recently, I encountered another, The Counterfeiters.

Directed by Stephan Ruzowitzki and based on Adolf Burger’s book of the same name, The Counterfeiters focuses on a small slice of the Holocaust and World War II, the little-known “Operation Bernhard.” This was a Nazi attempt to produce counterfeit British pounds and American dollars to strengthen their military machine and to weaken and eventually collapse both economies. To that end, Nazi officials enlisted Jewish captives renowned for their printing, or forgery, skills to run a print shop in one of the concentration camps. Their star counterfeiter is Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics). Truly skilled at his “profession,” Sally is happy to move from forced manual labor to the comparatively comfortable surroundings of the print shop. Soon, however, he is confronted with two painful realities: he is directly helping fund the Nazi war effort while his Jewish counterparts are suffering and dying just outside the print shop’s walls.

I can think of few more difficult events to re-enact and film than the Holocaust. By focusing on such a small portion of the event, director Ruzowitzki is not forced to try to capture the enormity of the suffering. However, suffering is ever-present, if not always seen. For one, we constantly hear the shouts of Nazi soldiers and the screams and pleas of Jewish prisoners. A single pistol shot, the execution of another Jew, constantly startles both Sally and the viewers. Ruzowitzki and Burger are up to something different here. Survival, rather than suffering, is the film’s main focus. The Counterfeiters is a story of one man’s attempt to survive at any cost, with all the ethical implications that that determination entails.

In our summer school course, one of the professors argued that we like to romanticize a hypothetical past. Regarding slavery or the Holocaust, we might say, “I would have never done this or that.” The fact of the matter is that we can never truly know what we would have done. Rather, a more fruitful approach would be to examine how we participate in oppressive structures today. I do not believe that this means that we cannot speak ethically regarding Sally’s actions for example. On the other hand, we cannot be overly judgmental. Ruzowitzki does a great job of laying out this portion of Sally’s life before us, and Markovics does a great job of portraying a man who will survive at any cost. Sally is “thankful” to have the “job,” but he does realize that others around him suffer in more physically demanding ways. Yet in performing his job well, he helps preserve the lives of his counterfeiting co-workers. His abandonment of the project would quickly lead to greater persecution for those, physically, closest to him.

Ruzowitzki and Burger do not leave us with one response to this dilemma. Another character, Adolf Burger (August Diehl), simply cannot justify or live with supporting the Nazi effort. He consistently thwarts the counterfeiting efforts by inserting disruptive irregularities into the production process that result in flawed bills and delays. Sally must cover up for him to save both of their lives, telling him, “Only by surviving can we defeat them.” Adolf’s response, if perhaps more courageous, is just as valid as Sally’s and is one that the director follows throughout. Sally tells Adolf, “Nobody’s prepared to die for a principle.” To which Adolf responds, “That’s why the Nazi system works.”

Participation and resistance are two broad ways of looking at the responses to the Nazi oppression thus far. Various forms of escape are others. One of the counterfeiters kills himself after he sees that the war is over. The prisoners confined outside the counterfeiting buildings storm in and almost murder the counterfeiters believing they are Nazi workers. They only step down when they see their number tattoos. Upon seeing the suicide victim, another counterfeiter exclaims, “I told him he only had to survive until it was over.” What an unfortunately short-sighted assessment. Sally and the rest of the survivors will be surviving the Holocaust every day for the rest of their lives. Perhaps this counterfeiter could not survive the prospect of survival.

The Counterfeiters is shot in grainy footage that gives the film both a gritty, yet “cool” feel. Ruzowitzki throws in occasional scenes of violence and humiliation to counter this look and to remind us of the horrors of the Holocaust. The film begins with Sally living it up in a casino in Monte Carlo after his liberation. This makes a strong contrast to the concentration camps to which Ruzowitzki quickly flashes back. At the end of the film, Sally sits on a beach with a nameless woman, no doubt reflecting on his experiences. He has just blown all of his money at the casino, but we know that he can make more. The woman does not know this, however, and she tries to comfort him: “You had bad luck. So much money…so much money.”

The Counterfeiters (98 mins) is available on DVD and is rated R for strong violence, brief nudity and sexuality, and language.

Film

Previous Post

September 2, 2008

You May Not Have Known His Name...

Next Post

September 9, 2008 Fall TV Preview

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Classics DVD Film Music News Pop Culture Events Print Sports Television Uncategorized Video Games

Select a Month March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which is considered the greatest commandment in Christianity?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Give money Go to church Fast often Love God