The victims in The Boat is Full were in the same scenario, but all responded differently. The young woman fought and fought till the ultimate destiny she faced came about, and she then crossed the bridge with all the dignity she had left, still fighting to not be broken down by her oppressors. The old man, however, could not expend the energy to carry on in the same way. While he was terrified by the possibility of what might wait for him on the other side of the bridge, he went across, and though not with the same grace as his friend, he still maintained his dignity.

An interesting moral dilemma comes about in the scene where the young Jewish boy trades identities with the AWOL Nazi. While it was an act of survival, and there were few other options, the ethics of such an act are questionable. As the cliche goes, desperate times require desperate measures, and we are not to judge. This dichotomy arises in a more central position in Europa, Europa, where the main character takes the act to a dif

Similar to this mentality is that of the characters in Au Revior, Les Enfantes. Instead of a village, we have an isolated community of boys. To them, the effects of the war extend no farther than the food rationing, and there is little mention of war atrocities at all. Of what is mentioned, there is little concern minded to it. If this sample demographic is accurate, we must assume that the French community existed in passive acceptance of the German regime. Only isolated pockets showed any concern or resistance. The priest who harbors the young Jewish boys, and the waiter who defends his Jewish customer, for example. It seems that most French people at the time were more afraid for themselves and the fate of the Jews. Can they be blamed for this attitude? Prisoners in the concentration camps were forced to act in an “every man for himself” manner. While it was a necessity for survival in detention, the French attitude of Laize’ Faire was chosen, not mandated.

In Transport from Paradise we move from seeing how people dealt with the annihilation around them to seeing how they dealt with the extermination of themselves. The primal instincts of survival not tapped into for centuries must be dredged up and made familiar again, while still trying to maintain dignity. But how much fight can be left in a broken spirit? Day to day survival for those in this film took such effort that resistance would have required more than anyone was capable of. As in the readings, the characters survived by taking care of themselves, and rarely afforded to expend energy in taking care of another. In a more civil scenario, guilt might have wrecked and ravaged a soul who knowingly allowed others to suffer. But this is not a civil scenario, and good Samaritan laws cannot be applied. As seen in Playing for Time, survival could also mean a complete sacrifice of dignity. For example, the girl who prostituted herself for scraps of food felt no remorse f!

ted on the other side of the border. No one did anything, either way. As policy mandated, the boat was full, and no room could be made, so the weakest, the most defenseless were tossed to the sharks.

y to be tortured by the Nazis. After witnessing this sacrifice, Max realizes he had not been saving himself with his prior efforts, he had only been making himself more of a victim

Some topics in this essay:
Transport Paradise, Nazi Nazis, Garden Finzi-Continis, Jew Identity, Enfantes Instead, , Les Enfantes, AWOL Nazi, Europa Europa, Laize’ Faire, sacrifice dignity, concentration camps, taking care, civil scenario, expend energy, swiss couple, les enfantes,