The Holocaust in Czechoslovak and Czech Feature Films

Šárka Sladovníková analyzes the depiction of the Holocaust in Czechoslovak and Czech Feature Films and the relevant literary pretexts. While she charts the social and cultural framework in which the films were made and how this framework changed, she also focuses on the cinematic language, the composition of and narration in each film (e.g., the depiction of the war and the Shoah as a narratively closed versus a narratively open event), genre aspects of the films (e.g., the use of comedy and humor), convention and innovation in presenting motifs and characters (the division of gender roles, the character of the “good German”). Particular attention is paid to the portrayal…