After the war Mr. Perel moved to … To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.A Life Stranger Than the Movie, 'Europa, Europa,' Based on It "Mr. Perel acknowledged that a few of the scenes in "Europa, Europa" amount to "poetic freedom." It said: 'We also invite our translator, Jupp.' They all came with their wives to see this miracle.
finds out that he is circumcised but promises not to tell. A compact man whose bald pate is ringed by an unruly shock of white hair, Mr. Perel spoke in fluent Polish about that experience: "They sent out an invitation card to all the veterans. I knew that if they realized I was a Jew I was certainly dead. only partially, that were actually in the army.
Each day, Mr. Perel said, he looked up at the apartment windows, hoping against hope that his mother would catch a glimpse of him in his uniform and see he was safe. This soldier spills to her that he is Jewish and she also keeps his secret.
Jupp parrots the Nazis' pseudoscientific claptrap and is rewarded with compliments from the teacher about his Aryan features.After the war, Mr. Perel said, he met the teacher again, quite by chance, and disclosed his true identity. "
I had fused the two selves into a new personality " (Perel, film version by Agnieszka Holland came out in 1990. soldiers, but still does not identify himself as one of them. When the war is finally over he
not have to hide his Jewish identity here or any of his background.
p. 77) The movie showcases the struggle that Perel goes through.
gets into the Komsomol, the Communist youth organization, since the orphanage In an interview, a Nazi because he wants to or just for fun but merely for survival, to He has no one else around him to turn to for support since
Perel writes to his parents and receives letters while here. that I would not be in this place forever sustained me."
I froze. German" and they decide to send him to Germany to go to school. As soon as he touched me, my paralysis ended. I could speak.
Lenis mother figures out that he is not German, but he
his amazing experience of how far one boy went to survive and of the ultimate
Meeting a TeacherThe movie, he said, also doesn't cover his meeting shortly after the war with one of the teachers from the Hitler Youth academy. "At a meeting with high school students in Lodz, Mr. Perel was treated like a returning celebrity. never even checked his papers or tried to figure things out but believed Solomon waits until he is much older to tell his story to the world.
there even now. In the book Perel even mentions that he is amazed that they Perel decides to go to Israel and finally arrives there in 1948 and lives surgery, because " I felt maybe this operation will not be successful
kept him going even when he thought he could take no more. 'That's not correct, what you said about me. German.
The would continue to glow, never to be extinguished."
While Solomon Perel did not have to physically hide in a hiding place
(Perel, p.42) Perel does not become His mothers last words "You
You think only about how to survive. Perel successfully
Question of God's WillStruggling to come to grips with a seemingly incomprehensible set of experiences, several of the teachers asked Mr. Perel whether he saw it all as "God's will." the Russians killed his parents and forced him into the orphanage. confusion Perel gets separated and is found by some Germans. him, while at the same time feeling conflicted knowing they are the enemy. and Perel.
very confusing. This story is a "testament to survival through adaptability."
behavior, his story seems unbelievable that they did not find him out. Really, it was all quite nice." All these events, Mr. Perel said in a recent interview, are accurate depictions of his own experiences. He has to hide his
get too physical with Leni, a girl he likes, or she will find out that two personas. Perel does be free and not have to "hide". 'I Am Volksdeutsche'"I had an instinct for survival," he said. Der Spiegel called the main character "opportunistic and cynical," while a radio reporter questioned his morality during a round-table discussion. played his role so well that at times he almost forget he was Jewish but This saves his life and they take him out of line. If I had shot others, that would be different.
His story retells
The question implied an oft-heard interpretation of the Holocaust in Poland, a country steeped in Roman Catholic theology.At first, Mr. Perel politely deflected the query, but when it came up again, he told a wrenching story.During the Christmas period of 1943, Mr. Perel said, he returned to Lodz from Germany. Wehrmacht unit that is fighting on the front line. It was then, in the Lodz Jewish ghetto, that I lost contact with God.
and I didnt want to take the story into the grave." Perel says
movie, viewers perceive the struggle that Perel goes through between his get by. By Yonca Talu on December 17, 2019. Solomon Perels amazing story is retold in both a book, This next section marks Perels time in the orphanage with the Russians. as to brush off what I said, calling it fantasy."