'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

can imagine the chimney blowing out ashes as a visible sign of its location when it was
still in use” (126).
While postmemories of the Holocaust are evoked through a combination of
evocative images and fairy tale narration, the entire tale of “Der Räuberbräutigam” can be
viewed as an allegorical account of the events of the Holocaust. As Davies explains,
“The account that the film gives of the Holocaust is allegorical if we understand allegory
to be a textual device which works on the figurative level alone” (130). In Sanders-
Brahms‟ film, the Holocaust is almost exclusively represented through the fairy tale
segment alone. The exception to this is the brief scene where Lene‟s Jewish neighbour
Rahel is abducted by SA men. As Davies suggests: “All we see of the Holocaust is its
prelude (Rahel‟s deportation) and its aftermath (the Ducksteins‟ empty shop and the
empty industrial site) but not the events themselves” (130).
If, as Davies does, one understands the tale to be an allegory of the events of the
Holocaust, then the National Socialists‟ genocide of Jews and other victims is
figuratively represented by the robbers‟ murder of the young maiden. As previously
mentioned, the connection between the murderous robbers and the genocidal National
Socialists is emphasized by the fact that when Lene first mentions the path of ashes and
the robber bridegroom‟s house, she and Anna approach the abandoned factory
reminiscent of a crematorium. The robbers‟ band and the National Socialists are
allegorically linked in a second way. As Lene beds Anna down for the night in front of
an industrial oven in the factory, she narrates the section of the fairy tale where the
robbers murder and dismember the maiden and steal her golden ring. Thus, the robbers‟
killing of the maiden can be seen as allegorically representing the Nazis‟ extermination of
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