'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

Chapter 4: Three Images of Woman in “Der Räuberbräutigam” and
Lene’s Personal History
The fairy tale in Deutschland, bleiche Mutter not only describes Germany‟s
wartime history by encoding the events of the Holocaust, but it also mirrors Lene‟s
personal story. Sanders-Brahms makes use of the fairy tale segment to demonstrate how
the realities of war, the post-war period, and the political environment of these eras
shaped Lene‟s personal experiences and individual identity. Naughton has noted that,
“The tale of the robber bridegroom is one which […] manages to integrate the
biographical and familial components of the film, establishing parallels between the
narrative function of the bride within the tale and incidents in Lene‟s life” (n. pag.). I
suggest that this claim can be extended to not only the fictional miller‟s daughter but also
to the old woman and the murdered maiden. In my view, the actions of the three female
characters in the Grimms‟ piece reflect and thus highlight how Lene reacts to hardship
and the deportation of the Jews during the Nazi era, and to men‟s oppression during the
Economic Miracle. The following analysis will examine how the actions of the miller‟s
daughter, the old woman, and the murdered maiden of the Grimms‟ tale mirror and thus
underscore those of Lene in the film narrative.
96