'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

ombing raids destroy her house and force her to flee with her daughter to the
unspecified German East. Already in the opening scene, Lene is bullied by an SA man
when he orders his German shepherd to attack her. He feels superior to Lene not only
because he is an official in the Nazi political hierarchy whereas she is merely a civilian,
but also because he is a male and she is a female in a society that tended to regard women
as inferior to men. The officer exploits his political power and superior strength in the
form of his dog to humiliate Lene. For her part, Lene does not berate the SA man for his
outrage but releases her emotions by crying in private. In my opinion, Lene censors her
emotions and responds to the SA man‟s transgression in a passive manner out of a sense
of self-preservation. Had Lene berated the SA man for his actions, he might have
encouraged his dog to continue the attack or, worse, he might have exacted revenge on
her by reporting her to the authorities on false charges. Thus, to criticize Lene for her
containment and self-censorship is to disregard the political and social realities of the
Hitler era.
While Lene is a victim of an oppressive regime, she is also passively complicit in
the victimization and abduction of a Jewish acquaintance named Rahel Bernstein. In a
brief scene early in the film, an unmarried Lene comforts her lovesick sister Hanne. The
sisters‟ bedtime conversation is interrupted by the noise of a shattering window and a
woman‟s screams. The breaking of glass seems to be an acoustic symbol of the “Reichs-
Kristallnacht,” (9 November 1938) or the “night of broken glass,” when organized mobs
of Nazi supporters vandalized Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses. The sisters
rush to the window to see three unknown men drag a woman out into the street. While
Hanne recognizes her classmate Rahel and shouts her name across the street, presumably
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