'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

passively complicit in the crimes of the misogynist Nazi regime when she does nothing to
resist or protest the deportation of her neighbour Rahel. Hence, in her dual status as
victim of a repressive patriarchal order and as a passive Mitläufer in its brutalization of
others, Lene closely resembles the old woman of the fairy tale.
Lene‟s existence as a Hausfrau further mirrors the fate of the elderly woman in
the fairy tale in that both characters are confined to the domestic realm and expected to
serve their male counterparts. Though not directly victimized by the violent acts of the
robbers, the old woman is held captive by these men and is forced to wait on them. On a
figurative level, the old woman symbolizes the collective status of German women in a
society that gives men authority over women (Cook 115). Sanders-Brahms employs this
theme of woman held captive in her own house to the stifling confinement women
experience in the domestic sphere, even in periods of peace. Like the old woman who is
limited to the robbers‟ house and forced to serve the murderous gang, Lene, in her role as
a homemaker during the pre-war and post-war periods, is also confined to the domestic
realm and expected to serve her husband.
Before the war, Lene unquestioningly accepts her new role as Hausfrau and even
seems contented with this relegation to the private sphere. When Lene and Hans first
marry, she seems happy and their shared abode is clean and orderly (Knight, Women
123). On her wedding day Lene eagerly tours her new home, touching the furniture and
curtains, and idealizing her new circumstances with the statement, “Es ist wie im Film,
hat Frau Meierholt von nebenan gesagt” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-Erzählung 36). 78 This
statement could also be interpreted as an alienation effect, used by Sanders-Brahms to
foreground the fact that her film is a constructed fictional narrative. The reflection of
78 “Mrs. Meierholt from next door said that it‟s just like a film” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-Erzählung 36).
108