'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

H.S.-B.: Yes, you‟re right, it‟s ironic. She‟s dreaming of revenge, she‟s dreaming of
justice, but it‟s a dream. Justice doesn‟t exist.
R.R.: Especially in that situation. I did some research on Helke Sander‟s film Befreier
and Befreite and only one woman who was raped during the war claimed that she was a
war victim. Most other women were silent because that is what society expected of them.
H.S.-B.: Yes, I think so. I mean, in front of a normal man in the street who tries to rape
you it makes sense to cry or to shout because there might be a policeman or other people
to help you. But when the soldiers are up to their necks in weapons and machine guns,
it‟s useless. And it stimulates them! The horrible thing is that to cry stimulates them and
makes them more cruel.
R.R.: Yes. In an interview with Renate Möhrmann you said that the fairy tale
“Räuberbräutigam” is important to the film because it describes German history and
Lene‟s story in a very transparent metaphor. Germany becomes a house of murderers
and Lene, like the miller‟s daughter in the fairy tale, has deep fears of men, especially
male warriors. I interpreted the fairy tale in a different way. I felt that the actions of the
three female characters in the fairy tale, those being the miller‟s daughter, the old woman
and the murdered girl, mirror the way Lene acts in the war and post-war years.
H.S.-B.: Hmmm?
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