'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

geworden” (Brecht, Werke 253). 55 Mocking her with laughter and defiant gestures, the
sons humiliate the mother, leaving her victimized and violated. From the perspective of
others, the mother‟s shame implicates her in her sons‟ murderous crimes. She is regarded
as their accomplice: “Und dabei sehen dich alle / Den Zipfel deines Rockes verbergen,
der blutig ist / Vom Blut deines / Besten Sohnes” (Brecht, Werke 253). 56 Thus the poem
constructs the National Socialist terror as a situation of familial violence in which the
Nazi sons victimize the German mother, who is implicated in their crimes in so far as she
tries to conceal them.
While Brecht‟s “Deutschland” depicts Germany as a mother despoiled by her
sons, I do not feel that the poem sets up a simplistic allegory in the film in which Lene is
meant to be viewed exclusively as the German people. Brecht‟s poem functions like the
scene titles of his plays, which emphasize the historical and political context of the action
which is about to take place (McCormick, “Confronting German History” 200). An
alienation technique Brecht used in many of his plays was to have the actors hold
placards announcing both the themes and the outcome of the scene so that the audience
would not get too emotionally involved in the suspense of the drama (Osnes and Gill 9).
The action of Sanders-Brahms‟ film begins around 1933, the year Hitler became
chancellor of Germany, and the year Brecht wrote the poem “Deutschland.” Moreover,
Sanders-Brahms uses the poem to introduce an important theme in her film, that of
communication between generations. By having Brecht‟s daughter Hiob read her father‟s
55 “Of your sons the poorest / Lies struck down. / When his hunger was great / Your other sons / Raised
their hands against him. / This is now notorious” (Brecht, Poems 219)
56 “And at the same time all see you / Hiding the hem of your skirt, which is bloody / With the blood of
your / Best son” (Brecht, Poems 219).
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