BERLIN LETTER
517
the popularity of American literature in Europe today. It is not so
much blood and violence as the tradition-freer style which fascinates
European readers and writers, and paradoxically makes novels a:bout
the seamier side of American life symbols of an American advantage
over Europe.
The German writer of today simply faces the fact that his tradition,
namely the most recent link of the chain to which he has to join himself,
is evil. This situation is more difficult to cope with than having a weak
or fragmentary tradition. Ten years after the end of the war, it is more
than anything else responsible for the present irresolution of German
literature. The years from 1933 to 1945 loom darkly over the German
writer's consciousness: impossible to ignore them as it is nearly impos–
sible to deal with them.
On the lower level of the films it is easier. In this sphere efforts
are being made to establish a new tradition by salvaging as many good
elements as can be found in the muddy stream of the immediate past.
In one of the better recent films, Canaris is presented as a tragic figure
who always tried to prevent the worst. That might have been remarkable
under the circumstances, but it is not quite enough to make him a symbol
of the better Germany for which one searches. Two films about the
20th of July, the unsuccessful atempt to assassinate Hitler, also failed
in this and other respects. But very successful are some recent films in
which the heroism of war finds a reinterpretation in an un-military
sense. One could consider this a belated, and now wholly undesired, ef–
fect of the Allied re-education program, but it is more likely the very
natural reaction of a generation of ex-soldiers trying to make sense of
its war experience.
Der Hauptmann und sein Held
(The Captain and
His Hero) is a comedy about a fraudulently obtained medal which brings
immunity and promotion to a harassed private, until finally at the end
of the war he makes himself worthy of the medal by disobeying an
orper which would bring about the useless sacrifice of his battalion.
His execution is prevented by a deus ex machina in the shape of a tall
American Negro soldier who collects medals because he needs them
as souvenirs for his two kids. Or the four-episode film
Heldentum nach
Ladenschluss
(Heroes after Closing Time) which poses the Odyssean
situation for the German soldier after defeat. Bravery and ruse are
used to escape captivity and get home to civilian life. There is the final
triumph of the poor ragged soldier outwitting the victors, who, how–
ever, are presented as human and sympathetic figures. This is a su–
premely satisfying victory on the screen: as the harmless but ingenious
fool, the defeated soldier, fools the victors, thereby delighting and re-
