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1959 Gunter Grass novel
is powerful on the screen
Reliable.
Dedicated
The Tim Dma,* a mem Movie
adc from (he 1459 Clrr Gram
ovel. it a remarkable
eicvcmrm. It k a movie of
Congregation Beth Jacob
Cordially Invites You
To Attend A Preview
And Auction
Though aot “about" the
Holocaust, the film doe* treat that
part of the historical period which
ie its subject; and the German
artists behind the film—Grass, the
director Volker Schlondorff, and
others—reader an interesting view
of that period.
Some of the most touching
moments of the movie are
provided by Charles Aznavour as
Sigismund Markus, the Jewish
toy-merchant from whom Oskar’s
drums are purchased. Markus gets
himself baptised, but that means
. nothing at aB to the Nazis. When
Oskar, protagonist of The Tbs Dram,” beats a shocked protest
against Nazism. - i
of Germans and Kashubian-Poies,
and the movie projects the strong
sense that a person's identity is
gr«Mlft, 4sMU»miaed, by bU,
nationality, which, as in the case of
the Jewish Markus, he cannot
escape Oskar’s case is complicated
since be in a sense has two fathers
(ho one ever knows which is the
true father), his mother's German
husband and her Kashubian-
Polish lover.
Sunday, August 10,1980
Preview - 6:00 p.m.
Auction - 7:00 p.m.
Door Prize a Donation i $2.00 Par Person
determines not to grow.
That action not only sets up
developments that make this story
special. It also provides an implied
judgment on the Germans who
allow themselves to be swept away
with Nazi fervor, who allow
themselves to substitute a portrait
of Hitler for one of Beethoven in
their living rooms, to destroy
synagogues and Jews, to decide
that Danzig is only a German city.
For a while Oskar beats his
drum to a different tune than the
Nazis do and can even subvert
them, but then they become a force
against which he can have no
power. A person who, even at his
birth, had the mind of an adult
and, at age 20, still has the
body of a child, Oskar, from his
unique point of view, remains a
witness of a very special kind to the
period of the Holocaust.
he tries to attend the funerslof
Oskar’s mother, whom he has
loved without return, bullies tell
him he cannot be there.
Afterwards, in s rare violation of
the practice of having us see the
entire story through Oskar's eyes,
the movie shows us Markus by the
graveside, saying Kaddiah. Soon
after, the Danzig synagogue is
burned and pillaged. Oskar goes to
the toy store to find it ransacked,
and he discovers Markus wearing a
skullcap, dead, having taken his
own life.
At Congregation 1 Beth Jacob
1855 La Vista Rd., N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia
Yet Oskar, at age three, decides
not to let his fate be determined by
outside forces. Told by a proto-
Nazi scout leader that ultimately
“you will be like me” and a witness
to., adult sexual behaviour, the
appalled Oskar decides he does not
want to grow into that adult world.
Throwing himself down the stairs
to provide a realistic explanation
for what will happen, he
determines his own fate,
Danzig of 1924 was a city of
different nationalities, particularly
f Thata right Atna ~
lit* A Oaauatty la reducing the price ot a
Ho^soaasu foNcy in Osorps.
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cavaraga to aataguard your ^
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specializing in helping people.
1.) Equal Rights for the Elderly;
2. ) A Victim Reparation Fund; .
3. ) Open Meetings; •
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