Two souls, one body

February 4, 2023 3:49 PM

Solomon Perel, a German Jew who outwitted the Nazis by posing as a member of the Hitler Youth during World War II, an extraordinary story of survival that was dramatized in the 1990 film “Europa Europa,” died Feb. 2 at his home in Givatayim, near Tel Aviv. He was 97.

Wearing a swastika on his chest, the young man formerly known as Shlomo or Solly went by the Germanic name of Josef, taking on the identity of a young Nazi in a desperate bid to survive.
“To this day I have a tangle of two souls in one body,” Mr. Perel told The Washington Post in 1992.
“By this I mean to say that the road to Josef, the Hitler Youth that I was for four years, was very short and easy. But the way back to the Jew in me, Shlomo, or Solly, was much harder. And it is still not finished.
“I love him,” Mr. Perel said of the young Nazi he had outwardly been, “because he saved my life.”

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posted by Toddles (39 comments total)

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posted by infini at 4:06 PM on February 4, 2023

I need to favourite this again.
posted by infini at 4:07 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 4:27 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by slater at 4:34 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by ishmael at 4:40 PM on February 4, 2023

May his memory be a blessing. Every time I learn something new about World War II it amazes me all over again that humanity survived at all.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:20 PM on February 4, 2023 [7 favorites]

I saw the film in college, and it made a significant impression on me, but I didn't quite get, or at least didn't remember, that it was based on a true story. May your memory be a blessing, Solomon, and I hope it's okay for me to say that I think it will be.
posted by mollweide at 5:22 PM on February 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 5:26 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by Melismata at 5:28 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 5:30 PM on February 4, 2023

I also saw it in college and I had no idea that was based on real life. Someone failed to not mention that in class :P
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:30 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by May Kasahara at 6:17 PM on February 4, 2023

If you haven't seen the film, it's an omission worth correcting.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:31 PM on February 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

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posted by jabo at 7:39 PM on February 4, 2023

I met him when I traveled to Israel in 2006 - he spoke to my group at Yad Vashem. His story is a testament to the will to survive and he was remarkable to speak with. My heart hurts every time we lose another survivor but I am grateful that his story is recorded so that we can continue to learn from him.

May his memory be a blessing.
posted by honeybee413 at 7:49 PM on February 4, 2023 [9 favorites]

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posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:23 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by belarius at 9:14 PM on February 4, 2023

Thank you for this post.

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posted by Mchelly at 9:35 PM on February 4, 2023

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posted by worbel at 11:33 PM on February 4, 2023

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Small correction to the writer and editors of the Post article: Josef may have been a name that would let one pass as German, but it is not a Germanic name.
posted by trig at 12:21 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by confluency at 1:22 AM on February 5, 2023

May his memory be a blessing.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:13 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:43 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by pangolin party at 3:51 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by dbiedny at 5:05 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 6:01 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by lordrunningclam at 6:08 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by Kattullus at 6:28 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by Splunge at 7:45 AM on February 5, 2023

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posted by winesong at 8:08 AM on February 5, 2023

Looks like Europa, Europa is on HBO Max in the US.
posted by stevil at 8:50 AM on February 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

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posted by clavdivs at 9:03 AM on February 5, 2023

I always feel a strange delight when I hear stories of Holocaust survivors (for example) living to be very old, surviving, succeeding, living fully. like, in your face, genocide!

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posted by supermedusa at 9:53 AM on February 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by snuffleupagus at 10:33 AM on February 5, 2023

This is eerily similar to my father's experience. He wasn't a member of the Hitler Youth but he was given a gift of a black ski outfit that closely resembled a Hitler Youth uniform (minus the insignia). When he wore it, people just assumed he was a member and treated him accordingly. He would ride the car on the Warsaw tram reserved for Germans. From his memoir:

While I rode in the almost empty compartment, the Poles were squeezed like sardines in the rest of the tram. They stared at me with hatred, and I could barely contain my desire to laugh in their faces. I was contemplating the newest absurdity of my situation—being hated by the Poles not for being a Jew but for being a German. This new twist of fate gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I was fooling the whole world, Poles and Germans alike. I thought that if I survived the war I should become a spy; or maybe a diplomat.

posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:07 AM on February 5, 2023 [17 favorites]

The Polish poster for the film is so evocative
posted by migurski at 1:14 PM on February 5, 2023

There's an amazing scene in Europa Europa when our protagonist is hauled up in front of an SS class... to serve as a demonstration of a perfect Aryan specimen.
posted by doctornemo at 1:48 PM on February 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by doctornemo at 1:48 PM on February 5, 2023

Weirdly, the day before this news broke, Europa Europa popped into my head and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a streaming service so I could watch it, to no avail. I saw the movie in theatre when it came out and it made a huge, disquieting impression on me.

There's an amazing scene in Europa Europa when our protagonist is hauled up in front of an SS class... to serve as a demonstration of a perfect Aryan specimen.

Related:

Werner Goldberg (3 October 1919 – 28 September 2004) was a German who was of half Jewish ancestry, or Mischling in Nazi terminology, who served briefly as a soldier during World War II. His image appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt as "The Ideal German Soldier", and was later used in recruitment posters and propaganda for the Wehrmacht.

You may well have seen his image before even if you don't know the name.
posted by Rumple at 10:15 PM on February 5, 2023 [3 favorites]