Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit is a dark comedy-drama, set on Nazi Germany, about a boy who is a big fanatic of Adolf Hitler yet feels his views change when he encounters a Jewish girl that his mother hid in their house. The movie divided critics because of the Nazi’s comedic depiction and the light treatment of its subject matter.
Nevertheless, it reaped many awards for the season and gained 6 nominations for this year’s Oscars. Even though it is a loose depiction of history, it still retains historical connections to World War II for a movie featuring imaginary Adolf Hitler.
10 HISTORICAL: Collecting Scrap Metal
After his injuries from a hand grenade, Jojo was designated to small duties in the army, like spreading propaganda posters and collecting scrap metal for the war efforts. For the latter, he even has a designated costume that he parades throughout his hometown while pulls a cart.
While the papier-mâché costume is a comedic stretch to the bit, the effort in collecting scrap metal is accurate. Boys under the Hitlerjugend (HJ) are driven with the goal of victory in the war. Thus, their duties fall on door-to-door errands, like delivering draft notices, collecting scrap metals and other needed war materials.
9 HISTORICAL: The Hand Grenade Stielhandgranate
Stick hand grenades had been in use by the German Empire since the first World War, but it spiked in production by the Wehrmacht (the military) during World War II. This was the type of grenade that caused Jojo his facial scars and injuries, but more specifically, a Model 1943 was used.
In the movie’s context, after encouragement by imaginary Hitler over his fear of killing a rabbit in front of his fellow trainees, a driven Jojo sprinted along the forest training grounds, caught a Stielhandgranate from Captain Klezendorf (Sam Rockwell) and threw it over. But it landed near him.
8 HISTORICAL: News About Axis Forces
There have been two prominent mentions of the Axis powers in the film.
One is about the Italian front that Jojo’s father was presumably designated in. The Italian forces are led by the similar charismatic but notorious Benito Mussolini. At the stage of the film’s period, Allied forces seized parts of Italy, and Mussolini was held under arrest and eventually killed.
Another is about the Japanese forces. After Allied forces stormed Jojo’s hometown, Yorki told Jojo that the Japanese army are the only ones that the Germans trust on. At this point, the Japanese Imperial Army is on heavy losses.
7 FICTIONAL: “Free Germany” Signs
In historical context, there have been anti-Nazi resistance personnel that encompassed the history of Nazi Germany. And like Hitler’s loyalists, they also spread their own propaganda.
In the film, Jojo’s mother Rosie Betzler (Scarlett Johansson) had been spreading paper strip signs that translated to “Free Germany”. She was placing them on strategic spots for citizens to encounter that Jojo in his papier-mâché scrap metal getup caught her without her noticing.
While the theme of “Free Germany” has been relevant for anti-Nazi groups (though popular cases mock the Nazis), this type of propaganda was only made on the film’s basic context.
6 HISTORICAL: Hitler’s Suicide
Back on the time that Jojo and Yorki reunited on the film’s final act of the Allied forces storming the town, the latter brought up to his best friend that Adolf Hitler committed suicide. This leads to the assumption that the film’s setting may have taken place on the 30th of April 1945 (or around that date), the day the Nazi Führer took his own life in his Führerbunker. This fate came as a result of the Allied forces advancing towards Berlin.
The news shook Jojo, who already had a shifting view on the once charismatic figure he once idolized.
5 HISTORICAL: Anti-Semitism Indoctrination
One of the effective tools that the Nazi party used for their propaganda is to demoralize Jews with outlandish allegations and paint them as demons. This resulted in anti-Jewish plots, the most disheartening of which is the Holocaust.
This is a recurring theme throughout the movie as Jojo, eager to learn from Jewish customs, tries to convince the hiding Jew girl Elsa to share “Jewish secrets” to him for his book. The 10-year-old was already shared with “facts” like Jews having horns, reading minds and corrupting innocent souls. And as innocent as it is, this is still textbook anti-Semitism indoctrination.
4 FICTIONAL: American and Soviet Forces Converge in One Battle
The film’s final act consists of Allied forces, both American and Russian troops, storming Jojo’s hometown and seizing the remaining Nazi forces. While there is a point in World War II that American and Soviet forces converge at the Elbe River, there was no significant operation during the war that the two armies cooperated.
There have been historical reports that the two distinctive parties often clashed in friendly fire from aerial and land combat, in spite of what the Tehran Conference presented. Thus, in the film, the coordination of both American and Soviet forces is to depict Allied forces overall.
3 HISTORICAL: Public hanging of Anti-Nazi Resistance Members
Back again in anti-Nazi perpetrators, the Third Reich would subject them to public humiliation and eventually public hanging. The element about the German resistance in the film was partially inspired by figures like the Ehrenfeld Group (who were executed on the 10th of November 1944) and the Schwarz Kapelle (who were executed after the July 20 plot).
In the film, Rosie was part of an unnamed anti-Nazi resistance group who assisted the Jews. Her character is partially inspired by other figures like Jane Haining, Irena Sendler and Tina Strobos. Sadly, her character met her fate, along with fellow resistance fighters.
2 HISTORICAL: The Presence of Gestapo
An element in the film is the depiction of the official secret police known as Gestapo. Interpreted as tall, brooding figures with bowler hats and dark suits, led by the comically frightening Deertz (Stephen Merchant) who raided the Betzler’s in a tense scene, the Gestapo was assigned to inspect homes around Nazi-occupied Germany to search for presumed Jews and accomplices.
The power given to the Gestapo was to investigate cases of treason, espionage, sabotage and criminal offenses against the Nazi party. This police force was also designated with the authority of "protective custody" or to imprison people without due process.
1 HISTORICAL: Deutsches Jungvolk
The film’s highlight is the depiction of the Deutsches Jungvolk or the “German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth”. With an age range from 10 to 14, the Deutsches Jungvolk followed the same statutes of the Boy Scouts with activities centering on sports, camping, and hiking. But the true purpose of the organization is to introduce boys to the doctrines of the Nazi party and repeat their philosophies.
Director Taika Waititi took creative liberties to depict the Deutsches Jungvolk with war-ready trainings that were taken from the proper Hitler Youth or Hitlerjugend for ages 14 to 18. The knife requirement, a recurring gag in the film, was taken from the Hitlerjugend rulebook.
While there are certainly light quirks on the Hitler Youth Camp element, it was not far off from the actual Deutsches Jungvolk that the Third Reich had in history.
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