The Devil’s Arithmetic

Age Appropriateness:

The Devil’s Arithmetic depicts some violence and upsetting images.  We believe it is appropriate for students aged 13 and older.

Summary:

The Devil’s Arithmetic tells the story of a teenage girl, Hannah, living in the late 1990s who is not connected to her Jewish faith until she time travels and experiences the Holocaust alongside her Aunt Eva.  Hannah’s journey takes viewers from the initial deportations of the Jewish people all the way to the gas chambers.

Historical Accuracy:

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007387

•  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a page dedicated to the concentration camp system
•  Here are some key facts:
•      The Nazis created concentration camps to control people who they perceived as “political, ideological, or racial opponents of the regime”
•      The German Security Police controlled the process of managing who entered, left, and was murdered in concentration camps
•      There was no element of justice which determined who served time in a concentration camp

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007328

•  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a page dedicated to the Final Solution.
•  Here are some key facts:
•      Before World War II, the Germans worked to expel the Jewish people from German territory
•      Once the Nazis invaded Poland, they began establishing ghettos to contain, rather than expel, Jewish people
•      In 1941, the Germans began using mobile killing units to murder Jewish people
•      In the fall of 1941, Himmler allowed the implementation of the Final Solution, a plan to kill all of the Jewish people

Discussion questions:

• What do you think about the use of time travel in this film?  How did it impact the way you viewed the rest of the film?
• What do you think about the portrayal of Hannah in the film?
• What do you think about the portrayal of Hannah’s family in the present day?
• What do you think about the portrayal of the Jewish people during the Holocaust?
• Who has agency in this film?  What traits give them agency?
• How do you feel about the ending of the film?
• What are the biggest lessons you took away from the film?

Our Take:

The Devil’s Arithmetic portrays elements of life in a concentration camp which are somewhat accurate, especially as a compilation of a variety of concentration camps.  It offers a method for young people to try to view the Holocaust through a modern lens.  However, the film is problematic because it both over-values the wisdom to be gained from experiencing the Holocaust and presents trivial lessons rather than those of value. At the end of the movie, Hannah is portrayed as wise and a better person for having “suffered” through the concentration camp.  The contrast of Hannah’s character at the beginning of the movie to the character at the end of the film tells viewers that the Holocaust somehow makes people better. Hannah changes from a “bad girl” who wants a tattoo into a “good girl” who prays with her family.  This simplicity fails to emphasize any major learning goals of Holocaust education.  Therefore, although this film might be a nice family movie, it does not provide significant educational benefits.