Sárka Sladovníková analyzes the depiction of the Holocaust in Czechoslovak and Czech Feature
Films and the relevant literary pretexts. While she charts the social and cultural framework in
which the films were made and how this framework changed she also focuses on the cinematic
language the composition of and narration in each film (e.g. the depiction of the war and the
Shoah as a narratively closed versus a narratively open event) genre aspects of the films
(e.g. the use of comedy and humor) convention and innovation in presenting motifs and
characters (the division of gender roles the character of the good German). Particular
attention is paid to the portrayal of stereotypes and countertypes in the films where already
well-known images situations and backdrops are repeated and which meet viewers' expectations
or in contrast which form countertypes and countersituations that go against the grain. Many
of the films analyzed are adaptations of literary works. Therefore this book is also a
contribution to the rapidly developing field of adaptation studies.
