Hannah Kraus and Walter Beer were middle-class Jews living in the Central European region of Central Europe when Nazi Germany invaded their country in 1939. In the following years, the new dictatorship robbed the family and the community, but they survived and came to the U.S. where they married and raised a family.
Hannah and Walter were my grandparents. I was not old enough to hear their stories as a child, but during my last year in high school, a newspaper assignment asked me to research the Holocaust and similar accounts. I've been given more insight into a part of my family history – my grandmothers I've found a deep connection to my past with an unpleasant source: The Witcher saga.
Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski published his first Witcher story in 1986, a few years before the Communist Party collapsed in power in Poland. His novels, which follow the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia as he searches for his adopted daughter Ciri in a war-torn country, were published in the 1990s but gained immense popularity after CD Projekt Red turned them into video games starting in the late 2000s. Now new viewers have stumbled upon The Continent with the release of Netflix & # 39; s Witch, but while honest in literature, the series comes from a historical context where source material came from 30 years ago.
Only Sapkowski can say exactly what was on his mind when writing his stories – kingdoms, characters, and political parties in Witcher lore do not directly connect to any of their real-world counterparts – but among legends, there are parallels to the complex history of racial conflict and oppression in Central and Eastern Europe. Fighting with fearsome monsters is scary, but Geralt's survival at a brutal time, reflecting a global conflict, speaks to the larger truths.
Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix
Years of migration bring diversity and war
The fantasy world of The Witcher resembles medieval Europe. The first robust creatures that formed the continent – thousands of years before Geralt's birth – were gnats, after which they multiplied, according to an account from the young Yarpen Zigrin to Ciri e Blood Elves, Witcher's first novel. (Much of what is in The Witcher's books is clear, sorted through cases of speculation, and discussed.) Elves later came to the Continent from elsewhere, and fought against other civilians. A mysterious disaster called Meeting of the Spheres eventually he brought the same places in line with the unnamed world where the continent was. After the war, people cross over to this planet after it destroys the home world, another elf tells Geralt in Sitkows' fourth book of Sitkows, The Tower of Swallow.
These newcomers fought the war with the elves and other non-human beings, eventually beginning to establish the Northern Kingdom. People build cities over eleven ruins. The Nalfgaardian Empire extended south. By the time the Witcher story began, many people who were not in the Northern Kingdom had already entered the human race, even though they lived in ghettos and were treated like an underground tree. Some human beings live in the wild to avoid human control. Elves, dwarves, and halflings rebel against people and set up units of the Scia & # 39; tael terrorists, committing violent acts of terrorism.
Witcher's edits (and the devastating debate) are reminiscent of the important history of Central and Eastern Europe. The part of Europe stretching from the eastern border of Germany to the interior of Russia has been less to migrate and attacks from West, Middle East and Asia, although the history of this area is incomplete and unclear. By the end of the 10th century, this place had dominated us The Slavs, Hunting, Turkic-speaking (but also multicultural) Khazar pomegranate, The Frankish Germans, Magyars, i Kievan Rus, and others.
Sapkowski grew up in a world that knows its history, and this story of The Witcher shares a deep connection with the past. Conflicts between people and people mean real-world conflicts over territory and citizens that draw the lines of racial, ethnic, or ethnic divisions. This has happened in Poland many times. But the fact of the matter is this: Poland has a heritage of diversity that goes back to at least the Middle Ages.
The Polish state was founded in 1025, but some historians believe that its origins as a date for the empire date back to Polish Christianity and baptism. Duke Mieszko I in the year 966. The The Mongols crossing the Russian border from Central Asia, exclaimed Kyiv, then invaded Poland in the mid-13th century. In 1264, Duke Bolesław the Pious issued The Kalisz statement, giving special rights to the Jews in the Greater Poland region as the Western Christian countries persecuted them. His successors agreed and expanded the system so it covered the whole of Poland. Tatars are Muslims living in these unions The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century and have lived in Polish countries for centuries. Romanians (sometimes called "gypsies" by Europeans, though many now think that word is offensive) were written Poland in the 15th century.
Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix
The Witcher is like a historical complexity
In addition to the history of diversity in Poland, the decision to distribute color in the Netflix Witcher series has attracted a backlash online, especially in the background others opposed the idea that Geralt's adopted daughter, Ciri, it can be played by a white man. (The production is by British actor Freya Allan, white). The overall cast that plays people and non-humans, however, is different. Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich took a break from Twitter due to an online dispute, but commented on her decisions after her return.
"Books are Polish and full of Slavic spirit," he said Tweeted July 26th. “It was important to keep that voice in our show. (…) The Witcher is REALLY amazing when it comes to expressing race because it is about genres, not skin color. What makes the characters is that & # 39; others & # 39; ear formation, height, etc. In the books, no one cares about the color of the skin. In the series … no one does. Time. ”
The Northern Kingdom of the Witcher District is also a complex society where discrimination resides and sometimes coheses. Elven sages helped people learn how to control magic, before their relationships weakened and became violent. While the romance of the couple plays lore, Sapkowski portrays other elves as despising people and their teammates. Some settlers act as bankers to the people or agents of human masters, but are at risk of doing so and have nothing to do with non-human rebellion. Non-sthumotyped and directed at spreading propaganda. Attacks by people who are not like people are often called out too pogroms, the Russian word used to describe mob violence against Jews and other ethnic groups in Central and Eastern Europe. Witches, magical and chemical transformers, were killed by the pogrom before the start of the series.
The ethnic divisions that characterize everyday life in the Northern Kingdom have seemed to be largely inspired by the history of ethnic relations in Poland, which has been fluid and complex. Poland medieval, Christian anti-Semitism led to an outbreak of violence against Jews. The Jews had great religious freedom during their stay The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formally organized in 1569, but the development of Jewish communities in Poland led to a certain break from Christianity. As the Commonwealth deteriorates, anti-Semitism worsens. Romanians were persecuted, discriminated against, discriminated against, and persecuted throughout Europe and in the Middle Ages. Poland welcomes anti-Romani laws in the 16th century, but there is evidence that some people have ignored these rules. Some Romanians settled in the Commonwealth and found employment as everything from farmers to artisans to horse traders.
The game of sovereignty leads to the genocide
War is constantly erupting on the continent. The Nasfgaardian defeat shown in the Netflix series is one of the struggles that the Northern Empire endured through the saga (and with all of Sapkowski's written history). Each kingdom is often at war with one another. The rulers of the North, and those who want to take them away, sometimes want political alliance with Geralt because of his abilities as a hunter and anti-predator. But Geralt is aware of political corruption, oppression, and full-scale discrimination in the Northern Kingdom, and refuses to allow himself to participate in an alliance with the emperor.
Poland, likewise, is known for war and oppression. From 1772 until the 18th century, Russia, Prussia, and Austria invaded and occupied Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the three categories, to rob Poland of democracy for 123 years. Poland regained its independence in 1918, but its sovereignty did not last long: Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and occupied the western part of the country, threw the Polish government into exile. Soviet troops crossed the center in eastern Poland later the same month and they entered it. The partition of Poland is believed by many to be the result of a secret clause of a the agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany. The Nazis established ghettos in which to lock the Jews in their place, and they ran concentration camps and death camps including Auschwitz.
Non-Witchers are often the most active and active victims. The Sciaia & # 39; tael is a rare and bizarre opposition to human rule through wars and attacks on underground weapons. Some elves devise political strategies to protect eleven rights or to protect their heritage. Geralt is offered the opportunity to help the rebels, but the streets endanger them for political use that could end violence.
The desperate efforts made by the non-human beings in The Witcher to counteract the dictatorship recalls the great steps the oppressed people in the real world have sometimes taken to protect themselves. The Nazis are equipping a century of ethnic and religious conflicts to justify the massacre and massacre of Roma, Romanians, and members of the LGBTQ community. But the target races also fought back despite being unable, even though they could have serious consequences. The Jews in the middle cooperative units in Poland and Eastern Europe an allied gang prove against the Nazis. Arrested Jews opposed the expulsion from the Nazi death camp used by Treblinka during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. When SS guards were armed with machine guns to transport the residents of the "gypsy camp" in Auschwitz to the gas chambers in May 1944, Romanian prisoners were equipped with whatever they could find or equipped to defend themselves. Their resistance forced the Nazis to delay the termination of the camp until August. The stakes, the Nazis considered low, he rebelled The Nazis in the 1944 Warsaw Rebellion.
Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix
Things get very complicated
Witcher's books portray the Sciaia & # 39; tael uprising and the North Kingdoms' opposition to Nilfgaard in shades of gray. Opposition and resistance to independence allow oppressed people to defend their rights and freedoms. But sometimes the movement can be damaged or abused.
In the second battle, the Nilfgaardian Empire secretly supports the Scoia & # 39; tael rebellion and uses it to impose Northern sanctions and lead the way for Nasfgaard's invasion. Nilfgaard promises the return of the old elven garden of Dol Blathanna to the Empire Kingdoms to the elves as co-payment. The rulers of the Northern Kingdom used the fear of non-humanitarian uprisings to establish nationalism in their domain. In Blood Elves, another master even uses non-human characters to filter Scoia & # 39; taiga. People fear that the unofficial Dol Blathanna could become a Nalfgaard state empire.
Ciri's short friend, Yarpen Zigrin, loyal to the northern king, questions the motives and tactics of Sciaia & # 39; tael on Blood Elves. He considers them delusional and is confident that they are supported by Nalfgaard, before it can be proven true. Many people in Eastern and Eastern Europe remember this kind of skepticism as the Communist parties came to power there. The failure of the Allies & # 39; Nazis liberated the oppressed people from the genocide regime, but exposed him to deception. During the Nazi war, the Soviet Union in Moscow liberated the Jews from Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. It sucked Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, along with other sectors during World War II, and decades later, lifted the Communist governments that kept them as member states of the USSR until they won independence.
Socialist and Communist groups from governments that would treat everyone equally would rise up in the majority The influential Soviet continent as Poland and Czechoslovakia. Many were skeptical, and anti-Communist groups were rising. (Yugoslavia broke up from the Soviet Union and formed its socialist system before finally breaking up into separate states in the early 1990s.) Blood Elves, Yarpen Zigrin tells Ciri that most people do not support Scoia & # 39; tael, and prefer to stay with people in rebellion. And as the series goes on, some Scooters are protesting their union with Nilfgaard.
The increasing Communist governments in the Middle East and Eastern Europe are far short of achieving the independence goals they achieve; they often turned to oppression. The ruling Communist party in Poland forced a Romanian governor living under sedentary communities in 1964, but introduced the effort as an extension of a consolidation campaign. When a political difficulties, the Communist regime in Poland cleared most of the Jews from their positions in 1968 and forced the transfer of at least 13,000 Jews or poles with Jewish ancestry from the state. NATO has supported opposition parties and efforts to create an independent democracy worldwide. Conflicts between the USSR and NATO intensified the Cold War, which sparked conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Nilfgaard's use of Sciataata to fight the visuals of war is how the insurgency is selected in the real world to fight proxy wars.
NATO's victory has led to the rise of a new democratic state and a post-colonial country, but its campaigns sometimes put developing countries in and create new political clashes within them. Ethnic relations have diminished in some communities. In retrospect when myths once again show the truth, the war between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms reshapes the Continent's political landscape, creates new political clashes, and perpetuates ethnic divisions behind it.
Politics gets worse
Democratic, autonomous governments came to power in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, as well as throughout Central and Eastern Europe, following the collapse of the Communist regime and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But the racial tensions of the past remain, such as racism and prejudice targeting non-human beings is a constant threat throughout the Witcher timeline.
Sapkowski suggests that these issues will outweigh the existing conflicts. This seems to be the case in Eastern Europe. People in the region and outside are concerned about the apparent re-emergence of anti-Semitic and anti-Romanians and anti-Muslim sentiment. The rise of nationalism has resulted in it refugee infestation by conservation governments, and xenophobia fueled by fears of invasion history and a media outlet that can be used to address violent political goals such as propaganda used in The Witcher. The Polish government has also been accused of trying to create a way for people to remember the Holocaust in Poland. These types of problems are not confined to this region. Raised their heads around the world, including here in America Fear and hate for something are the constant problems that plague the Witcher's world, as they threaten our own.
Transforming a series of books that many fans consider to be the favorite examples of Polish literature in the global TV series is a challenge that could even give Geralt a break. Polygon asked Hissrich how he remained loyal to the Polish roots of the Witcher.
"Poland itself has, historically, been taken over by other countries and been ruled by politics for a long time, and affected the people who lived there that obviously had an impact on Sapkowski," Hissrich said. “The most important thing I have found is that there is a kind of engagement and fun with many Polish people I have met, and it is their desire to keep going, and it is something that I find really good in these characters. With this tragedy, among the worst things that have happened in the world, the characters in our show continue to put their feet ahead of each other and continue to move things. ”
The so-called witch code shows that Geralt lives in it gives him reason to avoid political involvement as the world revolves around him. Refuses to formally associate with any political party or state; only a witch hunts gold monsters. He sympathizes with the loss lost to the people and not the people, but will not take part in the Sciataata rebellion. He will take over the duties of paid security officers, but will not sign up for the army or kill politics. He is constantly criticized for his weaknesses, and his complex choices often have real consequences.
But you are also the type that will put yourself in danger of protecting your friends from the pogrom.
Freedom of speech is a powerful weapon. My grandparents used their own to testify in the Holocaust documents in the hope of preventing future genocide. The History of the Witcher frames the history of producing action-packed drama that depicts war and its costs.
Alex Tiegen is a journalist, researcher and information expert. When he does not go deep into the history of business and meet and be bought, he searches for secrets and ignores the stories that enlighten us on the past and the diversity of our modern world. He is also creating a catalog for his first library video game. You can find her work in national and regional newspapers and corporate offices worldwide. Contact her at @AlexTiegen.
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