Jewish Boys on the Run: The Revision of Boyhood in Holocaust Fiction and Film

Focusing on Rachel Seiffert’s 2017 novel A Boy in Winter and Pepe Danquart’s 2013 film Run Boy Run, this essay argues that representations of Jewish boyhood in Holocaust fiction and film posit critical challenges to the timeless coming-of-age boy’s story and restoration of a mythical “golden age.” Among features that invite comparative study, the protagonists in both Seiffert’s novel and Danquart’s film struggle to survive on the run with hidden identities after their parents are rounded up by the Nazis. In Danquart’s film, eight-year-old Srulik runs from the Nazis only because his father commands him to. In Seiffert’s novel, thirteen-year-old Yankel escapes with his younger brother on his own initiative, without informing their parents.