Eastern Europe Impacts the Heartland

Recently I had the occasion to see Wes Anderson's latest cinematic entry, "The Grand Hotel Budapest", an engaging and brilliantly imaginative farce inspired by the writings of the Viennese writer Stefan Zweig.  The movie entertains the senses and feeds the brain, so much so that I went to view it a second time and will likely see it again in the future.  However, I now find myself increasingly fascinated with the life of Zweig, a brilliant and insightful observer whose fortune in life caused him to be witness to the most tragic period of European history, the Nazi era.

Zweig was a non-observant Jew who made his entry into the world in 1881.  The glitter and hope of Europe in the early 20th century was shattered by its grim collision with World War I.  A certain measure of idealism flourished even during that bleak period.  However, the descent of Europe into the hell of World War II eradicated the remaining hopes and dreams of intellectuals such as Zweig.  Realizing that in Hitler's depraved universe non-observant Jews were regarded as equally worthy of death as those who identified fully with their heritage, Zweig made his way to New York with his second wife, Lotte Altmann, in 1940 and, later that year, to the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.  Growing increasingly depressed with the worsening world situation and despondent that humanity had sunk so low, the two committed suicide with a barbiturate overdose in 1942.

Hopelessness is searing and painful.  By its very nature, those who have lost all hope feel it is useless to even attempt to go on.  Ironically, Stefan Zweig remains a celebrated writer to this day, and the home outside Rio where he and his wife lived is now a museum established in his honor.  A further touch of irony is the fact that Wes Anderson's treatment of Zweig's view of the world seems, to me at least, to ignite both hope and a bit of renewed faith.  One can only hope that somehow the souls of Zweig and his wife are aware of the impact they wielded on the rest of us.

Which brings us to this question:  Where are we now?  Has humanity learned anything?  How do we face life in a post-20th century world?  Each of us must decide.