Badenheim 1939

Plot summary

Badenheim is a primarily Jewish resort town in Austria that hosts a yearly arts festival, organized by Dr. Pappenheim. Slowly, the Nazi regime, represented by the "Sanitation Department", begins shutting down the town and preparing to move its residents to Eastern Europe. The citizens begin blaming each other and losing their minds. Despite impending doom, others remain optimistic and refuse to see the coming Holocaust.

Characters in Badenheim 1939

Dr. Pappenheim

an optimistic and eccentric impresario who visits Badenheim each summer to organize the annual music festival. He craves structure, constantly refers to schedules and timetables, but is always able to find positive explanations for the most ominous of actions.

Frau Zauberblit

an escapee from a nearby sanatorium, she appears to have mild symptoms of tuberculosis. In her gay straw hat, she enjoys the companionship and culture that Badenheim provides.

Martin

the local pharmacist, is self-conscious and quick to blame himself for the problems of others. He is dedicated to his ailing wife, Trude.

Trude

Martin’s wife; stricken with severe depression and paranoia; she constantly awaits news from her daughter.

Sally and Gertie

two local middle-aged prostitutes, largely accepted by the community.

Mandelbaum

an eccentric musician who arrives late in the season along with a musical trio.

Dr. Shutz

a boyish, love-starved doctor who is in love with a visiting schoolgirl who he soon learns is pregnant.

Dr. Langmann

claiming his Austrian heritage with pride, he is quick to denounce his Judaism in order to maintain his status.

Karl and Lotte

a couple who journey to Badenheim for the music festival. Karl has dragged a skeptical Lotte to the town, but it is Karl who loses his grip on reality as the summer wears on.

Leon Samitzky

a musician who migrated from Poland as a child and still recalls his native land with fondness.

The yanuka

Nahum Slotzker, a polish child and musical prodigy brought to Badenheim by Dr. Pappenheim. (“Yanuka” is an Aramaic word meaning “child prodigy,” often used to describe very young and very bright Talmudic scholars.).

The rabbi

old, infirm and forgotten, he appears in his wheelchair very late in the novel, lamenting in an incomprehensible mixture of Yiddish and Hebrew.

Adaptation

In 2010, a stage version of the novel was first staged, written by Sir Arnold Wesker with music by Julian Phillips, at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London in November 2010.