Characters
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler is nicknamed “the sleepwalker” in Europe Central. A sleepwalker walks with assurance because in his reverie, he does not see the perils before him. Hitler ignores many of the obvious perils before him because he is blinded by hatred. His followers are also asleep or pretending to be asleep, denying the atrocities of the “final solution.”
Hitler admires the music of German composer Richard Wagner because the intense nationalism and view of the German people embodied in Wagner’s operas coincides with Hitler’s own views. The Wagner music metaphor also appears throughout the novel to expose Hitler’s racist views.
Nothing historically new is revealed about Hitler in this novel, but the way the story unfolds and the way the other characters interact with Hitler brings his character to life. He is a fanatic who often “appears pale, frowning.” He eats “only fruits, vegetables and little Viennese cakes.” He “clenches his teeth, he strides anxiously to and fro.”
As Germany begins losing ground in World War II, Hitler descends into further madness. The reader sees the events of history unfold through Hitler’s crazed musings as he lives vicariously through Wagner’s music. Hitler and his long-time mistress Eva Braun kill themselves in his secret underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
Joseph Stalin
Stalin’s character is not as developed as Hitler’s in Europe Central. He has minimal dialogue and most of what is learned about him is through narrators and other characters. His presence hovers over the Russian chapters like a shadow because unlike with Hitler, no chapters are devoted solely to him. Stalin’s “realist” nickname is an ironic reference to Soviet ideology. Under Stalin, Soviets pride themselves on being realists in every aspect of society. They reject religion because it is supernatural. Interpretative art or music that reflects human imagination is not for the good of the people. Stalin, therefore, is never depicted losing himself in music like Hitler does in Wagner’s operas. In fact, Stalin storms out during one of composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s performances, sending his henchman to inform Shostakovich that his music is too interpretive and does not appeal to the masses. Stalin is rational, stern, imposing and dangerous.
The irony of Stalin’s "realism" appears throughout the novel. General Vlasov finds the horrors committed under Stalin hard to believe, “unreal” he says. As Vlasov becomes more convinced that they may be true, however, his wife asks him, “Did you actually SEE Stalin’s men murder all those millions? Can you live with yourself if you’re wrong?” When Vlasov is captured by the Germans, they ask him if Stalin himself is real. Vlasov assures them that he has personally met Comrade Stalin, recalling a time when Stalin demanded Vlasov’s opinions on the protection of Moscow. Stalin had commanded Vlasov to "speak the truth, like a Communist." This is ironic because in Europe Central, Communists never speak the truth and Soviet propaganda is always unrealistic.
Stalin is also unrealistic when it comes to war because as a military leader, he is incompetent. He gives Vlasov “fifteen shopworn tanks” to defend Moscow, but Vlasov needs three times that many to repel the Germans. Later that year, Stalin appoints Vlasov deputy commander in charge of breaking the siege of Leningrad, but Vlasov realizes that this is “an impossible assignment.” As the exhausted and ill-equipped Russian troops lose more and more ground to the Germans, Stalin steadfastly refuses to allow Vlasov to retreat or surrender. Vlasov bravely decides he has no choice but to ignore Stalin’s orders for the good of his men. He instructs the men to escape in...
(This entire section contains 2388 words.)
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small groups and wishes them luck.
Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein is an officer in the German SS (Schutzstaffel or Secret Service), also known as the Gestapo. Along with Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, he is one of the heroes in Europe Central. Assigned to the Department of Hygiene as a delousing expert, it is Gerstein’s job to improve procedures for disinfecting soldiers and prisoners of war. This assignment brings him to the Nazi concentration camps where he is expected to come up with improved methods for disinfecting the areas that have been contaminated by Jewish corpses. He is told that his job will consist of two things: to “develop a procedure for disinfecting clothing” and to come up with “a faster working gas than diesel exhaust.” Gerstein is horrified. His country is asking him to defy his faith.
By his own description, Kurt Gerstein is “an Evangelical” who, as a young boy, loses three teeth defending his faith. A member of The Hitler Youth “insulted our Lord in their performance of Wittekind by Edmund Kiss.” The youth jumps up and yells, “We’ll have no Savior who weeps and laments!” to which Kurt responds, shouting, “We shall not allow our faith to be publicly mocked without protest!” He is kicked to the ground and his teeth are knocked out. His missing teeth are his red badge of courage, something that distinguishes him from the crowd of German people blindly following “the sleepwalker” and shouting “Heil Hitler!” When Gerstein tries to warn the world about Hitler’s “final solution," however, he symbolically has his teeth knocked out all over again. Few people believe him, and those that do are too powerless or too afraid to take action.
Gerstein’s father is a Nazi who claims to be a Christian. He is a hypocrite who can listen to a sermon entitled “Thou shalt not kill” and not apply it to himself. Gerstein has a conversation with his father about the war in which he assures his father that “God will do what’s best.” Rather than be comforted, his father fears that Gerstein is being disloyal to Hitler and shouts, “In the name of the All-Highest, do you support our Führer or not?”
Gerstein must defend his faith not only to his father but also to his friends and colleagues. For his wife and children’s sake, Gerstein continues to work in the Department of Hygiene as a delousing expert while secretly trying to sabotage shipments of the deadly gas Zyklon B. His colleagues ridicule him, calling him “Pastor Gerstein” and “Rabbi Gerstein.” When he refuses to join his colleagues as they share stories about killing Jews, one man comments, “Sometimes I find your patently Christian attitude offensive.”
Gerstein’s friends try to discredit and discourage him, accusing him of being a hypocrite. They point out that if he feels so strongly about his principles, the only honorable thing to do is resign from the SS. His friend Helmut Franz explains to Gerstein that as long as he remains in the SS, he is indeed taking part in the evil. Shocked, Gerstein replies, “I bear no responsibility,” but Franz continues to point out to him that he is a prideful sinner who thinks he is better than everyone else as he tries to wage his one-man war against the atrocities.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich is a Russian classical music composer. In the novel, he is a brilliant and innovative musician, a heavy drinker and smoker, a hesitant speaker who talks in incomplete sentences, an unfaithful husband, and a passionate lover. Shostakovich courageously resists being swallowed up by Communist ideology throughout his life. Along with Nazi-resister Kurt Gerstein, he is one of the heroes in Europe Central.
Shostakovich maintains an ongoing roller-coaster relationship with the Soviet government. Although he receives some of their highest honors, his relationship with Stalinist Russia is more often adversarial because he is unable to “refrain from uttering rash, irreverent and at times even provocative speeches against Soviet power.” As a result, the government periodically bans his music, not only for his anti-Soviet statements but also for what the Soviets call “formalism." Stalinists claim that his music, although brilliant, is too concerned with aspects of form at the expense of simple, uplifting notes that glorify the Soviet state and appeal to the masses. Like Wagner, his music is a metaphor in the novel, only Shostakovich’s compositions celebrate his life, his struggles, and his loves.
Shostakovich continues to believe that if he stays away from politics, “nobody would touch him,” but he soon discovers this is naive. Eventually, the Communist Party pursues him. When they fail to intimidate him into joining the Party, they persecute his loved ones. His mistress Elena is sent away to prison for a year. His older sister is exiled to Central Asia. His brother-in-law is arrested. His friend Dombrovsky is killed. His old friend Tukhachevsky is arrested, tortured, put on trial, and killed.
Elena Konstantinovskaya
Elena is a beautiful, intelligent, captivating woman who is “an object of obsessive desire” for many men in Europe Central. She has long dark hair and deep, smoky eyes that penetrate. She is a linguist and translator who, unlike her life-long lover Dmitri Shostakovich, is not a rebel but “more the good girl” in Soviet Russia. In the novel, Elena is presented as a passionate lover of both men and women, part of a “love triangle” that also includes Shostakovich and her husband Roman Karmen. Elena is a complicated woman, one who genuinely loves the men she is with, even though she often is with them simultaneously.
Elena inspires Shostakovich’s most brilliant music, especially his famous "Opus 40" which is a metaphor of their relationship. While Elena is giving Shostakovich English lessons, he captivates her. He is likewise captivated with her and builds “opus 40 for her and him to dwell in.” She weeps when Shostakovich plays the piano for her. During one of Stalin’s purges, Elena is arrested and put in prison for a year in a failed attempt to force Shostakovich to join the Party. Shostakovich sends her postcards, and when she is released, they resume their affair. She is warned by officials that from now on, she will need to be “more careful in her associations.” Elena leaves for Spain telling Shostakovich, "I’ll never come back...and I won’t kiss you again, not ever.” However, she is going to Spain to pursue another man.
Elena’s character represents Europe in the novel. Like Europe, she is a prize sought after by many but conquered by none. Elena is fluent in many European languages. She is adept at translating German, which makes her useful to the Russians during World War II. She travels to Spain in search of Russian filmmaker Roman Karmen because she is moved by a newsreel he has produced during the Spanish Civil War. Karmen falls passionately in love with Elena, and they marry. Karmen is “the antithesis of the helpless, rumpled Shostakovich,” yet Elena soon realizes that although Karmen loves her, he does not need her like Shostakovich does. Elena is a woman that needs to be needed. Karmen insists that he does need Elena, but she is not convinced. He begs her to stay with him and to tell him that she is the one for him, but she does not “want to be pinned down like a butterfly.” Back in Russia, she is unfaithful to him with Shostakovich. Karmen is willing to accept the love triangle as long as Elena does not leave him. His friends urge him to divorce her. Comrade Alexandrov tells him, “Your wife has flirty eyes. I mean no disrespect; that’s her nature.” Eventually, they do divorce. Although she continues to love Shostakovich, they never marry and Elena eventually marries Professor Vigodsky. At Elena’s request, Shostakovich returns a photo that she has given to him, reluctantly agreeing that it is “something that doesn’t belong to me,” and their story ends with the conclusion that Elena loved Shostakovich “without understanding him, which may be the noblest love of all.”
Roman Karmen
Roman Karmen is a Russian documentary filmmaker. His only inheritance from his father is a camera, and this camera is what determines his career. At age fifteen, he decides he is going to become a photographer and he begins sending photographs to various magazines. The Soviets recognize his talent and send him to photography school. He transfers his talents to film when that medium becomes perfected and soon he is traveling all over the world, filming the most exciting and dangerous news events. It is one of these newsreels that captivates Elena Konstantinovskaya. Unlike Shostakovich, Karmen is a good Communist, “an outstanding example of our successful Soviet man.” Karmen firmly believes in Communism and his films are forceful examples of Communist propaganda. He roams the world filming Communist victories such as the Spanish Civil War and examples of rising Communism in Southeast Asia and South America. Karmen is the only filmmaker allowed to film notable totalitarian leaders such as Mao Tse-Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, and Salvador Allende.
Roman Karmen’s films are "realistic." He thus becomes the darling of Soviet Russia, where “the realist” honors his work. Unlike Shostakovich, Karmen is “fundamentally cheerful, forward-looking,” a “laughing man” who dances to Comrade Stalin’s favorite song, “Volga, Volga.” Also unlike Shostakovich, he has no problem eschewing “formalism” in his art or dutifully joining the Party. Karmen is brave and adventurous. He is the first to record the horrors of the Holocaust, immediately arriving on the scene when the Russian Army liberates the Majdanek death camp. The one quality he does share with Dmitri Shostakovich is his passionate love for Elena, but he does not understand her any better than Shostakovich does.
When Elena tells Karmen that she does not want to be with him anymore, he is devastated. He desperately puts up with her unfaithfulness hoping she will eventually come back to him. He continues to make love to her even though he senses that she is repulsed by him. He forgives her indiscretions and does not care that she is making a fool of him in front of his Comrades. He ignores their advice to divorce her, pitifully asking Elena, over and over, if she is absolutely sure that there is no hope for them. When he tells her he loves her, she replies, “I’m sorry.” He is addicted to her and would stay with her even for a “one percent chance that she would leave the other man in ten or twenty years.”
