Day of Atonement - Margaret Wood

Day of Atonement – Margaret Wood

The one–act play “Day of Atonement” by Margaret Wood describes the themes of redemption and forgiveness as its central motif. The play focuses on the background of the Nazi holocaust in Germany at the time of World War II. The play unveils the life and experiences of the Jacob’s family and their association with the German doctor, Dr. Kraus. Jacob, along with his wife Marthe and their children Otto and Ilse are the Jewish victims in Nazi oppression. The Jacob’s family continued to live in Germany even after the end of Nazi holocaust. The time of this play takes place after twelve years of their horrifying experiences of the Nazi oppression.

During their life in Germany they get acquainted with a German doctor named Dr. Kraus, a surgeon who is bent on serving the poor and helpless Jews. As part of his service he successfully operates Ilse who is suffering from tuberculosis. Jacob and Marthe are thankful to the doctor for saving the life of their daughter. But Otto, Jacob’s son, does not like the doctor. He knew that Dr. Kraus had indulged in torturing Jews in Nazi concentrate camps.  When Otto realizes that Dr. Kraus is visiting them, he suddenly goes out of the house telling his parents that he is going to his friend, Moishe’s house.

On the night, When, Dr. Kraus visits Jacob’s family to tell them about the success of Ilse’s operation and her further improvement. Jacob and Marthe want to share their happiness and express their gratitude by serving wine to Dr. Kraus for helping their daughter to recover form illness. Otto re-enters the scene while Dr. Kraus is in their house. He argues with his parents when they scold him for not greeting Dr. Kraus who is considered as their ‘guest and benefactor’.  In a fit of anger Otto discloses Dr. Kraus’s cruel activities in concentrate camps to his parents. He reveals that this doctor used to carry out experiments to see how much pain the human body can withstand without actually dying….’ by conducting “surgery on the healthy’ and ‘operations to mutilate the strong’. Further, Otto exposes that the doctor’s real name was Holtz and not Kraus who worked as a doctor in the Nazi concentration camps and indulged in such cruel and criminal activities. But for the past twelve years Dr. Kraus is trying to make amends for his past crimes by extending his services to the helpless and poor Jews as he was being influenced by the speeches of Carl Baecke.

The character of Carl Baecke further reinstates the themes of redemption and forgiveness. Carl Baccke, a Jew of the Theresienstadt camp changed the life of Dr. Kraus. He used to hold meetings everyday in any one of the huts at nights though his wife and four sisters died in another concentrate camp. The Nazi’s thought that he was planning a revolt. One night Kraus slipped into the back of the hut. The hut was crammed with the poor Jews. Carl Baecke bowed to him when he saw Kraus enter the hut. He was giving lectures on philosophy from Plato to Kant. It was then that he realized that they (the Jews) were great people. Moreover when the war was over, the Russian commander handed the doctor and other Nazis to the Jews to avenge their crimes. But then it was Carl Baecke who helped the doctor to escape from the middle of the Jewish mob. These incidents changed the attitude of Kraus towards the Jews. From then onwards the doctor was trying to redeem himself and atone for his past crimes.

When Otto disclosed the identity of Dr. Kraus and his past, Jacob tries to lighten the situation. In spite of knowing about all this cruelty toward Jews, Jacob and Marthe wholeheartedly forgive the doctor. When Otto argues with Jacob on killing the doctor, Jacob says that he neither forgets nor forgives nor he will take revenge. Further he states that any good Jew wants to avenge the dead though Otto is bent on taking revenge. Otto decides to kill Dr. Kraus for all his wrongdoings but his parents vehemently oppose him from doing such an act. The doctor tells Jacob and Marthe that he is surrender before the court. Jacob requests the doctor to escape from the house but Dr. Kraus willingly steps out of the house where he is caught and shot by the Jews.

The Jews waiting outside the house of Jacob kill the Dr. Kraus. Otto feels a bit softened at the death of the doctor and he joins his father in reading the Psalms of David in the Bible. Though Jacob and Otto stands as opposite poles till the end of the play, they reconcile with each other at the end of the play.

The play thus stands as a poignant expression of themes of redemption and forgiveness.

---0---