History Literature / TheDevilsArithmetic

** [[In the film, a woman is discovered to be hiding her baby, and both mother and child are taken away, presumably to be killed. Also, 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end.]]

** Also, while Hannah and Rivka are [[AgeLift]] in their mid-teens in the film, in the book, [[spoiler:Hannah and the other girls from the ''shtetl'' (Rachel, Yente, Shifre, and Esther) are all about twelve, and all die.]]
*** Also in the book, Rivka becomes a straight example, as she's only ten at the time of the book, making her about twelve or thirteen when the camp is liberated.

** Several minor characters as well, such as Rachel, Esther, and Shifre, who Hannah meets at the wedding, and the female camp guard. A female guard is heard very briefly during the scene where Hannah and the other women must change into camp clothes, but she doesn't have the same importance as the book character.

* CompositeCharacter: The film's version of Rivka is a combination of the Rivka from the book and several other characters

* HeroicSacrifice: Chaya [[spoiler: who Hannah has been reincarnated as]] saves Rivka this way.
* IdentityAmnesia: While Hannah's hair is being cut off, she realizes she can't remember her old life at all, and eventually just believes Hannah never existed. As the book draws to a close, Hannah's camp memories begin fading, and her old life comes into sharper focus. This particular element was excluded from the film, likely because it would be much harder to show this kind of internal conflict in a movie.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Some of it in-universe. The guards start rounding up people to be gassed if they hear them coughing - guessing that they're sick and therefore won't be much use soon. [[spoiler: Hannah invokes this to save Rivka's life]].

** [[spoiler: Averted completely. The Rabbi's young children are killed early on and 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end, to say nothing of the literal baby born at the camp who is carried off with her mother to presumably be killed.]]
** Played fairly straight with one child in the book. Hannah carries Leye's baby into the midden during a camp inspection, saving her from the gas. The book's epilogue tells us Leye and her baby, "a solemn three-year-old," had survived.

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Rivka is inspired to rename herself Eva after hearing Hannah's stories about her aunt. Then it turns out she will become Hannah's aunt in the future]].

* MeaningfulName: As the quotes says above, Chaya means 'life.' [[spoiler: Ironically, she gives her life so her future relative can live.]]
* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler:In the film Rivka tells Hannah that she will rename herself Eva when she leaves the camp. Hannah realises that Rivka will become her Aunt Eva in the future]]. It's slightly less blatant in the book, and is mostly used to explain why Hannah [[spoiler:didn't connect the girl she met with her aunt.]]

* PragmaticHero: Hannah and her friends are at first horrified by Rivka's pragmatic view of life in the concentration camp, but they soon change their mind
* ShotAtDawn: [[spoiler: The men who tried to escape get hanged in front of everyone at dawn]].

* TogetherInDeath

* AdaptationNameChange: In the novel when Hannah goes into the past, she assumes the identity of Chaya. In the movie her name is still Hannah.

** Several minor characters as well, such as Rachel, Esther, and Shifre, who Hannah meets at the wedding, and the female camp guard. A female guard is heard very briefly during the scene where Hannah and the other women must change into camp clothes, but it's not the same one as in the book.
** Hannah's little brother Aaron is also adapted out, and with him, one of the original major plot points: when the camp is inspected, young children must disappear or be killed, so they hide in the garbage heap or midden. This gives Hannah a brief flashback of her little brother hiding Passover ''afikomen'' in the bathroom laundry hamper.

** Once Hannah finds out what year it is, she realises that the guards interrupting the wedding are Nazis, and what is in store for everyone. But there's nothing she can do about it.
** She also realises from something her grandfather said about a botched escape attempt - that the Jews won't be able to escape. [[spoiler: The escape indeed is betrayed and the men die in the attempt]].

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Hannah before she knew about the Holocaust drew a series of numbers on her arm to show her grandfather Wolf, so that she could be like him. This was done as good intentions. This caused Wolf to yell at her, and the adults have a hard time explaining to Hannah what she did wrong. As a result she waits for the ink to wash off and doesn't talk to her grandfather. This is absent in the film, changed to the opening scene where Hannah is trying to work out what tattoo she should get. After she gets one in the camp, she comments on how stupid she was to intentionally want to get one.

* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Rivka becomes Hannah's cousin and replaces the relatives she meets when she first journeys to the past.
* DeathByAdaptation: A borderline example. In both [[spoiler: Hannah sacrifices herself and goes to the gas chambers in Rivka's place]]. In the novel it is only implied as [[spoiler: Hannah realizes as she walks into the gas chambers that she is walking back through the apartment door in the future]]. The film however actually shows it happening, complete with a shot of [[spoiler: Hannah's body]].

* GirlishPigtails: Rivka braids Hannah's hair when she is transported to the past.

* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler: Rivka tells Hannah that she will rename herself Eva when she leaves the camp. Hannah realises that Rivka will become her Aunt Eva in the future]].

* IdentityAmnesia: While Hannah's hair is being cut off, she realizes she can't remember her old life at all, and eventually just believes Hannah never existed. As the book draws to a close, Hannah's camp memories begin fading, and her old life comes into sharper focus.

It was adapted into a MadeForTVMovie starring Creator/KirstenDunst and Creator/BrittanyMurphy in 1999.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Hannah before she knew about the Holocaust drew a series of numbers on her arm to show her grandfather Wolf, so that she could be like him. This was done as good intentions. This caused Wolf to yell at her, and the adults have a hard time explaining to Hannah what she did wrong. As a result she waits for the ink to wash off and doesn't talk to her grandfather.

* TrueBlueFemininity: The dress Hannah wears to Passover is blue.

''The Devil's Arithmetic'' is a 1988 HistoricalFiction novel by Creator/JaneYolen about a teenaged Jewish girl named Hannah, who is transported through time to a 1942 Polish concentration camp. Hannah goes from being disrespectful of Jewish beliefs to realizing the importance of remembering after seeing the horrors of the time.

It was made into an {{Anvilicious}} movie starring Creator/KirstenDunst and Creator/BrittanyMurphy in 1999.

* [[DubNameChange Adaptation Name Change]]: In the novel when Hannah goes into the past, she assumes the identity of Chaya. In the movie her name is still Hannah.
* AdaptedOut: Rivka's brother Wolfe in the film. He is replaced with her mother Mina, who doubles as a CompositeCharacter of Hannah's aunt and uncle.
** Several minor characters as well, such as Rachel, Esther, and Shifre, who Hannah meets at the wedding, and the female camp guard.
** A female guard is heard very briefly during the scene where Hannah and the other women must change into camp clothes, but it's not the same one as in the book.

* AdultFear

* AnvilsThatNeededToBeDropped: The point of the book and the movie, to introduce young teenagers to the the Holocaust.

* CassandraTruth: Hannah when telling the men about the failed escape attempt.
** Also, Hannah when trying to tell anybody that she's from the future and thus knows what the Nazis are up to.

* IdentityAmnesia: While Hannah's hair is being cut off, she realizes she can't remember her old life at all, and eventually just believes Hannah never existed.
** As the book draws to a close, Hannah's camp memories begin fading, and her old life comes into sharper focus.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Averted completely. The Rabbi's young children are killed early on and 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end, to say nothing of the literal baby born at the camp who is carried off with her mother to presumably be killed.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: Not explicitly stated but left in with a bit of FridgeBrilliance. When Hannah is speaking to her Aunt Eva she remarks "the way you speak, I will never get over it". Rivka says the same thing in the past once which makes sense [[spoiler: since they're the same person]].

* ShotAtDawn

* TraumaticHaircut: TruthInTelevision as all the Jews have their hair shorn when they enter the camp. In the book Hannah remarks she has trouble telling the other women apart.
* WarIsHell
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII
* YouAreNumberSix

* AdaptedOut: Rivka's brother Wolf in the film. He is replaced with her mother Mina, who doubles as a CompositeCharacter of Hannah's aunt and uncle.

* DeathByAdaptation: A borderline example. In both [[spoiler: Hannah sacrifices herself and goes to the gas chambers in Rivka's place]]. In the novel it is only implied as [[spoiler: Hannah realizes as she walks into the gas chambers that she is walking back through the apartment door in the future]]. The film however actually shows it happening, complete with a shot of [[spoiler: Hannah's body.]]
* FanDisservice: Twice. First when the women are ordered to strip to their underwear when they enter the camp. Secondly when [[spoiler: they are about to be gassed.]]

* StableTimeLoop: In both the book and the movie, although the movie makes it more explicit

* TranslationConvention: In the book, Hannah realizes she is neither speaking nor hearing English but instead that she now understands Yiddish as if it were English. In the movie dialogue that presumably be in either Yiddish or German is rendered in English, as are prayers which presumably would be primarily spoken in Hebrew (although there are some prayers that are left untranslated, most notably the rabbi screaming out the Mourner's Kaddish with a distinct Ashkenazi accent)

* WorldWarII

** Hannah's little brother Aaron is also adapted out, and with him, one of the original major plot points: when the camp is inspected, young children must disappear or be killed, so they hide in the garbage heap or ''midden.'' This gives Hannah a brief flashback of her little brother hiding Passover ''afikomen'' in the bathroom laundry hamper.

** Played fairly straight with one child in the book. Hannah carries Leye's baby into the ''midden'' during a camp inspection, saving her from the gas. The book's epilogue tells us Leye and her baby, "a solemn three-year-old," had survived.

!!!Tropes used by the novel:

* ChekhovsGun: Subverted with Hannah knowing the outcome about the escape attempt. [[spoiler: The men don't listen to her and end up getting hanged]].

* DeathByAdaptation: A borderline example. In both [[spoiler: Hannah sacrifices herself and goes to the gas chambers in Rivka's place]]. In the novel it is only implied as [[spoiler: Hannah realizes as she walks into the gas chambers that she is walking back through the apartment door in the future]]. The film however actually shows it happening, complete with a shot of [[spoiler: Hannah's body]].
* FanDisservice: Twice. First when the women are ordered to strip to their underwear when they enter the camp. Secondly when [[spoiler: they are about to be gassed]].

* HeroicSacrifice: Chaya [[spoiler:who Hannah has been reincarnated as]] saves Rivka this way.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Averted completely. The Rabbi's young children are killed early on and 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end, to say nothing of the literal baby born at the camp who is carried off with her mother to presumably be killed]].

It was made into an {{Anvilicious}} movie starring Kirsten Dunst in 1999.

* TranslationConvention: In the book, Hannah realizes she is neither speaking nor hearing English but instead that she now understands Yiddish as if it were English. In the movie dialogue that presumably be in either Yiddish or German is rendered in English, as are prayers which presumably would be spoken in Hebrew (although there are some prayers that are left in Hebrew, most notably the rabbi screaming out the Mourner's Kaddish with a distinct Ashkenazi accent)

* FakeNationality: In the film, American Brittany Murphy and British Daniel Brockelbank as Polish Jews.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Averted completely. The Rabbi's young children are killed early on and 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end]].

* DeathByAdaptation: A borderline example. In both [[spoiler: Hannah sacrifices herself and goes to the gas chambers in Rivka's place]]. In the novel it is only implied as [[spoiler: Hannah realises as she walks into the gas chambers that she is walking back through the apartment door in the future]]. The film however actually shows it happening, complete with a shot of [[spoiler: Hannah's body]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: At the start of the film, Hannah is about to get a tattoo but is stopped because she is late for dinner.

The Devil's Arithmetic is a 1988 HistoricalFiction novel by JaneYolen about a teenaged Jewish girl named Hannah, who is transported through time to a 1942 Polish concentration camp. Hannah goes from being disrespectful of Jewish beliefs to realizing the importance of remembering after seeing the horrors of the time.

* CompleteMonster: Commandant Breuer.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel

* TearJerker