The play Day of Atonement

The play Day of Atonement by Margaret Wood describes the themes of redemption and forgiveness as its central motif. The play centres around the background of the Nazi holocaust. The play unveils the life and experiences of the Jacob’s family and their association with the German doctor Dr Krauss. Jacob, along with his wife Marthe and their children Otto and Isle are Jewish victims of Nazi oppression. Even after twelve years of their terrorizing history they still live in Germany.

During their life in Germany they get acquainted with a German doctor named Dr Krauss. He is a surgeon who is bent on serving the helpless Jews. He operated Isle who suffered from tuberculosis. Jacob and Marthe was thankful to the doctor for saving the life of their daughter. But Otto had an aversion towards the doctor. He reveals that Krauss was a doctor who served in the Nazi concentration camps. But for the past twelve years he was trying to make amends for his past crimes by extending his services to the Jewish people.

One night when Krauss visits the Jacob’s family, Otto in a fit of anger discloses all about the past of Krauss’ life to Jacob and Marthe. The doctor used to conduct ‘surgery on the healthy’, ‘mutilate the strong’ and try experiments to see how much the pain the body can withstand before dying. But in spite of knowing about all this cruelty Jacob and Marthe wholeheartedly forgives the doctor. Even though Otto decides to kill the doctor for all his wrongdoings, his parents vehemently oppose him from doing such an act.

The doctor was influenced by a holocaust victim named Carl Baecke, a Jew of the Theresienstadt camp. The doctor tells Jacob and Marthe that he is ready to surrender before the court. But Jacob requests the doctor to escape from the house. Towards the end of the story the doctor quite willingly steps out of the house where he is caught and shot by the jews.