Character Relationship Map: Fateless

Characters

• György Köves (played by Marcell Nagy) — protagonist

  The central character and narrator. He is a fourteen-year-old Jewish boy from Budapest who is arrested during the Holocaust and deported to Auschwitz and then Buchenwald. The story follows his surviva...

• Smoker (played by Béla Dóra) — protagonist

  A supporting young prisoner figure who appears among the inmates connected with György's wartime ordeal.

• Bandi Citrom (played by Áron Dimény) — supporting

  A young Hungarian Jewish boy connected with György's earlier life in Budapest. He is caught up in the same deportation as György and appears later as one of the fellow prisoners in the camps.

• US sergeant (played by Daniel Craig) — minor
• SS Soldier (played by Máté Haumann) — minor

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• György Köves → SS Soldier (Conflict Postwar Adversary) — Their encounter places György near a postwar dispute over responsibility and punishment for camp service.

  After liberation, György encounters an SS Soldier accused of serving in the camps and hears arguments about punishment, guilt, and victory.

• György Köves → US sergeant (Alliance Liberator) — The sergeant confirms György's liberation and offers advice as he faces life after the camps.

  After the war, a US sergeant tells György that he is free and alive and urges him to be happy with life.

• György Köves → Bandi Citrom (Social Fellow Prisoners) — Their connection spans deportation and imprisonment, and György's unsuccessful search for Bandi marks his difficult return home.

  Bandi is caught up in the same deportation as György and later appears as a fellow prisoner. After the war, György looks for Bandi in Budapest.

• György Köves → Smoker (Social Prisoner Companions) — Their conversations and shared moments offer György some comfort within the camp routine.

  György meets other prisoners, including Smoker, and finds brief comfort in conversation and songs.

Story Analysis

György's deportation, camp survival, liberation, and return expose the distance between being freed and recovering a former life.

Plot Progression

1. A Family Under Restriction — György leaves school after his father is called up for forced labor. The family arranges the transfer of the shop and confronts worsening restrictions, including the requirement to wear a yellow star.
2. The Journey into Deportation — György is stopped during a journey and deported with others wearing yellow stars. The transport brings thirst, crowding, fear, and an official demanding valuables for water.
3. Camp Survival and Routine — At the camp, prisoners are stripped, sorted, washed, and assigned exhausting labor. György tries to survive by rationing bread and finds brief comfort in conversations and songs with other prisoners.
4. Violence and Liberation — Faith and hopes of protection coexist with violence and uncertainty in the camp. After the war, György is liberated and encounters arguments about an SS Soldier's guilt and punishment.
5. Freedom Without Restoration — A US sergeant tells György that he is free and alive, while György asks about the gas chambers. Back in Budapest, his search for Bandi fails, leaving him to face a homecoming that cannot restore his f...