The Survivor in a Tuxedo - a new documentary film about Elie Wiesel by veteran filmmaker, David Fisher

The Survivor in a Tuxedo, Tracing Elie Wiesel is a new documentary, directed by David Fisher, a veteran documentary filmmaker, noted for his films, including The Round Number, Six Million and One, and Love Inventory.

This new film, which is both complex and fascinating, on the famous Holocaust survivor, author, spokesman, storyteller and public figure Eli Wiesel (1928-2016), premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last night. I viewed the film, with my husband, Ron Kronish, and since we both loved the film, the review below is from both of us.

Introducing the people who worked on the film, at the screening last night, the director David Fisher talked about his father, also a survivor.  His father came from a town not so far from Wiesel’s in Romania, and they were on the same train to Auschwitz, but their paths were so different.  Elie Wiesel used the power of the word to give witness, non-stop, to what happened to the Jews in the Shoah.  Fisher’s father, instead, took up arms and became part of the struggle defending and creating the modern State of Israel, working as a pioneer in the new state, using deeds instead of words to cope with what he had experienced at Auschwitz.  The stories of these two Holocaust survivors are weaved together in this intensely personal and poignant documentary film.

Using interviews, animation, and raw footage, which are all weaved together brilliantly, Fisher has made a complicated and respectful portrayal of this famous Jewish thinker and activist.   We learn a great deal about Wiesel’s thinking, writing, activism and leadership in the USA and internationally.  Wiesel’s strength was seen and heard in his many speeches and his prolific literature. Throughout his career, he was always involved in giving witness, in keeping the memory of the Shoah alive. He was relentless in this mission.  Wiesel wrote 58 books in his lifetime and he had a clear agenda.

The film provides an intimate portrayal of this historic figure in contemporary Jewish history and does not shy away from some of the controversial issues which came to be associated with Elie Wiesel in his later years. For example, many people were critical of him because he became wealthy, and they accused him of using the Holocaust to get rich. Others were unhappy that he didn’t raise his voice to denounce Israel’s immoral policies against the Palestinians living under Occupation, since he had raised his voice for so many oppressed people in so many other places in the world. Others were bothered that Bibi Netanyahu used him as a prop in the gallery when he spoke in the US Congress against President Obama’s policies with regard to negotiating with Iran.

Other people were critical of his need for more and more international recognition.  Wiesel was a man of great ambition, dreaming of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature.  He never received that prize, but he did receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication and work in areas of human rights around the world.  He said many times in many places that we must have a moral voice and may never stand silent. Yet, perhaps because he was a Holocaust survivor and a strong supporter of the state of Israel, he was not able to use his voice to be critical of it, as noted above.

Michael Berenbaum, who served for many years as the project director at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, spoke at the screening and also figured prominently in the film. He spoke about Wiesel’s power to “transform victimization into witness”.   The title of the film—The Survivor in the Tuxedo—summarizes the irony inherent in Elie Wiesel’s “witness”. On the one hand, he was a survivor, with a strong message and constantly bearing witness to the Shoah. On the other hand, he became a celebrity in the USA and internationally, hobnobbing with presidents and kings, and ultimately receiving the Nobel Prize for peace. 

Wiesel was an important Jewish thinker and activist in contemporary history. He was a complex man, but one with a message and a method. His message was to remember the Shoah. His method was his writing and speaking. This excellent film helps us all understand a nuanced and complex view of this man.

The Survivor in a Tuxedo is a fantastic documentary film (71 minutes) and was made for broadcast on KAN Israeli TV by Fisher Features Ltd. 

 

Recommendations for Selichot Programs This Year

 I have tried to choose subjects which are particularly relevant this year.

PTSD

In the post October7th, 2023 period, and during this ongoing war, we have begun to see the terrible effects of war and trauma.  Literally thousands of Israelis, mostly young soldiers, are suffering from some form of post traumatic stress.  Although made before October 7^th, 50 Broken Pieces, directed by Micha Amitai, is a strikingly moving documentary film (70 minutes) which provides a portrayal of two men in crisis and offers us a glimpse into how shellshock can affect a person’s life.  

A Memoir by Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr was well-known in Israel for two major achievements – he directed the iconic coming-of-age film, Late Summer Blues (1986), and he was the founding director for 30 years of the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School in Jerusalem.  He died just a few months ago.

In his sophisticated documentary film, Wake Up, Grandson – Letters to My Rebellious Rabbi (המעורר) (93 minutes), Schorr has combined three elements -- a personal memoir, the story of the state of Israel (since its establishment in 1948), and the story of his grandfather who had a profound impact on his life.  

I suggest that you recommend to your participants to watch LateSummer Blues before coming to see this highly recommended memoir!

Looking Back Two Years

The story of the terrible massacre that occurred at a roadside shelter (מיגונית) near Kibbutz Re’im on that terrible day, October 7^th, 2023, can be seen in its entirety in the hard-hitting documentary film The Last Recording (Hebrew title: Death Shelter: The Last Recording), by Assaf Liberman and Nadav Ben Zur.  Here is the story that so many people have heard – the terrorists threw grenades into the shelter and Aner, repeatedly picked them up and threw them back out.  He was a true hero.  This is when his friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, lost his hand. 

Holocaust Memory

Perhaps you would prefer a feature film, instead of a documentary? 

The Property, directed by Dana Modan, is a Holocaust feature film that includes a bit of romance, some nostalgia, a lot of humor and an array of quirky characters. 

 

Combining Humor with Holocaust Memory - a new film by Adir Miller

The Ring is a new film by Adir Miller, directed by Doron Paz, Yoav Paz and Adir Miller, inspired by true World War II stories, and written by Adir Miller. Miller is known to Israeli audiences as both a stand-up comedian and a film actor (especially in films by the famous Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher).

This is a semi-comic melodrama about a father-daughter relationship and also about Holocaust memory.

Arnon (played by Miller) is an observant Jew, making a living as a driving teacher.  He is estranged from his lesbian daughter, Alma, because he does not approve of her lifestyle. His mother, a survivor, would often go to high schools to tell the story of how she was saved by an Iron Cross Hungarian soldier. On the day of major deportations from Budapest, she was carrying her baby boy, running in the street.  When there was a diversion, she took the opportunity to rip off her yellow star and to disappear out of sight.  One enterprising Hungarian soldier followed her, but she begged for her life and the life of her baby, and gave him her gold ring, telling him that after the war it would be his proof that he saved a Jewish woman. Now, more than 50 years later, Arnon’s mother is very ill in the hospital, and he requests Alma’s assistance in traveling with him to Budapest to search for the ring that saved his mother so long ago.

So, they embark on a very special journey to Budapest. On their trip, they encounter a fair amount of anti-Semitism but they also discover people who are willing to help them.  It is a roller coaster ride from the point of view of their relationship.  As part of this journey down memory lane, we encounter many scenes of Holocaust events – a re-enactment of people being shot into the Danube River and leaving their shoes on the water’s edge, and a contemporary conference of people trying to confer status of Righteous Among the Nations on Hungarian heroes,

One of the qualities that makes this film unique is Miller’s use of humor, including black humor at times.  This helps the characters in the film – and us the viewers—deal with some of the very difficult issues that the film raises.

The film includes many sentimental scenes, including one in which Miller expounds on the importance of Holocaust remembrance for future generations. This is the message of the film – it is still vital to tell the stories of our people who perished in the Holocaust and to never forget them.

A Roots Trip to Poland Delivers More than One Might have Expected

The Property (הנכס), billed as a film by the Modan sisters -- a debut film by Dana Modan, based on the graphic novel (published in 2013) by her sister, Rutu Modan -- is currently playing in movie theaters in Israel.

This is a charming film about modern-day Israeli Jews and their relationship to contemporary Poland and Poles.  The story revolves around two women – an aging grandmother, Regina, memorably played by the famous veteran actress Rivka Michaeli, and her granddaughter, Mika – who make a trip to Warsaw.  (The film is almost entirely shot abroad, either in Poland or in Georgia.)

Back in the 1930s, Regina, then a 15-year-old pregnant girl, was forced by her parents to quickly marry a Jewish boy and leave Warsaw for Palestine. Obviously, this saved her life.  Now, for the first time, she is returning to Poland, not so much to confront or explore her Polish roots, but rather to seek out the local boy who was her lover so long ago. 

The story revolves around a family apartment where Regina and her family lived, before the war.  Today, she discovers, the apartment functions as a small restaurant. But among the tables and chairs, Regina finds much more than she anticipated.  Meanwhile, Mika is tracking down a lawyer who might be able to help them in their attempt to regain possession of the apartment.  Along the way, she is befriended by a non-Jewish tour-guide who specializes in tours of the Ghetto. 

There are plentiful references to the Holocaust, but there are no scenes of terrible trauma.  The Holocaust references are contemporary ones – the Israeli high school kids who are so poorly behaved on the airplane on their way to Poland where they will visit lots of concentration camps; issues of how post-war Poland deals with properties that belonged to Jews; and maybe the best scene of all – a non-Jewish woman whose work entails rebuilding Jewish and Holocaust memory for tourism who exclaims “I just love the ghetto!”

There are hints of a possible Polish-Jewish Israeli reconciliation—it was possible for a Pole and a Jew to be in love once, it is possible again, and maybe the Polish people and the Jewish people can somehow learn to live together.

The Property is a film that includes a bit of romance, some nostalgia, a lot of humor and an array of quirky characters. It is highly recommended! Available from Go2Films.

  

Come Closer by Tom Nesher

Come Closer is the award-winning debut film of Tom Nesher, the daughter of well-known filmmaker Avi Nesher.  Six years ago, the Nesher family suffered a terrible tragedy when the son was killed in a car accident. This is a personal film which offers Tom Nesher’s expression of some of the feelings of having lost her brother at that time.While the film's narrative is based on this tragedy, it is not an autobiographical film but rather a work of fiction.

The film is a psychological study of two women coping with enormous loss, which is a tremendously appropriate subject for Israeli audiences especially this year.

Eden and Nati, brother and older sister, are very close.  On Nati’s birthday, Eden has him kidnapped and brought to the beach where they have an all-night party with music, drinking and drugs.  Unbeknownst to Eden, Nati decides to slip away to see his secret girlfriend, Maya. On the way, Nati is killed in a terrible early morning accident, and Eden’s world is turned upside down.  She becomes a difficult personality -- edgy, reckless, aggressive, and completely self-centered. 

Noticing the young Maya at the funeral, Eden sets out to find her, to ostensibly befriend her, and to express her anger, feelings of betrayal and loss. Maya is not so easily shocked.  She too has much to say to Eden.  In grappling with the death of the person they each loved, a strange bond is created between the two.

The film includes a bit too many clichéd scenes that we have seen in so many other Israeli films – a nod to Holocaust education (which was in bad taste), an unnecessary pissing scene (but this time it’s a girl pissing off the back of a truck), lots of clubbing and drinking, and a trip to the stunning beaches of Sinai.  Nevertheless, the film is innovative in its own way -- through the provocative elements, the use of great music, and the way that the two women were coping with their grief and were trying to keep the memory of Nati alive through their complex relationship with each other.

Come Closer won the award for Best Debut film at the Jerusalem Film Festival this past July.  And more recently, it won top honors at the Ophir Awards– taking prizes for both best director and best film! 

Searching for Holocaust Memory

The Delegation (המשלחת), directed by Asaf Saban, won the award for best screenplay at the 40^th annual Jerusalem Film Festival, this past week.

According to the jury for Israeli feature films at the festival: “With a very contradicted and difficult subject matter, this script finds a very clever and special perspective which does not ignore the past of the topic, but also finds a fresh answer for the new generation.”

About a class trip to Poland, this is a joyful film, full of warmth and good spirit.  The story focuses on three good friends, 2 boys and a girl – Ido is popular with the girls, Frisch is hoping to have a first sexual experience, and Nitzan is the glue that holds them together.  There is the fooling around in the hotel, some drinking, and also some serious moments. 

It was nice to see that there is a section of the story that deals with encounters with the local Polish population (because most trips to Poland ignore the contemporary reality completely).  When Frisch gets left behind as the bus pulls out from a rest stop it leads to his meetings with the local people, which adds an interesting perspective to the film.  

Just as I was feeling that the film doesn’t deal enough with memory and how the viewer, as the younger generation, fits into that picture, Nitzan, who is a bit crazed by what she sees, steals a shoe from those masses of old shoes in a scene that is very hard-hitting.  Nevertheless, I was left feeling a bit disappointed since it seemed to me that the young people didn’t seem to understand or even care about why they went on this journey to visit the death camps. Similarly, the filmmaker wasn’t adequately able to express it. There just wasn’t enough grappling with Holocaust memory and its implications for young Jews growing up in Israel today.

 

 

New Film by Matan Yair - A Room of His Own

 A Room of His Own, directed and written by Matan Yair, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last night. It is a wonderful coming-of-age film about a teenager learning to handle the expectations of others and the difficulties of maturing.  This is Matan Yair’s third feature film.  His debut film was Scaffolding, an award-winning film which was reviewed on this blog.

Similar to Scaffolding, this film is also about a 17-year-old high school senior who has trouble understanding how to curb his impulsiveness and his enthusiasm for sharing what he is thinking, even if it is not terribly socially polite or correct. 

In A Room of His Own, Uri is an awkward and socially inept teenager, who has only one friend, and has a unique perspective on the world. Since his parents are going through a separation, his mother has moved into his bedroom.  They hug and share tender moments each night before going to sleep.  In his pre-army interview, Uri mentions that he shares a room with his mother, and suddenly he realizes that perhaps this is something that should have been kept secret.

The film touches on many subjects such as dealing with divorce, awakening sexuality, and how to handle his relationship with his sister who is in the army and only comes home on the weekends. Much of the film, however, is about Uri’s desire for a relationship with his disappearing and clueless father, and, on the other hand, his strong relationship with the sports teacher at his school.  It is also about the crude way that comments based on the Holocaust, on memory, on the terror of the Nazis, and about Goebbels and Goring, creep into his conversation.

According to the remarks by the filmmaker at the screening last night, this film has autobiographical details and is about “the period that my mother and my siblings tried to keep our heads above water.” His mother, weary and suffering from the separation from the father, is portrayed in a wonderful way, as a woman working hard to move ahead in her job, and as a loving figure to her son and her daughter.

This is not a film with a lot of action.  Rather, Matan Yair provides us with insight into the high school years which can be so difficult for young people. He is a talented filmmaker, with a subtlety and preciseness as he casts his gaze on a particuilar period or situation. 

A New TV Series about the High School Trips to Poland

Memory Forest, directed by Roman Shumunov, is a new prizewinning TV series, made for Israel TV Kan. The series tells the story of a journey to Poland of a group of Israeli high school students. 

The story is about 2 sets of friends – Shani and Lilush from Carmiel and Kobi and Omri from Herzliyah.  There is plenty of flirting between the girls and boys, and it seems that Shani is having trouble connecting to the subject matter and Omri seems to be a real jerk at the beginning.  But things even out, as we get to know them, and as their anxieties become clear.  Episode #1 is about Warsaw. Episode #2 takes place at Treblinka. Episode no. 3 is at Lublin and episode no. 4 is in the forest. 

I sit on the committee of the Film and Media Collaborative (made up of representatives of three funds: Gesher, Maimonides, and AviChai) which funded this series.  Honestly, we were all a bit apprehensive that the program might turn out to be too much of a teaching unit and also a bit formulaic.  I was thrilled to have a chance to preview the entire series this week and it was great!  The script, the acting, the historical teaching moments all were superb and I am proud to have been a small part of this project!

This series offers a mix between telling the story of the Shoah, on the one hand, and the experience as seen through the eyes of the young people, on the other.  There are many moving scenes, including the one at Treblinka, where we learn about the 17,000 stones in memory of the children and adults who were murdered there – every single day.  There is the nationalistic argument as seen through the expression of one boy who reacts with anger, saying that having ceremonies isn’t the only way to commemorate.  There are the moments when they are trying desperately to understand the meaning of the trip, the meaning of being survivors, the importance of how this trip reflects on their Jewishness, all so that the victims will not have died in vain.  There is the teenage girl who doesn’t want to spend any money in Poland because everyone there is anti-semitic but she is surprised to learn that Rivka, their accompanying survivor, wants to go take advantage of the shopping. We watch as these young people grow and slowly begin to understand so much about their own place within this story of memory.

Memory Forest is a TV series made up of 4 episodes, each approximately 30 minutes. 

At the Jerusalem Film Festival -- New Film about the Execution of Adolph Eichmann

The Jerusalem Film Festival is in full swing, with tons of people attending every screening! 

The first Israeli film that I had the opportunity to see -- June Zero, directed by Jake Paltrow (an American-Israeli co-production) -- is an historical drama about memory. It takes place in Israel during the period leading up to the execution of Adolph Eichmann in 1962.  There are moral questions arising in Israeli society since this would be the first time that the State of Israel executes someone as a result of a lengthy trial.  Moreover, since no one wants Eichmann’s body to lie in a grave which could become a site for Nazi pilgrimage, there is much discussion and consternation concerning what to do with the body. 

During the Eichmann trial, Holocaust survivors in Israel began to tell their stories for the first time. As a result, this film deals with a serious dilemma which is still relevant today: are there negative aspects if stories of Holocaust survivors are told too much? Might this overwhelm us and foster a counter-productive narrative of victimhood? On the other hand, are we morally obliged to tell the stories so that people today recognize what actually happened in “that place” during “that time”, so that the history of this period is well known for this generation and for future ones? These questions – which are serious and sensitive ones—are raised in this film.

June Zero tells the story of a few key characters.  David is an adolescent boy whose father, a relatively new immigrant from Libya, takes his son to work at a factory, where he becomes invaluable because of his size (he can fit into small spaces) and because of his wit and creativity.  David becomes involved in the building of the oven that will cremate the body of Eichmann, so that his ashes may be scattered at sea.

It turns out that the building of the oven was not so easy.  It’s not as if expertise in the building of an oven for cremating a human body could be found in Israel.  Among other things, there was a serious question about how to get the temperature high enough so that the bones would burn to ashes.

This is also the story of the captain of the prison guards, who is tasked with the job of protecting Eichmann. He takes his job very seriously and must be sure that no harm will come to Eichmann, not by the hands of a survivor who might seek to take justice or revenge into his own hands, and not by the hands of Eichmann himself, who might want to deprive the State of Israel the opportunity to execute him. The prison captain must keep him safe so that no one is cheated out of the upcoming execution.

This is also the story of a young police interrogator who works for the prosecution, interviewing Eichmann.  He is himself a survivor of the ghetto and Auschwitz.  He visits Poland with one of the first delegations of visitors to Auschwitz, and finds meaning in the telling of his own heart-wrenching story of survival.

These characters and their stories are interwoven into a finely produced period piece which tries to portray the complexity of the times and the issues involved.  These issues continue to concern us in Israel today, as the history of the Holocaust, and the way the stories are told, are all too often used for narrow political purposes.

What is the meaning of the title of the film? In order to prevent the date of Eichmann’s execution from becoming memorialized, it was written in the Israeli press that the execution took place on June 0, 1962.

Ari Folman’s new film – Where is Anne Frank

Filmmaker Ari Folman is well-known for his remarkable, award-winning animated anti-war feature film, Waltz with Bashir (2008) which was extremely critical of the First Lebanon War (1982-2000), in which he was personally involved.  Also using the animated style, his latest film entitled Where is Anne Frank, based on the iconic Diary of Anne Frank -- and later literature about her death and the death of her sister-- is a brilliant, provocative and controversial film.

The story, which mixes past and present, revolves around Kitty, Anne’s imaginary friend, to whom she writes her diary.  On a stormy night, the glass case where the famous diary is kept is suddenly smashed and a figure emerges from the ink on the hand-written pages – the figure of Kitty.  Kitty is a spunky young girl, who is looking for her friend, Anne.  On the one hand, she finds evidence of her everywhere – the Anne Frank House, a bridge named for her, a theater in her memory.  But nowhere does she find anything that offers a true memorial to Anne’s values and life.  Where is compassion? Where are the people working to save the refugee children who are facing deportation?

Just like the story of Anne, Kitty’s story is also about first love.  Kitty is befriended by a refugee boy, not surprisingly named Peter, who helps her on all her exploits.  They make a daring pair, ice skating over the frozen canals of Amsterdam, fleeing from the police, scampering away with the holy diary itself!

I had the chance to view the Hebrew dubbed version at the Jewish Film Festival of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, this week.  Ari Folman and some members of the voice-over cast were present at the screening.  Folman talked about the importance of creating a culturally sensitive version of the film for Hebrew-speaking audiences--much of the English script was loosely translated into a contemporary and relevant Hebrew for viewers in Israel.  Kitty too is updated when she goes through a makeover and comes out as a chic girl, with trendy clothes and lots of style.   

Folman also said that the film combines the past and the present: the Holocaust story known by audiences already, and the Kitty story, which represents the transition to the contemporary period and to the issues of today, especially vis a vis the need to help refugees and asylum seekers survive in the face of so much evil and apathy within contemporary society, both in Israel and abroad.  When asked about the delicate balance between past and present that this film endeavors to deal with, Folman said that it was probably 40% past and 60% present, which tells you where his real focus lies.

Many people within the Jewish community might be surprised by the attempt to liken the Holocaust to contemporary issues, such as today’s refugees, as if it takes away from the meaning and message of the Holocaust for our young people to learn about social responsibility today. Folman does not dodge this issue. He clearly thinks that you can do both, that there can be a particularistic as well as a universalistic message when learning about the Holocaust.

This is an extremely creative, artistic and serious animated film, highly recommended not only for children, which builds on an iconic story that is already so well-known by people everywhere.  The genius of a filmmaker like Ari Folman is how he takes the viewer to see the story through a contemporary lens where Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, racism and apathy towards refugees are all equally anathema, especially for those who care about the legacy of Anne Frank.  This is a controversial message, since many people think that one cannot equate the Holocaust with anything. Folman, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, does not exactly equate the Holocaust with what is going on today with refugees. Rather, he is not afraid to communicate the idea that refugees who are suffering—who have lost everything and have nothing, as was the case with Jews during the Holocaust—must be saved and given a fair chance to rebuild their lives. The bold hint is that Jews too could have been saved during the Holocaust period as well if people had not been so apathetic.

This film is a remarkable production – the animation is vivid and colorful, the Nazis are portrayed as ghoulish and scary, and the barking German shepherds are reminiscent of the wild dogs in Waltz with Bashir.

The film has been recommended for 10 and up, but knowing my grandchildren as I do, I would recommend it for 12 and up. Take a look at the trailer of the original English-language version.  

Where is Anne Frank? opens the Jerusalem Film Festival

 The Jerusalem Film Festival is well underway in person!  This week, Ari Folman’s new animated feature film, Where is Anne Frank? was screened to thousands at the festival's opening event. You might remember the remarkable critical acclaim given to Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, also an animated feature film.

His new film, Where is Anne Frank is based on the Diary of Anne Frank,  and brings to life Anne’s imaginary friend, Kitty, to whom she wrote her diary during the period that she was in hiding.  The story offers insights for young viewers into subjects such as fascism and life in hiding.  Knowing Ari Folman, and the political content of his previous film, it is not surprising that the film also touches on a contemporary subject – individual responsibility in regard to others in our society, especially when confronting issues such as racism and human rights.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, earlier this year.  Check out this interview with the filmmaker, Ari Folman, talking about the film on youtube.

Six Million

 The Round Number is a film about the number “Six Million”. All of us use the number to describe the number of Jews who perished in the Holocaust.  But how did that number come about, how exact is it and when did it enter the public discourse?  Veteran documentary filmmaker, David Fisher, in a film premiering at the Jerusalem Film Festival (which opens this week), decides to investigate the importance of this symbolic number.

At the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1960s, Prosecutor Gideon Hausner is famous for saying: “I do not stand here alone as the prosecutor.  Six million accusers stand with me.”  Thus, the number became sacred in the canon of Jewish lore.  But it is a number that is overused and trivialized.  It has been used in comedy skits in Israel, used by a Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball player to refer to the number of fans who accompany his team when they fly to Germany for a game, and especially Dag HaNahash and Yehuda Poliker are well-known for singing about the six million.   

At Yad Vashem, they have a project collecting names.  But the Nazis didn’t relate to the victims as human beings, as individuals, and therefore, with all their record-keeping, the numbers were not carefully kept and therefore the names of all those murdered are not readily available.  The Germans were more interested in the efficiency of their murdering machinery, than in the victims themselves.  We must ask ourselves, however, does the exact number of victims matter in the face of the terrible evil?  Even today, so many years later, it is still inconceivable to imagine that so many were murdered. 

In his personal filmmaking style, David Fisher provides a fascinating look at a subject that in some ways has become cliché, but in the hands of this filmmaker becomes surprisingly compelling and relevant. The film, The Round Number (documentary, 60 minutes) is available from Go2Films.

A Memorable Holocaust Documentary

With Yom HaShoah coming up next week, you might be interested in this fascinating piece of Holocaust history.  

The Return of the Violin, directed by Chaim Hecht, a veteran Israeli journalist and documentary filmmaker, is a riveting and superb Holocaust documentary about a violin, a Polish American wealthy businessman, the history of the Jews of Czestochowa (a city in southern Poland which was made up of 40% Jews before World War II), the establishment of the Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1930s in what was then called Palestine, and the rebuilding of Jewish culture in contemporary Poland.  The film tells the story of an 18^th century Stradivarius violin which was once owned by Bronislaw Huberman, founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and was later purchased by American virtuoso, Joshua Bell, one of the greatest Jewish violinists of our time.  Combining seemingly disparate elements, it includes intrigue, personal Holocaust stories, and wonderful music, which is interweaved beautifully throughout the film.

The hero of the film is a remarkable man named Sigmund Rolat who hid as a child in Czestochowa during the Holocaust, witnessed terrible tragedies and lost all of his family, and eventually escaped Poland and found his way as a refugee to America where he became a very successful businessman.  After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe, he and others go back to visit and to help rebuild Poland, by establishing memorials to their beloved family members who did not survive, by supporting local Polish culture (such as the local university), and by re-establishing Jewish culture in many places in Poland, including the now famous Jewish Cultural Festival in Crakow.

In addition to Rolat, the film director, Chaim Hecht, also has a very special relationship to Czestochowa. His grandmother grew up there.   Along with Jewish descendants from this once thriving Jewish town who now live all over the world, Rolat and other Jewish philanthropists have established the Jewish Museum of Czestochowa in this city, to honor the memory of their ancestors and to be a permanent place of remembrance of Jewish culture in that city.

On the site where the magnificent grand synagogue of Czestochowa once stood (it was burnt down by the Nazis), the government of Poland built a concert hall.  In an act of daring and brilliance, Rolat came up with an idea to produce a concert in that hall, in memory of the Jews of Czestochowa and in honor of Bronislaw Huberman who single-handedly brought 800 Jews – the leading musicians of Europe and their families – to pre-state Israel to create a world-class philharmonic orchestra, which has become the internationally renowned Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert featured Joshua Bell, playing Braham’s famous violin concerto, using Huberman’s Stradivarius.  Rolat was there, as were other Jewish philanthropists whom my husband and I know—Carol and Alan Silberstein—whom we saw sitting in the second row behind Rolat, reveling in this marvelous experience.

It is a stirring event, one which you will not forget for a long time!

This is one of the best Holocaust documentaries that I have seen in a long time!  You can watch The Return of the Violin (documentary, 2012) on the internet. 

 

 

Keeping the Memory Alive

 Yom HaShoah always comes a week after Pesach – it’s April 8 this year.  So, I thought I would take this opportunity to review a Shoah documentary that I had the occasion to see just lately. It’s not a new film, but it’s particularly touching and it makes an important statement about Holocaust education, which is all too often just ceremonial and lacking in meaning.

 The Strength to Tell, directed by Noam Demsky, tells the story of a drama therapy program for youth at risk in Jerusalem.  These youngsters know very little about the Shoah, and have no personal relationship to it.  As part of a workshop run by the Jerusalem theater group, HaMartef, they are given the opportunity to meet with five Holocaust survivors, all of whom testified at the Eichmann Trial, which took place in Jerusalem in 1961.  After they view each survivor’s testimony, they have small group meetings with him, and then they do theater exercises to develop their own expression towards the stories that the survivors shared with them. 

One story is told by Avraham Avriel – his mother and brother were killed at an open ravine in the Ukraine and he succeeded in running away, haunted until this day, by the memories of his mother and brother who he left behind in the pit.  We watch the footage of his testimony at the Eichmann Trial and then we see the touching encounter with the youth participating in the program.

Yosef Kleinman talks about his experiences at Auschwitz.  Yehuda Bacon talks about the difficulty he had because you become insensitive to the evil taking place around you.  Nahum Hoch was locked inside the gas chamber with all the tension and the crying.  And then, suddenly, they took them out to do another selectia.  He is convinced that he was brought back to tell the story of what happened there. 

 We watch as the young actors are amazingly impacted by the people they meet.  They take the material they hear, struggle to build their own relationship to the Shoah and create a theatrical story around it. 

 The Strength to Tell (documentary, 2013, 50 minutes) is a moving and innovative film which shows how the Shoah can still be meaningful to young people, even so many years after it occurred.  The film can be obtained directly from the director, Noam Demsky, at demskynoam@gmail.com.

 

A Unique Holocaust Story

Just when you think that you have seen and heard so many stories from the Holocaust, along comes another story that shocks you because it is so unique and relatively unknown.  A new documentary film, The Albanian Code, directed by Yael Katzir, tells the story of how one country in Europe, a small country that was occupied by the Nazis, was able to save thousands of Jews.  In fact, Albania, which is mostly a Muslim country, had no Jews persecuted or deported or murdered during the period of the war.

Annie is an Israeli woman, mother of two, born in Macedonia. At the beginning of the war when she was a small child, her family fled to Albania where they were saved.  Annie decides to travel back to Albania with her daughter, in order to express her thanks to the Albanian people.  Veteran filmmaker, Yael Katzir, accompanies Annie on her journey, documenting her emotional visits with the descendants of the people who helped to save her family.  In addition, she goes to the National Archive in the capital city of Tirana, speaks at a school, meets with numerous people who risked their lives to save Jews, and even has an audience with royalty!

During World War II, Albania was first occupied by fascist Italy, which did not round-up Jews and send them to concentration camps.  During this period, the prime minister gave orders that the Jews amassing on the border, looking for refuge, be permitted to enter the country.  In 1943, after Italy surrendered to Germany, the Nazis ordered the Albanian government to provide them with a list of their Jewish population, but the Minister of the Interior refused.  If this wasn’t enough, the Albanians also saved 20,000 Italian soldiers from terrible treatment at the hands of the Nazis.  These same soldiers had been their occupiers just days before.

Albania is obviously a very special country, with a tradition of human compassion.  The title of the film refers to a moral code which directs the people to save others from danger and persecution.

The Albanian Code (documentary, 53 minutes) tells an important story that needs to be remembered.  The film is available from the filmmaker herself: katziry@gmail.com.

You can watch the trailer here.  Code: Yael 20. 

New Holocaust Film

Three new Israeli feature films opened this week in Jerusalem.  I chose first to go see The Testament (העדות), directed by Amichai Greenberg, because the story sounded compelling.  A Holocaust story, it is about a modern-day investigation of an Austrian cover-up of a massacre of Jewish laborers, near the end of the war.  The film is shot both in Jerusalem and in Austria, which provides an authentic and realistic feeling to the historical story. 

Joel, the chief investigator, is an ultra-orthodox Holocaust scholar who becomes obsessed with the investigation.  During the course of his work, while he is interviewing witnesses, he stumbles upon a woman who coincidentally knew his parents, back in the Ghetto.  She gives him an old photo which leads him to dig deeper into his family’s past and to uncover a shocking discovery. This is a complex story and the news, which is tragic and shameful for him, causes him to question his own identity. 

I was disappointed in the portrayal of the main character, the Holocaust scholar, who is so obsessed with his work, that he becomes a one-dimensional character.  He is without charm, doesn’t show any warmth to his colleagues or his family members, and cannot wrap his head around the shocking news which brings him to cruelly confront his own aging mother.

The Testament portrays a fascinating slice of history, but it is a disappointing film.  

Unraveling History

The Essential Link, directed by Yonatan Nir, is a fascinating documentary that combines personal family details with elements of an historical thriller.  

On Kibbutz Hazorea in the Jezreel Valley, there is a building called the Wilfred House.  It is a cultural center for the kibbutz and filmmaker Yonatan Nir’s grandfather displayed his paintings there.  But Nir doesn’t know for whom it is named and he is determined to find out.  His research unravels a story that includes Nazi cruelty, a stunning collection of art from the Far East, survivors’ guilt and an overwhelming tale of tremendous personal sacrifice.

The complete title of the film is The Essential Link – The Story of Wilfred Israel and we slowly learn to appreciate the activities of Wilfred Israel who used his personal connections and most of his wealth to help save literally thousands of German Jews.

Wilfred Israel was a wealthy businessman, owner of a department store in the center of Berlin, which was built by his ancestors during the 19^th century.  He was a lover of literature and art and in the 1920s, he traveled to the Far East where he began his art collection.  He had a personal relationship with Einstein, Chaim Weizmann, Christopher Isherwood, Martin Buber and Lord Herbert Samuel, to name a few!  During a short detention in a Nazi prison, he befriended members of a Jewish youth group, who he later helped to emigrate to Palestine.  These were the founders of Kibbutz Hazorea.  Today, his art collection is housed in the Wilfred House on Kibbutz Hazorea!

Wilfred Israel worked unceasingly to help obtain the necessary documents for Jews to leave Germany, expended his personal wealth to the rescue of these Jews, with the help of the MI6 agent at the British Embassy in Berlin, obtained visas for Jews, and was the key figure in initiating the Kindertransport operation that saved perhaps as many as 10,000 German Jewish children by sending them to England.

After visiting his pioneering friends in Palestine, he traveled around Europe, desperately trying to free Jews from the clutches of Nazism.  He lost his life when, traveling from Lisbon to London, a German missile shot down his plane.

The Essential Link tells an important and rather unknown story of the Holocaust and, at the same time, it talks about the importance of memory for future generations.  

The film is available (beginning March 2017) from Ruth Films in two versions: 78 minutes or 52 minutes.  I previewed the longer version and was spellbound. If you enjoyed other films that unravel historical mysteries such as The Flat by Arnon Goldfinger and The Green Dumpster Mystery by Tal Haim Yoffe, then you will enjoy this film also!

A Story of Heroism during the Shoah

During the last 20 years, we have seen many films of Holocaust survivors taking their families to learn about their roots in Europe, reminiscing and talking about their growing up and telling stories of their survival.  This one is especially compelling and historically fascinating, produced with graphics and tremendous research, telling a personal story that is different from other stories.  This is a tale of two sisters who were deported to Auschwitz very late in the war -- and lived to tell the tale.

A Story in the Third Person, directed by Yarden Karmin, relates the story of a Slovakian woman named Zuzi, now 86-years-old, who returns to the town where she grew up, together with her Israeli family.  She talks of the importance of "memories" and tells the story of how, together with her older sister, Agi, she survived the dark years of the Holocaust. 

They lived in a town called Kosice which was annexed by Hungary in 1938.  The family name was Weisz -- father, mother, and two daughters named Agi and Zuzi.  They had an idyllic childhood and there are beautiful family photos, especially a striking one of the two teenage sisters in 1943, on the eve of the destruction of Hungarian Jewry.  

The Jews of the town were first placed in a ghetto and later deported to Birkenau.  From Birkenau, Zuzi, together with her mother and her sister, was transported north to Estonia and then sent on a death march to Latvia.  Their mother was murdered by the Nazis during this march.  Zuzi was only 17-years-old at the time, but she was capable of so much bravery in order to save her sister who was sick with typhus near the end of the war.  After 19 months of terrible suffering and agony, there is the closing of the circle and they finally return home to their family's apartment in Kosice.

This is a family story of wonderful memories, a tale of tremendous bravery, a story told by a woman looking back on her life.  Surrounded by her family, Zuzi relates the details of her story in a matter-of-fact way which I found strangely compelling.  She  explains that she tells the story with objective distance, "in the third person", as if it were the story of someone else.  This is her coping mechanism. 

The film, in Hebrew and Slovak with English subtitles, was produced by Elishava Braun-Lapidot, Zuzi's adult daughter.  A Story in the Third Person (documentary, 74 minutes), is available from Ruth Diskin films.

Kapo in Jerusalem

Uri Barbash is well-known for his artistic honesty, leading the circle of Israeli filmmakers interested in a critical look at Israeli political issues and dealing with issues of contemporary reality in a harsh and uncompromising fashion.  He is best known for the prizewinning and popularly acclaimed Beyond the Walls (1984), an unrestrained portrayal of Arab-Jewish relations in the brutal environment of an Israeli prison.  Also a prize-winning film, One of Us (1989) takes place against the background of the first intifada and deals with an army cover-up.  His dramatic TV mini-series Kastner Trial (1994) was also a prize-winner.  

Barbash's latest film, Kapo in Jerusalem, sheds light on a complex moral dilemma.  The film is made in a minimalist style, using talking heads.  The script and acting are superior, but the film in its entirety is a bit drawn-out and even somewhat tedious.  

Based on a true story, Bruno is a medical doctor, who was chosen to be the kapo of a block at Auschwitz.  He speaks to the camera from his Haganah outpost before the 1950 battle for Ramat Rachel.  His wife, Sarah, speaks to the camera from their modest Jerusalem apartment, with their little baby in her arms.   Others tell their stories also -- a postman, a butcher, a doctor and more—with much pathos and persuasiveness.

In his own reflections on what he went through, Bruno felt that he tried his utmost to save people, to lessen their suffering, to help those that he could.  But he often resorted to tough measures to keep discipline in his block.  The stories that are told show the difficult decisions that he had to make.  For example, he rationed the food as fairly as possible, even though some would have wanted it otherwise, such as a famous poet who demanded extra food for himself.  In addition, Bruno had a shoe-making workshop set up in his block because he knew that without sturdy shoes his men would succumb very quickly.   

After the war, Bruno found and married his sweetheart, Sarah, who had been  a pianist in Warsaw before the war, and they came to Jerusalem.  Life was not easy for them because so many people recognized him from that period.  She becomes pregnant and he eventually joins the Haganah, but her life is filled with awful anxiety and depression, given all that she had gone through and continues to suffer as a Holocaust survivor who is not easily accepted and integrated into the emerging Jewish society in Israel in the early years of the state.  

This is a film which raises many issues dealing with morality at a time when morality was not so clear-cut.  Bruno is very blunt and honest in talking about those years.  In fact, near the end of the film, he says he wanted to save people from their own fears and humiliation.  Kapo in Jerusalem is a hard-hitting film about the impossible choices that an ordinary Jew was forced to make during a terrible time.