Pas t Forward The Newsletter of the Shoah Foundation™ SPRING / SUMMER 2001 Regarded as one of the most prolific and significant tion from Children from the Abyss may help explain why this images from left to right: Broken Silence: directors in postwar Europe, Wajda has made films (such as documentary explores such horrifying events. Vojtech Jasny Man of Iron and, most recently, Pan Tadeusz) that have been Children from the Abyss tells the stories of people The Shoah Foundation’s International Documentary acclaimed as both artistically brilliant and politically out- who survived mass executions during the Holocaust, when Janos Szasz spoken.Wajda received the Lifetime Achievement Award from they were children and teenagers in the former Soviet Union. One of first tasks for each filmmaker was to choose Stanislaw Jonas, Series Speaks to New Audiences around the Globe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1999. Producer James Moll believes that Russia’s bloody a survivor featured in I Remember which testimonies to include in history, especially its tragic losses during World War II, meant his documentary. Because the László Kiss, 12 13 that this documentary’s audience might be more challenging Shoah Foundation has cata- a survivor featured in Eyes of the There is a moment in Luis Puenzo’s Some Who Lived when the age of . The film shows a young girl, about years old, Holocaust Liza Zajak-Novera, one of the many Holocaust survivors who finding an old book about the Holocaust. She opens the book Algunos que Vivieron to reach. “The graphic details of what these survivors endured logued only English-language testimonies and developed only sought safe haven in Argentina after the war, describes her and begins to learn about the past. Szasz sees this girl as a (Some Who Lived) are often difficult to listen to, yet these stories might more Eugenia Unger, 3 English-language educational a Spanish-language documentary a survivor featured in Some Who Lived effectively communicate to an audience who has strong mem- discovery that an infamous Nazi lived across the street from “shelter for this book,” someone who will protect it from the materials, the testimonies in directed by Luis Puenzo ories of their own suffering.” Many people in these regions two images from Eyes of the Holocaust the beach where she played with her children. ravages of time. Each director faced a challenging objective: to raise other languages (about 52% In the film, this encyclopedic book defines concepts are not aware of the mass executions of Jews during the war. of the archive) have, until now, archival images from Broken Silence awareness of the Holocaust and its relevance to current acts The film is divided into three sections: childhood In countries around the world, the ghosts of a violent past such as antisemitism and deportation. The definitions intro- been largely unexplored. of hatred and intolerance in countries where the Holocaust (before the war), the war (in particular mass executions), and continue to visit the present, in a woman’s fear for her family’s duce sections of the film that deal with these topics. Szasz then does not have the same public significance as in the United life in the ghettos. Children from the Abyss investigates the To narrow down the number of safety, in a child’s ignorance of history, in a man’s apathy weaves together survivor interviews and archival footage to States or Israel. Argentine director Luis Puenzo chose to motivations of those who collaborated with the Nazis, as interviews that would be sent to Five Documentaries. Five toward an act of intolerance. Holocaust revisionists and others clearly illustrate each concept in the most personal of terms. pursue this goal by relating the events of the Holocaust to each director, the Foundation Countries. Five Directors. well as the rescuers who remained humane despite their own who encourage hate prey on the uneducated and apathetic. In Szasz, an accomplished theatre and film director (best darker moments in his own country’s history. worked with bilingual 1994 suffering. The film also examines the survivors’ memories of researchers who watched The Broken Silence documentaries response to educators and community leaders who confront known for his film Woyzeck), says he knew that the day First, Puenzo addresses the irony of the Argentine witnessing their parents’ deaths and their desire for revenge hundreds of testimonies. will be broadcast on television the rise in Holocaust denial, racial hatred, and wars of “ethnic would come when he would make a film about the Holocaust. 1940 in their home countries during nationalist regime of the s that gave refuge to Jews who during and after the war. One of these researchers, 2001. However, broadcast dates cleansing,” the Shoah Foundation has produced five foreign- His parents, both survivors themselves, never spoke about survived the Holocaust as well as to the Nazis who persecuted Writer and director Pavel Chukhraj, best known for Cataloguer Zsuzsanna Aradi, have not yet been finalized for language documentaries based on testimonies in its archive their experiences and Szasz felt the heaviness of their unspo- all the films. them. Then he draws a parallel between the Nazi regime and his award-winning drama The Thief, used narration, archival originally from Budapest, for international television broadcast. ken memories throughout his childhood. Today Szasz is a describes the experience of the infamous military junta that governed Argentina from footage, and original music to underscore the deeply affect- Argentina 1976 1983 30,000 watching interviews in Algunos que Vivieron Initiated by Foundation Chairman Steven Spielberg, father himself and is proud to have made this very personal to , which murdered more than people. As ing survivor testimonies in this film. Hungarian for the first time: (Some Who Lived) these five films, known collectively as Broken Silence, represent film. Though it was a painful process “to hear the knocking survivor Pedro Boschan states, “When the dictatorship took Broadcast date unavailable at press time an important step in the Shoah Foundation’s global mission on the door of [the survivors], to open it, and to listen,” Szasz place in Argentina, it was much like it was in Europe. This I have been listening to English- Station: TELEFE to increase awareness of the Holocaust to counter the devas- says, “I’m very happy that I made this film for my child and proved that … this is something we are all subject to, perma- Peklo Na Zemi language testimonies as a Czech Republic tating impact of intolerance. James Moll, director of the Oscar- for other children.” nently, no matter where we live and no matter who we are.” (Hell on Earth) cataloguer for nearly four years. Listening to interviews in Peklo Na Zemi winning The Last Days and a founding executive director of Finally, Puenzo included survivors’ references to the antise- 5 a Czech-language documentary (Hell on Earth) Hungarian made the whole the Foundation, produced these documentaries, which focus mitic bombings in Buenos Aires (of the Israeli Embassy in directed by Vojtech Jasny Tentative broadcast date: process of watching and 11.29.01 at 8 p.m. on Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Pamietam 1992 and the Argentine Jewish Federation Building in 1994). “I opened my heart and did the best I could.” This is Station: CT2 network analyzing testimonies effortless. These countries were selected because of their dire need for 2 (I Remember) The bombings, which remain unresolved, badly shook some how director Vojtech Jasny describes his experience making I was immersed in my language, Hungary Holocaust education, their enduring legacy of antisemitism a Polish-language documentary survivors who have looked to their adopted country for a the documentary Hell on Earth. which was very pleasurable. A Holocaust Szemei directed by Andrzej Wajda (Eyes of the Holocaust) (as in many parts of the world), and their direct involvement sense of safety and belonging. Jasny’s film gives an overview of the events of the At the same time, listening to Tentative broadcast date: in the events and/or the aftermath of the Holocaust. Polish survivor Stanislaw Jonas remembers that Graciela Nabel de Jinich, the Shoah Foundation liai- Holocaust, specifically how the Czech population was affected. these stories was much more 7.2.01 at 8 p.m. painful; I knew the places Built around excerpts from survivor testimonies in when hiding as a child during the war, he had to be careful son for Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, notes that this Beginning with the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Station: TV2 survivors talked about, and each country’s native language, these documentaries will be which songs he hummed. “Sometimes I would hum ‘bad songs’ documentary shows “part of the story of the Jewish commu- Hell on Earth goes on to examine Theresienstadt (Terezin), in my mind my own images Poland [Jewish songs] and we would get found out as Jews.” Pamietam broadcast on television in their country of origin. Five world- nity in Argentina.” She was proud to assist Puenzo who, she the “model ghetto” the Nazis built near Prague to prove to the were mixed with the images (I Remember) class directors worked with researchers and historians to Jonas is one of four survivors featured in Andrzej says, “knew what to tell.” international community how humanely they treated Jews. In created by their experiences. Broadcast date: 4.30.01 Wajda’s I Remember. Wajda says he used a small number of Station: Channel 1 make these documentaries as gifts to their home nations and An internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Puenzo is reality, about 33,000 people died in Theresienstadt, mainly of the world.