ScreenFish

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holocaust survivors

Syndrome K – Life Saving Disease

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Doctors take an oath to save lives. Sometimes that means making some hard decisions. For a group of doctors at a Catholic hospital in Rome in 1943, those decisions were very hard. It could have cost them their lives. Instead they infected a number of local Jews with a disease. That may sound inhumane, but it was really a way of saving their lives. Syndrome K, a new documentary from Stephen Edwards.

When Germans occupied Rome in 1943, they began the roundup of local Jews to send to extermination camps. This film tells the story of three doctors at Catholic-run Fatebenefratelli Hospital that invented a disease that was very contagious, very dangerous, and very fictional. When Germans came to inspect the hospital, the fear of contracting the disease kept them out of the Syndrome K ward.

The brief documentary gives some brief historical context for the events, but relies mostly on interviews with two of the doctors and the son of one of the doctors who took part in this extraordinary rescue, as well as some of those who survived because of Syndrome K.

The film also brings in some of the context of the Catholic Church in Rome. Vatican City is the smallest independent country in the world. During the war it maintained neutrality, in large part out of fear. Pius XII is the center of great controversies over whether he did enough to try to prevent the Holocaust or if he was involved in trying to save Jews. Certainly, the monasteries and convents of Rome were a refuge for many hidden Jews. Could it have been so without Vatican support. The film includes a identification card signed by Giovanni Battista Montini, who was one of the pope’s closest advisors. (The film doesn’t mention that he later became Pope Paul VI.)

The doctors at Fatebenefratelli took seriously their oaths to save lives. If they had been found out (and they did more than just save Jews) they and their families could have been killed. Instead they chose to do act on behalf of their neighbors. That, of course, is a key teaching of the church.

Syndrome K is available to rent on digital platforms.

Tiger Within – Choosing Not to Hate

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“I think God gives everyone the same gift. Most people don’t unwrap the gift.”

Rafal Zielinski’s Tiger Within is a study of brokenness, fear, hatred, wisdom, forgiveness, and healing. It is the story of two very different people who manage to find a connection they both need to survive.

Casey (played by the 14 year old Margot Josefsohn) is a 14 year old punk runaway who has come to L.A. to live with her father, who obviously is more interested in his new family. She quickly loses everything she has (except her swastika emblazoned jacket) on the streets. Samuel (the nonagenarian Ed Asner) is a holocaust survivor, now all alone in the world. His days are empty, except for the bitterness that remains towards everyone.

Their first encounter takes place in the Jewish cemetery where Samuel has gone to visit his wife’s grave. On the way out he sees Casey curled up asleep—seeing only the back of her jacket with the swastika. After he walks away, he returns and waits for her to awaken. They begin a very tentative conversation. Casey is wary of what Samuel wants. He buys her food and takes her to his apartment so she can shower and sleep. His acts of kindness make only a crack in her defenses.

Some time later, we find Casey working at a massage parlor (yes, that kind of massage parlor), and living in a cheap motel. When Samuel runs across her again, they continue to talk. They make a deal. She can live with him if she goes to school and removes the swastika from her jacket. It gives Casey a place that is safe, and it give Samuel a chance to act as a parent. (He lost his daughters in the Holocaust.) The bond they build sustains them, but it is also very fragile.

We might wonder why Samuel would create that first encounter and why he would struggle to make a bond with this girl who was so different and so difficult. He tells her that it was because he made a promise to his wife—to stop hating. And by focusing on not hating Casey, perhaps he’d learn to not hate everything else.

The film touches upon a number of issues of import. One of those is holocaust denial. When Samuel and Casey first meet, she tells him that her mother has taught her that the Holocaust is a lie. Polls have recently found that many young people either don’t know of or don’t believe the facts about the Holocaust. In a world where racial hatred and neo-Nazis have become more visible and vocal, it is wrong to remain silent.

Another issue in the film is that of young sex workers. As a runaway, about the only job available for Casey is a clandestine job providing “happy endings”. What strikes us in this story is that even though she has been a sex worker, she is terrified of a boy in school asking her for a date. She’s never had a date. She never been kissed. That cross of innocence and repugnance help us see a bit of the humanity of sex workers.

The big issue is forgiveness—not an easy thing for anyone. Samuel’s bitterness towards the world has an obvious source in the Holocaust. He lost his family. That Casey would think it never happened is appalling to him. To welcome Casey into his life is obviously a challenge.

Casey has much to forgive as well. Neither her mother nor her father wants anything to do with her. She doesn’t fit in with anyone around her. She is victimized in various ways. She has had no real love in her life.

Yet, it is not so much the objects of their bitterness and hatred that is the real focus of forgiveness. Before either can move on to a better life, they must first forgive themselves.

Film credits are often ignored when they come on the screen. The credits for this film are worth noting. The first of the closing credits are “special thanks for all the words of wisdom from” a variety of spiritual advisors, including Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Native American, and Buddhist. (There are videos of these advisors on the film’s website under “Forgiveness”.)

Tiger Within is available on virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy Film Art Planet.

Back to the Fatherland – The Burden of the Past

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How can young Israelis decide to move to Germany or Austria, given the historical issues Jews faced there? Back to the Fatherland gives us a look at a few of those young people—and their grandparents—to try to find some insight into the possibility to finding a future that overcomes history.

The film opens with the words of Yochanan, grandfather of co-director Gil Levanon” “I don’t believe in Germany. They were bad. And they stayed bad and they will always be bad. I’ll also never make friends with a German who’s nice to my granddaughter. I can’t do that.” Yochanan, a Holocaust survivor, reflects how some continue to hold onto the animosity that grew out of their lives. But to Gil, the “third generation”, it seems that perhaps Germans are not as bad as her grandfather believes.

The genesis of this film goes back to when Gil met Kat Rohner, the other director, in college in the U.S. Kat too is “third generation”, but on the other side; her grandfather had been a Nazi officer. They realized that there was a generational disconnect that often made the decision to move more difficult.

The film follows three younger Israelis and their grandparents as they deal with the issue. It isn’t always as negative as Yochanan’s response. One of the grandparents is very supportive because they know the grandson will not be happy in Israel because of the political situation. (The grandson uses the term “apartheid” in reference to the treatment of Palestinians.) For some of the younger generation it represents an attempt to reconnect with their history.

The film doesn’t take a side. It recognizes the pain of the older generation and the animosity that they carry for the way they and their families were treated. Some lost all they knew and loved. They found a security in the state of Israel. But for those of the “third generation” it has created a historical void. They are well aware of the events of the Holocaust, and the personal stories of their grandparents, but they also know that things are different in Germany and Austria. Not perfect, there are nationalist movements arising again, but there has also been much done to create a more diverse atmosphere in those countries.

This film is not so much about creating reconciliation between those who suffered and those who committed the crimes. It is about trying to reconcile the pain of one generation with the new perspectives of another. Such generational gaps are common throughout history, but the divide between the Holocaust survivors and their grandchildren is especially sharp. Making this film gave those involved a chance to work through a bit of the process of coming to terms personally with that division.

Photos courtesy of First Run Features

The Last Suit – Road Trip to Grace

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We often try to bury the past—to forget the pain and suffering. That can be a good thing if we move on with life and find fulfillment. But often that buried past comes to haunt us. It may actually prevent the good life we hope for in the future until it is recognized and addressed.

Abraham Bursztein (Miguel Ángel Solá) is an 88 year old Holocaust survivor who has made a life for himself in Buenos Aires. But his health is failing. His children have sold his home and he is scheduled to move into a retirement home. But he has a secret plan to make one last trip—to return to Poland to take a suit to the Christian friend who saved his life after the War. But this is a trip that is not just about the gratitude he owes that friend; it is also about the resentments he has carried all these years.

The film is a road movie of his trip to find what has been missing from his life. In part the trip is an attempt to be in control of his life. His children have made all the decisions for him. But the trip is also driven by a long-forgotten promise. His life cannot be complete while that promise has not been fulfilled. He sees this as a one-way trip, as though he is doing this as one final task before he is ready for the end.

Abraham is a severe, judgmental, and bitter man who holds grudges forever. His family knows that he considers “Poland” a dirty word. As he makes this trip he refuses to say the word himself. He’ll only show a piece of paper with the word on it. We know that Poland is where terrible things happened to him. He continues to hold on to the anger against Poland, and even more Germany.

This road trip turns into a series of encounters that put his anger in perspective. He keeps meeting people who, in spite of his cheerlessness and even rudeness, seek to help him. Each of these people bring a touch of grace into his life. He begins to connect with them in ways that start to knock down the walls of his anger. When he comes to his final destination, we learn that what he is really trying to return to is the place where he first met grace in the actions of another. This time grace was a chance to return to life after being in the realm of death that was the Holocaust. When those walls are finally destroyed, Abraham is then free to love as he has not done for many years.

Watching the film, I constantly wondered why these people would respond to Abraham with kindness when he was always so mean-spirited. But then that is what makes it grace. Grace reaches out to those who do not deserve it. It is freely offered just because it is needed. The film does not talk about God, but it does show the way God—and God’s people—touch lives and bring new life.

Photos courtesy of Outsider Pictures

 

Bye Bye Germany – Moving to Life

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“If I didn’t embellish life with lies, it would be unbearable.”

In the opening shot of Bye Bye Germany, we watch a three-legged dog happily trotting through a street that turns out to be in a post-war displaced persons camp in Frankfort. While that dog has next to nothing to do with the plot of this light-hearted (yet not quite comic) tale, it makes for an interesting way to understand the characters we meet.

This camp is filled with Jews who have survived the Holocaust. They are awaiting their chance to move on to America or Palestine. But that takes money. David Bermann enlists some others in the camp to take part in a “business opportunity” that will make them all money. He will smuggle in some French linens which they will sell at inflated prices (but convince people they are getting a great deal.) This minor fleecing of the Germans near the camp gives them a small sense of revenge for what Germans did to them. It also gives them a chance to earn the money they will need to have a new life.

However, Bermann may have some skeletons in his closet. He is summoned to the American Army HQ to be asked if he were a German collaborator during the war. Documents show he received special privileges, had some sort of special mission, and even fake travel papers provided by the Germans. As the young American woman officer interrogates him over time, he tells a story of being tasked by the concentration camp commander to teach Hitler how to tell a joke. This story becomes more bizarre each time they meet. Is it the truth or is Bermann just the kind of guy who can tell a tale and make you believe it?

Everyone in this film has their own little story that comes from their experiences during the war. At times they meet someone who harmed them in the camps. Or it may be as simple as a song on the radio that triggers memories. The stories they share may have a poignant humor or show just a touch of the deep pain that each man has suffered.

They also must deal with survivor’s guilt—why they survived while others—some very good people—did not. They each struggle with demons from their past, loss of loved ones, and wondering if they may have done something wrong to save themselves at another’s expense.

They have an uneasy time coming to grips with all that has happened. On the one hand, they can say with just a sense of triumph, “Hitler’s dead, and we’re still alive.” But then at the grave of friend who had a tragic death, as they begin to pray, one says, “How can one pray to a God who makes so many mistakes?” They continue to go between times of joy and yet new suffering.

In a way, they are each like that three-legged dog—they have lost something of great value, but they are intent on moving forward in search of life and happiness. The dog—and these characters—serve to remind us that the trials in our lives are often overcome through continuing to move forward.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement