my flickr: Swimming in Auschwitz Set
Went with Jason to see the NYC / East Coast Premiere of Swimming in Auschwitz at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan.
It is a documentary about six vibrant, amazing women who survived the infamous Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.
Director Jon Kean was in attendance along with Renee Firestone one of the women featured in the film. [Photo above.]
It was really magnificent, I highly recommend it. Editor Anne Stein did a fantastic job seamlessly blending stock footage and the stories of these women so that their narratives kept a collective, cooperative flow.
Director Jon Kean prefaced the screening by stating his view of the difference between how men and women tell stories. A man will tell you the facts of what happened. Women will recall the quirky details.
After the screening the pair came on stage and answered audience questions – my notes below.
Renee Firestone describes the first time she ever spoke about her experience. (She is an educator for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.) It was at a Mormon Temple and they screened the very graphic French documentary Night and Fog (1955) [I remember seeing it in high school.]. She was hoping people would leave. She was surprised that nobody moved and was told by Rabbi Cooper that she must speak. She started to talk and has no idea where the strength came from.
In response to a question about seeking retribution she states that there was very little retribution. They just wanted to live lives. And, telling stories is revenge.
An Israeli woman asks how she feels about 70,000 Jews marching to Washington to protest Darfur but not protesting Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, who has called for Israel’s destruction. The woman, it seemed, equated this to ignoring Hitler.
Renee Firestone responds that she has been involved in protesting every single genocide. We have lived in the bloodiest century. When she sees footage (of Darfur), she sees herself in Auschwitz and asks her interlocuter what she has done?
[Jewish organizations have protested Ahmadinejad. Others have kept busy with other issues, feeling that to protest him on a grand scale would be giving him power and more of a platform on the World stage or that it might be viewed as inflating the risk for political purpose.]
When asked about the reaction of German audiences to the film Renee Firestone describes her involvement with One By One an organization that facilitates dialogue between descendants of victims, perpetrators, bystanders and resisters. She spent a week together with a Nazi in Berlin. She was glad she went. She learned how easy it is to be indoctrinated, brainwashed or just give in to peer pressure. She does not know what she would have done and relates that one can never know unless placed in a situation. Similarly, one doesn’t know how much strength they have until it is called upon.
Director Jon Kean recommends seeing The Last Days, another documentary that Renee Firestone is featured in. During filming, they found documentation related to a doctor who experimented on her sister and she finds and confronts him at the end of the film.
A young woman who is reading Elie Wiesel’s Night asks if she ever has flashbacks to her experiences. Renee Firestone replies, all the time, plus she speaks about her experiencees every day. Sometimes a flash of an experience will hit her out of nowhere. Director Jon Kean adds that when Survivors agree to be interviewed they relate that the next 2 or 3 nights after an interview will be especially difficult.
He is asked how he came to the project and responds that he began the project to study laughter as a survival tool. Men would say sometimes there was humor, and they would laugh, but could not pin down specific details for him. He became enamored of how these women told stories.
She is asked her opinion of God’s role and about faith. She responds that she has so much faith she doesn’t believe God had anything to do with the atrocities. She relates the story of Noah and the Flood and the promise given by God that he will never destroy the world again…she quips that it’s a shame he did not extract the same promise from Noah / Man.
She responds to a question about survival saying it was pure luck. Director Jon Kean adds three elements that helped people to survive according to Michael Berenbaum based on previous events they had done together. [Berenbaum was supposed to be moderator for the evening but couldn't make it due to bad weather.] Assessing Risk, Finding Meaning, Having people to support you are three elements that repeat in tales of survival. They’re not bad things to have in general.
One man in the audience whose father was a survivor originally from Muncacz [Hungary] asked about the responses of former neighbors after the War. His father’s experience were incredulous responses of “You’re still alive?!” “Can’t Believe they didn’t get you!”…Her husband is originally from Muncacz and there is footage in the film of people dancing from Muncacz…Renee Firestone relates meeting her next door neighbor after the war who was about 10 at the time and wondering what his family said about her family being taken away. He said they were sorry her sister died. But, she relates bitterly that nobody asked at the time. Nobody cared. This is one of the only points in the evening that this amazing woman gives in to negativity. Director Jon Kean adds that some may have been sorry their neighbors were gone but it did improve their lives economically.
A woman in the audience asks about the cruelty of female Nazis which is not depicted in this film about women. Renee Firestone agrees that the capacity of women for cruelty was worse and recalls a guard from Auschwitz C Lager who was hung after the war. I believe the reference was to Irma Grese who was hung at the Belsen trial.
To conclude the evening the question of retribution is raised again and how she felt when one of the other women in the film relates that at liberation she was given the chance to kill one of her persecuters but does not take it…Renee Firestone replies we are not killers though she wouldn’t be sorry if someone else killed them. This last bit said with the smile of someone who has survived, amazingly, with her sense of humor intact.
I overheard a woman in the bathroom complain that the film made light and didn’t show what really happened, children being torn from their parent’s arms. She may have been a Holocaust survivor and I would not try to dispute her response to the film. My take on it was quite different. It was a unique perspective on the horrors that occurred. I hope I would never have to confront such horrors and if I did I hope I would be able to keep my humanity intact via my sense of the absurd. Also, there actually is some very graphic documentary footage in the film. You are not hit over the head with the brutality that occurred but the footage is there and it is a subcurrent running throughout the film which should be viewed in advance before showing it to young people.
Upcoming screenings are taking place in London, England and Salt Lake City, Utah. You can check the official website for additional screenings or just buy the DVD (there’s a link for purchase on the site) for $20 via Paypal.
I am torn about writing a summary of the film as opposed to the evening because I think it should be viewed so for now am not going to do so.
Article on the film here.
