After Auschwitz

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Chris M So powerful. So moving. Should be a must watch for all students Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/16/23 Full Review Audience Member After Auschwitz The Stories of Six Women (2017), directed by Jon Kean, is a poignant and emotionally moving documentary that narrates the lives of six women who survived the Nazi concentration camps focusing on their lives following liberation from the camps. The six women are Eva Beckmann, Rena Drexler, Renee Firestone, Erika Jacoby, Lili Majzner, and Linda Sherman. The narrative of their lives are juxtaposed against their backstory, their experiences following liberation, their decisions to leave for the United States, their assimilation and integration into the fabric of American society, and experiences as public educators giving talks about their experiences as camp survivors. The filmmaker knits together many visual elements which include first person interviews of the six women, home movies, family photographs, voice-over narration, diverse editing techniques and angle shots to create a compelling film where the past meets the present. The filmmaker brilliantly weaves first-person interviews juxtaposed against archival material spanning their liberation from the death camps to contemporary times which frames and contextualizes the experiences of the six women within an historical context which gives the documentary a depth and complexity. Scenes alternate between the six women reflecting on their liberation from the camps, the return journey home, fending for themselves, and finding nothing was the same, their decisions to leave for America, their experiences integrating and assimilating into American society, having and raising a family, and coming to terms with their traumatic experiences. It's a balanced documentary juxtaposing their lives in America against their lives before the war and post-liberation in Europe. Their experiences collectively shine a light on the experiences of survivors of The Shoah and is a painful reminder of man's inhumanity to man. Some scenes were difficult to watch, which left me emotional and teary eyed, but my discomfort couldn't light a match to their lived experiences of the death camps and experiences following liberation. The documentary will leave you speechless, angry, and at a loss for words. Kean has not only created intimate portraits of these six remarkable women who have triumphed over evil but has created a visual legacy, a painful reminder, to educate future generations in perpetuity of the Nazi genocide committed against European Jewry during World War II. The documentary has tremendous educational value and can serve as a vehicle to promote social awareness and understanding. I recommend this well-crafted documentary which is deserving of your attention. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Joel K An innovative and wonderful presentation and well paced story of a horrifying subject. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/11/20 Full Review dave d 'After Auschwitz' is a documentary told from survivors of the Holocaust about what happened immediately following the moment they were released to the present day. All six of the women, who originally hail from varying countries, eventually migrated to the United States. We listen to these tales we should all feel shock and awe at them and the women behind their stories. This may be a hard movie to find, but if you can get (Kanopy) check it out! Final Score: 8.4/10 Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent documentary topic. Chronological presentation, i.e. not innovative. Worth watching to honor the 6 women survivors who tell a story never to be forgotten. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/19 Full Review Audience Member Very compelling, both truthful and honest, non-schmaltzy or sentimental story of six women who did not let their awful experiences in Auschwitz totally destroy their lives even though their lives were tinged by them. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews

After Auschwitz

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