Secret Lives: Hidden Children & Their Rescuers During WWII

Play trailer

Secret Lives: Hidden Children & Their Rescuers During WWII

2002

1h 12m

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

37 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Through harrowing archival footage and touching interviews with Holocaust survivors, documentarian Aviva Slesin tells the story of the brave individuals who, during World War II, risked their own lives in order to harbor Jewish children from invading Nazis and almost certain death. Slesin reveals her own story about finding safety in a foster home during the Holocaust and explores bonds that formed between other children of the tragedy and their surrogate families.

Critics Consensus

A moving, important testament to these children and the familes who took them in.

Read Critics Reviews

John Leonard

New York Magazine/Vulture

01/27/2018

... we are reminded once again that heroism is as mysterious as evil.

Go to Full Review

Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films

08/22/2004

B+

Slesin records these difficult and ambiguous circumstances with clear-eyed sobriety, yet in the end her film remains a testimonial to human goodness.

Go to Full Review

Tim Cogshell

Boxoffice Magazine

12/21/2003

3/5

It's a thorough and complicated film that Slesin documents with poignancy and simplicity.

Go to Full Review

Brandon Judell

Aufbau

05/15/2006

Slesin, who's already won an Oscar for her documentary, "Ten Year Lunch: The Wit and The Legend of the Algonquin Round Table," should at least be racking up another nomination with this sterling effort.

Go to Full Review

Paul Sherman

Boston Herald

07/16/2005

3.5/4

Jean Lowerison

San Diego Metropolitan

12/19/2003

It's good to be reminded of the existence of people willing to risk their lives to save someone else. Seeing this short film will reaffirm your faith in humanity.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

04/20/2012

Again, there is a lot of good in people.. as much as there is bad... amazing what some families did for these children, out of their sense of good!

See more

08/03/2011

this doc was really sparse and didn't seem to have much depth which is a shame because of the topic.

See more

05/28/2011

Aviva Slesin, herself a Lithuanian-born rescued child of the Holocaust, put six years into creating this masterpiece of a documentary, conducting many an interview with other "hidden children" in Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, & Poland. Engaging & at times unflinchingly honest (one interviewee still harbors some resentment for having to share her parents), I wish this film were longer. Very well done.

See more

07/17/2008

Fascinating documentary about the children saved by non-Jewish families in Europe during WWII. Lives were risked all around, and the changes in all the lives involved are palpable.

See more

01/19/2008

Very interesting. You get a sense of what it was like for the children who lived with parents who saved children.

See more

10/27/2007

[You commented on this movie] Comments: really crap ~ really crap ~

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Aviva Slesin

Director

Aviva Slesin

Producer

Ann Rubenstein Tisch

Executive Producer

Toby Appleton Perl

Writer

View more photos

Synopsis

Through harrowing archival footage and touching interviews with Holocaust survivors, documentarian Aviva Slesin tells the story of the brave individuals who, during World War II, risked their own lives in order to harbor Jewish children from invading Nazis and almost certain death. Slesin reveals her own story about finding safety in a foster home during the Holocaust and explores bonds that formed between other children of the tragedy and their surrogate families.

Director: Aviva Slesin
Producer: Aviva Slesin
Screenwriter: Toby Appleton Perl
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Box Office (Gross USA): $42.4K
Runtime: 1h 12m