Synopsis

At the beginning of the German occupation of Poland, a legal collecting point for the emigration of Jews to Palestine is arranged in Auschwitz. Leon Schoenker, the chairman of the local Jewish community, wants to advance the project as quickly as possible. He enthusiastically travels to Berlin – but returns without success. The borders abroad remain widely closed. The terrible end is well known: Millions of people fall victim to the Nazis’ racial ideology. Schoenker and his family are soon forced to abandon their lives and flee. They are on the run within Poland, but they manage to survive. Decades later, Leon’s son Henryk visits former tenements and old hideouts full of memories from his childhood. He recounts the losses, the big fears and horrors, but also the little joys of this time. And he keeps asking himself: Could the mass murder have been prevented? Why didn’t the international community do more back then? The tangible helplessness and the obvious incomprehension of what happened leave a bitter aftertaste. Director Marek Tomasz Pawłowski’s selection of re-imagined scenes and original historical footage complements Schoenker’s touching and frequently shocking journey into the past, and makes the film a one-of-a kind, poetic documentary of those times.

Guests

MALGORZATA WALCZAK

Małgorzata Walczak
Producer The Touch of an Angel
In Vienna: March 20-23