Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,760
(birds chirping)
2
00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:15,480
- You know, 40 years...
3
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,400
Forty years
I've been in a classroom.
4
00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,560
And there is never
a more poignant question
5
00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,160
that a student asks me
about the Holocaust
6
00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:27,680
than...
7
00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:32,720
"Why didn't the Jews
resist the Nazis?"
8
00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,600
And there's a moment where
you just want to leave it alone...
9
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,000
And then there's a moment
where you can't let it go.
10
00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:48,800
(sombre music)
11
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,080
(birdsong)
12
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,240
(haunting music)
13
00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:02,040
(continues)
14
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,560
(explosions and gunfire)
15
00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:06,800
(shouting)
16
00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:09,120
(explosions continue)
17
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,280
(sinister beat)
18
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,600
(creaking)
19
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,200
(commotion)
20
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,920
MARCEL: After a journey of ten days,
we arrived at Auschwitz on April 11
21
00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:36,520
to a crematorium.
22
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:40,360
- Marcel Nadjari...
23
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,640
This is a guy who, uh,
was shipped off from Greece in 1944
24
00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:48,880
all the way to Auschwitz.
25
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,040
(dark music)
26
00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:02,840
(shot reverberates)
27
00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,160
- Sonderkommando prisoners
were slaves...
28
00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,400
..compelled to do
anything their masters,
29
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,080
the Germans in Auschwitz,
tell them to do.
30
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,840
MARCEL:
Our unit is called The Special Unit.
31
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,640
I will explain for you the work
that the Almighty wanted me to do.
32
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,600
It starts
by the people entering naked.
33
00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,840
(hissing)
34
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,880
- Humiliation is a VERY
central factor in the German crime.
35
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,160
He has to be undressed
and he has to be humiliated.
36
00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,560
MARCEL: After the room
is filled with people,
37
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,520
it is locked and they are gassed.
38
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,520
(hissing)
39
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,040
- And I have to emphasise
1,000 times,
40
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,240
the killing
always was made by the Germans!
41
00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:32,680
- We're at crematorium three,
42
00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,600
which was destroyed by the Nazis
as they were leaving in 1945.
43
00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,720
What really is
the secret of crematorium three
44
00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,440
is this is where
they discovered Nadjari's letter.
45
00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:58,920
He described in meticulous detail
what his daily schedule was.
46
00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,440
So, his letter
gives us a perspective
47
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,880
on what it is that happened here.
48
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:13,640
- In this horrible world,
49
00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,720
finding even a pen
and a piece of paper
50
00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,120
without being exposed
what they were doing
51
00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:20,520
is an incredible bravery!
52
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,720
And they probably didn't see hope
for their own survival.
53
00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:25,240
They wanted the world to know.
54
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,520
- People have this myth
stuck in their heads
55
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:32,520
that the Jews
went to their deaths
56
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,080
like sheep to the slaughter.
57
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,640
But this is where
the real story begins...
58
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,400
(music continues)
59
00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:45,440
MARCEL: How could I do this?
60
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,400
Burn the bodies of my brothers
in faith?
61
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,480
And why didn't I join them
and put an end to it?
62
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,800
But every time,
the thirst for revenge stopped me!
63
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:02,800
LEON: Each prisoner in every squad
64
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:04,680
knew exactly
what he was supposed to do
65
00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:06,400
and prepared for it.
66
00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,120
ZALMON: May those who made
an ocean of blood of my people
67
00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:12,640
drown in an ocean of blood!
68
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:13,800
(gunfire)
69
00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:14,960
(explosion)
70
00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,400
WOMAN: Suddenly,
the sirens began to wail...
71
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:18,560
What happened?!
72
00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,560
A revolution,
an uprising at the crematorium?
73
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,080
- This is where the story begins...
74
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,680
Jews did not go their death
as sheep to the slaughter.
75
00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:41,360
They fought back.
76
00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,560
(music continues)
77
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:39,000
(fades)
78
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,160
(solemn music)
79
00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:29,400
(explosion)
80
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:35,080
(wailing)
81
00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,360
FEIGE: Father was calming us,
saying, "Don't be scared!
82
00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,360
Even when the Germans come,
they are not so bad!
83
00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,360
I remember them
from the First World War
84
00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:51,640
and they are quite human,
85
00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:52,800
you will see."
86
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,480
For him, it was a shock...
87
00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,560
- What her father had said was,
"I know these people.
88
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:05,000
I know the Germans.
89
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,680
We fought in the First World War
together
90
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,960
and they're
basically decent people!"
91
00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,120
And then,
within the first couple days,
92
00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:14,640
he was pretty badly beaten.
93
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,360
And he was so devastated
94
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,080
that he was unable, after that,
to leave the house
95
00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:23,760
to go out on the street.
96
00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,480
BENJAMIN:
We were immediately singled out.
97
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:31,760
We knew something was coming.
98
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,040
- So, this is one of
the original walls
99
00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,800
that confined the Jews
into the Warsaw ghetto.
100
00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,640
And on Yom Kippur,
101
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:04,760
the holiest day of the Jewish year
in 1940,
102
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:06,520
the Jewish population finds out
103
00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:09,880
that it's going to be confined
into a ghetto.
104
00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,840
Half a million Jews, almost,
forced into this tiny area.
105
00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,760
MAREK: A few hundred people
crowd every large, unheated room
106
00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:19,920
of a synagogue,
107
00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:21,960
every hall of a deserted factory.
108
00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,560
A whole family often receives
sleeping space for one.
109
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,280
The walls and barbed wire
surrounding the ghetto
110
00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,200
completely cut off the Jews
from the outside world.
111
00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:45,520
AVINOAM:
These are starvation rations.
112
00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:47,560
There's no way that people
can live on this.
113
00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:55,760
MAREK: Children begged everywhere.
114
00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:58,960
Six-year-old boys
crawled through the walls
115
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:00,120
and barbed wire
116
00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:02,200
to obtain food on the other side.
117
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,440
They supported entire families
in this manner.
118
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,880
- This was all part of a plan
which was going to degrade the Jews,
119
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:12,080
dehumanise them,
120
00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,960
force them to live in horrible,
horrible conditions
121
00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:16,440
where you have disease...
122
00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:19,240
The creation of the ghetto
123
00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:23,000
was EXACTLY to facilitate
the spread of epidemics.
124
00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,080
They would bring in film crews
into the ghetto
125
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,840
as part of their propaganda effort
to show this how Jews live,
126
00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,280
this is how Jews carry disease
127
00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,720
and how Jews will ultimately die.
128
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:34,880
(crow cawing)
129
00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,800
(birds chirping)
130
00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:49,240
So, people often want to know
131
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,600
why the Jewish population
didn't fight back immediately.
132
00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,480
Half a million Jews
crowded into the ghetto,
133
00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,680
why didn't they take up arms
and fight back against the Germans?
134
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,560
- Collective punishment.
- Collective punishment.
135
00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,760
The Jews knew
that you can start some resistance.
136
00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,080
You can aim a pistol
and shoot one person, two people,
137
00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:12,240
whatever it is,
138
00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,280
but the Germans
would then arrest 2,000.
139
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,080
- But the truth is,
from the very beginning,
140
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:42,320
right, once they're
crowded into the ghetto,
141
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,280
they did resist in the ways
that they knew best to do.
142
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,520
Resistance that was a type
of spiritual resistance.
143
00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:51,720
Resistance
that was a way of standing up
144
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,200
against the German oppressors.
145
00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,680
Feeding the hungry,
146
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,640
clothing the poor,
taking care of orphans,
147
00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,240
these were strategies
that Jews had used for centuries
148
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:02,840
and which they fell back upon.
149
00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:13,080
- The unarmed resistance
is called in Hebrew Amidah.
150
00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,520
Amidah is standing, standing up,
151
00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:21,000
or in Yiddish I would say...
152
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:22,480
(speaking yiddish)
153
00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,200
"I'm not yielding
to the situation!"
154
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,160
Whatever you do
that is against the situation
155
00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:30,120
IS resistance!
156
00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:36,560
- Whether you sit or lie or crawl
or swim or stand up
157
00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:38,320
makes absolutely no difference.
158
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:39,480
It's Amidah.
159
00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:43,760
VLADKA: Life in the ghetto
was a chain of resistance.
160
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,560
There were illegal schools,
there were illegal libraries,
161
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:49,640
choirs, even theatres...
162
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:51,240
It was an illegal LIFE!
163
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,080
- The Germans wanted to destroy
any kind of Jewish existence,
164
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,400
also cultural existence and so on.
165
00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:05,520
So, when you educated children
in ghettos,
166
00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:09,880
if they survived
for them to develop after the war
167
00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,440
this was against
the German idea, eh?
168
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,000
BENJAMIN:
I organised a school in my building
169
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:17,920
and I became
the teacher of that school.
170
00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,440
I had never prepared
for being a teacher
171
00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,080
but there were no schools.
172
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:24,560
All schools were illegal.
173
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:28,560
- And if you always keep in mind
174
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,960
that part of what the Germans
wanted to do was to kill the body
175
00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:34,960
but also to kill the soul,
176
00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:36,800
to undermine humanity,
177
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,040
the humanity of the individual...
178
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,760
And therefore,
if you never lost your humanity,
179
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:43,520
then in a very real sense
180
00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,400
you're helping
to defeat the Germans.
181
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,600
VLADKA: Although you see today
how the pictures,
182
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,560
mostly from Germans,
183
00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,840
pictures of Jews
who were beggars and pitiful,
184
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:02,000
and this is taken
185
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,600
because the Germans would like us
only to be seen this way...
186
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,000
This was
only one part of the ghetto.
187
00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,480
It was true, there were beggars,
188
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,440
but there was another kind of life
full of activities
189
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:16,880
and spiritual resistance.
190
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,960
(heartwarming music)
191
00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:40,560
EMANUEL: With a little peace,
192
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,720
we may succeed in making sure
that not a single fact
193
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,840
about Jewish life
at this time and place
194
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:48,440
will be kept from the world.
195
00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:52,480
- They were documenting
196
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,680
the entire life
of the Warsaw ghetto.
197
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:57,120
And then they buried it.
198
00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,360
And they buried it 'cause they
wanted to make sure it survived.
199
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,840
It's the equivalent of seeing
for the first time
200
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,200
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
201
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,840
The difference is,
this is so close to our own era.
202
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:22,520
And to know that Jews
had been documenting
203
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,400
and preserved it
like a message in a bottle
204
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:27,960
for future generations...
205
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,880
"What we couldn't
scream out to the world
206
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:36,360
we buried in the ground.
207
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,120
I would like to live
to see the moment
208
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,600
when it will be possible
to unearth this great treasure
209
00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:45,560
and shout out the truth.
210
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,600
May this treasure
fall into good hands,
211
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:51,760
may it survive until better times,
212
00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:53,440
may it alarm the world
213
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,720
to what happened
in the 20th century.
214
00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,600
Now we can die in peace.
215
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,160
Our mission has been accomplished.
216
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,520
Let history bear witness to that."
217
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,440
- So, Warsaw is occupied
218
00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,760
and the goal for Jews is to survive,
219
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,160
to live to see another day,
220
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,320
to live until the war
is gonna be over.
221
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:33,160
They have no idea that
the end point of Germans' occupation
222
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:34,560
is extermination.
223
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,040
(birds chirping)
224
00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,520
- This is one of the main
recreation spots in Kaunas.
225
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:00,680
It sits up on a hill.
226
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:01,840
It's windy. It's breezy.
227
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,080
People come here for picnics,
to walk their dog.
228
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,320
I've seen wedding ceremonies here...
229
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:09,760
But what people don't know is,
underneath where we're standing,
230
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,360
this is where 50,000 Jews
were buried in 14 trenches.
231
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,680
- This is where the Jews' plant
is going to be
232
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,760
and even if they were to try to
memorialise this
233
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,600
they don't know
where the trenches are...
234
00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,200
They thought
they were going to a labour camp,
235
00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:47,800
they were gonna be doing work
236
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,360
and that's what
the artefacts tell us.
237
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,640
Passports, watches, personal items,
238
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:57,680
every type of button
239
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,440
because everyone thought
they were coming to go to work!
240
00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,320
- Everyone is very smart today...
241
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,800
How didn't they realise?
How didn't they know?
242
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:08,280
But you never believe!
243
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,160
I mean, you can believe that
you will be mistreated and beaten
244
00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:12,360
and humiliated
245
00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,480
but you cannot imagine
you will be simply taken,
246
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,320
led to the forest and killed there!
247
00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,960
- When we take a look
at sites like this,
248
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,200
and we're looking at
many Holocaust sites...
249
00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,800
And what's important is that
survivors have told their story
250
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,440
and we believe their stories.
251
00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,080
What we're trying to do
is bring scientific methodology
252
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,320
and scientific tools
to verify those stories.
253
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,880
(inaudible chatter)
254
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,600
- We really are hoping,
255
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:00,240
and I'm not naive...
256
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:05,840
We're really hoping that
we can diminish genocide
257
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,800
when perpetrators know they can
never get away with their crime.
258
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,320
(children crying)
259
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,920
- The most horrific statistic
I think of
260
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,240
is that only 11%
of European Jewish children
261
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,400
who were alive in 1939
262
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:52,480
were still alive in 1945.
263
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,120
- My name is
Dana Pomeranz Mazurkevich.
264
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,120
I'm originally from Lithuania.
265
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,000
I was born in Kovno ghetto.
266
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,440
My father
was a very famous violinist.
267
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,880
My mother and father decided that
somehow, by miracle,
268
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,600
somehow they have to
smuggle me out of ghetto.
269
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:27,640
My mother got in touch
with Yelena Zhelinka-Pechaika,
270
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,480
who was a very beautiful
drama theatre artist
271
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,760
who had her own three children.
272
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:36,360
My mother, she said,
273
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,880
"I have girl
who have beautiful blonde hair
274
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,000
and have blue eyes.
275
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,320
She's Jewish child,
could you save her?"
276
00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:48,800
And that Lithuanian woman,
277
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:50,760
having her own children,
278
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,680
she said,
"Bring that child. I will take her."
279
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,920
They gave me
a big amount of sleeping pills
280
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,800
and put me in a sack of potato.
281
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,960
And it was one Lithuanian guy,
282
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,000
he took me in some kind of carriage
283
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:10,840
and then we passed the border
284
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,560
and German soldier
was staying there.
285
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:15,560
Somehow,
286
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,680
I probably didn't have enough air,
287
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,160
and I started to make that noise...
288
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:21,520
(yelping)
289
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,880
And that German ask, "Vas is das?"
290
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:26,840
What is this?
291
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,840
And that Lithuanian guy, he said,
292
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,040
"This is kleine schweine,
little piglet."
293
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,520
Somehow, they let us pass.
294
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,720
It required an unbelievable courage,
295
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:43,240
unbelievable,
296
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,160
that they could give me away
297
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,960
and not knowing
if they will survive
298
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,760
and not knowing if I will survive.
299
00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,800
I think it was a big, big act
of resistance
300
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,680
because I will not let
to take my child...
301
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,360
And my mother had to...
302
00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:09,600
Had to give me away!
303
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,960
It... It took so much courage
for her to do that!
304
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,640
I have a beautiful daughter, Milana.
305
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,520
Sometimes I think
would I be able to do?
306
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:27,200
I don't know...
307
00:23:41,081 --> 00:23:45,880
(bells toll as music sways)
308
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,760
- Vilna was called
the Jerusalem of Lithuania.
309
00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,920
Vilna was probably
the most Jewish city in the world.
310
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,040
We consider New York
to be very Jewish
311
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:05,600
and New York's got...
312
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,680
Fifteen percent of the population's
Jewish.
313
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,640
But Vilna, at its peak, had...
314
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,040
Forty percent
of the population was Jewish!
315
00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,680
- As a child in Vilna,
316
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:25,040
I lived with a sense
of, um, living in paradise.
317
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,160
SAMUEL: It was a great centre
of Jewish learning.
318
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,840
It was a city of the spirit
319
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:34,960
and that's why
it got the name Jerusalem.
320
00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,280
- But when the Germans arrived
it began very quickly,
321
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,000
the troubles
for the Jewish population.
322
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,800
One day, two Lithuanian policemen
came and just, uh,
323
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:54,320
kicked us out from the house.
324
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,760
And it was raining,
it was a terrible rain
325
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:58,280
and I was carrying this pillow
326
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,120
and this pillow
became more and more wet,
327
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:02,560
more and more heavy,
328
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,360
I couldn't carry it
at a certain point
329
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,880
so I threw it away
into the water on the road
330
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,040
and I saw a lot of people
walking over it
331
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,520
and it became, for me,
a little symbol of losing home!
332
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,400
- The Germans attacked Vilna
on June 22nd 1941.
333
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,360
That's almost two years later
than when they attacked Warsaw.
334
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:32,120
So, the Germans came late
but they acted fast
335
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,920
and the Germans started looting
Jewish cultural treasures in Vilna.
336
00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,320
In July 1941,
337
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,200
they realised that there were just
too many Jewish books and papers
338
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:45,240
and documents and treasures
in this city.
339
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:46,680
They couldn't handle it
340
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:51,320
and that's why they established
this slave labour brigade of Jews
341
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,360
that would sort the material
342
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,440
called The Paper Brigade.
343
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,640
- The Germans had this idea
344
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,440
to build a museum
to the Jewish people
345
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,560
in a world
where there are no Jewish people!
346
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,640
In order to show the world
347
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:14,800
what a good job
the Germans have done
348
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,720
in saving the world
from this people, OK?
349
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,960
So, this is the background,
this was the idea.
350
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,400
My grandfather, Avrom Sutzkever,
351
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,480
he was one of those people
352
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,800
who were chosen
to select the materials
353
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,600
and those people like my grandfather
354
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,920
had decided to rescue
whatever they can
355
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,680
and bring it back to the ghetto.
356
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,720
- Right here, right behind me
357
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,520
is where the gate
to the Vilna ghetto stood.
358
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:51,400
The members of The Paper Brigade
had to pass through this gate daily.
359
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,160
They had books
packed underneath their clothing,
360
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,080
under their shirts,
under their pants,
361
00:26:58,240 --> 00:26:59,720
in their shoes
362
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:04,640
and they had to pass through
body searches of ghetto guards.
363
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:10,040
If they were found
to be carrying books on them,
364
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,720
it didn't matter if you were
carrying books or food or anything,
365
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,200
the penalty was the same.
366
00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:16,880
Death.
367
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:23,440
And many of those books,
368
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,440
once they were smuggled into
the ghetto successfully,
369
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:27,840
they brought here
370
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,320
to the building that was probably
371
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,760
the central address
in the Vilna ghetto,
372
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,680
the Vilna ghetto library.
373
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,560
Reading was a kind of moral,
374
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,440
cultural, spiritual resistance.
375
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,440
You're not gonna break my humanity.
376
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,920
I'm a human being and reading books
is integral to being a human being
377
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:46,320
and I'm gonna do that!
378
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,000
- It was...
379
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:50,520
Absolutely, it was a resistance.
380
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,280
And it was
as indispensable as bread,
381
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:54,600
I would say!
382
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:55,760
(laughs)
383
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:56,920
As they say in Hebrew,
384
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:58,840
not only on bread can man live,
385
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,240
he needs also
something for the spirit.
386
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:20,800
In the ghetto,
387
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,880
where art and writing and poetry
were created,
388
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,400
where people
could express themselves,
389
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:29,160
there was a sense of...
390
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:30,320
Of dignity.
391
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,920
And I think this was
a very important factor
392
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:41,080
that kept the psyche of the people
more or less alive.
393
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,400
- My name is Michael Kovner.
394
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,320
My parents were Abba Kovner
and Vitka Kovner,
395
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:00,840
Kempner-Kovner.
396
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,840
My father wanted to be a painter
397
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,640
and he accepted
to the Vilna Academic of Painting.
398
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:10,920
He was accepted to this
but he couldn't...
399
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:16,040
You know, the war come,
so he couldn't fulfil this dream.
400
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,560
But I think
he always was kind of a poet.
401
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,440
My mother, she...
402
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,080
She walk on the pavement,
403
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,400
which Jewish in Poland
after Nazi occupation
404
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,320
weren't allowed
to walk on the pavement...
405
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,240
And she went on the pavement
406
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,240
and then the officer or soldier,
407
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,480
the Nazi came to her
and he asked her, "You are Jewish?"
408
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:39,640
And she said, "Yes."
409
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,840
"So, why you are going
on the pavement?"
410
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,240
She said, "Why not?"
411
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,000
And he said, "You are not allowed!"
412
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,880
And she gave him splash on his face
and continued to walk.
413
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:51,680
So, that's her type!
414
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:09,960
- The youth movement played a role
in the life of the youngsters
415
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,400
at the time.
416
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,280
They felt belonging.
417
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:14,960
It wasn't just a place
418
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,520
to which you go to be entertained
once or twice a week.
419
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,200
You lived your life
with the members,
420
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,080
you lived through them.
421
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:27,200
It's a collective identity
of being Jewish
422
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,920
and this explains to you
the way they handle themselves
423
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:32,400
during the war.
424
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,800
ABBA: We had formed our group
starting from a precise ideology.
425
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,360
Our fight
was not for self-preservation,
426
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,480
it was not to save myself,
to save you,
427
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:44,720
to save a neighbour...
428
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,240
It was to fight the Germans.
429
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:52,600
- In half a year,
430
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:54,200
the Jewish population of Vilna
431
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:59,160
went down from 70,000
to 20,000 Jews.
432
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:01,680
More than two-thirds
of the Jews of Vilna were killed
433
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:02,880
in half a year.
434
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:04,600
And that's in 1941,
435
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,960
well before there were
deportations to the death camps
436
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,640
from Warsaw
and other cities in Poland.
437
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,400
ABBA: One day, I was called and told
to go to the hospital of the ghetto,
438
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,320
that there was a young girl injured
who wanted to talk to me
439
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:22,960
and only to me.
440
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,840
From her, I got the first direct
evidence about what was happening.
441
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:32,920
There were 119 women.
442
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:34,760
(shot)
443
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:36,240
They were told to line up.
444
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:39,840
Behind them, there were ditches.
445
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:41,000
(shots)
446
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,240
The Lithuanians started firing
on the whole line of women...
447
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:47,400
(gunfire)
448
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,200
And all the women
fell into the ditch.
449
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:51,360
(shots)
450
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:52,520
Dead.
451
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:11,800
- This is the burial pit.
452
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:15,080
It was a burial pit in 1941.
453
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,280
And in this forest,
454
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,680
both Nazis and their collaborators
from Lithuania
455
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:29,840
systemically shot
about 100,000 people in these pits.
456
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:39,720
ABBA: One thing is clear to me...
457
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:41,560
Vilna is not just Vilna.
458
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:44,600
Ponari is not just an episode.
459
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:47,160
There is a system
460
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,040
whose inner workings
are for the meantime hidden from us.
461
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,400
- My father said,
"Nobody can escape!
462
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,440
The Jewish people
cannot escape from this!
463
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:04,120
So, what the Jewish people can do,
they can fight for their honour!
464
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:06,760
That's it,
to fight for their honour!"
465
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,960
ABBA: They shall not take us
like sheep to the slaughter!
466
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:25,120
All those who were taken away
from the ghetto never came back!
467
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:32,080
- It is a call
to the population that was left
468
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:34,120
not to foster illusions!
469
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,760
Those who went out of
the gates of the ghetto
470
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:38,960
will not come back!
471
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,120
ABBA: All the roads of the Gestapo
lead to Ponari
472
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,520
and Ponari is death...
473
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,800
- He said Hitler has a plot...
474
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:57,120
He's planning to murder
all the Jews of Europe!
475
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,400
If everyone out of the ghetto
was killed...
476
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,480
..and if there is a plan
to kill the rest as well...
477
00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:16,640
..then there is no other choice left
but to resist!
478
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,280
ABBA: It is true
we are weak and defenceless
479
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,720
but resistance is the ONLY reply!
480
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,400
Brothers, it is better
to fall as free fighters
481
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,320
than to live
by the grace of the murderers!
482
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,840
Resist to the last breath!
483
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:07,920
- Nobody wanted to resist
484
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,200
because they said
if you try to resist
485
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:11,600
they will kill everyone.
486
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,320
And the youth movement said,
487
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,200
"They're going to kill everyone
anyway
488
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:17,360
and we must resist!"
489
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,080
RUZKA: The soul was enlightened.
490
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:55,280
The ghetto nightmare dissipated...
491
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,040
Martyrdom, helplessness
and slavery are over!
492
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,760
And now the one goal before us
is rebellion!
493
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,000
VITKA: We were not soldiers.
We'd never shot a gun before.
494
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,520
We took a pipe
and another boy got the dynamite.
495
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,040
It was very primitive.
496
00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:44,400
- My mother,
she went with two other guys
497
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,320
for three days outside the ghetto
498
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,520
because they have to go very far
from the ghetto
499
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:54,280
that the German won't know
that the Jewish people did it.
500
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,120
That was most important thing.
501
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:58,720
So, she found the best place,
502
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:00,560
the patrol of the German
is not there
503
00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:02,360
when the train is there, da, da, da,
504
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:04,000
she found the best place.
505
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,400
VITKA: At 1:30 in the morning,
we planted the bomb.
506
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:09,640
We took it and we put it
under the rail tracks.
507
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:11,640
We escaped very quickly.
508
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,000
When the train passed over it
at 2:00,
509
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,440
it exploded...
510
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:16,600
(booming)
511
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,720
..and from far away
we heard the explosion!
512
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,560
- She was the hero of all the story!
513
00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,800
Like, she was the first one
who went outside the ghetto
514
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:29,400
and bombed a German train!
515
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,880
- One should never believe
that Warsaw and Vilna
516
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:08,840
were the only ghettos that rose.
517
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,240
Ghettos, large and small,
rose in resistance.
518
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,600
- If we discuss how
the Nazis reacted to resistance,
519
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:21,120
they thought of Jews
being so inferior to them
520
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,000
that they're unable to resist,
521
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,120
that will actually go as the cattle
to the slaughter.
522
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:27,640
So, we have to understand that
523
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,920
when we use this phrase
'cattle to the slaughter'
524
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,160
we use the Nazi lens.
525
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,160
We look at Jews through Nazi eyes.
526
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:03,960
- When my mother became a courier,
527
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,480
the first, uh, task
was to move into Grodno.
528
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:11,680
In Grodno,
529
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:13,920
she was supposed to see
what's going on
530
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,000
with the Jewish community
'cause there were no connections.
531
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,560
You have to understand,
there was no telephones,
532
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:20,840
all telephones were cut.
533
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,680
There was no mail service,
there was no internet.
534
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:28,720
BELA: Each one of us preferred
to fall in combat
535
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,520
than to be led
as sheep to the slaughter.
536
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:34,160
The movement's leadership
537
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,640
sought out girls
with a gentile appearance
538
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,200
who would serve as liaison-couriers
between the different locations.
539
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,000
This role was unsuitable for boys,
540
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,040
who already,
from the age of eight days,
541
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,000
had their Jewishness
marked on their flesh.
542
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:52,560
I volunteered for the role
543
00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:55,120
as I'd already gained
experience and self-confidence
544
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,080
impersonating a gentile
and going outside the ghetto.
545
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:02,840
- They smuggled weapons,
546
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,160
guns and grenades and so on.
547
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:07,760
This was a very dangerous mission.
548
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,520
They also smuggled people
out of the ghetto
549
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,160
to put them in hiding places.
550
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:16,000
EMANUEL: These heroic girls
551
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,320
are a theme that calls for
the pen of a great writer.
552
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:22,120
Boldly, they travel back and forth
553
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,320
through the cities and towns
of Poland.
554
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,120
They accept and carry out
the most dangerous missions.
555
00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:30,680
Nothing stands in their way.
556
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,360
- My mother, she was sent to Grodno.
557
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,960
I must remind you again
that she was 19 years old.
558
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,880
She bought a golden cross
and a prayer book
559
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,920
and she pretended to be a Catholic,
560
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,360
which meant that every Sunday
she went to church
561
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:51,840
and she prayed
562
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:53,720
and she all the time
looked what to do
563
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:55,880
because she had no idea.
564
00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:58,120
One must remember
that these couriers
565
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,760
who were actually CIA agents,
if you want,
566
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:02,360
or Mossad agents,
567
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:03,800
they had no training.
568
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,120
They had to improvise all the time
569
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:09,160
and they did many mistakes also,
570
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,080
which cost some of them their lives.
571
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,120
BELA: I went to
the labour bureau in town.
572
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,360
The clerk asked me
whether I knew German
573
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:19,600
and I answered him in poor Yiddish.
574
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,280
For vus, I said vas and so on...
575
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,720
After a few sentences from me
he declared,
576
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:27,840
"You speak German very well.
577
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,880
You can take a position with us
as an interpreter at the Gestapo."
578
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:36,720
- So,
when she worked in that office,
579
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:41,080
she managed to steal from the desk
all kinds of papers and stamps
580
00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:42,560
and she brought them to Vilna
581
00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:45,720
and they were used
to make false identities
582
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:47,000
for other people,
583
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,600
travelling documents and so on.
584
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,600
She was several months,
almost half a year in Grodno.
585
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,760
Her two friends
who were also couriers,
586
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:58,760
Tina Schneiderman
and Lonka Korzybrodska,
587
00:42:58,920 --> 00:42:59,920
came to her room.
588
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:01,680
This was Christmas Eve
589
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,560
and my mother
was invited by the Gestapo.
590
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:09,640
There was one officer who, I think,
was in love with her
591
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,560
and he invited her
592
00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,560
to the Christmas party
of the Gestapo.
593
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:15,800
And she said, "I'm sorry...
594
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,120
I cannot come
because I have two girlfriends."
595
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,280
And he said,
"Bring them also with you."
596
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:23,840
He came to pick her up
597
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:25,320
and the three of them,
598
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,600
they dressed in
the best clothes that they had.
599
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,240
They went on Christmas Eve
December 1941
600
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:33,880
to this Christmas party
601
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:38,280
and this Gestapo officer
took a picture of the three of them.
602
00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:39,440
(snaps)
603
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:52,440
- So, this is original photo.
604
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:54,680
Quite amazing how things
from the Holocaust,
605
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:56,520
original like that,
606
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:58,600
this is an original photo,
607
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,360
found a way to our archive
during the years.
608
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:12,000
- June 1942.
609
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:14,480
Lonka Korzybrodska
was sent to Warsaw.
610
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:16,600
She was sent on a mission.
611
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,760
She had to deliver two guns
to the underground
612
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:21,200
and information.
613
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,000
And she was on the train
614
00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,880
in the middle
between Bialystok and Warsaw
615
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,600
and her luck didn't hold
616
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:32,280
and she was captured by the Gestapo.
617
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,040
(hissing)
618
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,520
So, when Lonka
did not come back to Bialystok,
619
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:40,880
my mother volunteered
to follow her steps and to...
620
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:42,560
To look for her.
621
00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:46,360
So, she went on the train
from Bialystok to Warsaw
622
00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:49,480
and when the train got to Malkinia
623
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:53,000
the Gendarmes who were on the train
told her,
624
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,280
"We are waiting for you, come...
625
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:56,440
Come with us."
626
00:44:57,680 --> 00:44:59,560
And why were they waiting for her?
627
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:00,960
Because Lonka,
628
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,280
she was very courageous
and very self-assured.
629
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:09,360
She carried with her the picture
of the three couriers
630
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:11,800
and this fell into the hands
of the Gestapo.
631
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:15,080
BELA: People in the station
632
00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:17,520
looked at me
with pitying expressions.
633
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:19,000
Soldiers asked me,
634
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:23,000
"Little girl, what did you do
that they're taking you like this?"
635
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:24,960
I tried my best to hold my head up
636
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,800
so that no one could know
what was going on in my heart.
637
00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:29,800
I knew that my chances were gone,
638
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,560
that at any moment
the Germans were likely to kill me.
639
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,200
- And after three days
of severe tortures,
640
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:42,560
broken bones
and a tooth was broken,
641
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:44,560
and after three days
642
00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:48,240
they threw her
into an isolation cell.
643
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,440
For six weeks,
she was in darkness all alone.
644
00:46:05,720 --> 00:46:07,560
But she kept her Polish identity.
645
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:11,640
The Gestapo did not suspect
that she's a Jew.
646
00:46:18,163 --> 00:46:21,560
(clinking and clanging)
647
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:29,520
(trundling)
648
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:36,240
(hissing)
649
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,400
(dark beat as dog barks in distance)
650
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:42,360
- The Germans
were masters of deceit.
651
00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:45,200
They told the Jews
they were being sent to work camps
652
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:46,360
in the east
653
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,800
where conditions would be better.
654
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,520
But here at the Umschlagplatz,
655
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:53,800
the Jews were loaded onto trains,
656
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,160
deported to the death camp
of Treblinka.
657
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:00,760
MAREK: They promised
658
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,200
and actually gave
three kilograms of bread
659
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:06,040
and one kilogram of marmalade
660
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,920
to everyone who voluntarily
registered for deportation.
661
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:13,960
Do you have any idea
what bread meant at that time
662
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:15,120
in the ghetto?
663
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,360
Because if you don't,
you will never understand
664
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:21,480
how thousands of people
could voluntarily come for the bread
665
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:24,360
and go on to the camp at Treblinka.
666
00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:26,400
(slams)
667
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:27,840
- There is this diary
668
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,720
that someone is meeting a father
669
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,680
who is walking towards
the Umschlagplatz with his children.
670
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:35,360
And he's asking,
"Why are you doing that?
671
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:37,840
Why are you obeying
the Germans' orders?"
672
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:40,880
And the man says,
"Well, they took my wife already...
673
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,440
I have nothing
to give the kids to eat!
674
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,880
They will starve to death
here in the ghetto!
675
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:48,800
What can I do?
676
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:50,200
I prefer going there
677
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,400
and hoping I'll be able to work
and provide my children!"
678
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,080
So, it's really choiceless choices!
679
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:05,160
(horn blows)
680
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:18,080
- The Nazis were single-minded
about killing off children
681
00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:22,160
with as much cruelty as possible
as early as possible.
682
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:27,720
- Janusz Korczak,
the leader of an orphanage
683
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:29,960
who went with his orphans
to Treblinka,
684
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:31,800
he was offered the opportunity
to survive.
685
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,040
Korczak was the equivalent
of Mr Rogers.
686
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,320
Non-Jews flocked
to hear his radio broadcast.
687
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:43,600
Are we gonna say that he went
like sheep to the slaughter?
688
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,040
Are we gonna say the teachers
that stayed with their students,
689
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:48,880
the doctors
that stayed with their patients,
690
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:51,480
the mothers
that stayed with their children
691
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:53,920
and didn't abandon them,
692
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:55,800
did they go
like sheep to the slaughter?
693
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,400
Or did they take care of those
they were responsible to
694
00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:02,720
unto their last breath?
695
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:06,800
(children shouting in distance)
696
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,520
- Those children
didn't have anybody else
697
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:10,840
to take care of them.
698
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,240
The Jewish children
during the Holocaust
699
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:16,680
were maybe
the most miserable victims,
700
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,920
if one can even class
within this horrible victimhood.
701
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,960
And the fact that somebody
is walking with them until the end,
702
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:25,440
even when it's a bitter end,
703
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:27,760
this is something
that has its importance.
704
00:49:29,720 --> 00:49:33,280
(distant shouting)
705
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:36,600
- When it started to go bad,
706
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,000
it was moving incredibly fast.
707
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:43,240
The deportations
were so overwhelming
708
00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:47,680
that, of those 330,000 people
who had been in the ghetto,
709
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:49,400
only 60,000 were left.
710
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:08,920
- The ghetto is sealed.
711
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:12,640
Anyone caught leaving or entering
is shot on sight
712
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:14,280
but the walls are porous
713
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,520
and the underground finds ways
to sneak fighters in and out
714
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:20,880
to obtain weapons
one or two at a time.
715
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:26,680
Vladka is one of those
sent across to the Aryan side
716
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:28,360
to try to find weapons.
717
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:33,640
- I think she would have said,
if you asked her directly,
718
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:37,080
that she was afraid all the time
but it didn't make a difference.
719
00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:40,760
She always did
what was needed to be done.
720
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:46,560
VLADKA: It was a great event for me
721
00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:49,200
when I managed to procure
my first revolver,
722
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,440
bought from our landlord's nephew
for 2,000 zlotys.
723
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:56,560
MAREK: At the end of December 1942,
724
00:50:56,720 --> 00:50:58,920
we received
our first transport of weapons
725
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,000
from the Polish Home Army.
726
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:02,520
It was not much.
727
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,480
There were only ten pistols
in the whole transport
728
00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:08,640
but it enabled us to prepare
for our first major action.
729
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:15,760
- This is unique...
730
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:23,160
This is a pistol
which connect with Jewish fighters
731
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,680
in 1943.
732
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:28,560
It's hard to excavate
733
00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:32,880
but we are sure there are weapons
still in these places.
734
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,800
It's a symbol of Jewish resistance
735
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:39,600
and a symbol of uprising in 1943.
736
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:45,960
(gunfire)
737
00:51:57,400 --> 00:51:59,640
- They knew that
the day of the uprising
738
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:01,640
was going to be soon
739
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:04,960
but the actual minute and day
that it happened
740
00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:06,400
caught them by surprise.
741
00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:09,680
They had gotten no message
from inside the ghetto
742
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,080
that THIS is the moment
743
00:52:12,240 --> 00:52:14,880
that we are going to
start the resistance!
744
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:19,600
VLADKA: My heart tears at me.
745
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,480
I do so yearn
to still be on the other side,
746
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,000
back in the ghetto
together with my old friends
747
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:27,640
and comrades.
748
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:30,560
I wonder if I will
ever see any of them again.
749
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:38,920
- It was the eve of Passover.
750
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:41,600
That's one of the things I remember
her talking about,
751
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:45,720
is standing by the window
that saw into the ghetto.
752
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:50,640
She spoke of watching
and of wanting to be in there
753
00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:54,240
and of feeling like
she had been ordered not to.
754
00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:02,480
VLADKA: Sporadic gunfire
erupted in the ghetto!
755
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:05,160
Powerful detonations
made the earth tremble!
756
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:08,320
The battle had begun...
757
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,760
- The Warsaw Ghetto uprising
was the first day of Passover.
758
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:18,440
Think about it...
759
00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:20,600
They went to fight the Germans
760
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:23,800
with the taste of matzo
still in their mouths
761
00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:25,800
and there was matzo
made in the ghetto!
762
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:30,400
MAREK: Battle groups barricaded
at the four corners of the street,
763
00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:32,800
opened concentric fire on them.
764
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:34,960
German dead
soon littered the street.
765
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,240
The glorious SS, therefore,
called tanks into action.
766
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,680
The first was burned out
by one of our incendiary bottles.
767
00:53:43,840 --> 00:53:46,200
The rest did not approach
our positions.
768
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:49,960
Not a single German
left this area alive.
769
00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:56,080
MORDECAI: Something has happened
beyond our wildest dreams!
770
00:53:56,240 --> 00:53:59,240
The Germans had to flee
from the ghetto twice!
771
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:02,640
The dream of my life
has become a reality!
772
00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:06,840
I have lived to see
Jewish self-defence in the ghetto
773
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:09,520
in all of its greatness
and splendour!
774
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:13,400
VLADKA: Couriers crisscrossed
the ghetto to warn the Jews,
775
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:16,160
"Do not allow yourselves
to be taken!
776
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:18,080
Everyone is to hide
in their bunkers!
777
00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:19,480
We must all resist!"
778
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:26,400
- The vast majority
of the population
779
00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:28,040
had no access to arms
780
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:30,680
but they identified
with the resisters
781
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:32,200
and they refused
782
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:34,480
to hand themselves over
to the Germans.
783
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,600
It was not a passive resistance,
784
00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:40,560
it was an active unarmed resistance!
785
00:54:40,720 --> 00:54:42,080
And that is, after all,
786
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:44,640
a matter of some
55,000, 60,000 people.
787
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:46,640
- The Jews are hiding.
788
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:47,880
The Jews are hiding
789
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:50,760
and the Germans don't succeed
in finding Jews.
790
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:52,240
It's actually unbelievable...
791
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:53,720
They're entering house after house,
792
00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:56,960
there are houses in which
hundreds of Jews are living there
793
00:54:57,120 --> 00:54:58,440
and they cannot find even one!
794
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:03,040
VLADKA: I reflect...
795
00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:06,040
There are SO many
forms of resistance!
796
00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:11,200
The courageous ghetto fighters
firing their pistols,
797
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:14,200
the mother trying to save her baby,
798
00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:18,000
the father refusing to allow
his son to be separated,
799
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:21,120
the family remaining in hiding
under the bed.
800
00:55:21,280 --> 00:55:23,240
These too
are part of the uprising.
801
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:27,200
These too
are forms of resistance.
802
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:31,440
- Very soon,
803
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:33,640
the Germans understand
that the major problem they have
804
00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:38,120
is of those Jews who are staying
in the houses and bunkers
805
00:55:38,280 --> 00:55:39,520
despite everything.
806
00:55:39,680 --> 00:55:42,960
And this is when the Germans
decide to fight the Jews
807
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:44,440
with the weapon of fire
808
00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:47,760
and they start
to set the ghetto on fire.
809
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:31,840
- The Warsaw ghetto held out longer
than the armies of France
810
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:34,880
and Belgium and Netherlands.
811
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:36,800
What an achievement.
812
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:38,800
On the other hand, as an action,
813
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,200
it was the end,
it was the last stand,
814
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,320
but as an act of moral resistance
to it all
815
00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:49,560
it's a matter of screaming,
shouting, fighting,
816
00:56:49,720 --> 00:56:52,880
deciding that I will
take the enemy down with me...
817
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:57,440
..and not go quietly
into the dark night.
818
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:05,520
(water splashing)
819
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:10,160
(trickling)
820
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:17,320
(birdsong)
821
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:20,680
- This stone,
taken from the rubble at Mila 18,
822
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:25,000
marks the final resting place
of the brave fighters who died here
823
00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:26,560
and it reads,
824
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:27,880
"Here they rest,
825
00:57:28,040 --> 00:57:29,480
buried where they fell,
826
00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:33,720
to remind us that
the whole earth is their grave."
827
00:58:09,920 --> 00:58:13,600
ABBA: The Germans' tactics
changed on September 23rd.
828
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:17,400
At 1:00pm,
the ghetto was suddenly surrounded.
829
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:19,560
They knew we were there.
830
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:23,440
We had every reason to believe
they'd take out the remaining Jews
831
00:58:23,600 --> 00:58:25,240
and then shell with artillery.
832
00:58:26,640 --> 00:58:28,000
We decided to make our way out.
833
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:31,920
The only way out
was through the sewers.
834
00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:34,520
(trickling)
835
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:35,800
- So, that's the end of it!
836
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:38,640
Now, the sewage canals,
837
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:41,280
well, this is a place for no one.
838
00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:44,680
But certainly not
for elderly mothers with illnesses
839
00:58:44,840 --> 00:58:47,080
and wounds and whatever...
840
00:58:47,240 --> 00:58:50,200
So, they did not take
any parents
841
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:52,480
or young brothers and sisters,
842
00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:53,840
just them,
843
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:56,160
and his mother came running
and said,
844
00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:59,480
"OK, what about me?
What about me?!"
845
00:59:00,560 --> 00:59:02,960
ABBA: One of the most
terrible moments I had,
846
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:05,480
my mother made her way there.
847
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:07,800
She asked me,
"What should I do?"
848
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:11,680
I couldn't let her in
because of the other mothers.
849
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:13,960
I didn't have an answer.
850
00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:18,880
It's easier to talk about a fight
or a revolt in abstract terms
851
00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:22,680
but when your mother asks you,
"What should I do?"
852
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:25,680
And the commander has no answer...
853
00:59:29,120 --> 00:59:30,160
- And they left her.
854
00:59:30,320 --> 00:59:31,440
And they left her...
855
00:59:31,600 --> 00:59:35,640
And his mother appears
in most of his poems and dreams,
856
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:37,280
et cetera,
857
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:40,720
always dreaming the door would open
and she will be there.
858
00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:45,200
And she was not.
859
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:49,000
ABBA:
She went to a hiding place.
860
00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:52,040
She went to a hiding place
861
00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:54,280
that was later captured
by the Germans.
862
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:02,840
- They went out to the forest
with nothing,
863
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:05,520
just their shirt on the back,
that's it.
864
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:07,320
What do they do?
865
01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:13,400
The forest is rain and snow
and wild animals and nothing to eat
866
01:00:13,560 --> 01:00:16,560
and it's a horrible place to...
867
01:00:16,720 --> 01:00:17,720
To live in!
868
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:21,160
VITKA: It was a forest.
869
01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:22,880
A forest without Nazis.
870
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:27,320
We lived there under the sky
for two months.
871
01:00:27,480 --> 01:00:30,520
It was raining and it was cold
872
01:00:30,680 --> 01:00:32,760
but it is what we had
in the beginning.
873
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:37,920
- Abba Kovner,
874
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:43,000
his avengers worked and lived
exactly here in this forest.
875
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:50,960
Today, we can show you,
876
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:56,120
we're lucky to show you the remains
of these bunkers that we have here.
877
01:00:59,840 --> 01:01:01,280
VITKA: In the Rudniki Forest,
878
01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:03,960
there were 600,
maybe a thousand,
879
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:07,440
I think 30%, 40% were women
880
01:01:07,600 --> 01:01:10,040
and the boys
did not want to go with the women.
881
01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:13,040
They'd say, "No, you are a woman!
882
01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:15,200
You are not prepared!
You can't do it!
883
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:17,080
You get upset, you are weak!
884
01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:18,240
You cannot go!"
885
01:01:19,400 --> 01:01:22,040
In our group,
Abba was the commander.
886
01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:25,400
If not for Abba,
no woman would be a fighter.
887
01:01:25,560 --> 01:01:28,360
It was he who demanded
that, in every action,
888
01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:29,720
there has to be one woman.
889
01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:52,680
- One of them told me ever again,
890
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:54,800
"We were not born partisans,
891
01:01:54,960 --> 01:01:58,120
we were children from good homes!
892
01:01:58,280 --> 01:02:01,600
I studied French
and piano and Latin!
893
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:04,160
I didn't study
how to live in a forest!
894
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:06,600
I did not see a fork,
895
01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:09,520
a fork to eat with for ten months!"
896
01:02:21,520 --> 01:02:23,320
- It was a tough life.
897
01:02:23,480 --> 01:02:25,960
It was very cold
and there was not a lot of food
898
01:02:26,120 --> 01:02:27,960
but they were free people,
899
01:02:28,120 --> 01:02:29,440
they have honour.
900
01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:39,160
(gunshots)
901
01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:41,920
(horn blows)
902
01:03:06,440 --> 01:03:10,600
(birds chirping)
903
01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:35,960
- Around April 1943,
904
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:38,280
a decision was made to escape.
905
01:03:39,560 --> 01:03:42,800
The decision in the end
was a tunnel.
906
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:43,960
(shovelling)
907
01:03:44,120 --> 01:03:45,120
They would take turns.
908
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:47,480
People who finished their work
would come dig.
909
01:03:47,640 --> 01:03:50,280
Some people would pretend to be sick
so they could dig all day
910
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:53,520
and there was a group of diggers,
tough people.
911
01:03:54,680 --> 01:03:58,360
(explosions)
912
01:04:04,120 --> 01:04:06,720
JACK: When I came out
from the tunnel it was dark.
913
01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:07,880
There was shooting,
914
01:04:08,040 --> 01:04:10,240
which I could see
lots of flashes of fire.
915
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:12,640
I could see people being killed.
916
01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:14,280
(explosions)
917
01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:16,320
- This took place
on September 26th.
918
01:04:16,480 --> 01:04:18,880
It's already cold.
They were drenched.
919
01:04:19,040 --> 01:04:21,480
Pitch-black,
didn't know where to go.
920
01:04:21,640 --> 01:04:23,440
(explosions continue)
921
01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:41,560
- My father,
922
01:04:41,720 --> 01:04:43,120
I remember him telling me
923
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:45,320
that when he first arrived
in the camp
924
01:04:45,480 --> 01:04:46,600
in the middle of the forest
925
01:04:46,760 --> 01:04:50,880
and there was this man
on a big white horse
926
01:04:51,040 --> 01:04:53,640
with a gun on his shoulder...
927
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:57,160
My father's like, "Who is that?!"
928
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:01,120
And that was Tuvia Bielski,
929
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:02,800
just as in the film, right?
930
01:05:02,960 --> 01:05:05,840
In the film, he has a gun
slung over his shoulder
931
01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:07,120
and he's a warrior!
932
01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:10,840
My father wrote in his book
933
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:14,360
that when he got to the forest
how did he feel?
934
01:05:16,360 --> 01:05:18,080
And he said, and here I quote...
935
01:05:19,760 --> 01:05:20,880
"I had come from a camp
936
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:24,560
where thousands of Jewish people
were being killed by the Germans
937
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:28,000
and now there were
all these fighters with guns.
938
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:30,440
I felt very, very proud.
939
01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:34,360
There was great camaraderie
at the camp.
940
01:05:35,760 --> 01:05:36,760
We were unhappy
941
01:05:36,920 --> 01:05:39,960
because so many members
of our families had been massacred
942
01:05:40,120 --> 01:05:42,560
but we were happy
because we were free
943
01:05:42,720 --> 01:05:44,080
and we were fighting back."
944
01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:52,280
- Tuvia Bielski was responsible
for saving 1,200 people's lives.
945
01:05:53,640 --> 01:05:54,760
He accepted everybody...
946
01:05:54,920 --> 01:05:58,120
Small children, old men and women,
947
01:05:58,280 --> 01:06:00,800
solitary women who couldn't fight,
like my mother,
948
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:01,960
everybody!
949
01:06:02,120 --> 01:06:06,640
And Tuvia said he would rather save
one Jew than kill a hundred Germans.
950
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:11,760
- Bielski did something
completely different,
951
01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:14,200
a completely different
philosophy of...
952
01:06:14,360 --> 01:06:17,680
"We're all Jews, we need to survive.
That's our resistance."
953
01:06:26,200 --> 01:06:31,200
(gentle music)
954
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:44,320
(ominous turn)
955
01:06:44,480 --> 01:06:49,880
(building)
956
01:07:15,320 --> 01:07:16,440
(fades)
957
01:07:16,600 --> 01:07:18,600
- Treblinka had approximately
958
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:22,720
somewhere in the neighbourhood
of 925,000 Jews being killed.
959
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:28,320
Some 300 people revolted
in Treblinka and escaped.
960
01:07:41,720 --> 01:07:44,080
In the end, there were less than
a hundred survivors.
961
01:07:45,560 --> 01:07:48,080
But unless
they had tried to escape,
962
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:50,440
there would not have been
a hundred survivors
963
01:07:50,600 --> 01:07:52,440
and then we would have
never known anything
964
01:07:52,600 --> 01:07:54,280
about Treblinka
965
01:07:54,440 --> 01:07:57,160
or at least not from
the perspective of the victims.
966
01:07:59,040 --> 01:08:00,960
We would only know the statistics
967
01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:03,600
from the perspective
of the perpetrators.
968
01:08:06,440 --> 01:08:08,960
- There were seven rebellions
in the death camps.
969
01:08:09,120 --> 01:08:12,480
Six of them were led by Jews,
one by the Russians.
970
01:08:12,640 --> 01:08:13,640
So, actually,
971
01:08:13,800 --> 01:08:16,040
even if you only consider
violent resistance,
972
01:08:16,200 --> 01:08:17,760
the Jews look pretty good.
973
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:30,360
(birds chirping)
974
01:09:53,520 --> 01:09:59,160
(chirping continues)
975
01:10:32,480 --> 01:10:36,120
- You can imagine that everyone
who came up this way,
976
01:10:36,280 --> 01:10:38,720
maybe 180,000 people,
977
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:40,200
thought they were going to showers.
978
01:10:41,760 --> 01:10:43,640
Where they went
is the gas chambers...
979
01:11:03,080 --> 01:11:05,080
ESTHER:
And all that built up in me,
980
01:11:05,240 --> 01:11:08,400
such anger
and a feeling of revenge!
981
01:11:10,720 --> 01:11:13,400
I came to the camp
with a pair of brown leather boots,
982
01:11:13,560 --> 01:11:15,280
which not everybody had,
983
01:11:15,440 --> 01:11:18,600
and I said to the group,
we slept together,
984
01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:21,840
"With these boots,
I'm going to escape from Sobibor!
985
01:11:22,920 --> 01:11:25,600
Don't ask me why,
don't ask me how
986
01:11:25,760 --> 01:11:27,600
and maybe it's not...
987
01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:29,760
It doesn't even make sense
988
01:11:29,920 --> 01:11:31,960
but I'm going to escape
with these boots!"
989
01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:45,760
- Alexander Pechersky
came with a military background.
990
01:11:47,000 --> 01:11:50,840
He joined with a Jewish prisoner
from Poland
991
01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:52,720
who, in a very real sense,
992
01:11:52,880 --> 01:11:56,280
was his liaison
with the other prisoners
993
01:11:56,440 --> 01:12:00,960
who didn't quite trust a Soviet POW
even if he was Jewish
994
01:12:01,120 --> 01:12:06,440
and they formed a formidable team
to plan for how to conquer,
995
01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:07,600
how to escape.
996
01:12:09,640 --> 01:12:11,680
ESTHER: And that evening, we cried.
997
01:12:11,840 --> 01:12:13,640
We cried very, very much.
998
01:12:14,760 --> 01:12:17,200
And everybody said goodbye
because we figured,
999
01:12:17,360 --> 01:12:19,600
in our WILDEST dreams,
1000
01:12:19,760 --> 01:12:21,920
we didn't think one of us
is going to survive...
1001
01:12:23,120 --> 01:12:25,680
And as I cried myself to sleep,
1002
01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:26,840
I dozed off
1003
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:29,800
and I saw my mother
coming in through the camp,
1004
01:12:29,960 --> 01:12:31,520
through the main gate.
1005
01:12:31,680 --> 01:12:34,400
The way I left her,
that's how she looked.
1006
01:12:36,800 --> 01:12:41,240
And I said, "Mum, you know that
we're going to escape tomorrow?"
1007
01:12:42,800 --> 01:12:46,160
And she said,
"Yes, that's why I came!"
1008
01:12:51,840 --> 01:12:55,000
- They lured Nazi commanders
and Nazi officials
1009
01:12:55,160 --> 01:12:56,320
who were working in the camp
1010
01:12:56,480 --> 01:12:59,880
into a place where they could be
slaughtered one by one.
1011
01:13:00,040 --> 01:13:01,200
(beat strikes)
1012
01:13:01,360 --> 01:13:05,000
ESTHER: The plan was at 4:00
the electric wire was cut,
1013
01:13:05,160 --> 01:13:06,880
the telephone wire was cut.
1014
01:13:07,040 --> 01:13:10,600
Everybody has to kill his SS man
and his guard
1015
01:13:10,760 --> 01:13:12,040
at his place of work...
1016
01:13:12,200 --> 01:13:13,320
(screaming)
1017
01:13:13,480 --> 01:13:15,440
..and it started working!
1018
01:13:17,080 --> 01:13:21,000
- They then stormed the gates
and then they went into the woods.
1019
01:13:21,160 --> 01:13:24,280
(siren wailing)
1020
01:13:24,440 --> 01:13:27,960
ESTHER: This was before decided
in case anything goes wrong.
1021
01:13:28,120 --> 01:13:29,600
Everybody on his own...
1022
01:13:30,720 --> 01:13:35,000
Maybe one will survive
and will be able to tell the world!
1023
01:14:20,200 --> 01:14:25,200
(trundling)
1024
01:14:51,040 --> 01:14:53,240
BELA: When I would go out
to the threshold of the block,
1025
01:14:53,400 --> 01:14:55,880
I could see the smoke
rising from the chimneys.
1026
01:14:57,800 --> 01:14:59,080
It clouded the skies
1027
01:14:59,240 --> 01:15:01,840
and choked the air
of the entire camp.
1028
01:15:03,400 --> 01:15:06,320
I cast glances toward
the smoke-shrouded heavens,
1029
01:15:06,480 --> 01:15:10,680
where it seemed I could see
the souls of Jewish children,
1030
01:15:10,840 --> 01:15:14,280
their mouths gaping to scream.
1031
01:15:16,360 --> 01:15:20,760
- The stories that she told
are quite difficult to tell
1032
01:15:20,920 --> 01:15:23,880
because she faced such atrocities.
1033
01:15:25,360 --> 01:15:26,360
Like, uh...
1034
01:15:28,000 --> 01:15:29,880
I will start crying
if I tell this...
1035
01:15:39,480 --> 01:15:40,800
I cannot tell that, really...
1036
01:15:51,920 --> 01:15:52,920
(explosion)
1037
01:16:28,360 --> 01:16:32,040
- Why were the Germans so intent
on killing the Jews at that point?
1038
01:16:32,200 --> 01:16:34,000
Let's put it very clearly...
1039
01:16:34,880 --> 01:16:37,520
The Germans fought two wars,
1040
01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:38,720
the World War...
1041
01:16:40,840 --> 01:16:42,200
..and the war against the Jews.
1042
01:16:43,440 --> 01:16:45,480
When push came to shove,
1043
01:16:45,640 --> 01:16:48,400
they wanted to succeed in the war
against the Jews
1044
01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:52,920
even if it took resources away
from the World War.
1045
01:16:54,560 --> 01:16:58,320
- Despite the Nazi regime
knows it is coming to an end,
1046
01:16:58,480 --> 01:17:02,080
the one group that is
supposed to pay the ultimate price
1047
01:17:02,240 --> 01:17:03,240
will be the Jews.
1048
01:17:04,280 --> 01:17:05,280
They're losing,
1049
01:17:05,440 --> 01:17:07,320
so what can we do before we lose?
1050
01:17:07,480 --> 01:17:08,560
We will kill more Jews!
1051
01:17:08,720 --> 01:17:13,960
(music building)
1052
01:17:15,680 --> 01:17:16,680
- When you go to Birkenau,
1053
01:17:16,840 --> 01:17:19,080
you see that there are
three railroad tracks
1054
01:17:19,240 --> 01:17:21,880
that go into
the innermost nature of the camp.
1055
01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:24,240
Those three tracks were built
1056
01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:27,400
in anticipation of the murder
of Hungarian Jews.
1057
01:17:28,320 --> 01:17:32,400
Hungarian Jews constituted about 45%
1058
01:17:32,560 --> 01:17:34,880
of the number of people
who were killed at Auschwitz.
1059
01:17:35,040 --> 01:17:38,160
That occurred not over four years
but over three months!
1060
01:18:06,440 --> 01:18:10,240
There was an entire underground
that distributed these passes,
1061
01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:11,760
that created these passes.
1062
01:18:43,480 --> 01:18:45,120
How important was forging?
1063
01:18:45,280 --> 01:18:48,120
It was the difference
between life and death!
1064
01:19:02,040 --> 01:19:03,840
(hisses)
1065
01:19:09,720 --> 01:19:13,120
- During the transports
of Hungarian Jews,
1066
01:19:13,280 --> 01:19:14,880
which came thousands every day,
1067
01:19:15,040 --> 01:19:18,960
every day, 10,000 people
were sent to the gas chambers...
1068
01:19:19,120 --> 01:19:23,640
And the camp of the women
bordered with the train ramp
1069
01:19:23,800 --> 01:19:28,680
and when the people from the train
was sent to crematorium number two
1070
01:19:28,840 --> 01:19:31,240
which was 50 metres away
from the women's camp...
1071
01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:33,960
So, all these years
that she was in Auschwitz
1072
01:19:34,120 --> 01:19:37,840
she was just 50 metres away
from one of the four crematorium
1073
01:19:38,000 --> 01:19:39,400
in Birkenau.
1074
01:19:40,560 --> 01:19:42,040
BELA: I suggested digging a trench
1075
01:19:42,200 --> 01:19:44,680
under the barbed wire fence
during the nights
1076
01:19:44,840 --> 01:19:48,320
through which we would bring
young Jewish women into the camp
1077
01:19:48,480 --> 01:19:51,040
and save them
from the crematory ovens.
1078
01:19:52,480 --> 01:19:53,920
- Now, today,
when you go to Birkenau,
1079
01:19:54,080 --> 01:19:55,480
now everything is green and nice
1080
01:19:55,640 --> 01:19:59,040
but at that time
it was all mud and ditches,
1081
01:19:59,200 --> 01:20:02,000
so they made some space
under the fence.
1082
01:20:03,320 --> 01:20:06,200
BELA: Our objective
was to smuggle into our camp
1083
01:20:06,360 --> 01:20:09,280
some individuals
from within this human mass.
1084
01:20:09,440 --> 01:20:13,240
When the girls came through,
we were overcome with joy!
1085
01:20:14,640 --> 01:20:18,480
- And they brought in
from the line to the gas chambers
1086
01:20:18,640 --> 01:20:20,120
into the camp
1087
01:20:20,280 --> 01:20:25,120
about 14 young girls
on several occasions.
1088
01:20:25,280 --> 01:20:26,800
They brought them into the camp
1089
01:20:26,960 --> 01:20:32,480
and they gave them the dressing
of other women who died
1090
01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:34,160
and they hid them for some time.
1091
01:20:36,280 --> 01:20:39,320
BELA: We didn't succeed in bringing
many souls into our camp.
1092
01:20:39,480 --> 01:20:41,760
There were so few opportunities
to do so.
1093
01:20:43,200 --> 01:20:47,400
However, the little that we did
gave us great satisfaction.
1094
01:20:47,560 --> 01:20:50,760
We began to feel a power
rising in us,
1095
01:20:50,920 --> 01:20:53,320
awakening our will to live.
1096
01:20:55,760 --> 01:20:59,400
(critters chittering)
1097
01:21:22,920 --> 01:21:27,400
MARCEL: Now, we must disappear
from the face of the earth
1098
01:21:27,560 --> 01:21:30,800
because we know so much
about the unimaginable methods
1099
01:21:30,960 --> 01:21:33,480
of their abuses and reprisals.
1100
01:21:35,640 --> 01:21:39,080
The dramas my eyes have seen
are indescribable...
1101
01:21:40,160 --> 01:21:43,280
Hundreds of thousands of Jews
from Hungary
1102
01:21:43,440 --> 01:21:44,440
have passed by my eyes.
1103
01:21:46,120 --> 01:21:49,240
And why I didn't I join them
and put an end to it?
1104
01:21:51,080 --> 01:21:55,080
But every time,
the thirst for revenge stopped me!
1105
01:21:58,120 --> 01:21:59,120
- Nadjari,
1106
01:21:59,280 --> 01:22:02,840
we don't really know what motivates
what he puts into his letter
1107
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:05,240
other than
he wants to tell the story.
1108
01:22:05,400 --> 01:22:07,200
He wants to see revenge.
1109
01:22:07,360 --> 01:22:09,240
And that becomes
a more compelling notion
1110
01:22:09,400 --> 01:22:11,560
than giving up
and getting out of the fight.
1111
01:22:21,360 --> 01:22:22,600
LEON: Each prisoner in every squad
1112
01:22:22,760 --> 01:22:24,600
knew exactly
what he was supposed to do
1113
01:22:24,760 --> 01:22:25,760
and prepared for it.
1114
01:22:25,920 --> 01:22:29,120
My job was to set fire
to the crematorium building
1115
01:22:29,280 --> 01:22:30,280
where I worked.
1116
01:22:32,640 --> 01:22:35,840
ELIEZER: The Jews had brought
knives to the camp to make Kiddush.
1117
01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:38,720
Their original purpose
was to slice the challah.
1118
01:22:38,880 --> 01:22:41,280
They had the words L'Shabbat Kodesh,
1119
01:22:41,440 --> 01:22:42,520
for the Holy Sabbath,
1120
01:22:42,680 --> 01:22:43,760
engraved on them.
1121
01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:46,320
They were long
and had white handles.
1122
01:22:46,480 --> 01:22:49,000
My job
was to make them into bayonets
1123
01:22:49,160 --> 01:22:51,040
by honing them on all four sides.
1124
01:22:52,560 --> 01:22:55,720
We produced homemade mines
and hand grenades.
1125
01:22:55,880 --> 01:22:57,800
We took metal cans of food,
1126
01:22:57,960 --> 01:23:01,040
filled them with explosives
and put in fuses.
1127
01:23:06,560 --> 01:23:08,600
- Between Auschwitz and Birkenau
1128
01:23:08,760 --> 01:23:13,400
there was a big munition factory
called Union Metallwerke,
1129
01:23:13,560 --> 01:23:15,920
which many Jewish prisoners worked.
1130
01:23:16,080 --> 01:23:20,520
And one brave Jewish
young prisoner, Roza Robota,
1131
01:23:20,680 --> 01:23:22,280
was 19 years old,
1132
01:23:22,440 --> 01:23:25,720
had many girlfriends
inside that factory.
1133
01:23:25,880 --> 01:23:28,800
And when she was asked
to recruit some of the girls
1134
01:23:28,960 --> 01:23:33,640
to smuggle out on a daily basis
a small amount of gunpowder
1135
01:23:33,800 --> 01:23:36,520
she did not hesitate for a second.
1136
01:23:37,360 --> 01:23:40,320
- My mother was born in Poland.
1137
01:23:41,240 --> 01:23:42,960
Her name was Ada,
1138
01:23:43,120 --> 01:23:44,880
maiden name, Neufeld.
1139
01:23:45,040 --> 01:23:48,560
She was one of
the slave labourers at the factory.
1140
01:23:50,720 --> 01:23:52,760
Smuggling itself wasn't easy,
1141
01:23:52,920 --> 01:23:57,080
because they had the body
searched on exit from the factory
1142
01:23:57,240 --> 01:23:59,320
and then on entry to the camp.
1143
01:24:01,320 --> 01:24:04,480
My mother told me that
she hid it inside her shoe
1144
01:24:04,640 --> 01:24:06,400
and once in camp
1145
01:24:06,560 --> 01:24:08,920
she would hand it over
to someone else
1146
01:24:09,080 --> 01:24:11,240
and then bring it to Robota.
1147
01:24:11,400 --> 01:24:13,200
Roza Robota would then take it
1148
01:24:13,360 --> 01:24:16,680
and deliver it to her friend
from the Sonderkommando.
1149
01:24:24,200 --> 01:24:26,600
LEON: On October 7th 1944
1150
01:24:26,760 --> 01:24:27,760
they informed us
1151
01:24:27,920 --> 01:24:30,560
that the Germans intended to remove
the Sonderkommando men
1152
01:24:30,720 --> 01:24:32,040
from Crematorium IV.
1153
01:24:32,200 --> 01:24:35,200
We knew what that meant.
They were going to murder them.
1154
01:24:36,080 --> 01:24:37,840
We figured
that it was time for action.
1155
01:24:38,000 --> 01:24:39,000
(explosion)
1156
01:24:40,360 --> 01:24:44,160
WOMAN: In the distance,
we now see billows of smoke burning!
1157
01:24:44,320 --> 01:24:47,400
The second crematorium
is burning!
1158
01:24:48,440 --> 01:24:50,920
- The destruction
of crematoria number four,
1159
01:24:51,080 --> 01:24:53,600
this is a big achievement!
1160
01:24:53,760 --> 01:24:56,040
It never functioned anymore again!
1161
01:24:57,320 --> 01:24:59,160
WOMAN: The sirens began to wail,
1162
01:24:59,320 --> 01:25:01,040
aggravating the commotion!
1163
01:25:01,200 --> 01:25:03,760
What happened? A revolution?!
1164
01:25:03,920 --> 01:25:06,200
An uprising at the crematorium?
1165
01:25:13,040 --> 01:25:16,880
- This is perhaps
the single most important site
1166
01:25:17,040 --> 01:25:19,320
for the understanding
of Jewish resistance
1167
01:25:19,480 --> 01:25:20,840
during the Holocaust.
1168
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:23,000
In the most improbable place,
1169
01:25:23,160 --> 01:25:24,440
at Auschwitz,
1170
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:28,720
the Sonderkommandos
destroyed a combination crematorium
1171
01:25:28,880 --> 01:25:29,920
and gas chambers.
1172
01:25:31,480 --> 01:25:35,080
- It was a defiant and wonderful act
1173
01:25:35,240 --> 01:25:38,040
that probably saved
many thousand lives
1174
01:25:38,200 --> 01:25:41,000
because they did in fact
destroy one of the crematoria.
1175
01:25:41,160 --> 01:25:46,280
(horn blowing)
1176
01:25:46,440 --> 01:25:48,800
- The uprising
came to its tragic end
1177
01:25:48,960 --> 01:25:54,440
with the killing, murdering
of 452 young Jewish
1178
01:25:54,600 --> 01:25:56,720
courageous brave men.
1179
01:26:31,480 --> 01:26:33,560
- On the night
of the 18th of January,
1180
01:26:33,720 --> 01:26:37,640
the camp was given the order
to be evacuated.
1181
01:26:42,400 --> 01:26:43,680
BELA: We marched at a cadence,
1182
01:26:43,840 --> 01:26:46,000
practically running
on winding paths.
1183
01:26:46,160 --> 01:26:48,640
We didn't know
exactly where they were leading us.
1184
01:26:48,800 --> 01:26:52,520
We did understand that we were
fleeing from the Russians,
1185
01:26:52,680 --> 01:26:53,840
heading for Germany.
1186
01:26:54,840 --> 01:26:58,080
After the first kilometre,
women began to fall.
1187
01:26:58,240 --> 01:27:00,800
Whoever found it hard to walk
at that quick pace
1188
01:27:00,960 --> 01:27:04,000
or who stood to rest
was shot right away.
1189
01:27:04,160 --> 01:27:05,160
(shot)
1190
01:27:05,320 --> 01:27:06,520
There were moments of despair
1191
01:27:06,680 --> 01:27:09,920
when I thought of asking those
escorting us to kill me...
1192
01:27:11,640 --> 01:27:13,360
But at those same moments
1193
01:27:13,520 --> 01:27:17,080
I would see flashes
of rocket barrages in the sky
1194
01:27:17,240 --> 01:27:20,040
and hear the roar of aircraft
1195
01:27:20,200 --> 01:27:23,800
and these inspired me
with the will to live!
1196
01:27:28,680 --> 01:27:31,800
- So, I'm talking now
about the 18th of April.
1197
01:27:31,960 --> 01:27:35,520
The Americans was in the process
of capturing Leipzig.
1198
01:27:35,680 --> 01:27:40,080
My mother stayed behind
with the sick prisoners.
1199
01:27:40,240 --> 01:27:42,760
The SS are on the way to kill them.
1200
01:27:55,200 --> 01:27:59,240
And they decided to escape
with the sick people
1201
01:27:59,400 --> 01:28:01,000
who could not walk
1202
01:28:01,160 --> 01:28:02,720
and then, when it became dark,
1203
01:28:02,880 --> 01:28:06,040
they actually
carried them by hands!
1204
01:28:06,200 --> 01:28:10,000
This was the night
between 18th and 19th of April.
1205
01:28:12,440 --> 01:28:16,000
They saved the lives
of about 140 prisoners,
1206
01:28:16,160 --> 01:28:17,160
sick prisoners
1207
01:28:17,320 --> 01:28:19,760
and this was my mother's
liberation day!
1208
01:28:19,920 --> 01:28:25,320
(uplifting music)
1209
01:28:31,680 --> 01:28:36,680
(cheering)
1210
01:28:40,320 --> 01:28:44,520
(music fades)
1211
01:32:27,240 --> 01:32:32,200
Subtitles by Sky Access Services
92911
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.