English

Ages: 15+
Language: English

By Anna Maria Sacio

In the annals of history, there are stories that transcend time, carrying with them the weight of unspeakable suffering and the triumph of the human spirit. This is the biography of Avraham Peter, a Holocaust survivor, whose journey from silence to strength unfolded against a backdrop of unimaginable darkness.

Despite the horrors he experienced as a child, Avraham did not surrender to his past. He devoted himself to the struggle of the Jewish people, fighting for Israel's freedom during its War of Independence. He worked hard to create a beautiful life for himself, marrying and raising a family. In a foreign land and a new language, he pursued a PhD in engineering and became one of NASA's brilliant minds, instrumental in bringing the stranded Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth.

Avraham Peter's triumph was to go from a ghetto boy to a rocket man. Physically imprisoned by the Nazis as a child, his determination and strength of spirit allowed him to leave the ghetto behind to pursue his dreams. His story shows us that human beings are capable of reaching the highest of highs from the lowest of lows. It is a story that inspires. It is a story that deserves to be told.

This film tells the story of sisters Fanny Rozelaar and Betty Mayer, nee Ichenhauser. The two daughters were born to Arthur (Aharon Chaim) and Ada Victoria, nee Jacobson in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1919 and 1923 respectively. After the Nazi rise to power they moved, together with their families, to Amsterdam. The film follows the different paths of Fanny and Betty: the elder daughter marrying and going into hiding with her husband, as well as entrusting her infant son to another young mother; and the younger daughter choosing to nurse her ailing mother and being sent, with Ada, to Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen. The sisters and their mother reunited and emigrated to Israel after the war, carving out new lives for themselves and their families. While this film is unique in that it portrays the viewpoints of two sisters with two different experiences, both narratives characterize the story of Dutch Jewry and, to a degree, that of the Jews of Central Europe during and after the Holocaust.

With the generous support of the Adelson Family Foundation.

Israel 2010, 60 minutes, DVD

Ages 5-6 Language: English

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Ages 12-14 Language: English

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Ages 15+ Language: English

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