Five Jewish Hungarians, now US citizens, tell their stories: before March 1944, when Nazis began to exterminate Hungarian Jews, months in concentration camps, and visiting childhood homes more than 50 years later. An historian, a Sonderkommando, a doctor who experimented on Auschwitz prisoners, and US soldiers who were part of the liberation in April 1945.
This documentary blends personal accounts of what happened before, during and after WWII. One testimony tells of a sister sending tear-stained letters from the prison camp, while another survivor tells the story of how his father traded portions of the family's food that was being saved for the liberation march, a few slices of bread, for a Jewish prayer book in order to perform a Passover sedar and for Sabbath. Woven together with survivor testimonies, archival footage, original music, source music and survivors' personal photographs and artifacts, the documentary will show the richness of life before the war, the rise and fall of Nazi power, the liberation of the camps and life now, 50 years later, all as seen through the eyes of those who survived.
From Steven Spielberg and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation comes Broken Silence, a series of five films about human courage, heroism, and triumph over intense adversities during World War II. Hell on Earth: Renowned Czech filmmaker Vojtech Jasny directed this Czech-language documentary, a look at Theresienstadt, the "model" Czech ghetto set up by the Nazis to deceive the world about how well the Jews were treated.
Steven Spielberg and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation present interviews with survivors of the Nazi death camps in Hungary. Their tragic testimonies are illustrated through newsreels from the era and archival photos.
