Courtesy of Alla Gopshtein
COVID has yet again put a damper
on KleinLife’s Yom HaShoah obser-
vance, which used to take place in
person, but will continue virtually this
year due to the many older and vul-
nerable individuals the organization
serves. This year, the implications of the
war along with split political opinions
among refugees, have made the timing
of the day of remembrance particularly
tense. “People are just down,” Krug said.

Krug’s father is a Ukrainian
Holocaust survivor, and he has had to
grapple with his own reactions to the
war in addition to providing support
for fellow Ukrainians.

“I lost most of my relatives during
the Second World War. Most of my
family stayed in Ukraine, so basically,
they were executed by Nazis,” Krug
said. “It’s a story of many families
from the former Soviet Union. Now,
we have to watch in disbelief of what’s
happening.” Though sympathetic to fellow
Ukrainians who are resentful of their
home country, Krug believes differ-
ently. In times of political regression,
Alla Gopshtein and her family
as Krug describes it, the importance
of moving forward, on both a global
and individual level, is crucial to
survival. Krug tries to remember how Ukraine
has tried to make amends for its past
antisemitism. Electing and rallying behind
Jewish Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy was a way for the country to
demonstrate this, Krug believes.

Alla Gopshtein and her family in Kiev in 1984
For peace of mind, Krug is hoping
to move forward from Ukraine’s past
antisemitic transgressions to stand in
solidarity with Ukraine and maintain
hope for the future. Jews have a unique
perspective that allows for this, he said.

“If Jews would remember all the
injustices that were adopted against
them, we might as well call it quits,”
Krug said. “Are we going to hold onto
this type of vengeance? This type of,
‘How long are we going to remember
this?’” “For how long?” Krug continued.

“Until we say, ‘You know what? We’re
moving forward; we’re looking for-
ward. We’re going to be better people
for this.’” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Thank you to this community
for generously donating
more than $1.19 million to
directly help those in need
in Ukraine.

Together, we are
making a difference.

The Jewish Community Fund makes it possible
for the Jewish Federation to immediately
respond to this crisis and others as they evolve.

Make your gift at jewishphilly.org/donate
24 APRIL 28, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



arts & culture
HBO’s ‘The
Survivor’ Asks
Profound Question
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
Photo by Leo Pinter/HBO
H ow powerful is a reason to live?
That is the question that ani-
mates Jewish director Barry
Levinson’s new movie “The Survivor,”
which came out on Yom HaShoah on
HBO Max. The film depicts the true
story of Auschwitz survivor Harry Haft,
who became a boxer in the United States
and lived to 82, dying in 2007.

Haft, the movie makes clear, would not
have lived to such an advanced age were
it not for his reason: Leah, the girl he fell
in love with as a boy in prewar Poland.

Leah drives Haft to find a way to
survive every horrific concentration
camp day.

When a Nazi officer discovers Haft’s
strong right hook, he forces the prisoner
to box and pummel other Jews just to
help the officer win money; and Haft
does it. When the officer calls for the
killings of Haft’s opponents at the end of
their matches, the boxer can only stand
and watch; and he does. And when the
Nazi makes his “dog,” as the prisoner
later describes himself, suffer the indig-
nity of drinking with him after a big
win, Haft confronts his owner, but then
he takes a sip.

The flashback scenes unfold through-
out the movie, and you grow to under-
stand why this man continues to wear a
long, heavy expression even years after
arriving in the United States.

Levinson shows the viewer that, inter-
nally, Haft, played by Ben Foster, is
carrying around the burden of not just
survival, but of the sacrifice that he
forced on other Jews. But the direc-
tor also shows that, externally, Haft is
driven to find his reason in the form of
Leah. The main character continues to box
in the United States, only professionally
and to earn money for himself. Yet after
several losses in a row, his career is on
the ropes. So he responds the same
way any rational, career-oriented boxer
would respond: By asking his trainer to
coordinate a fight with the undefeated
heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano.

Haft explains to his trainer that he
only wants the fight to gain national
media attention. He is hoping that Leah
is out there somewhere and will see it.

He feels it in his gut that she is.

But after Marciano pummels Haft
like Haft once pummeled his fellow
Jews, the survivor sits in his locker room
and tells his brother Perez Haft, played
by Saro Emirze, that he’s done fighting.

Leah is not out there, he explains. He
feels an “emptiness” inside himself.

At this moment, the heaviness on
the boxer’s face overtakes his body. He
stands up and sits back down. His rea-
son to live no longer exists to him, and
you can feel him struggling with such
immensity. Yet in spite of it all, Haft decides to try
and live anyway.

Perez, also a survivor, implores him to
try. “Why did you survive?” the brother
asks. “If not to live?”
But it’s Miriam Wofsoniker, played
by Vicky Krieps, who answers Perez’s
question by becoming Harry’s new love
interest. Until that point, Miriam was
helping Harry try to find Leah through
a local organization. Despite her bud-
ding connection with the survivor, she
never attempted to interfere with his
search. Now, as Harry embraces her, she
comes to represent vibrant and bur-
geoning love in the same way that Leah
once did. It’s just on the survivor to see
it, so he can start living.

The immigrant tries. He even moves
on with his body, building a family
with Miriam, opening a grocery store
and preparing for their son Alan’s bar
mitzvah. But the expression on Haft’s face still
does not change. He can’t stop living in
the past. He even forces his son to punch
a bag at the gym so Alan will become
tough enough to survive, too.

Levinson shows Haft’s attempt at
life slipping away. He’s sleeping on the
couch; he’s making his son think he
Ben Foster plays Harry Haft in HBO Max’s “The Survivor.”
doesn’t like him; he’s thinking about
using some new information on Leah’s
potential whereabouts.

And then, the inevitable.

Haft takes his family on a trip to a
random town in Georgia where Leah
might be. His wife figures out what’s
going on. She tells Haft she’ll be at the
beach if he wants to come back.

The survivor goes to see Leah and
finds his reason. Only his reason wasn’t
actually to find her; it was just her.

The love they shared got them both
through the Holocaust, they learn. At the
same moment, they understand that a
reason to live is as powerful as their love.

It exists in eternity.

Haft returns to the beach, sits down
in a chair and stares out at the ocean.

His expression finally changes into a
smile. He tells Miriam a joke, and she
laughs. JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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