H eadlines
Film Screening to Commemorate Holocaust Victims
L O CAL
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
THE INTERNATIONAL Day
of Commemoration in Memory
of the Victims of the Holocaust
on Jan. 27 will offer a variety
of choices for Philadelphians
who want to observe the day
through engaging, thoughtful
programs. Gratz College is partner-
ing with the Anti-Defamation
League of Philadelphia, the
Holocaust Awareness Museum
and Education Center, the Jewish
Community Relations Council of
the Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia and the Philadelphia
Holocaust Remembrance
Foundation to screen Who Will
Write Our History, a documen-
tary described as “vital” by The
New York Times.

The movie is being shown
across the globe that day —
from Poland to Zimbabwe to
Melrose Park.

Who Will Write Our History is
the story of a group of journalists
and academics trapped inside the
Warsaw Ghetto who sought to
record the lives of the 450,000
Jews around them as a way to fight
back against the Nazis. Among
them was Emanuel Rigelbaum,
a historian who helped found
the Institute for Jewish Research
(Yivo), and Rachel Auerbach, a
writer who would later go on to
work for Yad VaShem, collecting
Holocaust testimony and assist-
ing the prosecution during the
trial of Adolf Eichmann.

During the war, they were
part of a group code-named
Oyneg Shabes that lead the
charge to collect and create tens
of thousands of documents,
complete with drawings of daily
ghetto life, maps of Treblinka,
official Nazi documents posted
throughout the city, photos and
more. Interspersed with re-en-
actments, the movie features
voiceovers from Joan Allen and
Adrien Brody as Auerbach and
Rigelbaum, respectively.

“The goal here is to bring
the past to life while balanc-
ing against the high standards
for veracity in a documentary,”
director Roberta Grossman said.

“To achieve this goal, we blended
archival and dramatic footage,
pulling from the tools of dra-
matic feature storytelling. While
fully aware of the complexity of
these techniques, I reached for
these visual tools because Who
Will Write Our History tells the
story of a place that no lon-
ger exists [the Warsaw Ghetto],
about people who are long dead,
and about a period of history
captured primarily in black-and-
white film and mostly by Nazi
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Cast members in costume
propaganda photographers and
cameramen. I want people not
simply to learn from the film, but
to be engaged and deeply moved.

“In 1999, three document
collections from Poland were
included in UNESCO’s Memory
of the World Register: the mas-
terpieces of Chopin, the scien-
tific works of Copernicus and
the Oyneg Shabes Archive,” she
continued. “It is my hope that
Who Will Write Our History
will change that in the way that
only a film can do, by making
the story accessible to millions
of people around the world.”
“We are very pleased to work
with our partners and colleagues
to present this important event
to the community,” said Mindy
Blechman, coordinator of
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
at Gratz College.

Josey Fisher, director of the
Gratz College Holocaust Oral
History Archive, will open the
event with a discussion of the
archive and its significance in
Holocaust studies. Following
the film, attendees are wel-
come to stay for a Facebook
Live discussion with executive
producer Nancy Spielberg,
Grossman and Samuel Kassow,
the historian who wrote the
book that Who Will Write Our
History is based on and who
also appears in the film.

The educational program
runs from 12:30 to 4 p.m., and
the movie will screen at 1 p.m.

Tickets are $10-15.

Anna Wloch
The movie will also be shown
at the University of Pennsylvania
Hillel at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10.

The Ritz Five, at 214 Walnut St.,
will screen the movie at 1:50 p.m.

At Ohev Shalom of Bucks
County, the Jewish War Veterans
Post No. 697 will host a remem-
brance event from noon to 4 p.m.

The program will feature Daniel
Goldsmith, who survived the
Holocaust as a child in Belgium
with the help of Catholic institu-
tions. Tickets are $7, and those
interested in attending should call
215-322-9595 to reserve their seats.

The Rowan Center for
Holocaust & Genocide Studies
at Rowan University will com-
memorate Holocaust remem-
brance on Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. at
the Student Center Patio.

On Jan. 28, Owls for Israel
will host John Spitzer, a
Holocaust survivor for dinner
and a discussion. Spitzer sur-
vived the Holocaust in south-
ern Hungary, where he was a
forced laborer for the Nazis.

The talk will be at 1441 W.

Norris St., from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

On Jan. 29, JCRC will host
a program for high school stu-
dents to discuss the univer-
sal lessons of the Holocaust
through small group discus-
sions with survivors. This event
requires preregistration, and
will take place at Gratz College
from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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