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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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[Fred Zaidman] What did it mean
to me growing up
with Holocaust survivors.

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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To me it felt like, uh...

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Confusion.

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I felt like I was the only one

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in the world being affected
by it.

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I felt so,

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uh, isolated,

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in my feelings as well.

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You know, I couldn't
express them to anybody.

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I couldn't pour it out.

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I thought it was so painful
that they didn't want
to discuss it.

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And I think deep down inside

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I wanted to know.

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And I just couldn't
muster the courage to ask.

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When I was three years old
in 1967,

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I was at my aunt
and uncle's apartment

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And I knew that
something was different

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then the ordinary family.

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And I...
I could feel like

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a pain in my chest.

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I just saw the sorrow
in their eyes
and in their faces.

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[Fred]
My father was more carefree.

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My mother lived
in anxiety and fear.

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So she was very
over-protective

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and was a very tough woman.

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She really was.

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I remember my mother crying
to someone on the phone
every morning.

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There was a sense of something
horrible happened in the past.

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But when my mother started
to cry, I would start to cry.

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I went to Hebrew school,
I was bar mitzvaed.

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My parents and their
friends spoke in Yiddish.

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I wanted to be
more American.

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And I was battling with myself
which way to go.

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So that's how I grew up.

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Shy and by myself.

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and, uh, sports.

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That gave me a lot of
confidence which I didn't
even know I had.

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I can still do it.

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Yeah, look at that.

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Was it enough? No.

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Because there's more to life
than sports.

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My parents weren't aware

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of what was going on
inside me.

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They were more into
their own world

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of survival.

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They met in Bergen-Belsen

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Shortly after being liberated,
they married.

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And they had my brother
in 1947.

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My father and mother
didn't know each other
in the camps.

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So they had men on one side
and women on the other side.

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They never met,
never mingled.

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So then
when they were liberated

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in '45 by the British,

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everybody came
to the courtyard.

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According to my mother,
people picked partners,

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without love,
just to rebuild the population.

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My mother met a doctor,

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and she met my father
the carpenter.

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And she took my father
the carpenter.

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And years later she tells
my father she should have taken
the doctor.

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I think they fell
in love later.

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But they weren't in love
when they got married.

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The Holocaust kept
them together.

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After they were married,

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they went back to Poland
to look for family

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And they found my Aunt Manya,
my mother's youngest sister.

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[Miriam Ickowicz] 1939
when the Germans came in,

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They took me right away.

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I was just a kid, 12 years old.

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And my parents never
saw me again.

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I went to Czechoslovakia.

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The life was something

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nobody should know about it.
Nobody.

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I was liberated from
the Russian army.
The whole camp.

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And we walked,
we walked,

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and every time we saw people,

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we said, "Maybe it's my sister,
maybe it's my brother."

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Very, very anxious
to find family.

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I was in Poland

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and somebody knocks
on the door.

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It was my sister
with my brother-in-law.

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And we smuggled ourselves

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to Germany.

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We lived together
till I got married.

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That was the day. [chuckles]

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[Fred] They were there
for five years.

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And they built a life
over there

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and did the best they can,
it wasn't easy.

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We had a relative in
Beverly Hills.

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Abe Biren.

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And so he sponsored
my parents

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to come to the United States
with me.

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They moved to Los Angeles
in 1950

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and I was born in 1954.

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The parents were having
trouble supporting

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two kids because
the finances were not good.

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And so Fred was temporarily
put up

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so somebody else could
take care of him.

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The only thing I couldn't
figure out,

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which I never asked,
was why him and not me,
or both of us?

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[Fred] I would say
my brother was the favorite.

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They shared that history
back in Bergen-Belsen.

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I think there's a special bond
because of that.

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And with me,
I'm the Americano.

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Now, I have another person
who grew up in our family

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His name is Barry Levine.

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And we all considered him
a brother.

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I say I have two brothers.

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[Barry Levine] I just fit in.
They were so friendly.

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So concerned about me,

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and I truly called them
my second set of parents.

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I tried my best to
cheer them up.

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They were filled with

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horror, pictures in their minds
about the Holocaust.

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And they were sad
a lot of times,

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really sad, which we could
all pick up very easily.

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[Fred] My mother was
dealing with her past.

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There were the nightmares.

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Gestapo, Nazis, Gestapo.

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[Martin] So you're coming out
of the concentration camp,

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where's the therapists to
help people cope?

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As far as I know,
they didn't get any.

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So whatever happened to them
in Germany they brought here.

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[Fred] My mother says,
"You're lucky,
you have a mother.

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I don't have my mother.

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I don't even know
where my mother is buried."

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I feel Fred experienced
that trauma a lot more
than Martin did.

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He went with their grief
and sorrow.

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He lived it.

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I didn't allow myself
to live with negativity.

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It was, like, not me.

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[Fred] In the past,
I was in various businesses.

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And when my parents took ill,
I pretty much stopped working
to take care of them.

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Now they're gone,
and my passion now
is volunteering.

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The food pantry,
it's my way of helping out.

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I didn't want to be someone
who was on the outside
looking in.

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This was instilled in me
by my mother.

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She never let anybody
who came in the house

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leave without eating something.

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The constant statement was,

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"Fleisch, fleisch,
you have to eat, come on.

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Come here, eat."

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I got the lamb chops

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and the tongue. Ugh!

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[laughing]

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And all these Jewish foods.

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[Fred] I've been volunteering
here for 18 years.

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I discovered many of the kids
playing basketball

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were not playing
in any leagues,

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and I started to
build a program

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where kids had their uniforms

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and they got their trophies,

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and their achievements were
right here.

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I've giving you a certificate
for all your great work
in the park

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and for working to get
Nick Young here.

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Well, thank you.

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Keep going.

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-[woman talking indistinctly]
-Hiya.

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I donate platelets
at Cedars-Sanai Medical Center

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because my father took ill,
he was in the ER

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and they gave him six pints

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of blood from strangers
who came in.

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And that saved his life.

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He has donated 273 times,

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and this achievement makes him
the donor who has made
the most donations

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in the history
of the blood donor program.

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-Mr. Fred. Zaidman.
-[crowd applauds]

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I accept it for all of us,
really,

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because if it wasn't for us,

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[clears throat] a lot
of people would be
in a lot of trouble.

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So, God bless everybody,
thank you so very much,

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and, let's get back
on that table.

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[crowd laughs and applauds]

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I have a beautiful dog,
a Boston Terrier
named Stella.

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And I'm in a place
in my life where

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I'm following my passion
of helping others

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and having good people
in my life.

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Everything in my life
has sort of settled

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and the one part of it that

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wasn't settled was knowing
my family ancestry.

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I wanted to see if
I could find a living relative.

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I heard they were in Auschwitz,

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but I owed it to them
that I at least search.

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I felt compelled to do it
for my parents.

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Up here is my father, Wolf.

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And my mother, Renya,

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Renee.

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I just had to know
who's there beyond my parents.

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Who were my grandparents.

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I wanted to break through
that wall, that mystery.

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I thought my family tree
was a twig.

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I didn't expect
to find anything.

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What I discovered was, uh,

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a few of the third,
fourth, fifth, sixth,
seventh generation.

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And, uh, it's something.

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One of my really
great discoveries

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is the name of my
great-grandfather.

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Here's the birth of
Jakub Wolf Birencwaig
in 1847,

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in Radomsko, Poland.

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My great-grandmother,
Chana Frimeta,

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And on the other side
of the family,

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my great-grandfather
Kopel Zaidman,

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born in 1843.

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This one happens to be
my father's older brother,
Fischel.

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My mother's youngest brother,
Tadek,

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who was killed in
a concentration camp.

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He was shot in the head

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only because he was singing
a happy song.

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He learned that he was
going to be liberated
the next day.

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Somebody reported him

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to a Nazi and they came over
and they shot him.

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Now I have two pieces
of the puzzle,

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you know, now I want
to get the rest of the piece.

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I want the whole family.

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I would say
that he just misses
my parents

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and wants to hang on

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to someone that could be
connected to my parents
that are still alive.

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So I think he's still dealing
with my parents' death.

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And hasn't released them.

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But he's driven

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emotionally,
to do this research.

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And that's okay,
it's just
not my calling for me.

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My brother doesn't acknowledge

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his past,

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his Holocaust experience,

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his heritage.

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He is removed from that.

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And I would say
I'm the complete opposite.

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I'm glad I'm opposite for me.
I wouldn't want to be

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trapped in the past.

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Does it bother me
that my brother

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has no interest?

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Yeah, it bothers me.

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It bothers me, but I try
not it let it get to me.

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It just...
It is what it is.

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And I just move on.

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Hello.

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Today I visit a half a dozen
Holocaust survivors.

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Because I feel very comfortable
being with survivors.

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I understand them.
I feel at home.

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Adela's like my member
of the family.

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[Adela] Today's really
my lucky day,

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that I meet two guys
in my house

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when I'm always so lonely.

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00:12:06,334 --> 00:12:09,163
Fred Zaidman
and Philip Raucher,

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two people what I know since
I was beautiful and young.

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[all chuckling]

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00:12:16,083 --> 00:12:18,172
You know what?
My father was in Bedzin.

251
00:12:18,215 --> 00:12:20,130
[Adela] Czeladz.

252
00:12:20,174 --> 00:12:22,350
My father was in Czeladz
or Bedzin?

253
00:12:22,393 --> 00:12:23,481
[Adela] Czeladz.

254
00:12:24,047 --> 00:12:25,657
Okay.

255
00:12:25,701 --> 00:12:27,572
There are a lot of
Poles who were

256
00:12:27,616 --> 00:12:29,705
very courageous
during the war.

257
00:12:29,749 --> 00:12:32,099
Poles were not courageous.
Maybe in the east.

258
00:12:32,142 --> 00:12:33,056
East of...

259
00:12:33,100 --> 00:12:35,929
No? There weren't some Poles

260
00:12:35,972 --> 00:12:37,582
-who helped the Jews...
-No.

261
00:12:37,626 --> 00:12:39,062
-Hid the Jews?
-No.

262
00:12:39,106 --> 00:12:39,889
-No?
-No.

263
00:12:41,630 --> 00:12:46,548
[Fred] The photo
of my grandparents
is number one.

264
00:12:46,591 --> 00:12:49,681
I don't know what
they looked like
except for one grandmother.

265
00:12:49,725 --> 00:12:51,205
There is nothing

266
00:12:51,248 --> 00:12:54,643
to indicate that they were
actually alive in this world.

267
00:12:54,686 --> 00:12:58,821
So finding a document
is very important to me.

268
00:12:58,865 --> 00:13:01,389
That'll prove
they actually lived.

269
00:13:01,432 --> 00:13:04,435
I think it would bring
some kind of, uh,

270
00:13:04,479 --> 00:13:08,613
completion in who I am.

271
00:13:08,657 --> 00:13:12,269
I think he's trying to find
love from his grandparents.

272
00:13:13,531 --> 00:13:16,621
He thinks grandparents
are angels.

273
00:13:18,319 --> 00:13:20,930
And I think he's trying
to find the angel in his life.

274
00:13:39,906 --> 00:13:42,822
They're my link to the past.

275
00:13:42,865 --> 00:13:46,042
Hopefully I can find
a photo of my grandparents.

276
00:13:46,086 --> 00:13:48,653
But I would accept
whatever I can find.

277
00:13:48,697 --> 00:13:50,655
[Barbara] Hi.
[Fred] Hi. Hi, Barbara.

278
00:13:50,699 --> 00:13:52,788
I'm still coming down to Earth.

279
00:13:52,832 --> 00:13:54,355
[Barbara] Yeah, you're here.

280
00:13:54,398 --> 00:13:55,312
-In person.
-Yeah, I'm here.

281
00:13:55,356 --> 00:13:57,184
I'm here but
I'm not all there.

282
00:13:57,227 --> 00:13:58,968
Because you two are
the only ones

283
00:13:59,012 --> 00:14:01,318
that I've met
from my father's side
of the family.

284
00:14:01,362 --> 00:14:04,365
And we're all Zaidmans
in one way or another.

285
00:14:04,408 --> 00:14:07,847
They all came from Poland.
Does anybody know

286
00:14:07,890 --> 00:14:10,327
anything that happened
to any of them?

287
00:14:10,371 --> 00:14:13,069
-Auschwitz.
-Auschwitz is what I hear.

288
00:14:13,113 --> 00:14:16,768
So I imagine that your parents
never discussed what
happened to them.

289
00:14:16,812 --> 00:14:19,946
Their...
Their incarceration...

290
00:14:19,989 --> 00:14:22,687
[Fred] My father did not.
You know, I didn't have
the guts either.

291
00:14:22,731 --> 00:14:26,691
Honestly, I didn't have
the courage to ask them.

292
00:14:26,735 --> 00:14:28,955
I got a glimpse of his history.

293
00:14:28,998 --> 00:14:33,089
He had bypass surgery
and he was crying.

294
00:14:33,133 --> 00:14:36,092
I had never seen
my father cry before.

295
00:14:36,136 --> 00:14:40,575
-And he was telling the nurse
my mother went into the fire.
-[Barbara gasps]

296
00:14:40,618 --> 00:14:43,970
That was the first time
I heard him talk about

297
00:14:45,188 --> 00:14:47,669
-his parents...
-Stella!

298
00:14:47,712 --> 00:14:49,018
-Stella!
-Pretty cousin.

299
00:14:49,062 --> 00:14:51,107
Oh, thank you.

300
00:14:51,151 --> 00:14:53,805
I dropped her down
to number one cousin.

301
00:14:53,849 --> 00:14:55,633
I need to stand
on my tippy-toes.

302
00:14:56,983 --> 00:14:58,810
[Fred] I got new relatives.

303
00:14:58,854 --> 00:15:01,378
Which is an amazing feeling,
you know, from a,

304
00:15:01,422 --> 00:15:03,685
a side of the family that
I never knew.

305
00:15:05,774 --> 00:15:06,906
Wow.

306
00:15:09,909 --> 00:15:10,910
Yeah.

307
00:15:12,172 --> 00:15:14,217
I was first told

308
00:15:14,261 --> 00:15:19,396
about this several years ago
by my father's first cousin
in Australia.

309
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,964
But I wasn't able to
connect it until

310
00:15:23,009 --> 00:15:26,490
late, uh, last year.

311
00:15:26,534 --> 00:15:30,581
And that is my father's
first cousin, Isser Be'eri.

312
00:15:30,625 --> 00:15:35,369
He became the first director
of military intelligence
for the IDF.

313
00:15:35,412 --> 00:15:37,371
And the Haganah.

314
00:15:37,414 --> 00:15:40,940
Isser's father would be
my grandmother's brother.

315
00:15:41,636 --> 00:15:42,767
Isser Be'eri.

316
00:15:43,855 --> 00:15:45,205
There he is.

317
00:15:45,248 --> 00:15:46,902
Tall and handsome.

318
00:15:46,946 --> 00:15:50,732
1951 to 1958.
Director of the Haganah
Intelligence Service.

319
00:15:51,428 --> 00:15:52,603
There's the man.

320
00:15:53,996 --> 00:15:55,955
I discovered Issar had a son.

321
00:15:56,912 --> 00:15:59,175
His name is Itay.

322
00:15:59,219 --> 00:16:01,047
I shot him off an email

323
00:16:01,090 --> 00:16:03,745
explaining who I am
and I'm waiting to hear back.

324
00:16:05,399 --> 00:16:09,272
My aunt, Manya, and I
have been having
frequent talks,

325
00:16:09,316 --> 00:16:13,233
and she has opened up
that part of the world.

326
00:16:13,276 --> 00:16:15,583
When I go to Poland
for the first time,

327
00:16:15,626 --> 00:16:19,282
I don't want to be rushed,
I don't want to be
bothered by anybody.

328
00:16:19,326 --> 00:16:22,242
-I want to feel--
-You want to be on your own.

329
00:16:22,285 --> 00:16:23,895
I want to be on my own
to feel it.

330
00:16:23,939 --> 00:16:27,334
He wants to go to visit
where we used to live.

331
00:16:28,465 --> 00:16:29,597
I don't blame him.

332
00:16:31,599 --> 00:16:32,687
You know, memories.

333
00:16:33,731 --> 00:16:35,516
That's what he wants.

334
00:16:35,559 --> 00:16:37,822
[Fred] You and Martin
in Bergen-Belsen.

335
00:16:37,866 --> 00:16:39,433
[Manya] Yes.

336
00:16:39,476 --> 00:16:40,912
[Freddy] I think it's going
to be very painful for him.

337
00:16:40,956 --> 00:16:43,480
I hope that he discovers, uh,

338
00:16:43,524 --> 00:16:45,482
just where we came from.

339
00:16:45,526 --> 00:16:47,267
Our humble beginnings.

340
00:16:47,310 --> 00:16:50,705
The city's there,
the people are not there.

341
00:16:50,748 --> 00:16:53,186
The Jewish people.

342
00:16:53,229 --> 00:16:58,191
[flight attendant speaking
foreign language]

343
00:16:58,234 --> 00:16:59,801
[Fred] Just landed on the moon.

344
00:17:01,368 --> 00:17:03,631
That's what it's like for me,
I landed on the moon.

345
00:17:03,674 --> 00:17:05,936
[woman on PA]
Welcome to Warsaw,
ladies and gentlemen.

346
00:17:16,818 --> 00:17:19,690
I'm looking for anything
and everything
related to my family.

347
00:17:19,733 --> 00:17:23,520
On my father's side,
my father was
the only one who survived.

348
00:17:23,564 --> 00:17:27,133
He never spoke about anything.
He just clammed up.

349
00:17:27,175 --> 00:17:30,919
So each discovery gives me
that extra air of oxygen.

350
00:17:30,962 --> 00:17:32,442
It means a lot to me.

351
00:17:32,486 --> 00:17:34,401
[Matan Shefi] So what do you
know about your father?

352
00:17:34,444 --> 00:17:38,666
-His parents, Moshe Zaidman.
-[Matan] Mmm-hmm.

353
00:17:38,709 --> 00:17:41,973
And he was married to
Rywka Birencwaig.

354
00:17:42,017 --> 00:17:45,542
And Moshe's father is Kopel.

355
00:17:45,586 --> 00:17:47,979
[Anna Przybyszewska-Drozd]
Where did you find this?

356
00:17:48,023 --> 00:17:49,242
[Fred] Ancestry.com.

357
00:17:50,547 --> 00:17:51,896
[scoffs] Which means nothing.

358
00:17:51,940 --> 00:17:55,030
It's a very difficult situation
with your family.

359
00:17:55,074 --> 00:17:58,120
Because the people are from
one place,

360
00:17:58,164 --> 00:18:01,819
but the registration
is in other archives,

361
00:18:01,863 --> 00:18:05,954
so you have to go all over
to see even if there's nothing.

362
00:18:05,997 --> 00:18:08,217
It's like the borderline
between a few regions,

363
00:18:08,261 --> 00:18:11,090
so if you live here,
the record goes there.

364
00:18:11,133 --> 00:18:14,267
If you live five kilometers
farther, the record goes
to the other.

365
00:18:14,310 --> 00:18:17,052
It's important
the source of information,

366
00:18:17,096 --> 00:18:20,447
which is, "My mother told me,
my dad told me."

367
00:18:20,490 --> 00:18:23,014
-[Fred] Right.
-"I saw it in a book."

368
00:18:23,058 --> 00:18:25,713
And then, of course,
which book?

369
00:18:25,756 --> 00:18:28,716
"I saw it on Ancestry."
Okay, but where?

370
00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:30,326
Right, you have to verify.

371
00:18:30,370 --> 00:18:32,067
[Anna] It's not the source.

372
00:18:32,111 --> 00:18:34,635
Were any photos taken
at the same time

373
00:18:34,678 --> 00:18:37,594
a document was being written?

374
00:18:37,638 --> 00:18:40,249
[Matan] This is a really
problematic thing.

375
00:18:40,293 --> 00:18:44,514
Photos were not very often
attached to documents.

376
00:18:44,558 --> 00:18:48,475
Nowadays, we're accustomed
to it, like driver's license.

377
00:18:48,518 --> 00:18:52,522
And before the war,
photos were taken
as private property.

378
00:18:52,566 --> 00:18:56,657
Family photos in official
documents only in
very rare occasions,

379
00:18:56,700 --> 00:18:57,745
usually passports,

380
00:18:58,876 --> 00:19:01,052
from the '30s onwards.

381
00:19:01,096 --> 00:19:03,707
University applications,

382
00:19:03,751 --> 00:19:08,103
and sometimes
army registrations
for officers.

383
00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:11,802
And after the war,
it gets more common.

384
00:19:11,846 --> 00:19:13,804
I have to say that,
you know,

385
00:19:13,848 --> 00:19:16,546
one of my main goals
is to, uh,

386
00:19:16,590 --> 00:19:18,722
have my family members

387
00:19:18,766 --> 00:19:21,812
acknowledged as actually
existing in this world.

388
00:19:21,856 --> 00:19:24,032
Right now,
it's an imagination.

389
00:19:24,075 --> 00:19:25,860
There's not a grave,
there's nothing.

390
00:19:25,903 --> 00:19:28,471
[Anna] For whom
do you need a grave?

391
00:19:28,515 --> 00:19:30,081
-For the grandparents?
-My grandparents.

392
00:19:30,125 --> 00:19:31,387
-For my uncles.
-Yeah, but,

393
00:19:31,431 --> 00:19:33,824
if there is a grandson speaking
about this,

394
00:19:33,868 --> 00:19:37,045
-there is a real sign
of existence.
-[Fred] I know.

395
00:19:37,088 --> 00:19:39,003
No, but this is important.

396
00:19:39,047 --> 00:19:41,310
We are forgetting what's real,

397
00:19:41,354 --> 00:19:43,834
and if there is no grave,
there is no grave.

398
00:19:43,878 --> 00:19:47,316
So you try to find
whatever else you can find.

399
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:49,666
If you cannot find,
that's also okay,

400
00:19:49,710 --> 00:19:53,235
because you still know
that the grandfather existed.

401
00:19:53,279 --> 00:19:56,456
So you are the one
who's giving them the shape

402
00:19:56,499 --> 00:19:58,240
with whatever you know,

403
00:19:58,284 --> 00:20:01,939
a story you can share
with the others.

404
00:20:01,983 --> 00:20:05,160
I think you're bringing
your philosophy of

405
00:20:06,074 --> 00:20:09,512
intangible heritage or honor.

406
00:20:09,556 --> 00:20:13,124
I think for other people
honoring has different ways.

407
00:20:13,168 --> 00:20:17,172
I don't agree with you
because you honor
your parents with your life.

408
00:20:17,216 --> 00:20:19,609
Yeah, I know that.
That, I know.

409
00:20:19,653 --> 00:20:21,872
It's like...
It cannot be more.

410
00:20:27,313 --> 00:20:30,011
My parents can from Bedzin.

411
00:20:30,054 --> 00:20:31,969
-Ah, Bedzin.
-Bedzin.

412
00:20:32,013 --> 00:20:34,668
It's here,
not so far from Krakow.

413
00:20:34,711 --> 00:20:36,365
Close to...

414
00:20:36,409 --> 00:20:39,455
-To German principalities.
-Right.

415
00:20:40,151 --> 00:20:41,457
Very interesting.

416
00:20:41,501 --> 00:20:44,199
So where do they come from

417
00:20:44,243 --> 00:20:46,027
before they got here?
So that's...

418
00:20:46,070 --> 00:20:47,550
That's the next question,
right?

419
00:20:47,594 --> 00:20:48,595
Jewish issues

420
00:20:49,509 --> 00:20:53,164
were like taboo after '68.

421
00:20:53,208 --> 00:20:55,950
There is this feeling
of missing.

422
00:20:55,993 --> 00:20:58,213
That's the reason
why I'm here, in Poland,

423
00:20:58,257 --> 00:21:01,172
it's because
I'm missing something.

424
00:21:01,216 --> 00:21:03,087
Something.
And you even don't know.

425
00:21:03,131 --> 00:21:04,263
Do you know what
you're missing?

426
00:21:04,306 --> 00:21:06,917
Well, it's hard
to put into words.

427
00:21:06,961 --> 00:21:11,182
My world stops
where my father begins.

428
00:21:11,226 --> 00:21:14,534
How did they live?
Were they happy, unhappy?

429
00:21:14,577 --> 00:21:16,971
So, that's why
I'm determined to

430
00:21:17,014 --> 00:21:21,802
at least come here to Poland
and step on the same ground.

431
00:21:21,845 --> 00:21:25,066
Maybe this fascination
is us trying to get back

432
00:21:25,109 --> 00:21:28,417
to the world that was before,
before this

433
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:30,941
huge tragedy, yes?

434
00:21:30,985 --> 00:21:34,118
All those who perished
were citizens of Poland.

435
00:21:34,162 --> 00:21:36,643
So they felt betrayal.

436
00:21:36,686 --> 00:21:39,602
Betrayal? I think there's
a stronger word
than betrayal.

437
00:21:39,646 --> 00:21:40,777
Mmm-hmm.

438
00:21:40,821 --> 00:21:43,389
Why my country was so weak

439
00:21:43,432 --> 00:21:46,043
to let such things happen.
I can't reverse.

440
00:21:46,087 --> 00:21:48,437
-No, you can't.
-I can just talk about it.

441
00:21:50,047 --> 00:21:52,963
There's a very strong pull

442
00:21:53,007 --> 00:21:56,315
that is making me
go forward.

443
00:21:58,055 --> 00:22:02,146
And this shtetlhere is what
I imagined it used to be.

444
00:22:03,452 --> 00:22:05,976
This is what I've been
waiting for

445
00:22:06,020 --> 00:22:09,197
61 years to experience.

446
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,330
-[horn honks]
-Yeah, yeah. Excuse me.

447
00:22:12,635 --> 00:22:14,463
I'm going on the wrong side
of the street.

448
00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:18,815
When I got to Bedzin,

449
00:22:18,859 --> 00:22:23,777
I was really surprised
to meet survivors and
second-generation like me.

450
00:22:23,820 --> 00:22:28,216
They invited me to
the first Shabbat dinner
in 75 years.

451
00:22:28,259 --> 00:22:31,262
In a synagogue
in this old apartment building.

452
00:22:31,306 --> 00:22:34,091
-[saying prayers
in local language]
-Amen.

453
00:22:38,139 --> 00:22:41,708
[Fred] When Mrs. Lior started
the blessing,

454
00:22:41,751 --> 00:22:44,101
I sensed my grandmother

455
00:22:44,145 --> 00:22:46,930
and my relatives with me.

456
00:22:46,974 --> 00:22:51,065
That was one of the most
profound moments
in my entire life.

457
00:22:51,108 --> 00:22:54,111
[woman praying
in local language]

458
00:22:54,155 --> 00:22:55,983
[people responding
in local language]

459
00:22:56,723 --> 00:22:58,507
-[Fred] Adam!
-Oh!

460
00:22:58,551 --> 00:23:02,076
How are you? Finally!
Finally we meet.

461
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,861
Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!

462
00:23:04,905 --> 00:23:06,297
I discovered Adam
on the Internet.

463
00:23:06,341 --> 00:23:07,777
Thank you for coming.

464
00:23:07,821 --> 00:23:09,953
While I was searching
for a genealogist in Bedzin.

465
00:23:09,997 --> 00:23:12,260
You know what,
this is the trip
of my lifetime.

466
00:23:12,303 --> 00:23:14,305
-Oh, fresh air.
-Fresh air.

467
00:23:15,437 --> 00:23:17,265
-Bedzin.
-Bedzin, Bedzin air.

468
00:23:17,308 --> 00:23:20,355
Now Adam is going to
help me find photos,

469
00:23:20,399 --> 00:23:23,271
more information
on the Zaidman family.

470
00:23:23,314 --> 00:23:25,665
There's the castle,
the Bedzin castle.

471
00:23:25,708 --> 00:23:29,756
[Adam] And near the castle
is the synagogue
before the war.

472
00:23:29,799 --> 00:23:33,803
This corner before the war
is a Jewish cemetery.

473
00:23:35,283 --> 00:23:38,068
Now only the tree.

474
00:23:38,112 --> 00:23:41,681
[Fred] Right here.
[Adam] Yes, here, here.

475
00:23:41,724 --> 00:23:45,989
Adam, my top priority
is finding a photo
of my grandparents,

476
00:23:46,033 --> 00:23:47,904
and aunts and uncles

477
00:23:47,948 --> 00:23:50,124
that were murdered
during the Holocaust.

478
00:23:50,167 --> 00:23:53,432
This is everything the people
who are named the Zaidman.

479
00:23:55,129 --> 00:23:57,958
Mmm... Bedzin

480
00:23:58,001 --> 00:24:01,004
born your father,
only lives?

481
00:24:01,483 --> 00:24:02,484
Zytno.

482
00:24:03,093 --> 00:24:04,225
Ah, Zytno.

483
00:24:05,095 --> 00:24:06,749
Wolf is your father, tak?

484
00:24:06,793 --> 00:24:08,272
Wolf is my father.

485
00:24:08,316 --> 00:24:10,492
Are you holding
the entire records?

486
00:24:11,580 --> 00:24:13,582
-This is...
-The entire?

487
00:24:13,626 --> 00:24:16,803
Or could there be names...
Information missing?

488
00:24:17,978 --> 00:24:19,370
-Maybe--
-No. no.

489
00:24:19,414 --> 00:24:22,417
This is everything.

490
00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:24,898
Where are the best places
I should be looking?

491
00:24:24,941 --> 00:24:26,552
I... I...

492
00:24:26,595 --> 00:24:29,250
Tomorrow in Radomsko.

493
00:24:29,293 --> 00:24:31,644
[violin playing]

494
00:24:39,652 --> 00:24:41,958
[indistinct conversations]

495
00:24:50,663 --> 00:24:53,492
What I think of Cafe Jerusalem?

496
00:24:58,584 --> 00:25:01,238
The Jewish ghetto here
in Bedzin

497
00:25:01,282 --> 00:25:03,153
began in 1942?

498
00:25:03,197 --> 00:25:05,329
In 1942, in October, yes.

499
00:25:05,373 --> 00:25:07,549
In October. Okay, so...

500
00:25:09,116 --> 00:25:11,597
My father was
in the ghetto.

501
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,120
About how many people were?

502
00:25:13,163 --> 00:25:14,425
-From Bedzin?
-Yeah.

503
00:25:14,469 --> 00:25:16,732
About 20-25,000.

504
00:25:17,820 --> 00:25:19,126
-Wow.
-25,000.

505
00:25:19,169 --> 00:25:19,996
25,000?

506
00:25:31,921 --> 00:25:35,708
They give order to the people
to go out of the houses.

507
00:25:35,751 --> 00:25:38,841
And Jewish people to go in.

508
00:25:38,885 --> 00:25:41,627
Where there was one family,

509
00:25:41,670 --> 00:25:45,282
there come in two
or three families.

510
00:25:46,545 --> 00:25:48,068
In 2008,

511
00:25:49,635 --> 00:25:51,941
we decided to come here,

512
00:25:51,985 --> 00:25:56,076
because it's 60 years
for Israel.

513
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,513
And we went to the mayor

514
00:25:58,557 --> 00:26:01,037
and he said,
"I will bring my army."

515
00:26:01,081 --> 00:26:03,257
[marching band playing]

516
00:26:06,434 --> 00:26:07,827
It's a memory.

517
00:26:08,567 --> 00:26:10,743
It's a memory.

518
00:26:10,786 --> 00:26:12,353
Shimshon, I want...
Are you okay?

519
00:26:12,396 --> 00:26:13,876
Look...

520
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,705
[tearfully] To hear here
in this place the Hattikva,

521
00:26:17,924 --> 00:26:22,363
singing by 180 soldiers.

522
00:26:23,582 --> 00:26:25,018
On this place,

523
00:26:25,061 --> 00:26:31,459
where 30,000 people was taken
out to Auschwitz...

524
00:26:32,982 --> 00:26:34,593
This is our victory.

525
00:26:36,420 --> 00:26:38,597
Okay? This is our victory.

526
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,164
We don't have another victory.

527
00:26:41,208 --> 00:26:42,557
I know how you're feeling.

528
00:26:45,429 --> 00:26:48,432
You really...
I can't even talk.

529
00:26:48,476 --> 00:26:50,391
This is where
my father was born.

530
00:26:50,434 --> 00:26:52,698
And I think
my grandfather was born here.

531
00:26:59,748 --> 00:27:03,012
[Adam speaking]

532
00:27:03,056 --> 00:27:05,145
Maybe this woman find
for you

533
00:27:05,188 --> 00:27:07,408
maybe first documents.

534
00:27:07,451 --> 00:27:09,671
Waiting many years.

535
00:27:09,715 --> 00:27:11,630
-Please wait two hours.
-I can wait two hours.

536
00:27:11,673 --> 00:27:12,979
-Okay.
-Yes.

537
00:27:13,022 --> 00:27:14,763
[Adam] Now we go.
[Fred] It's very exciting.

538
00:27:38,787 --> 00:27:39,962
It's mind-boggling to me

539
00:27:40,006 --> 00:27:42,835
that there was once
a synagogue here,

540
00:27:42,878 --> 00:27:45,533
And now it's all gone
and it's replaced by

541
00:27:45,576 --> 00:27:47,100
a telephone company.

542
00:28:00,809 --> 00:28:03,464
Zaidman... Curtla.

543
00:28:03,507 --> 00:28:05,466
-Curtla.
-Curtla.

544
00:28:05,509 --> 00:28:08,643
[Fred] When I saw
my aunt's name, Curtla,

545
00:28:08,687 --> 00:28:10,210
which I knew from research,

546
00:28:10,253 --> 00:28:12,865
but when I actually saw
the birth certificate,

547
00:28:12,908 --> 00:28:15,215
it put me in a new world.
It kind of slowed down.

548
00:28:15,258 --> 00:28:18,261
I'm reading, "Curtla Zaidman,"

549
00:28:18,305 --> 00:28:20,307
there is something that

550
00:28:20,350 --> 00:28:22,309
proved that she had lived.

551
00:28:22,352 --> 00:28:25,442
And then I hear,
"Oh, here's Lieb Zaidman,

552
00:28:25,486 --> 00:28:27,053
and here's Frimeta..."

553
00:28:27,967 --> 00:28:29,403
I'm still trying to get over

554
00:28:30,273 --> 00:28:31,840
the shock of seeing Curtla

555
00:28:31,884 --> 00:28:34,408
and everything else became
a dream.

556
00:28:35,539 --> 00:28:39,326
[indistinct chatter]

557
00:28:46,637 --> 00:28:49,597
[Fred] I still feel
I have to go back because
I didn't get everything.

558
00:29:06,222 --> 00:29:09,182
This used to be
the Zaidman family home.

559
00:29:09,225 --> 00:29:11,314
And now it's a parking lot.

560
00:29:11,358 --> 00:29:12,751
This is the building

561
00:29:14,056 --> 00:29:16,885
that sat next to
the building

562
00:29:16,929 --> 00:29:20,323
my grandparents owned,
lived, rented...

563
00:29:22,761 --> 00:29:25,546
Come visit the Zaidman home.
Come on!

564
00:29:25,589 --> 00:29:28,027
Come inside,
take off your shoes.

565
00:29:28,070 --> 00:29:30,681
Here it is.
It's a fuckin' parking lot.

566
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:32,945
Come on!

567
00:29:32,988 --> 00:29:34,468
This is unbelievable.

568
00:29:34,947 --> 00:29:37,471
Very upset.

569
00:29:37,514 --> 00:29:41,040
You know what they did?
They erased my family history.

570
00:29:41,083 --> 00:29:44,086
You know?
Destroyed all the buildings
where they used to live.

571
00:29:46,393 --> 00:29:49,657
One is a high rise,
one is a parking lot.

572
00:30:06,021 --> 00:30:07,370
[Adam] Your history is closed.

573
00:30:37,923 --> 00:30:41,187
1939, 1945.

574
00:30:42,014 --> 00:30:43,624
So this is in memory

575
00:30:44,668 --> 00:30:46,670
of the victims of the Holocaust

576
00:30:46,714 --> 00:30:49,325
from Radomsko.

577
00:31:00,380 --> 00:31:05,907
Did you see how the weeds
and the grass were
at least three feet high?

578
00:31:05,951 --> 00:31:08,518
A lot of grass,
nobody cut the grass.

579
00:31:08,562 --> 00:31:11,347
This is the problem.
The problem is money.

580
00:31:13,915 --> 00:31:17,353
I'm in Zytno.
Zytno, Poland where
my father was born,

581
00:31:17,397 --> 00:31:19,965
my grandfather, siblings.

582
00:31:24,404 --> 00:31:26,972
I wish my father was
still here so I could
show him

583
00:31:27,929 --> 00:31:30,279
what his old town looks like.

584
00:31:30,323 --> 00:31:31,890
It's kind of bittersweet.

585
00:31:31,933 --> 00:31:34,022
I didn't expect it to be

586
00:31:35,110 --> 00:31:36,982
so beautiful and peaceful.

587
00:31:37,983 --> 00:31:39,854
Quite community-oriented.

588
00:31:41,247 --> 00:31:42,030
[camera clicking]

589
00:31:45,207 --> 00:31:47,557
Now, that's a building.

590
00:31:47,601 --> 00:31:49,908
I bet you that's been around
since my mother's day.

591
00:31:51,387 --> 00:31:53,563
I like that building.

592
00:31:53,607 --> 00:31:57,263
I'm sure if my mother,
if she were alive and
here today she would point out,

593
00:31:57,306 --> 00:31:59,918
"I know that building
and I know that building."

594
00:32:00,527 --> 00:32:02,398
I'm getting

595
00:32:02,442 --> 00:32:05,314
a really comfortable feeling
that this is,

596
00:32:05,358 --> 00:32:06,881
you know, she's been here.

597
00:32:09,014 --> 00:32:12,321
I'm looking for the street
where my mother used
to live.

598
00:32:12,365 --> 00:32:15,672
And it's across the street
from what they called
a "gymnasium."

599
00:32:16,586 --> 00:32:17,805
Here it is.

600
00:32:17,848 --> 00:32:19,633
Lukaskiego.

601
00:32:20,416 --> 00:32:21,940
♪ Hallelujah ♪

602
00:32:22,984 --> 00:32:27,162
So I'm looking for number 25.

603
00:32:27,206 --> 00:32:29,991
It's completely different.
These are all modern
buildings

604
00:32:32,298 --> 00:32:34,256
If they want to come back
and see

605
00:32:34,300 --> 00:32:36,389
my mother's history,

606
00:32:36,432 --> 00:32:37,825
They're not gonna find it.

607
00:32:37,868 --> 00:32:40,697
If somebody mentions
the gymnasium...

608
00:32:40,741 --> 00:32:41,960
Here it is.

609
00:32:47,313 --> 00:32:49,663
A close friend of mine,
Adela Manheimer,

610
00:32:51,839 --> 00:32:53,493
her apartment building,
it's obviously gone,

611
00:32:53,536 --> 00:32:55,756
but it would have been
right over here.

612
00:32:57,105 --> 00:33:00,282
And Adela would see
my mother going to work.

613
00:33:02,893 --> 00:33:04,634
Oh, it's bringing
back a lot of, uh,

614
00:33:05,853 --> 00:33:08,812
memories of stories
that I've been told.

615
00:33:27,483 --> 00:33:28,310
[spits]

616
00:33:42,063 --> 00:33:43,238
I'd like to destroy
the building.

617
00:34:01,474 --> 00:34:04,216
I'm really determined to find
this place.

618
00:34:04,259 --> 00:34:07,871
And that place being
the Dabrowa-Gornicza
cemetery,

619
00:34:09,525 --> 00:34:12,224
the Jewish cemetery,
which I hear is very,
very small.

620
00:34:13,616 --> 00:34:15,444
There it is, right over there.

621
00:34:15,966 --> 00:34:17,620
Right there.

622
00:34:17,664 --> 00:34:19,318
[exhales deeply]

623
00:34:21,275 --> 00:34:23,061
The letters are faded.

624
00:34:25,628 --> 00:34:27,065
But what I can do,

625
00:34:28,196 --> 00:34:29,545
is fix this one.

626
00:34:30,458 --> 00:34:32,592
That I can do.

627
00:34:32,635 --> 00:34:35,246
Be something if this
was a relative, wouldn't it?

628
00:34:38,598 --> 00:34:40,252
[grunts] There.

629
00:34:42,123 --> 00:34:44,038
It looks good,
that was a good one.

630
00:34:51,219 --> 00:34:52,786
[exhales]

631
00:34:52,829 --> 00:34:57,617
[quietly reading]
It's probably a prayer.

632
00:34:57,660 --> 00:35:00,228
At first I thought
there wasn't anything here,

633
00:35:00,272 --> 00:35:02,796
which is pretty much
the story of my trip.

634
00:35:02,839 --> 00:35:04,580
My mother's home is gone,

635
00:35:04,624 --> 00:35:06,452
my father's home is gone.

636
00:35:06,495 --> 00:35:08,149
And I thought this was gone.

637
00:35:08,193 --> 00:35:09,585
But it's not, it's still here.

638
00:35:14,068 --> 00:35:16,331
It's a really nice cemetery.

639
00:35:16,375 --> 00:35:18,638
It's obvious that
they really care.

640
00:35:18,681 --> 00:35:20,596
Clean, grass is cut.

641
00:35:29,518 --> 00:35:32,478
I just noticed something
very, very disturbing.

642
00:35:34,393 --> 00:35:36,090
If I'm correct,
I'm looking at

643
00:35:37,004 --> 00:35:39,137
a Nazi insignia.

644
00:35:41,835 --> 00:35:44,359
Uh-uh-uh. Unacceptable.

645
00:35:44,403 --> 00:35:45,534
Not gonna stand for that.

646
00:35:48,276 --> 00:35:49,582
Son of a bitch.

647
00:35:52,019 --> 00:35:54,239
Can I show you something quick?

648
00:35:55,327 --> 00:35:57,198
Can you clean that off?

649
00:35:57,242 --> 00:35:59,069
-I don't know...
-I know you don't know.

650
00:35:59,113 --> 00:36:01,550
-[laughs] I don't know...
-I know, I know, I know.

651
00:36:01,594 --> 00:36:04,640
But you can clean it off?
Wash?

652
00:36:04,684 --> 00:36:07,165
-Wash?
-Wash off. Clean.

653
00:36:07,208 --> 00:36:09,602
No more. No more this.
See this?

654
00:36:10,603 --> 00:36:11,908
Off.

655
00:36:11,952 --> 00:36:14,346
-I understand.
-Off. Okay?

656
00:36:14,389 --> 00:36:17,262
Everything nice I said
about this cemetery
I'm taking back.

657
00:36:23,790 --> 00:36:26,706
It's hard for me to picture
that my mother was here.

658
00:36:26,749 --> 00:36:30,318
Here I am, and I'm seeing it
for the first time.

659
00:36:30,362 --> 00:36:33,365
My aunt, Manya,
told me a story

660
00:36:33,408 --> 00:36:35,018
that there's the two lines.

661
00:36:35,062 --> 00:36:37,499
The one that goes straight
into the gas chamber,

662
00:36:37,543 --> 00:36:39,893
and the one that goes
into labor.

663
00:36:40,372 --> 00:36:42,069
And...

664
00:36:42,112 --> 00:36:44,724
My grandparents were in
the line to go
to the gas chamber.

665
00:36:44,767 --> 00:36:46,987
My mother was with them.

666
00:36:47,030 --> 00:36:48,815
And she didn't want
to let go.

667
00:36:48,858 --> 00:36:50,338
She was holding on to them.

668
00:36:50,382 --> 00:36:51,818
And if they were going to go
to the gas chamber,

669
00:36:51,861 --> 00:36:53,776
she was going to go with them.

670
00:36:53,820 --> 00:36:56,301
And there was an argument,
there was a struggle,

671
00:36:56,344 --> 00:37:00,305
and my mother went
to the other line.

672
00:37:00,348 --> 00:37:05,092
And my grandparents went
straight into the gas chamber.

673
00:37:05,135 --> 00:37:08,008
I hear the worlds but
I couldn't get the feeling...

674
00:37:08,051 --> 00:37:09,183
Until now.

675
00:37:10,793 --> 00:37:14,275
This is the closest
I'll ever be
to my grandparents.

676
00:37:14,319 --> 00:37:15,972
They're right here.

677
00:37:16,016 --> 00:37:19,759
If I could, I would stay here
for a very, very, very
long time.

678
00:37:21,413 --> 00:37:22,805
I want to say I love you.

679
00:37:22,849 --> 00:37:23,893
[sniffles]

680
00:37:28,724 --> 00:37:31,597
Zaidman, it would
be Rywka

681
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:32,859
and Moshe.

682
00:37:33,860 --> 00:37:35,122
Fischel Zaidman.

683
00:37:36,645 --> 00:37:37,516
That's my uncle.

684
00:37:39,344 --> 00:37:42,695
In the Book of Names
I was able to find
two uncles

685
00:37:42,738 --> 00:37:44,218
and an aunt.

686
00:37:44,262 --> 00:37:46,655
Lieb is my uncle,
that's the first-born.

687
00:37:48,178 --> 00:37:50,355
Frania. Frania is

688
00:37:50,398 --> 00:37:53,140
my father's, uh, sister.

689
00:37:53,183 --> 00:37:56,012
1918 seems about right.

690
00:37:56,056 --> 00:37:57,187
[archivist] The place
of death unknown.

691
00:37:58,145 --> 00:38:00,539
Unbelievable.

692
00:38:00,582 --> 00:38:03,585
So, they're not missing,
they're not...

693
00:38:03,629 --> 00:38:06,893
Their name isn't gone
in the wind,

694
00:38:06,936 --> 00:38:08,721
and they did live
on this planet.

695
00:38:11,114 --> 00:38:14,204
-It could be.
-Can you look that up?

696
00:38:15,510 --> 00:38:17,469
So hopefully
he can find something.

697
00:38:17,512 --> 00:38:20,385
And even if he doesn't find
anything, I can eliminate

698
00:38:21,081 --> 00:38:23,126
Auschwitz.

699
00:38:23,170 --> 00:38:25,825
The fact that my mother
did not have numbers

700
00:38:25,868 --> 00:38:28,741
indicates that she was
here temporarily.

701
00:38:30,133 --> 00:38:32,701
My grandparents went
straight to the ovens.

702
00:38:32,745 --> 00:38:37,053
So the ones that went straight
and were killed in the ovens
were not recorded.

703
00:38:37,097 --> 00:38:39,795
-[Piotr Supinski] Yes.
-All right.
So that makes sense.

704
00:38:39,839 --> 00:38:45,018
Before liberation,
Germans burned
more than 90% of documentation.

705
00:38:45,061 --> 00:38:47,194
-[Fred] More than 90%?
-More than 90%.

706
00:38:47,237 --> 00:38:49,196
It's like they gathered

707
00:38:50,676 --> 00:38:52,286
everybody together...

708
00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:54,027
-And they're all gone.
-[Piotr] We don't know.

709
00:38:54,070 --> 00:38:55,724
-We don't know.
-We don't know.

710
00:38:57,596 --> 00:39:00,816
I got an idea
of what they went through.

711
00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:03,210
My parents didn't want
to talk about it.

712
00:39:03,253 --> 00:39:06,561
Would you want to tell
your child how you were
humiliated for four years?

713
00:39:08,171 --> 00:39:09,347
You know,

714
00:39:10,783 --> 00:39:13,742
wondering if you're going
to live minute to minute?

715
00:39:13,786 --> 00:39:16,266
Your parents and
your siblings

716
00:39:17,006 --> 00:39:18,356
murdered?

717
00:39:18,399 --> 00:39:22,360
My mission now is to retrack
those steps,

718
00:39:22,403 --> 00:39:23,883
find out what their
experience is.

719
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:31,194
[man over PA in Hebrew]

720
00:39:31,238 --> 00:39:35,895
[man chanting in Hebrew]

721
00:39:40,769 --> 00:39:43,337
[crowd praying]

722
00:39:44,512 --> 00:39:47,036
[chanting continues]

723
00:39:51,432 --> 00:39:54,304
[Shaya Ben-Yehuda]
I remember this country
as a child.

724
00:39:54,348 --> 00:39:57,482
It was nothing.
It all started with survivors.

725
00:39:57,525 --> 00:39:59,179
Yad Vashem is

726
00:39:59,222 --> 00:40:01,529
to ensure that the memories

727
00:40:01,573 --> 00:40:03,096
of their relatives

728
00:40:03,139 --> 00:40:05,968
will be kept forever
in one place.

729
00:40:06,012 --> 00:40:08,928
It's a memorial to the names.

730
00:40:11,147 --> 00:40:13,889
[Gideon Greif] Most of the Jews
living in Bedzin

731
00:40:13,933 --> 00:40:16,370
were gassed
and cremated in Auschwitz,

732
00:40:16,414 --> 00:40:19,329
except those who were murdered
inside the ghettos.

733
00:40:19,373 --> 00:40:22,332
In Bedzin, every second person
was a Jew.

734
00:40:22,376 --> 00:40:26,772
50%, half of the city's
population was Jewish.

735
00:40:26,815 --> 00:40:29,035
So we can say
it was a Jewish town.

736
00:40:29,078 --> 00:40:31,951
The process of annihilation

737
00:40:31,994 --> 00:40:34,823
began with confiscation
of all property.

738
00:40:36,042 --> 00:40:38,479
Concentration, ghettoization,

739
00:40:38,523 --> 00:40:41,874
and then deportation
to the extermination camp.

740
00:40:41,917 --> 00:40:45,007
And I would say the Jews
in Poland were
murdered twice.

741
00:40:45,747 --> 00:40:47,314
First,

742
00:40:47,357 --> 00:40:51,405
the spiritual murder,
and then the physical
murder.

743
00:40:51,449 --> 00:40:54,147
And I can't tell you
which was worse.

744
00:40:54,190 --> 00:40:55,888
I think both.

745
00:40:55,931 --> 00:40:59,195
Those who were capable
of being slaves,

746
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,937
could for the time being
survive.

747
00:41:01,981 --> 00:41:05,680
But the minute the Jews could
not provide work,

748
00:41:05,724 --> 00:41:06,899
they were physically
too weak,

749
00:41:07,421 --> 00:41:09,336
they had to die.

750
00:41:09,379 --> 00:41:11,207
This is the German logic.

751
00:41:11,251 --> 00:41:13,166
They were not so orderly,

752
00:41:13,209 --> 00:41:16,082
but they had some kind of logic
inside the system.

753
00:41:16,125 --> 00:41:18,693
When a Jew arrives
in Auschwitz

754
00:41:18,737 --> 00:41:20,913
and they choose him
to work,

755
00:41:20,956 --> 00:41:23,524
they give him...
They tattoo a number.

756
00:41:23,568 --> 00:41:24,873
All Jews.

757
00:41:27,049 --> 00:41:29,617
Until '44, with no exception

758
00:41:29,661 --> 00:41:31,227
who were selected to life

759
00:41:32,228 --> 00:41:33,403
were tattooed.

760
00:41:34,187 --> 00:41:37,277
All Jews, and non-Jews.

761
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,759
The permanent rule was
75 to 90%

762
00:41:40,802 --> 00:41:42,456
immediately to the
gas chambers.

763
00:41:42,935 --> 00:41:45,024
5 to 15%

764
00:41:45,894 --> 00:41:47,679
to become slaves.

765
00:41:47,722 --> 00:41:51,900
Survival was not dependent
on your talents,

766
00:41:51,944 --> 00:41:54,686
on your, uh, education.

767
00:41:54,729 --> 00:41:56,905
It was mere luck, pure luck.

768
00:41:58,428 --> 00:41:59,691
[Sima Velkovich]
So Moshe Zaidman

769
00:41:59,734 --> 00:42:01,040
-this was your grandfather?
-[Fred] Yes.

770
00:42:01,083 --> 00:42:03,042
-And Rywka your grandmother.
-Yes.

771
00:42:03,085 --> 00:42:06,045
Lieb Zaidman is your uncle.

772
00:42:06,088 --> 00:42:09,352
-Right.
-And do you know that
his wife is survived?

773
00:42:09,396 --> 00:42:10,919
No.

774
00:42:10,963 --> 00:42:14,444
Sally Frocht, she's the widow
of Lieb Zaidman.

775
00:42:14,488 --> 00:42:17,360
She survived?
Is that from a testimony?

776
00:42:17,404 --> 00:42:20,886
No, no. She applied for
searching for the documents
to international

777
00:42:20,929 --> 00:42:22,409
-Protective Services.
-...looking for family.

778
00:42:22,452 --> 00:42:25,543
-[Sima] Yeah.
-If my father was alive
he's flip out

779
00:42:25,586 --> 00:42:28,415
that his brother's wife...

780
00:42:28,458 --> 00:42:29,721
-Survived.
-Survived.

781
00:42:29,764 --> 00:42:31,679
And also I think...

782
00:42:31,723 --> 00:42:35,117
I think I also found
a picture of the brother.

783
00:42:37,555 --> 00:42:40,470
This is small photo,
like passport photos

784
00:42:40,514 --> 00:42:42,690
used by Gestapo in Bedzin.

785
00:42:43,430 --> 00:42:44,997
You think that's him.

786
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,652
This is her document,
it's very interesting.

787
00:42:47,695 --> 00:42:50,568
So, she...
Her maiden name
is Grunewald.

788
00:42:51,612 --> 00:42:53,701
And Frocht, it seems to me,

789
00:42:53,745 --> 00:42:56,574
is from the second marriage
after war.

790
00:42:56,617 --> 00:43:00,099
And she's also
Auschwitz survivor,
she was Zaidman.

791
00:43:00,142 --> 00:43:03,842
So this is her address
in Miami.

792
00:43:03,885 --> 00:43:07,454
So you have an address,
you can check in the USA.

793
00:43:09,978 --> 00:43:12,981
[Fred] I did research,
but she's passed away

794
00:43:13,025 --> 00:43:14,766
and apparently she doesn't have
any children

795
00:43:14,809 --> 00:43:16,898
So it was a dead end.

796
00:43:17,856 --> 00:43:20,119
It's hard, because

797
00:43:20,162 --> 00:43:22,730
Sima at Yad Vashem
is convinced

798
00:43:22,774 --> 00:43:25,254
that this is my

799
00:43:25,298 --> 00:43:28,170
uncle, my father's
eldest brother

800
00:43:28,214 --> 00:43:31,826
I so desperately wanted to
find his photo and here he is.

801
00:43:31,870 --> 00:43:34,220
Right now,
I'm going to consider him
my uncle.

802
00:43:35,395 --> 00:43:36,744
He's my uncle.

803
00:43:39,617 --> 00:43:41,749
It would be great
if I had a photo
of my grandparents.

804
00:43:50,236 --> 00:43:52,325
This is Itay with Tovah.

805
00:43:52,368 --> 00:43:54,632
They were there two years?

806
00:43:54,675 --> 00:43:56,546
[speaking Hebrew]

807
00:43:56,938 --> 00:43:58,636
Itay!

808
00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:01,856
Eitana! [speaks Hebrew]
How are you?

809
00:44:01,900 --> 00:44:02,683
Mwah!

810
00:44:05,251 --> 00:44:06,818
-It's so nice to meet you.
-Yeah.

811
00:44:08,167 --> 00:44:10,560
It's very nice that
you have come to Israel.

812
00:44:10,604 --> 00:44:12,214
Yes, it's my first time here.

813
00:44:12,258 --> 00:44:14,652
Yeah, after so many years,
after 62 years?

814
00:44:14,695 --> 00:44:16,349
-I know. I feel bad.
-Yeah.

815
00:44:17,611 --> 00:44:20,440
This is a sign of good luck

816
00:44:20,483 --> 00:44:24,052
for a house and
the people living in a house.

817
00:44:25,488 --> 00:44:27,969
And this is for Fred
and the first time

818
00:44:29,057 --> 00:44:30,755
that he visits Israel.

819
00:44:30,798 --> 00:44:32,452
Thank you. It's beautiful.

820
00:44:33,671 --> 00:44:35,673
[greeting in Hebrew]

821
00:44:36,456 --> 00:44:38,414
Our cousin, Adam.

822
00:44:38,458 --> 00:44:40,460
He's our first cousin.

823
00:44:40,503 --> 00:44:42,418
Adam, I'm Fred.

824
00:44:42,462 --> 00:44:45,204
-Issar, Issar.
-Pleasure to meet you.

825
00:44:45,247 --> 00:44:49,948
[Fred] Adam Snir was
the personal bodyguard
for Gold Meir

826
00:44:49,991 --> 00:44:52,559
and for Yitzhak Rabin.

827
00:44:52,602 --> 00:44:55,475
I felt very, very proud to be

828
00:44:55,518 --> 00:44:58,434
among these prestigious people
in my family.

829
00:44:58,478 --> 00:45:00,045
[Fred] Let me tell
you something.

830
00:45:00,088 --> 00:45:02,090
I have no photos
of my grandparents.

831
00:45:02,743 --> 00:45:04,614
Here.

832
00:45:04,658 --> 00:45:07,313
That's...
That's our grandmother.

833
00:45:07,356 --> 00:45:09,532
[indistinct chattering]

834
00:45:10,664 --> 00:45:13,232
[Itay] She was married
to Mendel.

835
00:45:13,275 --> 00:45:15,451
[Fred] To Mendel.
[Itay] Yeah.

836
00:45:15,495 --> 00:45:17,671
[Fred] That's my grandmother's
brother.

837
00:45:17,715 --> 00:45:19,804
So it was a huge find.

838
00:45:21,806 --> 00:45:24,199
Later in the week
I was invited to

839
00:45:24,243 --> 00:45:27,420
Eitana's parents' Yahrzeit.

840
00:45:27,463 --> 00:45:29,814
Eitana is Itay's wife.

841
00:45:29,857 --> 00:45:32,555
And the Yahrzeit was at
a kibbutz.

842
00:45:34,079 --> 00:45:37,038
[praying in Hebrew]

843
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,130
They came on one boat
from Europe

844
00:45:42,174 --> 00:45:44,480
and got married here
in Israel.

845
00:45:44,524 --> 00:45:47,396
And that was the last time
they saw their parents.

846
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,748
All of them died in
the Holocaust
in concentration camp.

847
00:45:52,097 --> 00:45:55,709
[Fred] Afterwards we met
at a cousin's home.

848
00:45:55,753 --> 00:45:57,972
Itay, do you have any
hobbies now?

849
00:45:58,016 --> 00:46:00,583
No, I have only one hobby.

850
00:46:00,627 --> 00:46:04,544
Eitana was in Army,
her mother saw me

851
00:46:04,587 --> 00:46:07,939
and told her,
"Look at the nice guy."

852
00:46:07,982 --> 00:46:11,246
-Because Eitana is quite high.
-[Fred] Mmm-hmm.

853
00:46:11,290 --> 00:46:13,466
And her mother was
always worried

854
00:46:13,509 --> 00:46:15,468
that she would not find

855
00:46:16,382 --> 00:46:18,863
a boyfriend her size.

856
00:46:18,906 --> 00:46:22,344
And ever since,
we're together.

857
00:46:22,388 --> 00:46:24,477
Now it's over 60 years.

858
00:46:28,307 --> 00:46:30,918
[Eitana] I was 21
and he was 22.

859
00:46:30,962 --> 00:46:32,093
[laughs]

860
00:46:32,137 --> 00:46:34,313
Two kids.

861
00:46:34,356 --> 00:46:35,793
This is Itay and me.

862
00:46:36,924 --> 00:46:38,447
Thank you again for everything.

863
00:46:40,058 --> 00:46:41,668
-Thank you.
-Have a good trip.

864
00:46:42,538 --> 00:46:43,626
Shabbat shalom.

865
00:46:52,461 --> 00:46:55,116
[Fred] I felt like
I walked into my family's home.

866
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:57,858
They were accepting,
they were very loving.

867
00:46:57,902 --> 00:46:59,512
They're really
wonderful people.

868
00:47:09,696 --> 00:47:12,917
[Fred] Her grandmother was
my grandmother's sister.

869
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,136
My parents came here
before the Holocaust.

870
00:47:16,616 --> 00:47:18,661
To Israel.

871
00:47:18,705 --> 00:47:22,317
I was happy
that I had grandparents here.

872
00:47:22,361 --> 00:47:24,972
-Yeah, you're lucky.
-Otherwise,

873
00:47:25,016 --> 00:47:26,234
-you know...
-You have no idea.

874
00:47:26,278 --> 00:47:28,933
-It ends on the grandparents.
-That's right.

875
00:47:32,066 --> 00:47:34,242
[Fred] Nitza knew
her grandmother.

876
00:47:34,286 --> 00:47:35,940
She lived with her,
kissed her.

877
00:47:35,983 --> 00:47:38,420
-Yeah.
-I don't even know
what mine looks like.

878
00:47:38,464 --> 00:47:42,381
That's why my need is
different than her need.

879
00:47:42,424 --> 00:47:44,209
These are our
great-grandparents,

880
00:47:44,252 --> 00:47:46,124
our grandmother's parents.

881
00:47:46,167 --> 00:47:47,429
I lost track of them.

882
00:47:47,473 --> 00:47:49,214
I'm filling you in.

883
00:47:49,257 --> 00:47:50,041
[Nitza laughs]

884
00:47:51,999 --> 00:47:54,088
I found a lot of stuff for you.

885
00:47:55,133 --> 00:47:57,570
My grandmother,

886
00:47:58,701 --> 00:48:00,268
grandfather,

887
00:48:00,312 --> 00:48:03,924
My grandmother is taking me
on her knees.

888
00:48:03,968 --> 00:48:07,058
-Are you saying that's
my grandmother's sister?
-[Nitza] Yeah.

889
00:48:07,101 --> 00:48:08,798
She looks like my father.

890
00:48:08,842 --> 00:48:10,235
All of you have the same face.

891
00:48:11,801 --> 00:48:13,194
It's striking.

892
00:48:13,891 --> 00:48:15,501
Now, this is 100%.

893
00:48:16,545 --> 00:48:18,286
It's historical.

894
00:48:18,330 --> 00:48:21,028
I found two relatives
since I came to Israel.

895
00:48:21,768 --> 00:48:22,900
Menachem

896
00:48:23,770 --> 00:48:25,946
and your grandmother Hava.

897
00:48:27,687 --> 00:48:30,820
-Yeah.
-Brother and sister
to my grandmother.

898
00:48:30,864 --> 00:48:33,171
It's the only picture of Hava.

899
00:48:33,214 --> 00:48:34,433
It's the only picture.

900
00:48:34,476 --> 00:48:36,130
-Of her.
-Well, all you need is one.

901
00:48:38,219 --> 00:48:39,394
Oh, this is great.

902
00:48:43,398 --> 00:48:45,966
This happens to be

903
00:48:46,010 --> 00:48:48,664
perhaps the greatest surprise
of my research.

904
00:48:49,752 --> 00:48:51,580
The most profound,

905
00:48:51,624 --> 00:48:53,713
which is a testimonial

906
00:48:54,540 --> 00:48:56,107
of my grandmother's death.

907
00:48:57,325 --> 00:49:00,589
06-01-43.

908
00:49:01,286 --> 00:49:03,723
Status, murdered.

909
00:49:03,766 --> 00:49:06,291
I can now light a candle,

910
00:49:06,334 --> 00:49:08,075
a Yahrzeit candle
on her death date.

911
00:49:08,989 --> 00:49:11,644
My grandmother Rywka,

912
00:49:11,687 --> 00:49:15,039
like my other grandmother
and grandfathers,

913
00:49:15,082 --> 00:49:17,650
went into the ovens
at Auschwitz,

914
00:49:17,693 --> 00:49:21,959
and the ashes at the bottom
were taken into

915
00:49:22,611 --> 00:49:24,918
a mass grave.

916
00:49:24,962 --> 00:49:28,052
I'm thinking, visualizing,
they got off the train.

917
00:49:28,095 --> 00:49:30,532
They're... They're in line

918
00:49:30,576 --> 00:49:33,274
and the Gestapos are all over
with rifles.

919
00:49:33,318 --> 00:49:35,798
And they weren't sure that

920
00:49:35,842 --> 00:49:38,584
they were going to live or die.

921
00:49:38,627 --> 00:49:41,935
As a result,
I grew up with my father,

922
00:49:41,979 --> 00:49:43,632
he kept most of it to himself,

923
00:49:43,676 --> 00:49:47,114
but now that I found
this piece of information,

924
00:49:47,158 --> 00:49:50,204
it solidifies what I thought
was going on,

925
00:49:50,857 --> 00:49:51,945
uh, with him.

926
00:49:52,902 --> 00:49:55,993
[announcement over PA]

927
00:50:03,217 --> 00:50:05,698
Your mother was liberated
at the main camp
at Bergen-Belsen,

928
00:50:05,741 --> 00:50:08,353
this is this place here
right now,

929
00:50:08,396 --> 00:50:10,790
And your father was liberated
also in Bergen-Belsen,

930
00:50:10,833 --> 00:50:14,272
but not at the main camp,
but on the barracks camp.

931
00:50:14,315 --> 00:50:17,405
And he met your mother,
and then they got
married here.

932
00:50:17,449 --> 00:50:22,323
Your brother was one of
more than 1,000 children who
were born here.

933
00:50:22,367 --> 00:50:25,370
Most of the survivors were
the sole survivors
of the families.

934
00:50:25,413 --> 00:50:30,636
And so they were happy
to build a new family,
a new home.

935
00:50:30,679 --> 00:50:34,335
That's why I guess that
they fell in love immediately.

936
00:50:34,379 --> 00:50:36,337
I was under the impression

937
00:50:36,381 --> 00:50:39,297
that my mother met
my father in the hospital.

938
00:50:39,340 --> 00:50:41,168
He was sick, tuberculosis.

939
00:50:41,212 --> 00:50:43,649
-[Katja] Yes, yes.
-And she was a nurse.

940
00:50:43,692 --> 00:50:46,826
And then do you know,
May, June, or...

941
00:50:47,696 --> 00:50:49,307
Don't have a clue.

942
00:50:49,350 --> 00:50:52,310
-Well, they married in August.
-Yeah, very early.

943
00:50:52,353 --> 00:50:54,007
Yeah, on the 25th, right?

944
00:50:54,051 --> 00:50:55,530
-Yes.
-25th,

945
00:50:55,574 --> 00:50:57,576
so knowing my mother
they could have met
on the 24th.

946
00:50:57,619 --> 00:50:59,360
-[both laugh]
-Yes.

947
00:51:04,974 --> 00:51:09,370
[Katja] Bergen-Belsen was
not a typical camp for
prisoners came in first.

948
00:51:09,414 --> 00:51:12,547
You see, his father was
first brought to Auschwitz,

949
00:51:12,591 --> 00:51:16,334
and then from Auschwitz
he was brought to Buchenwald,

950
00:51:16,377 --> 00:51:19,815
and from Buchenwald
he was brought to
Mittelbrau-Dora,

951
00:51:19,859 --> 00:51:23,732
and from Mittelbrau
Dora-Ehrlich, he was brought
then to Bergen-Belsen.

952
00:51:23,776 --> 00:51:25,169
-It's a holding area.
-Yeah.

953
00:51:25,212 --> 00:51:27,823
-It's a place where
they went do die.
-Yes.

954
00:51:27,867 --> 00:51:29,956
More than 50,000 people died

955
00:51:29,999 --> 00:51:33,481
and about 30,000 prisoners died
after the liberation.

956
00:51:35,396 --> 00:51:36,789
[camera clicks]

957
00:51:36,832 --> 00:51:39,661
[Katja] This is the beginning
of the former DP camp.

958
00:51:39,705 --> 00:51:43,622
We are not allowed
to make photographs because
it's a military training area.

959
00:51:46,103 --> 00:51:49,628
The conditions in the main camp
were really bad,

960
00:51:49,671 --> 00:51:53,849
and they made mass grave
for those people who died.

961
00:52:13,434 --> 00:52:16,655
There's nothing left from
the former woman's camp,

962
00:52:16,698 --> 00:52:19,484
so to say, no remains.

963
00:52:19,527 --> 00:52:22,051
[Fred] We're not sure
if my mother was over here.

964
00:52:22,095 --> 00:52:23,792
There's two huts, right?

965
00:52:23,836 --> 00:52:25,577
-No, one hut.
-One hut.

966
00:52:25,620 --> 00:52:28,623
-But this is the area.
-Yeah, this is the area.
That's right.

967
00:52:31,409 --> 00:52:34,151
Fred's mother and Anna Frank
could have met

968
00:52:34,194 --> 00:52:38,067
because Anna Frank was also
in this area of
the woman's camp

969
00:52:38,111 --> 00:52:40,244
but if they were
in the same hut,

970
00:52:40,287 --> 00:52:44,596
I cannot really say
because we have
no documents.

971
00:52:44,639 --> 00:52:47,729
I have a pretty good idea
what my parents were
going through,

972
00:52:48,556 --> 00:52:50,471
where they lived,

973
00:52:50,515 --> 00:52:54,475
and I'm looking forward to
tomorrow where we're
going to finish looking at

974
00:52:54,519 --> 00:52:56,173
all the records
here in Bergen-Belsen.

975
00:52:58,349 --> 00:53:01,090
His grandparents
and his father and his mother

976
00:53:01,134 --> 00:53:06,574
were forced to leave their home
to a ghetto.

977
00:53:06,618 --> 00:53:11,884
A person named Mr. Woll
was taking all of their stuff.

978
00:53:11,927 --> 00:53:13,755
-Furs.
-Um...

979
00:53:13,799 --> 00:53:15,192
-Gold.
-Gold.

980
00:53:15,235 --> 00:53:17,716
Silver things.
Maybe a German neighbor.

981
00:53:18,934 --> 00:53:20,849
This is a picture
of your mother.

982
00:53:22,373 --> 00:53:24,026
[Fred]
This one's hard to look at.

983
00:53:24,070 --> 00:53:26,899
Her eyelids are deepened.

984
00:53:26,942 --> 00:53:28,117
Yes.

985
00:53:28,161 --> 00:53:30,032
It's like her soul was, um...

986
00:53:31,164 --> 00:53:32,992
-Taken away.
-[Klaus] Mmm-hmm.

987
00:53:35,342 --> 00:53:36,561
Okay.

988
00:53:37,475 --> 00:53:39,825
In this list, uh,

989
00:53:39,868 --> 00:53:42,306
the name
of your father appears.

990
00:53:42,349 --> 00:53:44,133
The list of Polish Jews.

991
00:53:44,177 --> 00:53:46,353
[Fred] In 1945.
[Katja] Yes.

992
00:53:46,397 --> 00:53:49,051
[Klaus]
This is another document

993
00:53:49,095 --> 00:53:53,708
which says Mr. Zaidman
was here.

994
00:53:53,752 --> 00:53:58,713
We are very lucky that
we have this kind of source
for you.

995
00:53:58,757 --> 00:54:01,847
My mother stayed in
Bergen-Belsen
at least one month,

996
00:54:02,978 --> 00:54:04,415
according to this.

997
00:54:04,458 --> 00:54:07,505
Yeah, or maybe
some weeks more.

998
00:54:07,548 --> 00:54:11,073
-One or two months.
-One or two months?

999
00:54:11,117 --> 00:54:13,162
That's a long time
in Bergen-Belsen.

1000
00:54:13,206 --> 00:54:18,429
Especially during this time
it was very hard to survive
because...

1001
00:54:23,651 --> 00:54:25,436
[Fred] And my mother survived,

1002
00:54:25,479 --> 00:54:29,701
walking among the dead people
and watching them die.

1003
00:54:29,744 --> 00:54:32,573
So these are things
that she kept to herself

1004
00:54:32,617 --> 00:54:34,532
-and never talked about.
-Mmm.

1005
00:54:37,448 --> 00:54:39,928
Now, we know that

1006
00:54:39,972 --> 00:54:44,281
not every bride has
the possibility

1007
00:54:44,324 --> 00:54:47,153
to have a wedding dress
on her own.

1008
00:54:47,196 --> 00:54:51,549
So they were changing,
giving the wedding dresses

1009
00:54:52,114 --> 00:54:53,725
to other brides.

1010
00:54:53,768 --> 00:54:58,991
Some of these were made
here in the camp.

1011
00:54:59,034 --> 00:55:00,645
Here she's pregnant.

1012
00:55:01,907 --> 00:55:03,300
Beautiful picture.

1013
00:55:06,346 --> 00:55:09,088
It's like two stories,
one of torture

1014
00:55:09,131 --> 00:55:11,569
and then a story
of survival and hope.

1015
00:55:17,270 --> 00:55:19,794
I always dreamed about
going back there

1016
00:55:19,838 --> 00:55:21,927
and helping out
to make sure everybody was

1017
00:55:22,797 --> 00:55:24,930
safe or survived.

1018
00:55:24,973 --> 00:55:27,193
I don't know how they made it
but they certainly did.

1019
00:55:28,150 --> 00:55:29,326
It's a miracle.

1020
00:55:37,551 --> 00:55:39,510
I lost my dear aunt.

1021
00:55:39,553 --> 00:55:43,252
Her passing away is the end
of her generation,
my parents' generation.

1022
00:55:43,296 --> 00:55:44,558
They're all gone now.

1023
00:55:48,214 --> 00:55:51,173
I loved her,
she was very dear to me.

1024
00:55:55,874 --> 00:55:58,050
It's still fresh in my mind

1025
00:55:58,093 --> 00:56:00,748
and just talking about it,
you know, I can feel it.

1026
00:56:02,359 --> 00:56:04,012
[thunder cracking]

1027
00:56:07,929 --> 00:56:11,759
I think I found my cousin
David Markowitz.

1028
00:56:11,803 --> 00:56:14,109
I found a photo of
his grandmother,

1029
00:56:14,153 --> 00:56:16,982
and I do a separate search

1030
00:56:17,025 --> 00:56:20,986
for Yudis Kochman
and I notice she's in
the family tree.

1031
00:56:21,029 --> 00:56:24,163
His mother and my mother
were first cousins.

1032
00:56:24,206 --> 00:56:26,731
And, you know, he had
the same reaction,
it was like, "Wow."

1033
00:56:28,123 --> 00:56:31,388
And now there are plans
for us to meet in Atlanta.

1034
00:56:48,230 --> 00:56:50,711
Hello? Cousin dear!

1035
00:56:52,147 --> 00:56:54,193
What took you so long?
[chuckles]

1036
00:56:54,236 --> 00:56:55,586
-Hi.
-Sixty years.

1037
00:56:57,022 --> 00:56:58,371
[Fred] Where you been?

1038
00:57:02,114 --> 00:57:04,595
I never thought I'd come
to Atlanta

1039
00:57:04,638 --> 00:57:06,945
to actually meet a cousin.

1040
00:57:06,988 --> 00:57:10,252
I thought it was just four
people in my family until...

1041
00:57:10,296 --> 00:57:12,516
I know that because

1042
00:57:12,559 --> 00:57:14,648
we don't know who's alive
and who's not.

1043
00:57:14,692 --> 00:57:16,389
And what we have
and what we don't have.

1044
00:57:17,390 --> 00:57:19,740
-So...
-[chuckles]

1045
00:57:19,784 --> 00:57:21,916
[David] My mom
would be so proud.

1046
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:25,050
Before coming in here,
I'm thinking of
our grandparents

1047
00:57:25,093 --> 00:57:27,487
and our great-grandparents
and our parents.

1048
00:57:28,270 --> 00:57:30,447
And looking down and

1049
00:57:31,709 --> 00:57:33,667
seeing the family
connecting again,

1050
00:57:34,842 --> 00:57:38,237
you know.
Hitler destroyed

1051
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:39,978
and separated our family.

1052
00:57:40,021 --> 00:57:42,676
-But he couldn't
take this away.
-This he can't take away.

1053
00:57:44,069 --> 00:57:45,853
Come on in. Come on in.

1054
00:57:45,897 --> 00:57:47,855
Meet my wife. This is Lisa.

1055
00:57:47,899 --> 00:57:51,424
Fred Zaidman.
Lisa Markowitz.

1056
00:57:51,468 --> 00:57:53,252
-Hi, Lisa.
-Welcome.

1057
00:57:53,295 --> 00:57:55,472
Thank you.
Thank you very much.

1058
00:57:55,515 --> 00:57:58,387
-Thank you for coming.
-I have so much to show you.

1059
00:57:58,431 --> 00:58:00,651
I got things to show you.
Things to talk about.

1060
00:58:00,694 --> 00:58:01,478
Come on in.

1061
00:58:03,654 --> 00:58:05,351
I put this in here
on purpose

1062
00:58:05,394 --> 00:58:07,701
because this looks like
my grandmother.

1063
00:58:07,745 --> 00:58:09,398
[Fred] But it's your mother.
[David] Yes, it is.

1064
00:58:09,964 --> 00:58:10,791
Gucia.

1065
00:58:11,879 --> 00:58:14,621
I see similarities
to my mother.

1066
00:58:14,665 --> 00:58:16,971
-[David] You do?
-Yeah.

1067
00:58:17,015 --> 00:58:18,973
Well, you know,
they're first cousins.

1068
00:58:19,017 --> 00:58:20,453
Growing up.

1069
00:58:20,497 --> 00:58:24,152
Were you...
Were you micro-managed
by your parents?

1070
00:58:24,196 --> 00:58:25,632
The opposite.

1071
00:58:25,676 --> 00:58:28,896
Yeah, they never looked at
grades or homework.

1072
00:58:28,940 --> 00:58:33,422
My father was strict.
Some people today might say
it was abusive.

1073
00:58:33,466 --> 00:58:36,774
But my father, my parents,
my mother didn't know
any different.

1074
00:58:36,817 --> 00:58:40,125
-Their adolescent years
were spent...
-Right.

1075
00:58:40,168 --> 00:58:42,693
...at the butt of a gun.

1076
00:58:42,736 --> 00:58:44,912
Mine was different.
I was more...

1077
00:58:47,654 --> 00:58:50,439
I'm gonna say,
it sounds ridiculous,
like a family pet.

1078
00:58:50,483 --> 00:58:52,441
As long as my mother knew
I was okay,

1079
00:58:53,617 --> 00:58:56,141
you know, and I was fed,

1080
00:58:56,184 --> 00:58:59,971
then she was okay,
that was it.

1081
00:59:00,014 --> 00:59:01,973
The funny thing
about my experience is

1082
00:59:02,016 --> 00:59:05,542
I ended up being who I am
despite what I went through.

1083
00:59:05,585 --> 00:59:06,543
Yeah.

1084
00:59:06,586 --> 00:59:09,067
That's the Kochman, uh, will.

1085
00:59:09,763 --> 00:59:11,548
Oh, my God.

1086
00:59:11,591 --> 00:59:12,897
[David] What do you see?

1087
00:59:14,594 --> 00:59:17,815
That's my parents
and my aunt
in Bergen-Belsen.

1088
00:59:17,858 --> 00:59:20,034
No way.
What do you read on the back?

1089
00:59:20,992 --> 00:59:22,428
[Fred] "Bergen-Belsen."

1090
00:59:22,471 --> 00:59:23,864
-Wow.
-Have they got a year?

1091
00:59:23,908 --> 00:59:24,691
I've never...

1092
00:59:25,910 --> 00:59:27,781
Is there a year here?
On the back?

1093
00:59:27,825 --> 00:59:30,175
Yeah. There's
something different.

1094
00:59:30,218 --> 00:59:32,003
Discovering this photo
here with you,

1095
00:59:32,743 --> 00:59:34,745
which I've only seen

1096
00:59:34,788 --> 00:59:37,530
from a collection of
my parents and Manya's.

1097
00:59:37,574 --> 00:59:41,012
-It's obvious
they were all together.
-This is unbelievable.

1098
00:59:41,055 --> 00:59:43,492
You sent me that picture.

1099
00:59:43,536 --> 00:59:47,584
Here I am, 60 years old,
for the first time seeing
my grandmother.

1100
00:59:47,627 --> 00:59:49,586
[Fred]
Your mother did have relatives.

1101
00:59:49,629 --> 00:59:53,590
And you may have
more relatives out there.

1102
00:59:53,633 --> 00:59:56,549
I'll be... I'll be looking.

1103
00:59:56,593 --> 00:59:59,378
[Steven Reece] Have you
ever heard the theory
of social Darwinism?

1104
00:59:59,421 --> 01:00:02,250
That is the survival
of the strongest who wins,

1105
01:00:02,294 --> 01:00:04,992
and Hitler bought into
that ideology.

1106
01:00:05,036 --> 01:00:07,429
[Peter Berg] Steven called me
out of the blue one day
and said,

1107
01:00:07,473 --> 01:00:11,172
"I have started
this organization that
I'm really passionate about,

1108
01:00:11,216 --> 01:00:13,392
the Matzevah Foundation."

1109
01:00:13,435 --> 01:00:16,047
He's going to Poland

1110
01:00:16,090 --> 01:00:20,007
and he is restoring cemeteries
that have been destroyed.

1111
01:00:20,051 --> 01:00:24,577
All he's trying to do is
perform this act
of reconciliation

1112
01:00:24,621 --> 01:00:26,492
between the Jewish
community,

1113
01:00:26,535 --> 01:00:28,886
the Christian church
and Poland.

1114
01:00:29,843 --> 01:00:32,237
Jan is a journalist

1115
01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:33,847
and Steven is a minister,

1116
01:00:33,891 --> 01:00:36,894
and I had been speaking
to both of them
about Poland,

1117
01:00:36,937 --> 01:00:40,071
so we decided that
they would co-teach
a class.

1118
01:00:40,114 --> 01:00:42,551
The Germans considered
the Poles

1119
01:00:42,595 --> 01:00:44,553
people to be enslaved.

1120
01:00:44,597 --> 01:00:48,166
They were just
a few rungs above Jews.

1121
01:00:48,209 --> 01:00:52,039
[Peter] It's a class from
the lens of what the Polish
communities were like

1122
01:00:52,083 --> 01:00:55,086
before the war,
and what Poland is
like today.

1123
01:00:55,129 --> 01:00:58,306
It asks the question,
"What is it that
we can do now

1124
01:00:58,350 --> 01:01:01,745
to leave this world
a better place for
the next generation?"

1125
01:01:01,788 --> 01:01:03,529
Sometimes when I talk to

1126
01:01:03,572 --> 01:01:07,359
people who have their roots,
Jews who have their roots
in Poland,

1127
01:01:07,402 --> 01:01:10,275
there's a very strong
visceral response

1128
01:01:10,318 --> 01:01:12,973
that Poland is a place
of death,

1129
01:01:13,017 --> 01:01:15,410
it's a graveyard,
why should I go back?

1130
01:01:15,454 --> 01:01:17,238
There's no Jewish
life there.

1131
01:01:17,282 --> 01:01:19,023
But I work
with Jewish life there.

1132
01:01:20,154 --> 01:01:22,722
In that pond

1133
01:01:22,766 --> 01:01:25,333
is my family. That's where
my grandparents are.

1134
01:01:25,377 --> 01:01:27,988
My aunts and my uncles.

1135
01:01:29,598 --> 01:01:31,513
What do you think about that
right now?

1136
01:01:31,557 --> 01:01:36,040
I'm tearing up now,
but I was speechless.

1137
01:01:36,083 --> 01:01:38,607
You know,
I caught up to them.

1138
01:01:38,651 --> 01:01:40,740
For the first time
in my life it's like...

1139
01:01:42,002 --> 01:01:43,264
It sounds strange but,

1140
01:01:44,135 --> 01:01:45,658
you know, here they are.

1141
01:01:45,702 --> 01:01:46,964
Why do you think
that sounds strange?

1142
01:01:48,356 --> 01:01:51,403
Because it's, uh,

1143
01:01:51,446 --> 01:01:53,231
-it's a pond.
-Mmm-hmm.

1144
01:01:53,274 --> 01:01:55,973
and there's thousands,
millions of Jews

1145
01:01:56,016 --> 01:01:58,671
perhaps, you know,
all in there.

1146
01:01:58,715 --> 01:02:02,544
But what other milestone
led you to that grave?

1147
01:02:02,588 --> 01:02:05,156
That cemetery in Czeladz.

1148
01:02:05,199 --> 01:02:08,376
I walk in and I'm saying
to myself, "Wow,
this is nice."

1149
01:02:08,420 --> 01:02:11,423
Suddenly I see
a large Swastika

1150
01:02:11,466 --> 01:02:14,121
on one of these
tall headstones.

1151
01:02:14,165 --> 01:02:16,602
Do you know
if anything was done?

1152
01:02:16,645 --> 01:02:19,953
No, but when I go back,
I'm going to see if
it's still there.

1153
01:02:19,997 --> 01:02:21,694
Why are you going back?

1154
01:02:21,738 --> 01:02:23,391
-To Poland?
-Mmm-hmm.

1155
01:02:23,435 --> 01:02:26,830
To clean up
the Radomsko cemetery.

1156
01:02:26,873 --> 01:02:31,573
I discovered my
great-grandparents
are buried there.

1157
01:02:31,617 --> 01:02:35,839
And the cemetery is
in bad shape, just like
many of them are.

1158
01:02:35,882 --> 01:02:41,061
You know, in Poland there are
anywhere between 12 and 1,500
cemeteries like that.

1159
01:02:41,105 --> 01:02:46,458
You came to the place
at Auschwitz where
you connected

1160
01:02:46,501 --> 01:02:48,634
with your family,
this is where they are,

1161
01:02:48,677 --> 01:02:51,811
and you recognized something
that you didn't
recognize before.

1162
01:02:51,855 --> 01:02:53,813
That's what reconciliation is.

1163
01:02:53,857 --> 01:02:59,384
Reconciliation in its basic
sense means "to bring
together broken pieces."

1164
01:02:59,427 --> 01:03:02,343
To restore, to unite,

1165
01:03:02,387 --> 01:03:05,782
to rejoin. "This is what
happened, now I'm here."

1166
01:03:05,825 --> 01:03:08,132
Just like you did
when you shared
the photograph

1167
01:03:08,175 --> 01:03:10,830
of you standing there
in the ash pit.

1168
01:03:10,874 --> 01:03:13,572
-There's a cemetery.
-Mmm-hmm.

1169
01:03:13,615 --> 01:03:16,749
Now it's being neglected
and disrespected by

1170
01:03:17,445 --> 01:03:19,099
being left alone.

1171
01:03:19,143 --> 01:03:21,101
-Well, let's do something
about it.
-Yeah, let's go!

1172
01:03:58,486 --> 01:04:01,185
This is my family street.
My ancestors.

1173
01:04:01,228 --> 01:04:05,363
This is where they went
to school, they went
to synagogue.

1174
01:04:05,406 --> 01:04:09,019
They erased the whole
family memory.

1175
01:04:09,062 --> 01:04:11,891
I... I can't even imagine
what that must
feel like

1176
01:04:11,935 --> 01:04:14,938
to have a whole generation,
[makes noise] wiped out.

1177
01:04:14,981 --> 01:04:17,070
It's very emotional.

1178
01:04:17,114 --> 01:04:20,421
For one thing,
it's extremely sad.

1179
01:04:20,465 --> 01:04:24,948
But take hope, take joy
in the fact that you're
returning to reclaim that.

1180
01:04:50,190 --> 01:04:52,584
[Fred] I have photos
of the graves of my great-aunt

1181
01:04:52,627 --> 01:04:54,803
and three great-grandparents.

1182
01:04:54,847 --> 01:04:58,851
And a researcher in Warsaw
sent me a map and
GPS coordinates

1183
01:04:58,895 --> 01:05:00,374
to locate all of the graves.

1184
01:05:08,643 --> 01:05:10,167
[Steven] 43 is right there.

1185
01:05:11,298 --> 01:05:13,648
That's your great-grandparent.

1186
01:05:13,692 --> 01:05:14,954
[Steven] Right there.
[Fred] My great-grandfather.

1187
01:05:14,998 --> 01:05:16,303
Great-grandfather.

1188
01:05:16,347 --> 01:05:18,131
Can I help make the path?

1189
01:05:18,175 --> 01:05:22,875
[speaking in Polish]

1190
01:05:22,919 --> 01:05:24,746
He wants to open
the way for you only.

1191
01:05:33,103 --> 01:05:35,235
This is the original
resting place
of your great-grandfather.

1192
01:05:36,584 --> 01:05:39,065
Yakov Siev Birencwaig.

1193
01:05:47,465 --> 01:05:50,555
[speaking in Polish]
Miriam Birencwaig.

1194
01:05:52,339 --> 01:05:55,038
He found your aunt,
Miriam, yes.

1195
01:05:55,081 --> 01:05:57,605
All right, you want
to go see Miriam?

1196
01:05:57,649 --> 01:05:59,564
[Fred] Not right now.

1197
01:05:59,607 --> 01:06:02,132
[Steven] He wants
to remain here for a minute
by himself.

1198
01:06:02,175 --> 01:06:04,351
We'll go find
the other two locations.

1199
01:06:09,443 --> 01:06:10,662
This is her.

1200
01:06:12,577 --> 01:06:15,841
"Miriam Birencwaig."

1201
01:06:24,067 --> 01:06:28,810
My guess is
my Aunt Sala Birencwaig,
Great Aunt Sala,

1202
01:06:29,637 --> 01:06:31,509
put these in here,

1203
01:06:31,552 --> 01:06:34,381
because I have a photo of her
standing right next to it.

1204
01:06:51,137 --> 01:06:52,965
I feel like I'm looking after
my great-grandfather.

1205
01:06:55,489 --> 01:06:57,535
Kind of like
if he was in a wheelchair,

1206
01:06:57,578 --> 01:06:59,406
113 years old.

1207
01:07:00,799 --> 01:07:03,019
Okay, we need to find

1208
01:07:03,062 --> 01:07:05,499
Chana Kobieta.

1209
01:07:05,543 --> 01:07:08,459
-So, who is Chana?
-My grandmother,
great-grandmother.

1210
01:07:08,502 --> 01:07:10,852
[Steven] Okay, his
great-grandmother. Chana.

1211
01:07:10,896 --> 01:07:12,115
-Chana Frimeta?
-[Steven] Yes.

1212
01:07:12,158 --> 01:07:14,030
Birencwaig.

1213
01:07:16,945 --> 01:07:19,600
-[man speaking Polish]
-We have three now.

1214
01:07:22,212 --> 01:07:24,823
[speaking indistinctly]

1215
01:07:27,565 --> 01:07:30,829
[Steven] This is
his great-grandmother, Chana.

1216
01:07:33,788 --> 01:07:36,661
This is his moment
to connect.

1217
01:07:36,704 --> 01:07:38,445
Working in the dirt
with your hands
is very intimate.

1218
01:07:39,359 --> 01:07:41,231
We need to be pathfinders.

1219
01:07:41,274 --> 01:07:43,146
And open the way
so that Fred can,

1220
01:07:43,189 --> 01:07:45,713
with tender loving care,

1221
01:07:45,757 --> 01:07:49,369
express that to
his great-grandparents
and his aunt.

1222
01:07:49,413 --> 01:07:51,371
[Fred] I think
we're making good progress.

1223
01:07:51,415 --> 01:07:52,894
If you go look over here,

1224
01:07:54,635 --> 01:07:57,029
compared to what it was,
it's fantastic.

1225
01:07:57,073 --> 01:07:58,639
But we'll get the rest.

1226
01:08:00,685 --> 01:08:04,210
Not to worry. You either.
We'll get to you.

1227
01:08:14,786 --> 01:08:16,092
We got it!

1228
01:08:17,180 --> 01:08:19,660
We got all four.

1229
01:08:19,703 --> 01:08:23,403
This is Jacob Zaidman,
his great-grandfather.

1230
01:08:23,447 --> 01:08:24,535
-Hey, Fred.
-What?

1231
01:08:24,577 --> 01:08:25,884
I have a plan to help you.

1232
01:08:25,926 --> 01:08:27,407
Take as much time
as you have,

1233
01:08:27,451 --> 01:08:29,017
but you have two days to do
what you're doing
right now.

1234
01:08:29,060 --> 01:08:31,281
-Okay.
-So if you do two today
like that,

1235
01:08:31,324 --> 01:08:34,631
and do two tomorrow,
then you'll walk away
with something very good.

1236
01:08:34,675 --> 01:08:36,808
-Very powerful.
-All right. Thank you.

1237
01:08:36,851 --> 01:08:38,461
All right, so what's next?

1238
01:08:38,505 --> 01:08:40,942
We know where all four
points are,
all four graves.

1239
01:08:40,986 --> 01:08:42,247
The closest one is here.

1240
01:08:42,291 --> 01:08:44,163
Okay. So why don't we
start on that?

1241
01:08:46,731 --> 01:08:49,951
This tree is growing
into this matzevah,
so this was a clue here.

1242
01:08:49,995 --> 01:08:53,172
Then the shape of this
was a clue,
plus the paint.

1243
01:08:53,216 --> 01:08:56,044
Plus that mark,
that's how I found this.

1244
01:08:56,087 --> 01:08:59,569
[Fred] My great-grandfather.
Kopel Zaidman.

1245
01:08:59,612 --> 01:09:01,049
It's surreal.

1246
01:09:01,093 --> 01:09:03,878
It's kind of exhilarating.

1247
01:09:03,922 --> 01:09:06,577
That's what I'm feeling.
I'm looking after him.

1248
01:09:06,620 --> 01:09:10,581
Your great-grandparents,
their grandchildren
and children,

1249
01:09:10,624 --> 01:09:13,496
some of them were murdered,
some of them were executed.

1250
01:09:13,540 --> 01:09:16,804
So you're actually doing
the mitzvah that
they would have been doing.

1251
01:09:16,848 --> 01:09:18,979
That's what you've come
to replace.

1252
01:09:19,023 --> 01:09:20,547
You're in the presence
of your family,
they stood here.

1253
01:09:20,591 --> 01:09:21,983
I'm very aware of that.

1254
01:09:22,027 --> 01:09:24,550
-Does that make sense?
-100%.

1255
01:09:24,594 --> 01:09:27,336
-You now know where your
two great-grandfathers are.
-Yeah.

1256
01:09:27,380 --> 01:09:29,252
So let's go meet your
great-grandmother
and your aunt.

1257
01:09:29,295 --> 01:09:31,384
-All right, captain.
-I'm not the captain.

1258
01:09:31,428 --> 01:09:33,343
-I'm just the bus driver.
-[both laugh]

1259
01:09:40,306 --> 01:09:45,005
Okay. This is, uh,
this is Miriam.

1260
01:09:45,050 --> 01:09:47,487
-[Fred] My great-aunt.
-Yes.

1261
01:09:47,531 --> 01:09:50,273
-This is hers.
-My grandmother's sister.

1262
01:09:50,316 --> 01:09:52,666
Okay, why don't
I start cleaning?

1263
01:10:01,284 --> 01:10:03,677
[weed wacker buzzing]

1264
01:10:09,335 --> 01:10:10,815
This is your great-grandmother.

1265
01:10:11,816 --> 01:10:13,252
Chana.

1266
01:10:13,296 --> 01:10:14,818
It's a beautiful headstone.

1267
01:10:21,391 --> 01:10:22,434
Here I am.

1268
01:10:23,784 --> 01:10:25,351
I'm with my great-grandmother.

1269
01:10:25,395 --> 01:10:27,527
And, I have arrived.

1270
01:10:27,571 --> 01:10:30,050
Your great-grandson
has arrived.

1271
01:10:30,094 --> 01:10:33,228
I've accomplished
a major goal.

1272
01:10:33,272 --> 01:10:37,407
I don't think I want to
go through my whole life
without

1273
01:10:37,450 --> 01:10:40,758
connecting with my ancestry,
with my great-grandmother.

1274
01:10:40,800 --> 01:10:41,628
Great-grandfather.

1275
01:10:42,585 --> 01:10:45,153
What comes to mind is, uh,

1276
01:10:45,197 --> 01:10:48,244
feeling more of
a whole person.

1277
01:10:48,287 --> 01:10:51,682
And now you have
two endpoints.

1278
01:10:51,725 --> 01:10:54,206
Your life and their life,
and what happened in between

1279
01:10:54,250 --> 01:10:56,556
is what you're trying to
understand.
Is that correct?

1280
01:10:57,427 --> 01:10:59,080
Sure.

1281
01:10:59,124 --> 01:11:00,778
-You think you can
do that today?
-No.

1282
01:11:00,821 --> 01:11:01,996
[laughs]

1283
01:11:02,040 --> 01:11:04,782
-I don't think so.
-I don't think so either.

1284
01:11:04,825 --> 01:11:07,523
But you have a start.
And then you have you,

1285
01:11:08,655 --> 01:11:09,612
and your life.

1286
01:11:10,918 --> 01:11:13,834
-There's still a gap there.
-What is that gap?

1287
01:11:13,878 --> 01:11:16,228
My grandparents
and aunts and uncles.

1288
01:11:16,272 --> 01:11:18,317
-Photos would help.
-Something concrete?

1289
01:11:18,361 --> 01:11:19,666
Something concrete.

1290
01:11:19,710 --> 01:11:21,929
I know my parents had
a deep loss.

1291
01:11:21,973 --> 01:11:24,148
I inherited it.

1292
01:11:24,192 --> 01:11:26,412
I think what I'm trying to do
is ease their pain,
even though they're dead.

1293
01:11:34,159 --> 01:11:37,902
[Steven] The fact is that
he put his hands to clear away
undergrowth

1294
01:11:37,945 --> 01:11:42,472
is a very physical, practical,
tangible way to deal with

1295
01:11:42,514 --> 01:11:46,258
that tragedy and loss
in his family's life.

1296
01:11:46,302 --> 01:11:50,654
Because his parents,
they never
dealt with their loss.

1297
01:11:50,697 --> 01:11:52,482
He's dealing with it now
for them.

1298
01:12:04,407 --> 01:12:07,932
[thanking in Polish]

1299
01:12:12,980 --> 01:12:14,982
[Fred] I sense the presence
of my father.

1300
01:12:16,332 --> 01:12:18,986
It's with me. It's all with me.

1301
01:12:19,030 --> 01:12:22,207
I'm with my family.
There's no grieving.

1302
01:12:22,250 --> 01:12:24,035
It's a get-together,
it's a reunion.

1303
01:12:42,401 --> 01:12:45,577
There's a mass grave
of 1,700 Jews that were
murdered from this town.

1304
01:12:45,621 --> 01:12:47,798
-Yes.
-Near the front gate.

1305
01:12:47,841 --> 01:12:50,235
There's also in that number

1306
01:12:50,278 --> 01:12:54,848
50 righteous gentiles
who were murdered
because they harbored the Jews.

1307
01:12:54,892 --> 01:12:57,329
What would it look like
if we did some cleaning up
there?

1308
01:12:58,416 --> 01:12:59,331
Okay?

1309
01:13:04,771 --> 01:13:08,906
[Fred] We cleared a path
not only to my
great-grandparents,

1310
01:13:08,949 --> 01:13:13,563
but a path where
50 heroic Poles
were massacred

1311
01:13:13,606 --> 01:13:14,999
together with the Jews.

1312
01:13:15,041 --> 01:13:18,959
I was pleasantly surprised
to see the three Poles

1313
01:13:19,003 --> 01:13:22,180
who helped clean that
cemetery. It was
very meaningful to them.

1314
01:13:23,573 --> 01:13:26,706
You prepared me
psychologically for

1315
01:13:26,750 --> 01:13:29,317
-my experience, really.
-Mmm-hmm.

1316
01:13:29,361 --> 01:13:31,014
Because I had
high expectations.

1317
01:13:31,058 --> 01:13:33,234
What were
your expectations?

1318
01:13:33,278 --> 01:13:37,151
[Fred] That I'm saving
the memory and the integrity
of my family.

1319
01:13:37,195 --> 01:13:38,588
[Steven] That's awesome.

1320
01:13:38,630 --> 01:13:40,416
You see life
instead of death.

1321
01:13:41,939 --> 01:13:42,983
I've seen you change.

1322
01:13:45,202 --> 01:13:46,291
And I just want you
to know that.

1323
01:13:47,248 --> 01:13:48,946
Am I better-looking?

1324
01:13:48,989 --> 01:13:51,121
Wait, wait, wait. Am I?

1325
01:13:51,165 --> 01:13:55,082
Oh, yeah, since I first
saw you on this trip,
you're much better-looking.

1326
01:13:55,126 --> 01:13:57,128
-Thank you.
-Yeah, I can actually
look at you.

1327
01:13:57,171 --> 01:13:59,173
[laughs heartily]

1328
01:14:08,618 --> 01:14:12,709
I made a decision that
if I can't get a photo
on this trip,

1329
01:14:12,752 --> 01:14:15,451
I would love to have
the signatures
of my grandparents.

1330
01:14:15,494 --> 01:14:17,322
There was only one
birth certificate

1331
01:14:17,365 --> 01:14:19,672
that wasn't transferred
to the state archive.

1332
01:14:19,716 --> 01:14:22,849
And that was of
my Aunt Curtla.

1333
01:14:22,893 --> 01:14:27,375
And here I found
my grandmother's signature.

1334
01:14:27,419 --> 01:14:31,291
I did something different.
I ran my finger across
my grandmother's signature.

1335
01:14:32,337 --> 01:14:34,252
My grandmother.

1336
01:14:34,295 --> 01:14:37,690
And then moved my fingers
around the circle where
I thought

1337
01:14:37,734 --> 01:14:38,996
she had held the page.

1338
01:14:42,303 --> 01:14:45,785
It may not sound like much
to anybody else, but to me
that meant a lot.

1339
01:14:54,577 --> 01:14:56,230
The last time I was here,

1340
01:14:56,273 --> 01:14:59,190
I made a promise that
I would return
and make sure

1341
01:14:59,233 --> 01:15:00,931
that the graffiti was removed.

1342
01:15:02,148 --> 01:15:06,197
I took my time and checked
each one of them.

1343
01:15:06,240 --> 01:15:09,592
I inched forward kind of,
"Uh-oh, am I going to
see that

1344
01:15:09,635 --> 01:15:11,855
Swastika? Am I going
to see Hitler?"

1345
01:15:13,943 --> 01:15:15,554
There it is, it's still there.

1346
01:15:18,425 --> 01:15:19,602
It's still there.

1347
01:15:26,652 --> 01:15:27,958
Instead, there's a lot more.

1348
01:15:29,307 --> 01:15:32,309
And I noticed
at least a half a dozen

1349
01:15:32,353 --> 01:15:34,660
Swastikas and other markings.

1350
01:15:34,704 --> 01:15:36,923
And I took a photo this time.

1351
01:15:40,666 --> 01:15:41,493
[camera shutter clicks]

1352
01:15:46,411 --> 01:15:48,282
There's another one right here.

1353
01:15:51,242 --> 01:15:52,591
[camera clicks]

1354
01:16:02,601 --> 01:16:05,952
And I went to get
the lady who opens the gate.

1355
01:16:05,996 --> 01:16:07,432
And we took a nice walk

1356
01:16:08,693 --> 01:16:10,827
all the way down
to the very end

1357
01:16:10,870 --> 01:16:12,306
and all the way back.

1358
01:16:14,352 --> 01:16:16,397
I'm pointing and she's
acknowledging "yes."

1359
01:16:16,441 --> 01:16:17,702
[agreeing in Polish]

1360
01:16:20,184 --> 01:16:22,142
And she even saw
on her own...

1361
01:16:22,186 --> 01:16:24,275
[speaking in Polish]

1362
01:16:24,710 --> 01:16:25,537
One, two.

1363
01:16:27,626 --> 01:16:29,628
The gatekeeper is aware of it.

1364
01:16:29,672 --> 01:16:32,282
I have it on film,
and I'll go straight
to the police.

1365
01:16:40,421 --> 01:16:41,553
Okay.

1366
01:16:41,597 --> 01:16:43,947
Oh, and this one,
I'm going to show him.

1367
01:16:45,644 --> 01:16:50,214
This one says "Hitler."
Can you see it?

1368
01:16:50,257 --> 01:16:55,393
He was looking,
and then there were some
symbols that made him stop

1369
01:16:55,436 --> 01:17:00,746
and make some kind of sound
like, "Whoa, okay,
I understand.

1370
01:17:00,790 --> 01:17:03,270
This is bad."

1371
01:17:03,314 --> 01:17:09,189
This picture on your phone,
please send this mail, okay?

1372
01:17:09,233 --> 01:17:12,105
This is something that I
think they're really going to
take seriously

1373
01:17:12,148 --> 01:17:13,846
and take care of right away.

1374
01:17:13,889 --> 01:17:16,370
[sergeant] Thank you
for your information

1375
01:17:16,414 --> 01:17:18,982
regarding the destruction
of graves.

1376
01:17:19,025 --> 01:17:21,462
We will take care of this.

1377
01:17:22,463 --> 01:17:23,813
[Fred] I did what I had to do.

1378
01:17:23,856 --> 01:17:26,859
I was told the offense is
a criminal offense.

1379
01:17:26,903 --> 01:17:31,037
And that there's a fine
and that if the perpetrator
didn't pay the fine,

1380
01:17:31,081 --> 01:17:31,951
it's jail time.

1381
01:17:43,353 --> 01:17:45,398
If it weren't for Adam,

1382
01:17:45,443 --> 01:17:48,141
I wouldn't have
the birth certificates

1383
01:17:48,184 --> 01:17:50,230
of my aunts and uncles.

1384
01:18:05,637 --> 01:18:08,858
I think, uh, it's pretty good.

1385
01:18:08,901 --> 01:18:11,687
So if I can get a photo
of my grandparents...

1386
01:18:13,340 --> 01:18:15,081
I don't think so.

1387
01:18:15,125 --> 01:18:18,302
-No?
-That we have photos
from ghetto.

1388
01:18:18,344 --> 01:18:23,175
They lived in Bedzin or
they were just in ghetto
in Bedzin?

1389
01:18:23,219 --> 01:18:26,092
No, they lived in Bedzin.
My father lived in Bedzin.

1390
01:18:26,136 --> 01:18:30,880
Maybe we can start from
the books of citizens, okay?

1391
01:18:30,923 --> 01:18:34,840
-Yeah.
-So if you find some
information

1392
01:18:34,884 --> 01:18:36,712
about your family there,

1393
01:18:36,755 --> 01:18:40,150
there will be information
about their births.

1394
01:18:40,193 --> 01:18:43,588
I will transfer you the books
to the computer

1395
01:18:43,630 --> 01:18:47,287
-and you will check.
-Okay.

1396
01:18:47,331 --> 01:18:52,423
[Fred] So we proceeded to check
and see if there were any
records, any home addresses

1397
01:18:52,466 --> 01:18:57,514
for my father's side
of the family, the Zaidmans.

1398
01:18:57,558 --> 01:19:01,214
I didn't find anything.
I'm very disappointed.

1399
01:19:01,258 --> 01:19:04,957
I think I've exhausted almost
any means of finding photos
of my grandparents.

1400
01:19:08,439 --> 01:19:11,224
[Adam] Everything maybe
is in Dabrowa.

1401
01:19:16,055 --> 01:19:18,884
Unfortunately, I have nothing
about your mother.

1402
01:19:18,928 --> 01:19:24,281
We have a birth certificate
of this guy, Wolfbeck Kosuch.

1403
01:19:24,324 --> 01:19:27,110
Wolf is
my grandmother's brother.

1404
01:19:27,153 --> 01:19:31,114
There is one street where
Wolf lived there.

1405
01:19:31,157 --> 01:19:33,464
Stefana Okrzei Street.

1406
01:19:33,507 --> 01:19:36,554
Do you have a number,
or just the street?

1407
01:19:36,597 --> 01:19:38,382
[Aleksandra] Yes,
there is a number.

1408
01:19:39,644 --> 01:19:40,776
Struck silver.

1409
01:19:46,085 --> 01:19:49,480
The neighbors helped me
locate the spot.

1410
01:19:49,523 --> 01:19:51,699
It doesn't exist
at this moment.

1411
01:19:51,743 --> 01:19:56,313
[Fred] A married couple took me
to the place where
the building had stood.

1412
01:19:56,356 --> 01:20:00,404
It was an empty strip.
Straight down.

1413
01:20:00,447 --> 01:20:04,625
And that's where the row
of buildings had been.

1414
01:20:04,669 --> 01:20:07,150
I accepted it.
This is what had happened.

1415
01:20:07,193 --> 01:20:11,197
And I learned how to deal
with my emotions.

1416
01:20:11,241 --> 01:20:15,419
The first trip, I got
it all out. All the anger
and sadness,

1417
01:20:16,463 --> 01:20:19,727
frustrations and everything

1418
01:20:19,771 --> 01:20:22,469
that I had been carrying
with me.

1419
01:20:22,513 --> 01:20:24,297
[woman] Yes,
and the next to this block.

1420
01:20:25,559 --> 01:20:28,084
And so I was able

1421
01:20:28,127 --> 01:20:33,871
to fantasize my grandparents
visiting with my mother
and the other kids.

1422
01:20:33,916 --> 01:20:36,875
So I was able to move forward,
I was able to reconcile.

1423
01:21:20,266 --> 01:21:23,617
[singing in Hebrew]

1424
01:21:37,240 --> 01:21:39,371
[audience clapping]

1425
01:21:49,469 --> 01:21:52,472
[Steven] It was a privilege
to be acknowledged as

1426
01:21:52,516 --> 01:21:56,607
one who is taking part
in something that is
very unique

1427
01:21:56,650 --> 01:21:59,175
and very, um, special.

1428
01:21:59,218 --> 01:22:04,702
And to pass that on
to the next generation
of Jews.

1429
01:22:04,745 --> 01:22:06,922
It's pretty cool that I'm
a Christian and I get to do
something like that.

1430
01:22:22,894 --> 01:22:26,505
Adam, you gave me permission
to bring photos of my parents

1431
01:22:26,550 --> 01:22:29,422
-from Bedzin and put it
on your wall.
-Yes.

1432
01:22:34,471 --> 01:22:35,820
Return to Bedzin.

1433
01:22:36,821 --> 01:22:37,778
[kisses]

1434
01:22:39,389 --> 01:22:41,085
It was a very moving moment.

1435
01:22:41,130 --> 01:22:45,786
Seeing my parents back
in Bedzin, in that cafe.

1436
01:22:45,830 --> 01:22:48,659
It's going to be there,
hopefully, forever.

1437
01:22:48,702 --> 01:22:51,139
So, there they are.
They're back.

1438
01:22:56,884 --> 01:22:59,800
[Donna Kanter]
What if you never find
a photo of your grandparents?

1439
01:22:59,844 --> 01:23:00,844
I don't think about that.

1440
01:23:10,420 --> 01:23:12,030
I always feel I'm going to
find it.

1441
01:23:13,118 --> 01:23:14,815
And I'll never stop looking
for it.