Niños de la Shoá en Argentina
Member of the Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust
THE GROUP
The group began to meet in 1997 under the direction of Graciela Jinich. Diana Wang joined in 1999 as codirector.
Meetings are held monthly in member´s homes. It is a
horizontal group that works in a climate of collaboration and harmony fueled by
genuine interest and commitment and by Frida Levy's quiet but persistent work.
It is mainly a place to share experiences and memories; for the ones that were
smaller, it is a way of recovering their forgotten foggy years; it also allows
the confrontation of different experiences which draws a bigger picture of what
happened in its full diversity: the urban shelters and the rural ones, the
specific context of Poland and that one of France, Holland, Rumania, Belgium,
Greece or Hungary.
The group stimulates reflection and awareness about discrimination, anti-Semitism,
and the creation of educational tools to teach about human rights. The mission
of transmission is central for the group and we offer testimony in schools and
institutions whenever possible.
Group activities may include sharing lectures given by well known writers,
journalists or academics, and documentary screenings, always focused on finding
ways to impart the appropriate lessons to the community, hopefully finding new
meaning in the personal experiences of our audience.
In 2003 the group joined the Second Generation group and in 2004 a new association was born: Generations of the Shoah in Argentina. Together with the Fundacion Memoria del Holocausto, they planned, organized and made possible the Conference "De Cara al Futuro" (Facing the Future) that took place in november 2004 with the presence of more than a thousand people. If you want to learn more about it, click here.
Y Niños de la Shoá en ArgentinaY
(5411) 4864-4660
PO Box 162. Agencia 26 (1426). Argentina
e-mail: secretaria@alfuturo.org
CHILDREN OF THE SHOAH
During World War II – between 1939 and 1945– the nazis tried to exterminate all the European Jews.
We consider a Shoah child all surviving Jews
under 16 years old during that period.
It is estimated that among the million survivers of the Shoah, less than one
hundred thousand were children and young adolescents.
THE SURVIVAL
Children were the most defenseless victims of the Shoah and
the favorite target of the nazis who killed them without consideration nor delay.
They depended – just like the adults – on luck and circumstances, but, above all,
on their parents. Very few survived the hard experience of an extermination camp.
Some children endured the Shoah in the company of their parents, with both or
one of them, first in ghettos, then in Russia and/or hidden in farms, attics,
basements, sewers, closets, wells, barns, woods. Usually, they changed location
as danger got closer.
But the larger number was delivered to unkown people, Christian
families that became their own, schools, orphanages
and monasteries which sheltered, fed and protected them.
The Jews received little help in general. Most of the survivers, nevertheless,
owe their survival to common people that overcame fear and indifference, risked
their lives and helped them. The children that survived would not have done it,
by no means, without the assistance of their christian neighbours as well as of
the resistance movements.
FAMILY BONDS
Some lost their parents for ever. Others suffered two
separations: one when separated from their biologic parents; the second one,
when separated from their foster parents. Others – as they were not claimed –
don´t know who their biologic parents were.
In recent years it is increasingly common for old Polish people to confess to
their children, in their death beds, that they are really Jews who were
delivered by their real parents as a last resort to spare them a sure death.
MEMORY
Memories vary greatly.
Older children remember the circumstances fairly vividly and precisely. Little
ones have few memories, mostly in the form of disconnected and isolated "flashes".
SPECIFIC SUBJECTS
Evoked by those who were children, the Shoah is tainted by
separation and silence. First, separation from the biological family and then
separation from the foster one. The construction of a false identity forged by
the new religion, the new family history, the customs, the language, sometimes
even gender as some boys had to pretend to be girls, brought conflicts that are
always present. The elders lost their childhood but all of them had to endure a
double life and the terror of being discovered and exposed, so they had to be
always alert for the smallest mistake meant death. When they managed to survive,
some who were lucky enough to get reunited with their parents did not know them
and had to believe their words; and there were others who had to suffer the
litigations between their saviours and their parents when the former wanted to
keep them.
Keeping feelings and thoughts to theirselves, remaining as invisible as possible,
was a requirement for survival. Concealment and secrecy were therefore painful
pillars in their lives: they had to be silent in order to survive. Some children
did not allow themselves to reveal their real identities until long after the
war was over.
THE NEED TO TALK
Until now, the Children of the Shoah have lacked a distinctive
voice. It has been their perception that their suffering could not be compared
in magnitude to the one of adult survivors. Feeling they did not have the right
to complain, they forced themselves to forget about their lost childhoods, their
parents, languages, family places, and that they had to learn to lie about
themselves in order to survive in the middle of unspeakable horror. It is ironic
that having survived, they felt obliged to repress their memories and
keep their tears hidden once again.
Many of those children were orphans, but some rejoined their parents. In
addition to being survivors in their own right, these children are also children
of survivors. One of the most painful sides is the identification with their
progenitors and the inevitable question of abandonment. Although grateful for
their parent´s sacrifice, they remember their own anguish and solitude when they
were left without them with strange people. A small child left suddenly among
strangers can't understand that his parents did it for love; a small child feels
abandoned. Once grown up, some wondered if they would be able to protect their
own children.
Almost all of them have kept their anguish hidden and only recently began to
show it. Steven Spielberg´ s Visual History Shoah Foundation with its vast
testimony project, offered a protected context for them to begin to speak.
"AND WE WERE CHILDREN"
A documentary by Bernardo Kononovich
Idea: Graciela Jinich, Diana Wang, Bernardo Kononovich
THE DOCUMENTARY
After several years of uninterrupted monthly meetings, the
group felt the need of transmitting the experience in a useful and pedagogic way.
Having seen some of Bernardo Kononovich documentaries, specially "Attention"
which he made early in 1991 with the testimonies of Shoah Survivor´s, the group
invited him to join in the adventure of telling our own stories. His enthusiasm
added to the efforts of our members and he led an extremely dedicated team of
technitians. ORT Argentina supported the production by offering equipment and
facilities.
Our original idea was to focus on the rather obscure aspect of Shoah Survival:
the survival of children. After attending some meetings and observing the group,
the Director refocused the project by including the experience of our meetings,
including as key the ways in which the group coped with memories and elaborated
on them resulting in a unique experience. The documentary focuses on both
aspects: the experience of survival and its aftermath as well as the way our
meetings allow the rebuilding of memory and the acquisition of new
interpretations.
The spirit of "And We Were Children" is summarized in our dedication:
for our children
for our grandchildren
for the future
Script and Direction: Bernardo Kononovich
Idea: Graciela Jinich, Diana Wang, Bernardo Kononovich
Assistant director and executive producer: Lila Kononovich
Director of photografy: Mercedes Ardiles
Camera operators: Jonatan Feldman - Martino Zaidelis
Sound: Lucía Iglesias
Editing: Jonatan Feldman
Photography assistants: Sebastián Carbini - Juan Salvarredy
Music: Cesar Lerner - Marcelo Moguilevsky
Equipos e instalaciones: ORT Argentina
Cover design: Guillermo Caro
Total playing time: 55 minutes
Original language: Spanish
Subtitled into English
URL "And We Were Children" (in Spanish): http://www.lanacion.com.ar/02/05/27/dq_400195.asp?origen=acu_destacados.asp