The Holocaust in Film: “Forgotten Transports”

A series of four documentaries about the little-known ordeals of Czech Jews during World War II. Lukas Pribyl, did more than track down survivors or burrow through film archives and deportation records. Over 10 years and visits to 30 countries, he hunted down photographs of SS camp commanders and snapshots taken by local residents and workers who might have encountered inmates, sometimes trading bottles of vodka for the artifacts. The impression conveyed is that a photographer was along for the nightmare ride of the Czech Jews. Together the films trace the experiences of 76 of the 270 survivors among the thousands of Czech Jews deported, not to the familiar Theresienstadt ghetto or to Auschwitz, but to less-well-known camps like Jagala and Kaiserwald. Mr. Pribyl chose that approach because his grandfather was sent to an obscure camp.

We will be showing only one of these films:  Estonia. This documentary follows the experience of several dozen young Jewish Czech women who are deported to concentration camps in Estonia and Germany. Thanks to youthful naivety, friendship, and mutual help, they manage to stay together and survive.

Directed by Lukáš Přibyl (2008), 85 minutes