Auschwitz, Told By Survivors

Synopsis

All of them are Jews. All of them have a number tattooed on their forearm. All were deported to Auschwitz. All of them have told their story at some point. That was in 2006. To mark the 80th anniversary of the discovery of the camp, these five documentaries retrace the history of the deportation to Auschwitz through the stories of 44 survivors. They were born in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Romania, Hungary or France…They will immerse us in their memories of children, teenagers, and young adults in occupied Europe until their deportation to Auschwitz. These inmates of the largest Nazi concentration camp will become witnesses to the extermination of the Jews. These 44 survivors will tell their stories and those of those who stayed behind.

About the Director

Catherine Bernstein was born in Paris in 1964, spent her youth in Tours and studied cinema in Paris.

After working as a first assistant on feature films, she directed short films. With her documentaries, she pursues an almost obsessive quest in the footsteps of the past. She is haunted by exclusion, discrimination, racism, whatever its forms, populations and eras: Jews during Nazism, the mentally ill, homosexuals, Gypsies, blacks…

She has directed more than thirty films, many of which have won awards worldwide.

Artistic Statement

Why offer the Auschwitz experience to the public without telling new things? I am convinced that we must not stop sharing what questions our universality. By bringing to life the words of the witnesses who have now almost all disappeared, Catherine Bernstein succeeds in re-inscribing them in an embodied, lively and intense story, which is the strength of the film. The survivors and through them, the disappeared, tell their stories. The film gives an account of several temporalities, individual and collective, before the deportation, the detention-extermination and the aftermath. Thanks to animation, the Auschwitz concentration camp space is made understandable to the viewer.

In a way, producing this archival film also means questioning memory and its wear and tear in the face of the passing of time.

In January 2025, we will remember that the most emblematic place of extermination of Nazi madness was discovered by a handful of Soviet soldiers. It will be a time of remembrance and history shared in Europe and elsewhere. At a time when we are once again living under the threat of the most extreme political radicalism and the threat of war, this film reminds us that “never again” shouted by the victims and survivors of the Shoah is more relevant than ever.

-Vincent Scaparanti, Producer

Festivals, Screenings, & Awards

FIPADOCS (2025) – World Premiere