A Treasure in Auschwitz — Claims Conference Film Grants

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A young Israeli student sets on a treasure hunt following a fantastic story he hears about Jewish artifacts buried underneath the ruins of a synagogue, next to the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp. As the excavation he organizes progresses, it becomes apparent that the synagogue’s soil is concealing a dark secret…

Synopsis

A young student, Yariv Nornberg, hears from an elderly vendor a fantastic story about a Jewish treasure buried in Polish soil. His curiosity is aroused when he learns of the location of the hiding place – next to the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp. During the next 5 years, Yariv pursues these lost religious artifacts. For him they embody his own perished family and guide his acceptance of the Polish people, usually regarded by Jews as collaborators and anti-Semites.

Yariv manages to organize a unique archaeological excavation to unearth the treasure. But as the digging progresses, it becomes apparent that the synagogue’s soil conceals a 60-year-old sinister secret and Yariv and his crew begin to lose hope.

Until one morning a shovel hits a metallic object in one of the ditches….

The search and excavation for the treasure translates within the film to a succession of poignant metaphors – to the Jewish existence in Poland and its annihilation, to the possibility of a dialog between the younger generations and above all – to the growing sentiment that only 60 years have gone by and already WW2 and it’s greatest nightmare – the Holocaust – is tragically transforming into an archaeological exhibit.

About the Director

Yahaly Gat is a producer, writer and director of feature and television documentaries. He studied and graduated at Tel Aviv University in 1984 as BFA of Film & TV studies. Since then he has been extensively involved in the Israeli TV and film industry. Gat founded Muse productions in 1997 and since then produced documentaries such as – “Love Inventory”, (winner best doc, Jerusalem FF, Berlin FF, screened on ARTE, PBS); “Blood Revenge” and “Body Exposures” (for the National Geographic Channel); “Men on Wheels”, “Living in Boxes”, “A Treasure in Auschwitz” (also as director); “As a Great River Flows” (best doc prize, Haifa FF); the series “A Nation in Reserve”, the film “Fantastisch” and recently produced the documentaries “Mrs. G” and “The War of Raya Sinitsina“.

Artistic Statement

It’s been 16 years since our film documented the excavation of what is now known as the “Auschwitz Treasure”. Time has elapsed but the experience still stays with me as one of the most powerful in my life. Together with my colleague and friend – Yariv Nornberg – I’ve taken a voyage back in time to our most dark collective hour. It’s been troublesome but also encouraging to see that people have changed radically and that what had happened could not repeat itself.

Although I’ve had previous experience with Holocaust subject matters (as a producer of Holocaust survivors’ testimonies back in 1990), I’ve emerged from this production with an insight that is best portrayed in what Yariv is saying at some point in the film – that only sixty years have passed and the Holocaust is sadly turning into archeology.

I hope my film and many others about the Holocaust will fight this dangerous tendency.

-Yahaly Gat