“People have this myth stuck in their heads that the Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter but this is where the real story begins,” says late author Richard Freund in the trailer for Resistance—They Fought Back, a new documentary exploring the not-often-told stories about the Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.
Set to premiere at Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film at 87 Lafayette Street near Canal Street in downtown Manhattan on April 12 for a weeklong run ahead of a nationwide opening, the new film will feature accounts by both Holocaust survivors and their children, in addition to expert witnesses from all over the world.
Each narration feels like a corrective steering, an overall attempt to portray a portion of history in its entirety, looking at all perspectives involved.
“Today, many stories of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust have all but vanished,” reads an official press release. “In some cases, no historical records exist, and no one survived to tell the tale. The Germans documented many aspects of their war against the Jews, but they were allergic to any mention of Jewish resistance. […] There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance, standing up against Nazi brutality by feeding the hungry, caring for orphans, recording German war crimes and maintaining a high level of cultural activities and spiritual observance.”
The documentary, already the winner of a few awards within last year’s film circuit, also features narration by recognizable actors, including theater darling Corey Stoll, Glee‘s Dianna Agron and Maggie Siff of Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy fame.
