Here I Learned to Love

Israeli filmmaker Avi Angel helmed this moving documentary about septuagenarian brothers Avner Kerem and Itzik Weinberg, who retrace their childhood in Holocaust-ravaged Europe and uncover the heroic stories of three women responsible for saving their lives. The first was their mother, who managed to spirit the boys out of harm's way as their family was being deported in 1942 from Krakow, Poland, to the Nazi death camps—Avner was three years old and Itzik was four; they would never see their parents again. The second woman was their aunt Malka, who was given the responsibility of hiding the boys and, later, escaped from the Nazis with them into Hungary. Two years later, the boys were passengers on a refugee train that was supposed to head to safety in Spain, but the train was stopped by the Nazis and the passengers were sent to Bergen-Belsen. Here, a third woman, a 20-year-old Hungarian named Naomi Mayer, unofficially adopted the brothers and served as their protector until the concentration camp's liberation. Avner and Itzik conduct their search through a series of cramped apartments and isolated farms with a mix of solemnity and wonder, occasionally pausing to display a wry sense of humor (they “toast” each other with pill bottles). Here I Learned to Love is a moving and ultimately heartbreaking tribute to bravery and perseverance under the most horrifying conditions imaginable. An excellent addition to the canon of Holocaust-related nonfiction filmmaking, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)