Filmmaker Maya Sarfaty's Holocaust story echoes the 2003 book/documentary/drama property The Nazi Officer's Wife, but this chronicle is an even more twisted and stranger-than-fiction one. It is fortunate the Jerry Springer show never managed to snag major participants (an Israeli TV program we see excerpted, evidently, did).
A cantor's daughter—the pretty, sophisticated, and talented Helena Citron—was swept up in the Final Solution and taken to Auschwitz at its very inception in 1942 as among the first female inmates. Her robust health got her assigned tasks in building the infamous death camp, and she avoided immediate extermination by a long-term work assignment sorting personal belongings of the doomed Jews destined for the crematorium.
Helena caught the eye of SS officer Franz Wunsch, who became a smitten admirer, protector, and frequent visitor. Like a modern Queen Esther, Helena interceded with her "boyfriend" to show mercy and keep alive a handful of fellow prisoners, all-female. There is conflicting testimony from others as to whether Wunsch was a fundamentally "decent" man or a violent, sadistic type who only showed favor to Helena and her closest associates (including a sister who tragically joined her in the death camp later).
Amazingly, the couple survived WWII to go their separate ways, marrying others. Wunsch never hid his infatuation with Helena, not even from his family; using a prison-camp portrait, he made photo-collage albums of Helena in various romantic-getaway settings, a fantasy relationship that could never be. This inspires filmmaker Sarafty to recreate the narrative of their entanglement with properly haunting CGI-simulated photo-cutout animation. Helena, meanwhile, stayed out of touch but did agree to testify (apparently reluctantly) for the defense when the ex-SS officer was tried for war crimes in 1972.
Neither of the leads is completely emotionally accessible to the viewer. If Franz Wunsch ever uttered an anti-Semitic or pro-fascist sentiment, it goes unmentioned, while Helena (regarded by some fellow Jews as practically a traitor) is more enigmatic. Did she completely compromise herself to spare her own life and a few others, or was this a genuine loving relationship? Her own words inspired the film's title, but the truth of the affair seems to be one of the many things lost (along with six million or so lives) in one of history's darkest chapters.
A recommended title for history and Jewish studies library shelves, even if DVD extras are practically nonexistent (just some trailers) in a story that will have many viewers wanting more answers. Love it Was Not is a unique addition for developing World War II film collections.