Numbered

Israeli physician Dana Doron and photojournalist Uriel Sinai teamed up to co-direct this moving documentary on Auschwitz survivors that features an unusual focus: the concentration camp serial numbers tattooed on their left arms by the Nazis. Survivor reactions to the tattoos vary—one woman compares it to the branding of cattle, while a man slyly refers to it as a symbol of prestige for coming out of the Holocaust. Another interviewee notes that getting the tattoo was a first step in avoiding immediate death, since those numbers kept people alive for the Auschwitz labor details. The subjects talk about the patience required to explain the tattoos to their children, and one woman adds that her number has been complimented by younger people who indulge in their own forms of body ink expression. Most of the interviewees are able to recite their numbers immediately, although one woman says that she cannot recall hers and another refuses to recite the number in Hebrew. Altogether some 400,000 prisoners received serial number tattoos. Numbered is ultimately a positive and life-affirming documentary on how the Auschwitz survivors moved beyond the horrors of wartime Europe to lead peaceful and productive lives. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)