As a young girl in the early years of World War II, Secret Lives' narrator and director Aviva Slesin was spirited out of a Jewish ghetto in a suitcase and lived out the war incognito as part of a Christian family in Lithuania. For this emotional but unsentimental documentary, she sought out others her age similarly saved from Nazi death camps by friends and strangers who kept them hidden--sometimes literally, sometimes in plain sight--at great risk to themselves and their families. Laying the groundwork through scores of photographs and Nazi newspaper announcements of dire consequences for anyone aiding a Jew, Slesin recounts particular stories (a 16-year-old babysitter adopted two kids as her own), interviews the grown children and the families who took them in (sometimes during tearful reunions), and shines a light on unforeseen hardships that accompanied these events. Some kids were abused, some were forced to convert to Christianity, some suffered “survivor guilt,” and afterwards some never bonded with their real parents while others were subjected to custody battles between adoptive families and distant relatives. Cinematically and editorially, Secret Lives is straightforward documentary filmmaking, but the historical importance of these poignant stories cannot be denied. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Blackwelder)
Secret Lives: Hidden Children & Their Rescuers During WWII
(2002) 72 min. VHS: $19.98, DVD: $24.98. Wellspring (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 0-7942-0499-6 (vhs), 0-7942-0500-3 (dvd). Volume 19, Issue 5
Secret Lives: Hidden Children & Their Rescuers During WWII
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