Richard Gere narrates this clear-eyed documentary about Holocaust survivor Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, who has shared her story with many teens over the ensuing years. Teenage Witness toggles between Heller's remembrances of the past (detailed in her book, Love in a World of Sorrow) and her conversations with inner-city youth, who are able relate to her account of deprivation and struggle. Director Ed Wiseman also includes interviews with Holocaust scholars and with Heller's three children. Heller grew up as part of a progressive Jewish family in the Ukraine, but her dreams of becoming a doctor died with Hitler's rise. The final solution methodology in her hometown was brutally efficient: instead of sending Jews to camps, the Gestapo simply executed hundreds at a time. Except for Jan, a policeman who brought her family scraps of food, Heller felt alone and defenseless. Eventually, her parents went into hiding while Heller sought refuge with Jan, who sheltered her and her brother; later the entire family boarded with a man named Sidor in the countryside, where conditions worsened to the point that her father disappeared and never returned. After liberation, Heller married a fellow survivor and left the Ukraine. As the film concludes, she reunites with Sidor's daughter to pay her respects. DVD extras include an extensive online teacher's guide. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)
Teenage Witness: The Fanya Heller Story
(2010) 66 min. DVD: $39.95. Social Studies School Service. PPR. ISBN: 978-1-56004-646-2. Volume 26, Issue 3
Teenage Witness: The Fanya Heller Story
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