Spellbinding, shocking, yet unpretentious the documentary After Auschwitz is a must see. Not just another Holocaust movie, the film shows all the awful murderous evidence in film footage taken at Nazi concentration camps. If you ever wanted to see the truth behind the mask of the German elimination of the Jews during WWII, then please take the time to see the film and be a true witness. Helpless and without hope, six women tell their stories while actual film from archives bare the facts of the slaughter of millions.
Director and writer Jon Kean found six women who had lived through what is known as the most diabolical genocide ever carried out. Not busy enough with fighting a war, Hitler orders the roundup of all Jews in Germany, Austria, France, Poland and other conquered nations. He sets up a sizable portion of them to work making supplies to continue his war effort and are sent to work camps. Others including women and children are sent to Nazi run concentration camps for his maniacal purposes including a cleansing of the Arian race. With evidence showcased in the Washington DC Holocaust Museum and other archives he presents his script of the horrifying events and appalling results.
The six Jewish women Eva Shick born in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Rena Honigman born in Sosnowiec, Poland; Renee Weinfeld born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia, Erika Engel born in Miscolc, Hungary; Lili Nutkowicz born in Lodz, Poland; and Linda Sheffer Amsterdam, Holland lived the cruelty, abuse and fate of the Nazi camps and came out alive. As they tell their stories showing them living in the 21st Century America, they describe their lives in detail as if they had just been liberated.
Heartbreaking, unbelievable and compelling are just words to describe how one feels while seeing and believing the atrocities. I won’t tell you all their stories, but here is an intro sample of what you will hear during the first thirty minutes. Eva “The day before liberation we were digging our graves. That was the order. You’ll not get away. You’ll be dead before they get here” Renee “They were bombing (the factories in the forest) all night long. We were glad they were bombing we didn’t care even if we died.” Lili “When we looked out the door of the barracks we saw a man wearing a completely different uniform than the German’s. And then all of a sudden more came and they started to scream ‘British, British’” Rena “We were liberated by the Russians. The day of liberation was May 8th my birthday. I was 19 years old.” Linda “I was liberated in January 1945. That’s when I went to the Russians. I’m scared of the Russians, because I didn’t know what they were going to do to us. When they first came in they raped a lot of girls that were left behind.”
The film continues with the six women’s lives being changed in America either by marriage, the jobs they took or the family that was already entrenched in the everyday life in the 1950’s. Eva (Shick) Beckmann, Rena (Honigman) Drexler, Renee (Weinfeld) Firestone, Erika (Engel) Jacoby, Lili (Nutkowicz) Majzner, and Linda (Sheffer) Sherman. Here it becomes a different kind of film, one of happiness, being grandmothers, working, relating their lives in the camps to groups, and becoming human again.
The film does lose some of it strength showing their new lives with mostly smiles and contentment with their marriages. Almost, but not really taking away some of the power that After Auschwitz showed in the first 30 minutes. It may not be as strong script wise as movies like Schindler’s List, but After Auschwitz sure packs a punch with the Nazi camp footage, assassinations, emaciated prisoners and burring of the many bodies.
After Auschwitz has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains disturbing images, violent war atrocities and nudity. If there are any doubters that the Holocaust took place, there’s a lot of evidence in this film. Film footage was supplied by many organizations including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Steven Spielberg Film & Video Archive, Shoah Foundation at USC, Imperial War Museums, US National Archives, Warner Brothers Film Archive and many more. Be cautioned that the film is alarming and not for the squeamish or immature children. The film is in English.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good film that holds nothing back. (5 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information
Cast as themselves: Eva (Shick) Beckmann, Rena (Honigman) Drexler, Renee (Weinfeld) Firestone, Erika (Engel) Jacoby, Lili (Nutkowicz) Majzner, Linda (Sheffer) Sherman
Directed and written by: Jon Kean
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, Contains disturbing images, violent war atrocities
Running Time: 1 hr. 23 min.
Release Date: April 27, 2018
Distributed by: Passion River Films
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
