29/08/2022
New Review: The Survived Together
"An extraordinary story of strength and courage. Highly Recommended."
Horrifying eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust eventually lead to an inspiring story of one family banding together to survive the evils of N**ism in the compelling documentary “They Survived Together”… originally a WNET-NY broadcast premier which recently reaped an Emmy nomination.
The focus here are the Neigers, a Jewish Polish family who discuss their experiences in troubling detail. Helping to illustrate their lives before and after the German invasion of the country in 1942, director John Rokosny expertly weaves interviews with the four Neiger siblings, newsreel footage, photos and even animation to illustrate their unbelievable saga.
We learn that their father was once a soccer player and that life in Krakow was relatively happy until the invasion. Then, overnight, evil took over, altering their lives and history forever. Jews are forced to build their own graves and lie in them; grenades are randomly tossed at Jews after they are placed in the ghetto; Jewish patients in hospitals have a choice to be either shot or euthanized.
How the family escapes is truly amazing. Their trek to freedom involved forged documents, help along the way from non-Jews who risked their lives to protect the Nieger clan, and a difficult journey to Hungary where they were imprisoned. Ultimately, the Niegers beat the odds and became one of the few families to survive the Holocaust intact.
An interesting aside in the documentary is that Hanka Neiger, one of the three sisters, wrote a young adult book called “The Red Hat,” based on her past. In the book, the lead character wears a red hat given to her by her mother—Hanka still wears a red hat today. The book’s illustrations remind us of the little girl with the red jacket who wanders through parts of the film “Schindler’s List.”
And there’s another “Schindler’s List” connection here. Aron Goeth, the heinous N**i officer known as “the Butcher of Krakow” and commander of the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. He was played by Ralph Fiennes in the Steven Spielberg film, and is, in fact, the monster the Neiger family faced in their own backyard. This adds another dimension to an extraordinary story of strength and courage.
Highly Recommended. – I. Slifkin for The Sound View 2022
https://a.co/d/hpylHeh
The Neiger family was living a peaceful life in the Jewish community in Krakow when the arrival of World War II changed their lives forever. When N**i soldiers forced the family from their home into the harsh life of the Ghetto, they made a vow to escape as a family. But when circumstances forced...
