THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090446
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Peninsula residents who survived the Holocaust or helped liberate the concentration camps are the subject of a documentary film premiering this Sunday in a free showing at Hampton Roads Academy.
The educational documentary, ``To Bear Witness: A Living Memorial of the Holocaust,'' uses interviews with local people in combination with National Archives film showing Europe during wartime and life in the concentration camps.
Several of the 13 people interviewed for the film have never before spoken publicly about their experiences, said Ettalea Kantor, president-elect of the United Jewish Community of the Peninsula, which funded the project.
``They realize they are getting older and if they don't tell their stories now, they won't be told,'' she said.
The subjects had a wide range of wartime experiences. Some survived internment in the concentration camps. Others, as young children, were sent by their parents to distant, safer countries, only to find that they were the only ones to survive the war. A few speakers were in the military forces that liberated the concentration camps.
The 70-minute film will be used in Peninsula-area high schools to teach about World War II and the Holocaust, during which an estimated 6 million Jews perished.
A modified version, with less graphic footage of the concentration camps, has been created for use in middle schools, Kantor said.
The film's producer, Eric Futterman of Metro Video Productions, said he believes that students will feel a stronger connection to history when they learn about it through the stories of their neighbors.
``When students see these folks on camera, they can say, ``This person works at the card shop I go to! This person works in the delicatessen.' It brings it a lot closer to home,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: WHERE TO SEE IT
"To Bear Witness: A Living Memorial of the Holocaust,'' a film
featuring Peninsula residents who survived the Holocaust or helped
liberate the concentration camps, will premiere at 2 p.m. Sunday at
Hampton Roads Academy, 739 Academy Lane, Newport News. The event is
free and open to the public.
by CNB