We Were German Jews

1981
58min

TU CALIFICACIÓN

Herbert and Lotte Strauss fled Germany in 1943, escaping their near certain fate in a Nazi Concentration camp. The brave pair take us back through time, sharing the details of their trying and personal journey to the United States and the life that followed. Still tormented by the loss of family and friends, The Strausses bravely return to Germany for a haunting confrontation of their past.

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Agrega una trama en tu idiomaIn 1943 Herbert and Lotte Strauss made the courageous decision to escape from Germany and almost certain extermination in a Nazi concentration camp. This is a personal account of their drama... Leer todoIn 1943 Herbert and Lotte Strauss made the courageous decision to escape from Germany and almost certain extermination in a Nazi concentration camp. This is a personal account of their dramatic flight, building a new life in the United States, and coming to terms with the Holocau... Leer todoIn 1943 Herbert and Lotte Strauss made the courageous decision to escape from Germany and almost certain extermination in a Nazi concentration camp. This is a personal account of their dramatic flight, building a new life in the United States, and coming to terms with the Holocaust. "We Were German Jews" grapples with the torment of living with the legacy of the Holoc... Leer todo

Dirección
- Michael Blackwood
Elenco
- Herbert Strauss
- Lotte Strauss

Ver la información de producción en IMDbPro

TU CALIFICACIÓN

Dirección
- Michael Blackwood
Elenco
- Herbert Strauss
- Lotte Strauss

1Opinión de los usuarios

Ver la información de producción en IMDbPro

Premios
- 1 nominación en total

Citas
Herbert Strauss: The deep melancholy over the loss, or the murder now as you knew, of your whole society, of your friends, of these many young people I had been associated with who had disappeared and not come back. It's that kind of deep sadness that I think affects you, that I think affected me very strongly after I became aware in the course of the Swiss time of what had been happening in Germany. And in a sense that was the reigning feeling as I think about this period. I don't always think about it. It is long past history. But that is the reigning feeling that I would think dominates your life as you think about it.

Opiniones de usuarios1

Opinión destacada

Personal documentary of the Holocaust

Despite the generalized implications of its title, "We Were German Jews" is a portrait film of Herbert and Lotte Strauss, two Germans who with great courage and luck escaped from the Gestapo roundup to Switzerland and then to America in 1943. Though too narrow in scope to arouse great interest, picture provides a positive alternative to the trend towards gloomy "trapped by memories" lookback views of the Holocaust.

Director Michael Blackwood lets his two subjects do the talking: Herbert is a City College of New York history prof and he and wife Lotte trek back to their small German hometown of Wurzburg to recall the events which resulted in the deaths of most of their relatives. Herbert Strauss stresses the understandable miscalculation of his father, who did not recognize the seriousness of the Nazi threat.

He provides an historical perspective, but is a bit glib about the reasons for various outcomes. Pic's best moments are personal, when the duo retrace their escape route and on an upbeat note emphasize their great will to live, which combined with the aid of neighbors and Berliners (non-Jews) to allow them to escape.

Pic was made as part of a tv series about forced refugees and could also have nontheatrical use.

My review was written in October 1981 after a screening at the New York Film Festival.