Saving the child

During the military dictatorship in Argentina, thousands of people were disappeared, including nearly two thousand citizens of Jewish origin. This video documents these events and also creates a line of reflection on the Shoah (Holocaust) and those Jews who were also disappeared... by Nazism. The Mourner's Kaddish is a traditional Jewish prayer that can only be recited when the remains have been laid to rest. This documentary highlights the difficulty of mourning when the bodies of the victims have been destroyed and their remains have disappeared. It investigates how individuals and groups can explore alternative paths to grieving and establish a practice that sustains memory and encourages the community and its institutions to engage in sincere and pluralistic self-examination.

This testimonial film featuring former children of the Holocaust who endured Nazi occupation in Europe, shows that even after having experienced deep suffering, they feel a deep love for life. These survivors lived today in Argentina and are members of “Children of the Shoah in Argentina”. Their multiple voices speak about the pain of having been kept apart from their biological families and having lived their childhood in forced silence. They tell us how they were rescued by their saviors, and of their gratitude towards them.

Survivors of the Shoah and the last Argentine dictatorship recount the horror they experienced in places of repression and how they managed to rebuild their lives. The documentary explores the need to recount what happened, the responsibility of survivors, and the usefulness of words as a tool for building memory.