In a documentary presented by Errol Morris and directed by Daniel Lombroso, a grandmother reckons with her sister’s sudden disappearance during the Second World War.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 >> Where were you?
00:23 >> What?
00:24 >> In the war.
00:25 Where were you?
00:26 >> In Poland.
00:27 >> But you weren't in the camps.
00:29 >> No, we had Aryan papers.
00:32 >> You had what?
00:33 >> Aryan papers.
00:34 >> Oh.
00:34 >> Yeah.
00:36 >> Yeah, because when he said, the Holocaust, I'm saying,
00:39 my parents were Holocaust survivors and they were much older.
00:43 With your age, you couldn't never survive the camps.
00:46 >> Yeah, well, we were lucky.
00:49 My father was at one point in camp, but he escaped.
00:53 >> Oh.
00:53 >> Yeah.
00:53 >> He escaped the camp?
00:55 >> No, they took him.
00:57 No, the camp, they took him on a work detail.
01:01 And then there was a shed there, and he hid in there, and
01:05 they didn't make a count going back, so he was left behind.
01:08 >> Very lucky.
01:09 >> Yes.
01:09 >> Very.
01:10 [MUSIC]
01:14 >> Hi, how are you?
01:15 >> So nice to see you.
01:16 >> I get to kiss you more times.
01:21 >> Thank you for, thanks for having me, I'm excited.
01:24 >> Where's my vodka?
01:25 [MUSIC]
01:31 >> Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
01:34 >> The one tip is to try to restate the question when you can.
01:37 So I'll say- >> I'm not going to do that.
01:41 Come on, if I can't hear it, then I'll say it to you, but
01:44 otherwise I'm not going to repeat what you say.
01:48 >> No, you don't have to repeat.
01:49 Can I explain?
01:50 So if I say- >> I know what you're saying.
01:52 You want to hear about my experiences then and there.
01:56 >> Okay, ready to go?
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:03 I know you give me a lot of shit that I don't have kids yet, and
02:06 my brother doesn't either, but one day we will.
02:09 And I want them to know about you and to know your story.
02:11 How do you want them and my grandkids to remember you?
02:15 [MUSIC]
02:23 >> I was born in Kielce, which is a town between Warsaw and Krakow.
02:28 [MUSIC]
02:32 We were way above middle class.
02:35 And if anybody thinks that I come from a shtetl,
02:39 I get very upset because I have never seen a shtetl in my whole life.
02:43 [MUSIC]
02:45 My sister was six years older.
02:47 Supposedly, I looked like Shirley Temple.
02:51 I had blonde curls.
02:54 And she was Diana Durbin.
02:55 Once she heard a tune, she could sit down and play it.
03:00 [MUSIC]
03:05 My sister had friends, and she wouldn't let me in.
03:09 She would close the door and they would talk about different things.
03:14 So I would listen through the people.
03:16 And then what if I heard something bad, I would run to my mother.
03:19 You know what she's doing right now?
03:21 If we were eating something and she wanted what I had,
03:25 she would say, you want to eat that?
03:27 It's disgusting.
03:28 How can you have that?
03:29 You know, the minute I pushed it away, she would take it and eat it.
03:34 >> And her name is Irene?
03:36 >> What?
03:36 >> Her name was Irene?
03:37 >> Irena.
03:38 >> Irena.
03:39 >> And when was the last time that you saw her?
03:43 >> In April of 1943.
03:49 [MUSIC]
03:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
04:09 >> Hi.
04:12 >> [LAUGH] >> I'm back in glasses, sorry.
04:15 Sorry.
04:15 >> It doesn't fall down.
04:17 >> No, I'm good, I'm all right.
04:18 >> Okay, no, I thought you were closer to the-
04:20 >> No.
04:21 >> Hi, Mom.
04:21 >> Hi.
04:22 >> Hi.
04:23 >> Hi.
04:23 >> Hi, how are you?
04:24 >> Hi.
04:24 >> Hi.
04:25 >> You have to make the Netflix respond to me.
04:30 Go.
04:30 >> What do you mean go?
04:31 >> [LAUGH]
04:33 >> It shouldn't be this slow.
04:34 >> What's trending now?
04:36 >> It just gives you new things that are popular.
04:38 >> So I want new things.
04:40 >> Peaky Blinders, that's supposed to be good.
04:42 >> No.
04:42 >> I don't know, it's like we didn't really talk about the Holocaust.
04:54 I guess I knew, of course, in the back of my mind,
05:01 that she came here after the war.
05:02 I knew it all along, but I didn't really think about it.
05:08 On my mother's side, we didn't have anybody to visit.
05:15 We visited my grandparents in Brooklyn, but
05:18 there were no aunts and uncles on her side.
05:20 There was nobody else, really.
05:23 We didn't ask many questions when we were growing up.
05:27 It was just not talked about.
05:28 So.
05:32 >> Grandma, what happens next?
05:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
05:59 >> The war broke out September 1st, 1939.
06:10 [BLANK_AUDIO]
06:16 From the minute the Germans drove in, they started picking up Jews in the street.
06:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]
06:26 My father decided we're not staying here.
06:29 He figured out somehow that maybe if he went to a priest, and
06:34 the priest would give us a paper saying that we are studying to become Catholic,
06:39 that that will save us.
06:43 The only problem was that we really had to pretend that we're not Jews, so
06:48 we had to go to church.
06:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:00 And all the Jews went to the ghetto, and it was bad news there.
07:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:15 When people used to die, they used to put the corpse out in the street, and
07:20 it would stay there till, I don't know who eventually picked up the bodies.
07:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:35 >> But you were, in a way, privileged you were on the other side of the wall.
07:51 You were Catholic.
07:52 You were fake Catholic.
07:53 >> The Reds were not such a terrific thing, because my father was known.
07:56 And we started getting blackmailers coming at night.
08:01 They said, if you don't have anything, we're going to send the Gestapo.
08:08 And sure enough, they sent the Gestapo.
08:10 And they took my father away.
08:14 [MUSIC]
08:22 My sister now became the head of the family.
08:25 My mother was really scared.
08:27 And my mother looked very Semitic, whereas my sister and I, we didn't.
08:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]
08:35 She felt that we cannot stay.
08:37 And she somehow got my mother a job on the farm.
08:43 And I was going to be a cowgirl.
08:46 They gave me six cows and a stick and go.
08:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]
08:53 After two weeks, maybe, we got a note from my sister saying that I'm going
08:59 towards Revolf to see if there's anybody left from our family.
09:05 Love, Irena.
09:08 That's the end.
09:09 We never heard about her.
09:10 Never heard from her.
09:13 And after the war, my parents went to Red Cross and
09:19 the Yad Vashem and all that, nothing ever.
09:21 We were not, could never find trace of her.
09:27 >> What do you think happened to her?
09:30 >> She was probably shot.
09:31 They probably, on the train, they might have asked them for papers or
09:37 something, and something happened that maybe was suspicious, I don't know.
09:41 >> Was there a moment when you,
09:43 when it dawned on you that Irena was never gonna come back?
09:47 >> I never thought she's never coming back.
09:50 To me, she has disappeared, I mean, but she'll come back.
09:54 [MUSIC]
09:59 Many times after the war, if I would see somebody that looked like her,
10:05 I would follow them, thinking maybe it's her.
10:07 But after a while, you stop.
10:12 [MUSIC]
10:22 I feel the way I feel, but that's nobody's business how I feel.
10:29 And I don't analyze it.
10:31 It's part of me, and that's what it is.
10:33 [MUSIC]
10:41 [MUSIC]
10:51 >> Can you describe any last memories with her from that time?
11:09 Do you remember anything you did together?
11:11 >> No, no.
11:13 >> Think about, you must remember something from the war together.
11:15 >> No, I don't.
11:19 >> You don't remember your last memory of her?
11:22 >> No, I don't think about it that way.
11:27 >> And I know I'm pushing here, I just, I'm gonna stop in a second, but
11:33 it's, we've never talked, I never even knew you had a sister.
11:36 That's why I'm so interested in this, cuz you never told us.
11:39 >> No, well, look.
11:41 [MUSIC]
11:46 I didn't talk about that time of my life.
11:49 First of all, nobody was interested.
11:52 You didn't talk about it.
11:54 [MUSIC]
11:59 Two, I felt that if I start telling my story the way it really happened,
12:04 it was too depressing or too horrifying for the kids when they were small.
12:09 So I felt okay, sometimes later, and later never came.
12:16 [MUSIC]
12:18 >> Good?
12:19 >> Great.
12:20 [MUSIC]
12:25 >> My name is [INAUDIBLE]
12:30 >> Just take a couple of breaths here,
12:35 just find your cow, push into your feet,
12:40 drop your shoulders.
12:43 >> Hello? >> Hi, Nina Giselle speaking.
12:44 How are you? >> Hi, honey,
12:45 I'm in the middle of yoga now.
12:46 Can I call you back?
12:48 >> Yes, you can, enjoy your yoga.
12:50 You have a beautiful, beautiful grandson.
12:52 I'll talk to you later.
12:53 >> Okay, hon, thank you.
12:54 >> [INAUDIBLE]
12:59 >> You reach your arms forward as you
13:01 come forward, push into your left foot and slowly lift up.
13:07 You, you reach your arms up with the right,
13:10 you're gonna swing your hands around,
13:14 holding on to your right ankle and your right knee, and then lift up.
13:19 >> What would you say is your lesson from what you went through?
13:21 >> That people are inhuman, and
13:27 if there is any God, I don't understand that you would let that happen.
13:32 [MUSIC]
13:44 We were now evacuated as Poles.
13:48 We got on the train and we ended up in Prague.
13:53 [MUSIC]
13:57 The Czechs decided to liberate their town from the Germans because the Allies
14:02 are very close.
14:03 [MUSIC]
14:06 The Czechs poured tar on the Germans,
14:11 hung them, and then lit the match.
14:15 [MUSIC]
14:22 I mean, this was terrible.
14:24 I remember that that's the smell of the burning flesh.
14:28 [MUSIC]
14:31 >> But you lost your sister.
14:34 Surely that's revenge to burn.
14:36 >> Well- >> Isn't that a kind of revenge,
14:38 something that they deserved?
14:40 >> No, I just, you don't do that to other human beings.
14:45 I don't think, come on.
14:47 [MUSIC]
14:50 We are all born little adorable children.
14:54 What happens, what happens, what happens to people that they can become worse
14:59 than animals, animals kill because they're hungry.
15:03 But they're terrible, what people do to people, that's beyond me.
15:11 I don't care, German, Jew, whoever.
15:13 [MUSIC]
15:20 I don't know, it's human races.
15:24 Maybe it's time for it to disappear, and I don't know.
15:30 You think the creatures from outer space will be better?
15:34 [MUSIC]
15:36 I don't know.
15:37 [MUSIC]
15:47 >> Hi, Nina.
15:56 >> Hi, hi.
15:57 [MUSIC]
16:02 I have a feeling that you're going to have a hard time with
16:07 accepting the fact that I'm going, I'm gone.
16:12 [MUSIC]
16:16 And I feel bad about it, but it's a fact of life, that's what happens.
16:24 [MUSIC]
16:28 My lead then, right?
16:30 [MUSIC]
16:36 >> Your father had five sisters with families and all of them were killed.
16:40 >> That's correct.
16:41 >> I didn't know that.
16:43 >> Yeah, what do you mean you didn't know that?
16:46 Everybody.
16:47 >> So you were one of a few members of the extended family that survived.
16:51 >> That survived, my parents and I.
16:55 [MUSIC]
17:00 >> I think growing up I never really understood that.
17:03 [MUSIC]
17:07 >> No, because look, when you're growing up, you're young,
17:11 you don't dwell on these things.
17:13 The same thing, I didn't dwell while it was happening, I didn't dwell.
17:19 That's what was happening.
17:22 I'm a very straightforward person, that's what happens.
17:27 You have to accept it, you don't like it, too bad.
17:30 [MUSIC]
17:48 >> I came to America in 1951.
17:56 My mother said, why are you going to sit home, go to the beach.
18:01 There were two guys there, I didn't even look their way, but they saw me.
18:05 And they flipped the coin and grandpa won.
18:09 [MUSIC]
18:14 And we got married in 53.
18:18 We had Linda first, two years later we had Larry.
18:24 [MUSIC]
18:34 [MUSIC]
18:44 >> [LAUGH] >> Happy birthday.
18:56 >> Thank you.
18:58 Thank you.
18:59 >> Love you.
19:00 >> Bye.
19:01 [MUSIC]
19:03 >> Hi.
19:06 >> Hi.
19:07 >> I made a birthday card for you.
19:09 >> Yeah?
19:12 >> Grandchildren, I have six, and great-grandchildren, I have five.
19:18 >> [LAUGH]
19:24 >> Hi, Grandma.
19:26 [MUSIC]
19:36 >> Would I want her to be alive?
19:44 Definitely.
19:45 Would I want her to be in my life?
19:47 Yes.
19:48 But what can I do about it?
19:51 There's nothing I can do.
19:53 That's what happened.
19:55 What's gone is gone.
19:56 [MUSIC]
20:03 >> Well, thank you for having us.
20:04 We had such a great time.
20:06 >> No, it was very nice, except when it was annoying.
20:10 [LAUGH]
20:14 You should come and visit me more often, not just for the movies.
20:17 >> I spent four days with you this week.
20:20 >> Okay, that's going to last me how long?
20:22 [LAUGH]
20:26 [MUSIC]
20:35 >> Grandma is 90.
20:37 I had no idea.
20:38 >> 29, 29.
20:39 >> [LAUGH]
20:41 >> We were never allowed to know your age.
20:43 >> Never.
20:43 [MUSIC]
20:52 >> In the wake of a breakup, you're the best one to call.
20:55 >> [LAUGH]
20:56 >> Tell me to stop crying and
20:58 get back out there.
21:00 [MUSIC]
21:09 >> We say in Hebrew, [FOREIGN] till 120.
21:13 >> Okay, thank you.
21:13 >> And all the best.
21:15 >> [FOREIGN]
21:16 >> Make a wish?
21:17 Okay.
21:19 >> I wish that we should all be together next year.
21:22 [MUSIC]
21:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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