Children of the Holocaust

In Children of the Holocaust, Holocaust victims and their children talk about the suffering they and their families endured during the Holocaust and about the impact the persecution of Jews during World War II had on the rest of their lives. The result is a haunting series that shows how the horror of the Holocaust has deeply scarred the next generation.

In the six-part series, twelve Jewish witnesses bear testimony. They vary in age, are from different walks of life and have each followed their designated path. However, what they have in common is the burden of war history resting on their shoulders. All of them have somehow had to process the Holocaust in their lifetime. The oldest witness was already sixteen when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. She saw anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany spread to the rest of Europe and how the Jewish population was gradually excluded from public life. When war broke out in Belgium, she was already 23.

Like her, the other witnesses also describe how the Jewish population was systematically lured into a trap, until there was no way for them to escape the German persecution machine. Those who saw the approaching danger in time and had the financial means to escape did so, but for most people that was not possible.

The witnesses talk about the decisions they had to make: should we flee or not? Go into hiding or not? Place our child with total strangers without knowing how it will be treated, or not? These heart-breaking dilemmas force the viewer to reflect.