The Presence of Their Absence

SITE CONTENT

ISRAEL RESEARCH: GIDEON GREIF

At Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center - in Jerusalem, Holocaust Historian Gideon Greif guides Fred through the mystery of what happened to his family in Poland's Zaglembie region. Here, he tells Fred a little-known fact about tattoos at Auschwitz.

Gideon Greif specializes in the history of the Auschwitz concentration camp and its Sonderkommando. His book We Wept Without Tears inspired the Oscar winning film Son of Saul.

ISRAEL: NEW FAMILY!

ISRAEL RESEARCH: GIDEON GREIF

His first trip to Israel for a long-awaited reunion with cousins Fred never imagined existed.

Fred's second cousin - Itay Beery - and his wife Eitana open their hearts and home to more cousins - all Israeli Birencwaigs and Beerys, with prestigious careers, warmth, and humor.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: MORE FAMILY!

In Atlanta, attorney David Markowitz thought for sixty years that there were just four people in his family - his brother and his parents...

...until Fred finds a photo of David's grandmother.

As the two new cousins meet in Atlanta, unravel the mystery of their lives, a bond is forged and a surprise appears in David's photo album.

AT YAD VASHEM

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: MORE FAMILY!

Yad Vashem Researcher Sarafima “Sima” Velkovich has assembled a book of Fred's family journey during and after the Holocaust. We need only to see their faces when Sima presents Fred with a startling revelation.

Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center - has created an international network of researchers to help children of survivors reconstruct their own stories from its vast archives:

http://www.yadvashem.org/

ADAM SZYDLOWSKI

GENEAOLOGY FRIENDS

You never know where you might find help with your own search for connections to family history in Poland.

Fred struck gold when he found Adam Szydlowski in the town of Bedzin.

Before the Shoah, Fred's father Wolf was a young man in Bedzin, when half the town was Jewish. Today there are three Jews.

His mind reeling from first findings, Fred will take a break to join Adam's grand opening of Bedzin's first Jewish business in 75 years.

https://www.facebook.com/Cafe-Jerozolima-1624743641129737/

GENEAOLOGY FRIENDS

Our first stop in Warsaw seeking Fred's ancestral roots is at The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute.

Anna Przybyszewska-Drozd, head of the Genealogy Department, and Matan Shefi, researcher of Jewish genealogy, set Fred on his path - even if it might mean going everywhere to find nothing,

For 20 years, The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute has helped people search their family history. Contact them with what you know and they'll help! http://www.jhi.pl

COMING SOON!

TRAILER & MAILING LIST

RECENT SCREENINGS:

We were honored by the Directors Guild of America's premiere of The Presence of Their Absence with moderator, filmmaker Lynne Littman.

With gratitude to our other sponsors: The Holocaust Museum Los Angeles and American Society for Yad Vashem, the Writers Guild Of America, Skirball Cultural Center, and The Temple in Atlanta. We headed to Nashville, New York City, Bard College, JCC Staten Island, and to Manhattanville College, The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, and CHAIM - Children of Holocaust Survivors Association in Michigan, then to Tel Aviv Cinematheque for our international premiere.

Photo: Fred Zaidman at the Anne Frank Memorial Museum and former Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany.

TRAILER & MAILING LIST

Please see our trailer:

https://vimeo.com/286647451

PASSWORD: kdonna

Or on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeJyUz_AZic and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXUKYnV9Xrg

We welcome comments.

For future screenings and dates in your city, please send your name and address to :

info@kantercompany,com

THANK YOU.