The story of the Nazi extermination plans for the Jews of Europe has been told many times. For some it is repeated so often that it loses its shock value or simply becomes too abstract. For others, particularly the young, it remains basically unknown despite Holocaust education in school curricula.
A different approach to telling this story has been taken in the Flemish documentary film “The Last Jewish Summer” (https://thomvanderbeken.com/2020/03/02/the-last-jewish-summer/ ). It takes a magnifying glass to the story of what happened to the Jews living in Antwerp in World War II, focusing on the events of the summer of 1942. Ten thousand Jews were violently rounded up by Antwerp police (in collaboration with the Nazis) and deported to concentration camps in nightly raids. Only 500 came back alive.
In the documentary, the focus is further narrowed to what happened to Jewish students at one of the main high schools in Antwerp, the Royal Atheneum. Most significantly, the narrators fall into three categories. First, some are surviving Jewish students in their 80s and descendants of those murdered. They explain how the various stages of dehumanization took place over the period May 1940 to 1943. Second, are descendants of Flemish Nazi collaborators (Antwerp police who had rounded up Jews and Jew-hunters who later joined the Flemish SS Waffen brigade).
These two groups give personal testimonies and/or read letters from the period aloud. One understands what cornered Jews felt in their homes. Their grandchildren read their farewell letters written as they packed in their homes for transport to the “East”. One also sees what Flemish collaborators felt they were signing up for and how it pains their descendants. A third group consists of students now attending the Royal Atheneum school, one of culturally most mixed schools in Antwerp where most pupils are of non-Western heritage. The Holocaust had barely been visible to them. They contribute their realization of and reaction to what happened 80 years ago to Jewish students from their high school.
The documentary was released for limited showings on January 29th, Holocaust commemoration day, in several cinemas around Antwerp and Mechelen. It is in Flemish (with some German). At the showing I attended, there were Flemish subtitles but there are versions which have English subtitles. The Director (Thom Vander Beken) attended the showing and afterward stayed to discuss the film. I strongly recommend this film. As I am uncertain where and when it will be shown, I suggest IJC contact the Director to arrange a showing at IJC of the version with English subtitles.
Steven Brummel
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