Remember: today, on 27 January, it is International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
When I was a little girl, a woman from my village came to my school to tell us about the day the war began. I did not understand her too much, I only remember something about planes and noise. I had a treasury of information about the war in my house, my grandfather, in ’39 he was 18 years old. But the witnesses of this history are dying.
We still have historical sources, lessons in schools, books, films…
My private photo with my grandmother on it. She was in Auschwitz 12 years after the liberation of the camp. She recalled that the sight and the smell was awful.
I do not want to describe history because I’m not an expert in this field. Still, I would like everyone to know it and remember it, and pass it on to future generations. The way in which we live now, who we are now, is shaped by what has happened in the past.
With so many people, there are so many stories. Films based on these events are a drop in the sea of what can be told and conveyed.
I would like to propose ten films that are associated with this day:
1. Schindler’s list
This movie is about Oskar Schindler, who during the Second World War saved 1100 Jews from concentration camps.
2. The Pianist
During the Second World War, Władysław Szpilman, an excellent Polish pianist, tries to survive in occupied Warsaw.
3. Life is Beautiful/ La vita è bella
Locked in a concentration camp with his son Guido, he convinces the boy that cruel reality is just a form for adults.
4. The Reader
Berlin, 1958. 15-year-old Michael falls in love with a much older Hanna. Years later, when he is a law student, he meets her again. She is on trial for crimes she did as a guard in a Nazi concentration camp.
5. The Counterfeiters/ Die Fälscher
Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch, who works to forge passports and money, is discovered and goes to prison. When the war starts, he is sent to a concentration camp. Because of his skills, he is forced to forge different currencies.
6. In Darkness/ W ciemności
During World War II, a maintenance worker and burglar from Lwów, Leopold Socha, helps a group of Jews from the ghetto hide in the sewers.
7. Edges of the Lord
A twelve-year-old Jewish boy hides from the Nazis. There are even dangers in a remote village.
8. Sophie’s Choice
Shortly after the Second World War, Stingo, a writer, moves to Brooklyn. He befriends Sophie, a Polish immigrant, and her partner Nathan. Slowly, he learns about Sophie’s story.
9. Conspiracy
1942. The movie depicts the Wannsee Conference. Here, representatives of the Third Reich authorities met in Wannsee to ‘solve the problem’ of Jewish people in the area occupied by the Germans.
10. Inglourious Basterds
In a Nazi-occupied French unit made up of Americans of Jewish descent, Shosanna Dreyfus plans to assassinate Hitler.
Today, take some time to stop your regular daily life, and take a moment to remember the horrors of the holocaust. #WeRemember
