Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 21, 1997 Page: 2 of 24
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Fea tu res
2
TEXAS JEWISH POST, THURSDA Y, August 21, 1997 - IN OUR 51 ST YEAR!
Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies Sponsors
Premier of Exciting New Film by Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Long Way Home a
new documentary produced
by the Moriah Films
division of the Simon Wie-
senthal Center will premier
in Dallas on Wednesday,
August 27, 7:30 p m, The
film examines the critical
post War period between
1945 and 1948 and the
plight of the tens of
thousands of refugees who
survived the Holocaust. It
looks at their atempts to get
to the Jewish homeland
(often illegally) and also
explores how much of the
world turned its hack on the
tragedy of these forgotten
people. Combining rare
archival film and stills with
new interviews. The Long
Wax Home interweaves hi-
storical narrative with stor-
ies, anecdotes and recollec-
tions of Jewish Survivors.
The Dallas premier of
The Long Wax Home i s
cosponsored by the Dallas
Memorial Center for Holo-
caust Studies and the Simon
Wiesenthal Center The film
will be screened at the
General Cinema NorthPark
East 3 and 4 Theatres east of
Central Expressway on Park
Lane. Tickets are SI00 for
priority seating, S50 for
general seating and $25 for
students or teachers. A re-
ception will be held follow-
ing the movie. All but SIO
of each ticket price is tax
deductible
The Long Way Home
opens in May I945. Ger-
many has been defeated by
the Allies and the war in
Europe is officially over. A-
mcrican, British and Rus-
sian soldiers have liberated
Nazi death camps in Central
and Eastern Europe, uncov-
ering to the world the honor
and tragedy of the Holo-
caust. Thousands of starv-
ing. half-dead Jewish Survi-
vors are freed from Nazi pe-
rsecution, but their freedom
provides most with little
solace.
Many are so physically
and emotionally ill that (hey
require months of convales-
cence. The majority have
lost most, if not all of their
family members. Those
who try to return home are
met with anti-Semitism and
threats of physical violence.
In a village near Vilna,
Lithuania, five Jews who
survived are found murdered.
Discovered in their pockets
is a message written in
Polish staling, “This will
be the fate of all surviving
Jews.”
American and British au-
thorities set up “the Dis-
placed Persons Camps" to
house the refugees, often on
the same sites as former
German concentration
camps. The first Jewish rep-
resentatives to minister to
the needs of the Survivors
are American Army chap-
lains such as Rabbi Abra-
ham Klausner. In the film.
Rabbi Klausner recounts
how he became an advocate
for the refugees, often
fighting the powers that be
who had other concerns,
such as the post-war econo-
mic reconstruction of Ger-
many.
The other representatives
of the free Jewish world to
Edward Asner, The Long Way Home, A Simon Wiesenthal Center Moriah
Films Project pictured with (I to r) Richard Trank, producer and Mark
Jonathan Harris, writer/director. (Art Waldinger photo)
reach the Survivors were
soldiers from Palestine.
These soldiers were mem-
bers of the “Jewish Brigade”
allowed to fight with the
British Army in Europe
toward the end of the Way.
They remained in Europe
..xvmirv JJ.
n?OOT WITI
s.
From The Long Way Home, A Simon Wiesenthal Center Moriah Films Project. (Beth Hatefutsoth photo)
since the fighting was over
to become involved in a
new effort to fight British
restrictions on Jewish im-
migration to Palestine. In
1939 the British govern-
ment had issued the famous
“White Paper" which lim-
ited Jewish immigration to
Palestine to only 75,000 o-
ver a five year period and
after that, any number only
with approval of the Arabs.
With thousands of Jew-
ish refugees still languish-
ing in DP camps, Jews in
Palestine formed resistance
movements to oppose the
British and organize illegal
travel to Palestine on immi-
grating ships such as the
“Exodus 1947."
The documentary goes on
to take an in-depth look at
how most of the world was
either indifferent or unwill-
ing to deal with the plight
of the Jewish refugees. Even
in the United States legal
immigration quotas were
not met as right-wing poli-
ticians and patriotic organ-
izations opposed admitting
the refugees. Other nations
look similarly tough stands.
Even when the Survivors
were able to make their way
to homes in new countries,
they often found that their
fellow Jews were not eager
to hear their stories. In new
interviews and personal ac-
counts. Survivors frankly
discuss how they were left
on their own to deal with
their pain and trauma.
At the same time, The
Long Way Home does not
overlook the efforts of th^se
who did support the Sur-
vivors including Clark
Clifford, an advisor to Presi-
dent Truman at the time,
who helped formulate a
policy supportive of
increased Jewish immigra-
tion to and eventually an
independent Jewish state in
Palestine.
The Long Way Home
makes an eloquent statement
about the resilience of the
human spirit in the fact of
overwhelming tragedy and
loss. In spite of the horrors
they experienced during the
Holocaust, the Survivors
still managed to make new
lives for themselves, not
free of the pain of memory,
but still with the determin-
ation to live life fully.
Through the use of
archival newsreel footage,
period radio broadcasts, still
photos and personal ac-
counts, The Long Wax
Home tells its important
story. The film is narrated
by actor Morgan Freeman
and also features the voices
of Edward Asner, Martin
Landau and Michael York,
among others. To purchase
tickets for The Long Way
Home, contact the Holo-
caust Center, 214/750-4654.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 21, 1997, newspaper, August 21, 1997; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755796/m1/2/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .