EUROPE IMAGES INTERNATIONAL - M5

Synopsis

Combining archive footage and the eyewitness accounts of some twenty survivors, "Survivors" is an film which shows the end of the camps from the liberation of Majdanek camp in Poland to that of Mauthausen on May 5, 1945.

The film details the last days of deportation; the last hours in the camp; the encounter with the Russian, American, and English soldiers; the journey back; the welcome they received in the transit centers (Hotel Lutetia); rediscovering the world of the living; and the family reunions, for those who still had families.

Patrick Rotman tries to understand the difficulties faced by the deportees to relate the unspeakable, to pass on their experiences. He explores the reasons for a silence which, in some cases, lasted for decades, how other people look on those who came back from hell, the guilt they felt at having survived.

"Survivors" reflects on the handing down of memories and questions the autism of the world in the face of such barbarity.

Also available in 110' in French version

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