Pola's March
Encyclopedia
Pola's March is a 2001 documentary
made by Jonathan Gruber
about a Holocaust survivor, Pola Susswein's emotional trip back to her childhood home in Poland
after fifty years spent in Israel
, trying to forget her painful past.
Pola’s trip marks a dramatic shift in her mentality. After half a century, Pola, who never spoke about the Holocaust to her children, decides to travel back to Krakow with a bus full of high school and college students, lecturing and sharing her stories as they go. Her own children and grandchildren, curious about their family history and eager to offer support, join her as well.
Before she takes off, Pola confides to the camera that she knows this trip will not be pleasant, but she feels it’s necessary to confront truths she’s been avoiding.
The painful rumors that the Holocaust never happened
spurred Pola to share her story. She realizes that Holocaust survivors are growing old, and when they die the truth about World War II
could die with them. Pola feels obligated to educate young people in hopes of preventing future acts of inhumanity.
Not everyone is supportive of Pola’s decision to return. Her friends who also survived the Holocaust fear that her trip will take an unnecessary emotional toll. One of Pola’s cousins went back to Poland only to want to leave the entire time. Other friends promised themselves they would never return. These women believe their old memories are vivid and torturous enough. They don’t want new images to have to suppress in order to live happily.
But the young students are grateful for her presence. They strain their necks and lean over seats to ask Pola questions. She brings to life what they studied in history books. Her stories fascinate them, and they sit quietly and attentively whenever she offers her knowledge.
Pola’s journey is full of emotional highs and lows. She’s elated see her old apartment and speak to the new tenants. She’s happy to walk through the old buildings she lived in as a girl and look at old photographs. But her stomach turns in knots when she visits the concentration camps and she is full of doubt as to whether or not the trip was a good idea.
The Holocaust made Pola especially tough. After experiencing such great loss, she’s become somewhat numb to pain. “I very seldom cry. Almost never,” she explains. But even she has to cover her face when sitting on the crematorium at Auschwitz.
Other Holocaust documentaries:
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
made by Jonathan Gruber
Jonathan Gruber (filmmaker)
Jonathan Gruber is the executive producer of documentary film company Black Eye Productions. He has been producing and directing documentaries, films, videos and interactive media since 1995....
about a Holocaust survivor, Pola Susswein's emotional trip back to her childhood home in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
after fifty years spent in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, trying to forget her painful past.
Summary
“This Earth is soaked with blood,” Pola says, dispassionately. Her ability to stomach the harshest of realities - which allowed her to go on after the Holocaust, marry, raise children and live normally - is tested when she returns to a place that brought her unimaginable suffering.Pola’s trip marks a dramatic shift in her mentality. After half a century, Pola, who never spoke about the Holocaust to her children, decides to travel back to Krakow with a bus full of high school and college students, lecturing and sharing her stories as they go. Her own children and grandchildren, curious about their family history and eager to offer support, join her as well.
Before she takes off, Pola confides to the camera that she knows this trip will not be pleasant, but she feels it’s necessary to confront truths she’s been avoiding.
The painful rumors that the Holocaust never happened
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
spurred Pola to share her story. She realizes that Holocaust survivors are growing old, and when they die the truth about World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
could die with them. Pola feels obligated to educate young people in hopes of preventing future acts of inhumanity.
Not everyone is supportive of Pola’s decision to return. Her friends who also survived the Holocaust fear that her trip will take an unnecessary emotional toll. One of Pola’s cousins went back to Poland only to want to leave the entire time. Other friends promised themselves they would never return. These women believe their old memories are vivid and torturous enough. They don’t want new images to have to suppress in order to live happily.
But the young students are grateful for her presence. They strain their necks and lean over seats to ask Pola questions. She brings to life what they studied in history books. Her stories fascinate them, and they sit quietly and attentively whenever she offers her knowledge.
Pola’s journey is full of emotional highs and lows. She’s elated see her old apartment and speak to the new tenants. She’s happy to walk through the old buildings she lived in as a girl and look at old photographs. But her stomach turns in knots when she visits the concentration camps and she is full of doubt as to whether or not the trip was a good idea.
The Holocaust made Pola especially tough. After experiencing such great loss, she’s become somewhat numb to pain. “I very seldom cry. Almost never,” she explains. But even she has to cover her face when sitting on the crematorium at Auschwitz.
See also
- Holocaust denialHolocaust denialHolocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
- Holocaust survivors
Other Holocaust documentaries:
- Goodbye HollandGoodbye HollandGoodbye Holland is a 2004 documentary about the extermination of Dutch Jews during World War II. The film debunks the accepted notion that the Dutch were 'good' during the war, exposing how Dutch police and civil servants helped the Nazis implement massive deportations, which resulted in the death...
- Marion's TriumphMarion's TriumphMarion's Triumph is a 2003 documentary that tells the story of Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a child Holocaust survivor, who recounts her painful childhood memories in order to preserve history. The film combines rare historic footage, animated flashbacks, and family photographs to illustrate the...
- Paradise CampParadise CampParadise Camp is a 1986 documentary about Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Unlike other Holocaust camps, Jews entered Theresianstadt willingly, even eagerly, because Nazi lies led them to believe it would be a peaceful retreat. The deception continued even after it was clear...
- Shadows of MemoryShadows of MemoryShadows of Memory is a 2000 documentary by Claudia von Alemann that describes the rise and fall of Hitler from the perspective of a Nazi supporter—Alemann's 84-year-old mother.-Summary:...
- A Story about a Bad DreamA Story about a Bad DreamA Story about a Bad Dream was made in 2000 by director Pavel Stingl and brings to life the diary of Eva Erbenova, a little girl who survived the Holocaust...
- Boys of Buchenwald
- The Sixth BattalionThe Sixth BattalionThe Sixth Battalion is a 1998 documentary film that examines the little known history of Jewish soldiers who fought for the Slovak Republic, which was closely aligned with Nazi Germany during World War II...
- The PhotographerThe PhotographerThe Photographer is a chamber opera by composer Philip Glass that is based on the homicide trial of photographer Eadweard Muybridge. The opera is based on words drawn from the trial as well as Muybridge's letters to his wife...
- The Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of LodzThe Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of LodzThe Story of Chaim Rumkowski and the Jews of Łódź is a 1982 documentary that uses archival film footage and photographs to narrate the story of one of the Holocaust's most controversial figures...