“Another Holocaust film, some will say, but this one is really different. Of course it is primarily a film about remembrance. But also a film which inspires courage touches the heart and shows the events from a different perspective. It tells events from a different perspective and most of all – it is cinematically extraordinary. “
Adrian Kutter, director of the Film Festival Biberach
Children instinctively notice when something remains unsaid. When questions regarding their parents’ past or about missing grandparents and relatives are answered vaguely or not at all. When the child realizes that the family roots are in another country. Growing older the child hears about the genocide of Jews during the Third Reich. He reads about it, sees horrible pictures and finds indications that his own family was affected by those events.
Salomon Korn (born 1943), former vice-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, compared the Holocaust with the film „Alien“: „One never sees anything and therefore in the child’s imagination it appears to be much more horrific than the reality already is“. Most children of survivors feel a responsibility to protect their parents and will therefore not ask questions. For the parents it is a balancing act to decide what, how much and when they should tell their children without frightening or overwhelming them.
André Laks, professor of philosophy in Paris, Thomas Frankl, gallery owner in Vienna and Raphael Wallfisch, cellist from London, have something in common: each has a parent who survived Auschwitz. Their parents were artists: Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (cellist in the girls‘ orchestra in Auschwitz and later co-founder of the British Chamber Orchestra), the French/Polish composer Szymon Laks (conductor of the men’s orchestra in Auschwitz) and the painter Adolf Frankl (he painted the picture series „Visions from the Inferno“ after the liberation from Auschwitz). Their legacy for their sons was not only their history but also exceptional pieces of art: a ray of hope among the dark past. Each of the sons has found his own way to handle this legacy: ranging from not-being-able-to-let-go to open confrontation.
The film THREE SONS shows the history of the survivors through the eyes of the next generation. The second generation has to keep the memories alive when the last eye witness has died. No easy task in a world in which civil wars and refugee crises abound.
At the same time the film pays homage to the wonderful, long forgotten music by André’s father, the composer Szymon Laks.
“Over the last years the trauma of the postwar generation, the so-called second generation, has become the subject of more discussions. I was not interested in the families of perpetrators but in the families of victims. The deep silence which was also present in the families of Shoah survivors surprised me – which was partly due to repression or partly the wish to protect their children from the horrors as long as possible.
The film documents the different approach which the next generation took to deal with their parent’s history and heritage. I tried a new way and used the art and music created by the survivors to find out more about the way their children are coping with the past. The arts allow for a more empathic access to individual fates. The trauma touches the next generation as well and the three sons provide different solutions how to cope with this sensitive and complex topic in the future.
I was touched by the strong impact which displacement and persecution had especially on artists: hopeful careers were destroyed, creativity died or was lost. Szymon Laks survived Auschwitz and fought his way back to life – but how frustrating it must have been for him that nobody was interested in his compositions anymore. Today his wonderful music can be heard again and is played at large festivals, but this is a late compensation which he himself was not able to experience before his death.
Today the refugee crisis is the dominant topic in the news and therefore the commemorative culture is taking a back seat. But this is dangerous because the precursors are the same: growing hatred of foreigners and the search for scapegoats. Dealing with the past could help making the same mistakes again and find strategies on how to address the situation of todays’ refugees. “
Birgit-Karin Weber
documentary D/A/F/GB 2017
FBW: “Rating particularly valuable” – justification of the jury
length: 87 minutes
FSK: ab 12 Jahre (Freigabe für Besondere Feiertage)
Sprache: Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch, Original mit dt. oder engl. Untertiteln
Buch/Regie: Birgit-Karin Weber
Kamera: Martin Schilling, Steve Enste, Birgit-Karin Weber
Schnitt: Henning Fromme, Simon Adam
Motion Graphics: Simon Adam, Moritz Weber
Sound Design: Alexander Sonntag
Produzentin: Stefanie Greb
Produktion: Greb + Neckermann Filmproduction
Musik: Szymon Laks
Mitwirkende: André Laks, Thomas Frankl, Raphael Wallfisch,Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Teda Wellmer, Frank Harders-Wuthenow, Marcel Sztejnberg
Format: Full HD, DCP, Blu-ray
