Inna Rogatchi’s Film on Simon Wiesenthal at the Vilnius Public Jewish Library
At the end of October 2014, the public screening and discussion of Inna Rogatchi’s film The Lessons of Survival. Conversations with Simon Wiesenthal took place at the Vilnius Public Jewish Library, a long-term partner of The Rogatchi Foundation.
Honourable guest of the event and a keynote speaker was professor Irena Veisaite, survivor, world-renowned intellectual and known advocate of objective and multi-sided analyses of the Holocaust and the repressions of the Soviet regime.
Among the attendees of the special event were H.E. Johann Spitzer, Ambassador of Austria, H.E. Emilio Fernández-Castaño y Díaz-Caneja, Ambassador of Spain, representatives of the Czech and British Embassies, Mr. Mads Meinert, representative of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Lithuania, leading Lithuanian cinematographer, head of the Independent Holocaust Research Archive in Lithuania Saulis Berzinis, managing director of the Litvak World project Anna Avian, well-known actor and director Rimas Morkunas, Violetta Shtromas, widow of the famous political scientist professor Alexander Shtromas, activists of the Vilnius Jewish community, students and teachers of several Vilnius schools, journalists, academics and media representatives.
In his introduction, the director of the Library, Dr Zilvinas Beliauskaus pointed out that the screening of this particular film is very important for Lithuania, and that’s why it is happening for a second time within a half-year period. The Lithuanian premiere of the film was organised at the Lithuanian Seimas, the parliament, in March 2014. “My generation did not know well and enough about Simon Wiesenthal, we were missing that particularly important part of modern history, and that’s why, it is so very important for all of us to see Inna’s film” – said Zilvinas Beliauskas.
In her opening remarks, Inna Rogatchi, the author of the film, continued the line of Dr Beliauskaus: “I would pick up from Zilvinas, and explain why we – and we are of the same generation – did not know enough about Simon Wiesenthal. It has happened because of the Soviet regime which has been quite hostile to Mr Wiesenthal who was treated badly by the entire Warsaw Block following the Kremlin’s line towards him. It also had to do with the Soviet regime and its satellites’ policy towards Israel, and thus Simon Wiesenthal who had always been an independent person pursuing his line, and who had no illusions about Soviet totalitarianism, has been persona non grata all the time from the end of WWII up to the collapse of the USSR and the Soviet block. No wonder that we all were deprived of objective knowledge of that man and what he was doing and achieved in his unique mission. I also remember a telling episode from the early-mid 1990s, when I had received the rights for translation of the rare in quality, special, and incredibly interesting book by Alan Levy called The Wiesenthal File from both our good friend Alan and Mr Wiesenthal. I was supposed to translate the book from English into Russian, and started to speak about it with numerous publishers both in Moscow and St Petersburg, meeting the same reaction by all of them: “Who? Wiesenthal who?..” So, I gave up as I saw that people there in Russia back in the mid-1990s largely had no clue of whom and what I was talking about, very unfortunately”.
Continuing her introductory note, Inna Rogatchi said: “I would like to say three things in connection with the theme of the film. First, the Holocaust is a personal matter. The more I know about it, the more I am convinced in understanding that there are no two similar Holocaust stories; and that of the phenomena of the XX and XXI centuries the entirely complex and quite essential set of issues projects itself as a highly personal matter. There is another thing of how these personal stories and personal perceptions reverberate in us, other individuals, and various societies. Second, memory is work, and in the case of the Holocaust, it is very hard. You will see the proof of this thesis in the film. Third, Holocaust memory work is a measure of dignity that we owe to the victims of the Holocaust. All those millions of exterminated people, the vast majority of which have been obliterated from the face of the earth in a despicable mass-murder of a race, do deserve dignity; everyone of them. This is the very least that we can do in counter-balancing the work of evil; and importantly, it is what we can do for ourselves, for our own consciences and normal beings. This is how I am trying to analyse the process of the comprehension of the Shoah in the film, and also in my forthcoming book Dark Stars, Wise Hearts: Personal Reflections on the Holocaust in the Modern Times“ – said Inna Rogatchi.
In her analyses of the film, survivor, professor Irena Veisate said: “I am seeing this film for the second time, and in my opinion, it is very good, very important and a much needed film. And I completely agree with Inna on her positions and view the Holocaust as a personal matter, and our comprehension of it as an ongoing process; it is exactly how I am, a survivor, feeling about it. Simon Wiesenthal tells us about the very depths of the horror of the Shoah, and the film also brings these issues closer to each of us, in an absolutely necessary way. I was lucky – I was not in the camps, as Simon Wiesenthal was; I was a child and then teenager in the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto, and I was saved by the Lithuanian people, several of them who risked their lives and the lives of their families and children for doing so. But my family has been exterminated. Throughout my life, I remember my last meeting with my mother who was murdered in the first days of the Nazi occupation of Kaunas. My mother who was surely understanding what was going on, and that her end is very near, told me during that last meeting: “Remember: Always live with the truth; never live for taking revenge. Do not live with bitterness or vengeance”. I was 13 years old then, and of course, I remember every word said to me by my mother when I saw her that last time. But I fully understood what she meant, much later. During all my life, these lessons by my mother who was just 35-years old when she was killed in the Kovno even before the ghetto was set up there, were with me, and I could say that I lived by her words. These lessons of a fair life were much needed, during many decades after the Holocaust when we had the Soviet repressive regime with its KGB apparatus and cruel repressions against people for decades. And I with all sincerity just cannot understand why on earth we are not examining the crimes of the Soviet totalitarian regime and the KGB as its main persecuting apparatus on the same level of scrutinity as it has been done towards the crimes of Nazism. In my conviction, it has to be done, and only after that, the society here in Lithuania will get the balanced account of what has happened during the XX century in our country, and the next generations will get the full picture of their country’s history. This is the only way towards the dignified life and true civilisation” – said professor Veisaite.
The discussion at the event was very vivid, highly charged intellectually, and wide-reaching in the various topics.
In his comments, H.E. Johann Spitzer, Ambassador of Austria, pointed out: “It is a privilege for me as for the Ambassador of Austria, to be here tonight, and to see Inna’s great film. We’ve met with Inna Rogatchi before, and I have recognised the art in the film which I did see before, but I have not seen the film itself previously. Simon Wiesenthal was one of the most well-known Austrians of the last century and beginning of this century; and he was the man who has put a high – and badly needed – moral task in the face of several generations of Austrians, both immediately after the (WWII) war, and for many decades after it. I do think that we all, Austrians of several generations, were very privileged to have Simon Wiesenthal to live – and work – among us. He was a moral compass for many, and he always evoked the voice of justice – not vengeance, as he always said it – at the moments of it was most needed. It is right to say that Simon Wiesenthal made post-WWII Austria a different society.
There is no secret that the generation which has been involved in the (WWII) war and the Holocaust was not at ease with the process of comprehension of what has happened and in what many of them participated, in various ways; let alone the public process of such comprehension. It was for my generation – which is the same as Inna’s and Dr Beliauskaus’ generation – to get to the core of the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust, to get into the core of the un-amendable damage that the Nazi regime has inflicted on human nature. In my view, justice towards the victims of the Nazi regime, the victims of the Holocaust must be done in its full measure, with all its pages written, read, and examined thoroughly – irrelevant is how much time this process will take. Because only by bringing on these facts and comprehension of them, only by bringing justice, not vengeance, but justice in its full measure on those who have been implicated in the crimes which dehumanised a human being, will we be able to bring dignity and morality into our own life today, and tomorrow. I personally think that dealing with the legacy of the Holocaust completely truthfully and openly is the only way for a self-respectful and honest life, as for individuals, as for societies, especially those traumatised by the Holocaust so deeply that we are still living with its legacy as not our past, but still our present, today” – said H.E. Johann Spitzer, Ambassador of Austria to Lithuania.
His diplomatic colleague H.E. Emilio Fernández-Castaño y Díaz-Caneja, Ambassador of Spain, who has served twice previously as the deputy foreign minister of Spain, focused in his speech on the ongoing process of our comprehension of the major events of the XX century, and the questions that the Holocaust still poses for all of us, after many generations.
“I came here to learn, and I did learn a lot watching this very good, very special and very important film. The film speaks to us all, from different countries, and different generations, and it brings the legacy of such a monumental figure as Simon Wiesenthal is, very close to us, even intimately, which alone is a high and special quality of the film. But it is also highly important, the appearance of the film now, in the modern times when we are facing the infliction of hatred in different societies here in Europe and across the globe. I am convinced that without meticulous learning and deep, detailed understanding of our recent extremely dramatic, tragic past, we would not be able to conduct our lives decently neither currently, nor in the future. Nothing is appearing on the empty place. The roots of the racial hatred goes centuries back, as we know it all too well in Spain. But it is especially engaging to get back to the recent past and to think about the reasons and consequences of the total, systematised and weaponized hatred that was the case during the Holocaust. At the same time, I believe that it is vital also to see, to think and to understand how a human being can resist it, by mobilising probably unknown to his very self the resources of his soul and nature – as we all saw just now, in the very impressive and very important film by Dr Rogatchi. I congratulate you, Inna, with such an important achievement, and do thank you very much for this very significant contribution into the understanding of the Holocaust” – said H.E. Emilio Fernández-Castaño y Díaz-Caneja, the Ambassador of Spain to Lithuania.
The leading Lithuanian cinematographer Saulis Berzinis who has produced many internationally known films on the theme of the Holocaust shared his impressions with the public: “What we saw now, is a great film which was done with deep understanding, very professional handling of the material; the film which, very importantly, is done following the synthetic approach of the cinematographer in the looking into very different aspects of the Holocaust and bringing them all together in a harmonius and impressive way to create a full picture – not only of a horror and crime, but of human resistance to unspeakable horror, and thus human response to that. To me personally, Simon Wiesenthal has been the second important person in the history of the XX century after Albert Einstein – due to the meaning of his deeds, often under simply impossible circumstances, and because of his influence on many people in many generations world-wide. It is quite obvious to me – as it was quite obvious for Simon Wiesenthal, and we did see it in the film now – that the criminals committing the crimes of the magnitude that leading Nazis did, cut off their nationalities, so to say; in philosophical meaning of the word. For me, Eichmann does not represent Austrians, and neither Hitler does; they represent the league of evil-workers which is a category of its own class. By the magnitude of their crimes, by their readiness to commit them, those criminals effectively cut themselves off from their own peoples. And here one can, perhaps, find the answer to the question which has been posed so very often: “How on earth could such highly cultured nations as Germans and Austrians allow themselves to fall so low, into that abyss of complete negation of morality?” Simon Wiesenthal did understand that, as he did understand many other core issues which did not allow many people to sleep for many decades all over our planet.
And I am so very glad that Inna has produced this new film about Simon Wiesenthal, the film which brings that extraordinary man, the man whose importance, maybe, is not quite understood fully by us, yet, so much closer to each and every person who has watched this film. For which is my huge thanks, and congratulations to you, Inna!” – said Saulis Berzinis.
The public asked a lot of questions during that interesting and special evening, and the questions posed reflected the high level of the discussion. Members of the audience pondered the balance of responsibility that is projected onto individuals – such as leaders of the Nazi regime – and governments, but also onto societies at the time that facilitated the Holocaust; a comparative analysis was made between Nazi Germany and Spain under the Franco regime from the point of view of looking on hatred as an instrument of a political regime and how it affected the society and the individual; a deeper understanding of the character of Simon Wiesenthal was also discussed in detail based on Inna Rogatchi’s film about him.
Characteristically, a voice of the young generation was also heard in an energetic and articulated way. “I would like to talk about this film, and to thank Inna Rogatchi very much, indeed. We are studying in the Jewish school here in Vilnius, and we are taught very many things and subjects there. But I have to admit, also on behalf of my fellow students who are here with me, that we did not know anything of what we have been seeing in this film. We are overwhelmed with this knowledge. It has also prompted a desire to learn more of the Holocaust, of Simon Wiesenthal, of all those topics that he had been telling us in this great film. Thank you so much for all that, dear Inna!” – said a representative of the viewers from the young generation at the Vilnius screening.
In his conclusion, director of the Vilnius Jewish Public Library Zilvinas Beliauskas said: “Every time we are watching this film, we are taken deeply by the emotions and thoughts it evokes. Those impressions are staying with us for a long time. We have had a great discussion here tonight, and I am very grateful to our distinguished guests, our speakers, all those who did participate in the discussion with such honesty and interest. And we all are very grateful to Inna Rogatchi for her very important film, which I do hope, will be shown on the big screens of the big TV channels, and will reach the wider public. I do think that it is very important that it will happen”.
The Rogatchi Foundation continues its multi-sided co-operation with The Vilnius Public Jewish Library on several further projects.