UnBroken, a documentary written, produced and directed by Beth Lane, opens with the line “There are no rational explanations for miracles.” The gut wrenching yet ultimately heart warming family story she uncovered is a cautionary tale for today’s world with the rising tide of intolerance and antisemitism.
Lane’s mother was the youngest of 7 siblings who, after their mother was murdered in Auschwitz, survived the Holocaust by going into hiding for two harrowing years until Germany was liberated. They adhered by their father’s plea, “No matter what happens, always stay together” and their remarkable plight is engagingly reconstructed by the filmmaker through interviews, archival footage, animation and photographs. Kudos to the effective musical score by Jonathan Snipes which greatly enhances the narrative.
Ironically, it would be upon the Weber children’s arrival in America that they would be separated, sent to different foster homes in the Chicago area. Four decades followed until they would be fully reunited. The unfathomable horrors they endured would be unimaginable were it not for their resilience, candor and obvious love for each other. Their first hand accounts of courage, resistance, sacrifice and devotion are all the more impactful as the present careens ever closer to repeating its most terrible mistakes from the past.
In fact, the film was completed with the assistance of the Weber Family Arts Foundation, a non profit organization whose mission is “to combat antisemitism and hate by driving awareness, engagement and activism through the arts by sharing stories of hope.” UnBroken offers us that hope even as it asks the most confronting of questions in light of troubling times: Would you hide me?
Beth Lane employs her filmmaking skills while remaining a central figure in the story. She is, after all, the daughter of the youngest Weber sibling and welcomes us fearlessly into her family which has grown to 72 individuals thanks to “the silent heroes who save the strangers among us.” It is sad to think that everyday heroes such as the ones who contributed to the escape of the Webers are needed again in 2023 and as her mother, Bela, observed, “Good must outweigh the evil.”
Look for UnBroken, currently making the Film Festival circuit. More information at www.theweberfamilyartsfoundation.com
I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Lane and found her candor and perspective to be as fascinating as her film.
Nelson Aspen: Growing up, how aware were you of your family’s survival story and at what point did you decide to make the film to share with the world?
Beth Lane: When I was six years old I learned my mom was adopted. “Why,” I asked? “Why were you adopted? Didn’t your Mommy want you?” Of course I would learn years later that my mother’s mother was murdered at Auschwitz on December 1st, 1943 at 11:35 am. Yes. The Nazis knew what time she was murdered. Can you imagine keeping a record of the hour and minute that you took the life of another human being? It’s very difficult to absorb.
I learned my mom was adopted when I was six years old which also happened to be the same age my mother was when she emigrated from Germany. I didn’t learn much more at that time. I don’t recall when I learned she was a Holocaust survivor, but it’s something I’ve always known. For example, when I was in Hebrew school, I think it was third grade, and we were learning about the Holocaust., I remember having this understanding that the Holocaust was part of my nuclear family’s narrative – but I don’t remember anything other than my mom telling me about the last time she saw her mother. We animate that scene in UnBroken. It’s a breathtaking scene, beautifully captured. It’s one of her only memories – she was three years old at the time.
I decided to make UnBroken In 2017. My mom decided she wanted to go back to Germany for the first time since she fled her homeland – she never used this language but she was a displaced person – she and her siblings were refugees. Our 2017 trip involved many various fascinating experiences and it was like a lightbulb went off…I knew I had to tell her story, Mom’s and her siblings. I knew that if I didn’t tell it the story would be lost forever. It took six years to get our journey to the cinema and here we are.
Nelson Aspen: Given the recent dramatic rise in antisemitism, has your approach to promoting the film changed?
Beth Lane: I hope I am very sensitive. I wish no bloodshed on the Palestinian people, but terrorists are terrorists. They have no skin color or religion. They have no sense of right and wrong. Palestinians are not terrorists. Terrorists are terrorists and today, sadly, we are not only confronted with terrorists, but social media has multiplied the voices of those who refuse to acknowledge terrorism.
Our timing is not lost on me – the war against the Jewish people and Israel is frightening. This is not your average war. Social media has changed the scope of world engagement. In the 1930s, Americans could pretend they didn’t know what was going on in the concentration camps. Today, you can’t have your head in the sand unless you actively put it there.
What’s happening on college campuses right now… my heart is shattered by the lack of humanity. You cannot negotiate with terrorists, but you cannot “level the place.” I mean c’mon,,,are we human or are we inhumane? If these pro-Palestinian students, activists and their supporters would use their impassioned cries for the end to Hamas instead of wasting their righteous breath on a #ceasefire… as if that would actually happen? Do they actually think these terrorists, who rape and pillage, would honor a cease fire? Talk about your head in the sand…
Regarding the promotion of UnBroken, I never thought I would be releasing my film at this moment in history. But since the timing is what it is, I hope that anyone who needs to be reminded of the good in humanity, any community who needs to come together and feel inspired, I know UnBroken can be of service to and become an opportunity to practice the muscles of empathy and compassion. What we do and what we say has a ripple effect that lasts for generations. Let’s make the ripple a positive one.
Nelson Aspen: The idea of “hope” is important to you. It’s easy to feel hopeless these days, so how do you keep vigilant and optimistic?
Beth Lane: Vigilant and optimistic. Those are interesting choices of words. I don’t know how vigilance relates to optimism, but I keep vigilant in that I don’t have the privilege to pretend that the world right now is having a hard time putting decency first. How have we come to this place where we no longer put mankind first? The environment, guns, holy wars? Where is mankind in these conversations? I mean the long game of mankind, not the five or ten years from now. Will we be known like the Vikings?
As for optimism I do believe in the power of positivity. That doesn’t mean I have a naive approach but if we get sucked into the well of despair then there is no possibility for human life to sustain itself. So I choose hope. Hope is my strategy. I I know that we, the Jewish people, will survive this tragedy once again. And I truly thought that “never again,” was non-negotiable, but antisemitism has risen over 400% in the last 12 months. That’s not hopeful.
Silence is not an option. Every human being on the planet right now needs to speak out against hatred and bigotry.,,,because if you choose hope then you are choosing humanity.
Nelson Aspen: Who do you feel most needs to see your film and could benefit from its message?
Beth Lane: We always want the person or people who are the least suspecting to experience the lessons of our UnBroken. The children of fascists. The children of terrorists. Can I get the film to them? Who knows. But if I can soften the heart of one bigot’s child, then I have created a positive ripple. If I can remind people how incredible it feels to actively do the right thing, to make a choice that is human – well if I can do that, then I will know I have contributed to my family’s legacy.
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