Centropa film guide for teachers and students

Centropa has well more than 50 films online. Our historical documentaries delve into the history of specific countries while our personal stories take you through the entire 20th century—as told by those who lived on its front lines.

We know you’re probably pressed for time, so here’s a list to consider—the films we feel you’ll learn the most from, and which will stay with you long after you’ve seen them. But do dig deeper by going into our regular film page it really is a treasure chest of 20th century European Jewish memory.

You're looking for a film that...
gives an overview of Central Europe for social studies, geography or history classes
provides a brief summary of the Holocaust

The Ones I Lost

00:05:05

A five minute film that begins with snapshots of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, followed by three short vignettes in which Centropa interviewees tell us about the ones they lost.

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offers a view of the Holocaust in ways that Hispanic-American students can relate to

El Otro Camino: 1492

12:12

This 11 minute film takes us from Columbus’s journey in 1492 to the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, when Sephardic Jews helped save their city. This film isn’t just for Spanish speakers; it gives students and teachers a very different geographical perspective on the Holocaust—and leaves you with a powerful message about working together.

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challenges our way of thinking of Jews and Muslims working together, and works well for social studies, civics, and current events

Survival in Sarajevo -- Friendship in a Time of War

00:11:41

Our second most popular film. When war came to Bosnia in 1992 and Sarajevo was besieged, Jews and Muslims, Serbs, and Croats, all turned a synagogue into a humanitarian aid agency. So many students, in so many countries, were so inspired by this film we created a student diplomacy competition.

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can be shown to elementary school students, or teaches about pre-war Jewish life
tells the story of the Holocaust and is narrated in English. (this film also works very well with younger students)
tells the story of the kindertransports to England

Lilli Tauber - A Suitcase full of Memories

00:30:09

This powerful film opens with a young girl reading her diary, remembering what it was like to be sent on a train from Vienna to London. But what happened to her parents who stayed behind? Four actors will share with you Lilly Tauber’s story.

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features Righteous Gentiles who saved the people we interviewed
takes us from enjoying a normal childhood, being deported to concentration camps, surviving the horrors, and starting life over again

Leo Luster "The Past Is Another Country"

23:50

Leo Luster and his family were living in Vienna’s second district when Austria was subsumed into the Third Reich. Leo takes us with him on a journey through the Theresienstadt Ghetto, then Auschwitz, and to work camps. Afterwards, he found his mother still alive in Theresienstadt, and the two of them started life over again in Israel.

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Dagmar Lieblova "From Bohemia To Belsen ... And Back Again"

00:13:47

Dagmar Lieblova’s father was a well-respected doctor in their small town in the Czech Republic. They were deported to Theresienstadt; then Dagmar was sent to Auschwitz, a work camp near Hamburg, and was finally liberated from Bergen-Belsen. Afterwards, she became a historian and has been working tirelessly to preserve the memories of others who suffered as she did.

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Teofila Silberring -- So That Memory Doesn't Die

00:20:06

Teolia (Tosia) Silberring never left her beloved Krakow—except for the six years she lived in Nazi hell. Mrs Silberring remembers her neighborhood by door numbers, her school at this address, her synagogue over there, even the church she used to go to on Sundays with her governess. In 1939, a life of wealth and privilege turned into a life of hell and torment. This is her story.

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features resistance and tell of the Jews who fought back