“I survived the war as a child in hiding. I lived under a false name. I lived in constant fear.”
Those are the words of Anita Magnus Frank, a Holocaust survivor and hidden child who is the subject of a short film that will be shown at an event for teens and parents at the JCC East Bay in Berkeley.
Frank, who lives in Marin County, will also speak at the event. It is the first of two being held this spring, on March 25 and April 22, where families can both learn about the Holocaust and talk about it in a supportive environment. The first event, called “I Am Not Afraid: Holocaust Education for Teens and Parents,” is co-sponsored by Congregation Netivot Shalom of Berkeley and the JFCS Holocaust Center.
“Once we heard about the unique opportunity to meet the Holocaust survivor in person and to experience her story via the animation movie, we knew that we would offer it,” said Yafit Shriki Megidish, senior director of Jewish learning at the JCC.
The 2024 film about Frank, “A Great Big Secret,” was directed by Yoav Potash of Berkeley and screened in January at the New York Jewish Film Festival. (Potash also directed “Among Neighbors,” a new, chilling documentary about a Polish town before and after World War II.)
“A Great Big Secret” details how Frank, at age 6, was sent away from her home and her Jewish school to live in hiding under an assumed name. No longer “Anita,” she became “Liesje.” Shuttled among homes to protect her identity, she lived in fear and suffered sexual abuse.
Blending line drawings, old photos and new footage, the 13-minute film also follows Frank’s immigration to California at 16, her journey to healing and the purpose she finds in speaking to young people.
The second event in April will incorporate the Zikaron BaSalon/Bringing Testimony Home program to help teens and parents talk about the Holocaust. It’s an Israeli grassroots initiative that provides a structured environment to encourage participants to share their reactions and emotions.
“Last year was the first time that we hosted a Zikaron BaSalon event for teens and their parents,” Megidish said. “There was such a high demand for the event that we have decided to continue offering this program this year.”
The evening will combine listening to testimony from a local Holocaust survivor with expressing reactions through the arts, whether music, poetry or visual art. A facilitated discussion will follow, focusing on the importance of remembering and commemorating the Holocaust.
“Both events will allow teens to meet a Holocaust survivor,” Megidish said. “We probably won’t be able to continue meeting them in the next few years, as they are getting old.”
According to the USC Shoah Foundation, 2 million people in more than 65 countries have participated in Zikaron BaSalon events, which seek to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust and the stories of Europe’s Jewish world.
“People are blindly willing to follow lies and propagate the superiority of some and the inferiority of others, and everything of that is connected to the Nazis,” Frank says in the film. “That’s why you cannot forget.”