UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — In Dr. Jeffrey Lautman's University Heights home, reminders of the Holocaust are never far away. His mother, Bertha Berkowitz Lautman, was a survivor.
"My mother managed to make it through Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was transferred Oct. 30, 1944, from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen," Lautman explained to 3News over treasured family photographs. "She was liberated on April 15, 1945, and if you sent her a birthday card on that date, she would be very happy. But if you sent it on her birthday or wished her happy birthday on her birthday, she would jump down your throat. That day was not important."
Bertha's harrowing experience began when she became part of the first group of young Jewish women taken from their homes in Slovakia to the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. While there, Bertha lived through the unimaginable.
"Her job, in Auschwitz-Birkenau, was what's called "Leichencommando." Leichencommando were those that carried corpses," Lautman explained. Once a day, they would put them onto a truck or a wagon to take to the crematorium, and that was her job."
After liberation, Bertha eventually moved to Cleveland and raised her family. It wasn’t until the 1970s that she began to open up and share her memories of bravery in the face of evil.
"Holocaust survivors were out to protect their children from the pain," her son says now. "As a matter of fact, when she spoke in 1973, we weren't allowed to go. It was only when she realized that she was connecting with the [students] that she realized it's important."
Though much has been written about the Holocaust, the plight of these nearly one thousand young women hasn't been shared comprehensively until now. The untold story is finally coming to light in a new documentary called "999 - The Forgotten Girls."
"Each of these girls have come from a different town. They have different friends and they were collected in different ways, so I really wanted to create a full story of a transport," filmmaker Heather Dune Macadam shared in an interview with WKYC. "I mean, you have to remember, these girls are going to survive three years and 41 days. That's how long they were in Auschwitz and other concentration camps."
Dune Macadam is also the author of "Rena's Promise," a memoir of two sisters' determination to survive the Holocaust. Rena was also on the first transport, and through her, Dune Macadam learned of these inspiring survivors. In 2019, she published a best-selling book "999" The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz," which became the basis of the documentary.
"I started interviewing in 2017, and because the women were old, I filmed everything," Dune Macadam said. "And that's really my heart's focus in this film, is to speak to that and to write them into history — not back into history, because history's ignored these girls."
Dune Macadam says after meeting and interviewing survivor Edith Grossman, stories began pouring out from other survivors now living all over the world.
"It was like this domino effect. I started to find all of these other women and also families started reaching out to me," Dune Macadam stated. "Each of these girls have come from a different town, they have different friends, and they were collected in different ways, do I really wanted to create a full story of a transport."
Today, more than 80 years after Bertha was liberated, antisemitism and hate are skyrocketing once again, and Heather and Jeffrey share the belief that educating the next generation is more important than ever.
"I like to say that my teenage girl spoke to their teenage girl," Dune Macadam reflected. "So I come to it from that perspective, and I hope that that pulls people in a way that addresses a much larger perspective."
"I have been teaching [about the] Holocaust since 1979 and doing public speaking. It has evolved a lot. People are not as well-informed, and I'm not out to inform them about the Holocaust. My battle is against hatred," Lautman said. "Hopefully [this] story touches their heart and there'll be one ounce, or one pound, or one gallon less hatred in the world."
Green Road Synagogue is hosting a film screening, Q&A and book signing, for "999 - The Forgotten Girls" with author and film director Heather Dune Macadam, narrated by Dr. Jeffrey Lautmen on Sunday, May 5th from 7-9 p.m. You can find more information here:
