A Screening of the Documentary Complicit
Congregation Shaare Shalom hosted an unforgettable evening commemorating Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Congregants and community members alike filled the room in anticipation of the showing of the film Complicit, directed by award winning director Robert Krakow.
Rabbi Avraham Benhamu, leader of Shaare Shalom’s youth minyan, led the crowd in a moving rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah. This was followed by the congregation’s high school students participating in a candle-lighting ceremony with a moment of silence commemorating those who perished in the Holocaust, those who survived, and those who aided the Jews that were able to escape.
Share Shalom’s own Rabbi Avi Harari, citing events of the Torah, spoke about the importance of memorializing past life impacting events, because they help us complete our connection to the present and to our future. His own grandfather’s experience as a concentration camp survivor only served to prove this idea true.
Salomon Cohen introduced Mr. Krakow to a rapt audience. Solomon is a prominent shul member who has spent countless hours organizing many of the synagogue’s events and was responsible for coordinating this evening.
Mr. Krakow introduced the film and provided insight to his inspiration for creating it and sharing it with the rest of the world. He is an author, playwright, and documentarian, who began his artistic endeavors in the late 1980’s with his acclaimed play The False Witness: The Trial of Adolph Hitler and more recently The Trial of Franklin D Roosevelt. Krakow’s research, and understanding of Judaic history and religion drive his approach to theater and film. His goal is to educate audiences about historical injustice and the need to look beyond conventional wisdom to find the root causes of anti-Semitism and racism. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law.
This film is an important documentary about the German cruise ship St. Louis, filled with over 900 Jewish refugees that were shipped out of Germany by Hitler, who considered the Jews disposable. The ship sailed to Cuba but only 30 passengers were able to disembark. The remaining passengers were forbidden to step ashore because their visas were deemed invalid. The ship then set sail for American soil, but after several days was denied entry by the FDR administration for political reasons and turned back to Europe, despite the passengers’ desperate pleas for refuge. After scouring the waters for a safe haven, the passengers were finally welcomed to Antwerp and were dispersed throughout Europe from there. Sadly, only 278 of them survived the Holocaust. The crowd was pleased to have 2 of those survivors, Judith Steele and Eva Weiner, in attendance. Both women traveled quite a distance to participate in this experience.
The director offered an alternative perspective of the Holocaust, choosing not to detail the horrors occurring in Germany and Eastern Europe, but to expose how other countries of the world, although not directly responsible for events of the Holocaust, were complicit in sending hundreds of innocent Jews to their certain deaths. It was shocking to many who were unaware America declined an opportunity to save countless lives. However, many of the survivors did not harbor ill feelings towards America and returned after WW II to begin new lives.
The viewing was followed by a question and answer segment with Judith, Eva and Robert. The women stressed the urgency of always staying vigilant and never forgetting the past events of our history. It was truly an eye-opening experience to hear their positive stories of survival and triumph.
Shaare Shalom thanks Salomon Cohen for organizing the entire event, the first of its kind for Yom HaShoah.
