Spotlight on CLAL

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"Luboml: My Heart Remembers" -- A Documentary Film by Ron Steinman and Eileen Douglas

 

By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs

 

On June 13, 2002, the world premiere of the documentary film, Luboml: My Heart Remembers, cosponsored by CLAL, the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Manhattan, and the Aaron Ziegelman Foundation, was held at the JCC.  The film, produced by Ron Steinman, former NBC News Bureau Chief (Saigon, Hong Kong and London), and Eileen Douglas, former 1010 WINS news radio anchor, brings to life the vibrant Jewish shtetl in Poland that was destroyed by the Holocaust in 1942.   Through the use of more than 2,000 photographs gathered by the Aaron Ziegelman Foundation, the film depicts the warmth and intimacy of the everyday life of Luboml’s streets, markets, stores, workshops, schools, homes and families.    

“Luboml was just one town, one of thousands of shtetlach, in which the sense of communal responsibility was palpable,” said CLAL faculty member Rabbi Daniel Brenner, who led the discussion following the screening. “ But this film proves that by getting to know one community intimately, we understand both the enormity of the loss and the reason why so many people still treasure their days in the shtetl.” 

The Jewish community of Luboml, one of the oldest in Poland, dating back to the fourteenth century, enjoyed a measure of autonomy in the mid-1920s.  Modern improvements reached the town, with paved roads, sidewalks and electricity.  Central to Jewish life was the Great Synagogue, built in the seventeenth century. 

But in the early decades of the twentieth century, many of Luboml’s families joined the mass migration to the United States and to other countries to seek greater opportunity. Aaron Ziegelman’s family was one of them.  Of the thousands of Jews that stayed in Luboml, only 51 survived the Holocaust. 

Through Mr. Ziegelman’s dedication, persistence and vision, he collected the pictures, documents, photographs, and other artifacts of Luboml and its inhabitants to keep the memory of the town alive.  His research included contacting dozens of families scattered throughout the world, and formed the basis for an exhibit as well as the current documentary.    

In addition to the presence of Mr. Ziegelman, who is a CLAL board member, a high point of the evening was the introduction of three former residents of Luboml.  In a moving tribute to the town, they talked about the perfect vision of life and community caring that governed their world. 

“Luboml: My Heart Remembers is such a beautiful, joyous and bittersweet film,” said Rabbi Brenner.  “Watching this documentary together with people who spent their childhood in Luboml is a testament to memory and humanity’s ability to reclaim lost worlds through story. 

In September, the film is scheduled to appear on PBS-TV.   The photographs will be sent to the Library of Congress.

 

    



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