A film produced by three CUNY professors tells the true story of a German town’s efforts to reconcile with descendants of local Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis.
The three professors are Elisabeth Gareis, who teaches communication studies at Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences; Ryoya Terao, who teaches video production at City Tech, and Vinit Parmar, who teaches film at Brooklyn College.
The film, 13 Jewish Driver’s Licenses – 13 Jewish Fates, recounts the discovery in 2017 of 13 driver’s licenses that had been confiscated from Jews in the Nazi era. The licenses were found in the basement of a county office in Lichtenfels, a small town in Bavaria. In 2018, a local high school history teacher had his students research the license-holders’ fates, and they determined that five of the Jews and their families were murdered in the Holocaust. But eight had survived, fleeing to Israel, Argentina, and the U.S. Later that year, some of the survivors’ descendants returned to Lichtenfels to receive their forebears’ licenses.
Professor Gareis, a native of Lichtenfels, happened to see a newspaper article about the project while visiting her hometown. She befriended one of the descendants, Lisa Salko, after seeing Ms. Salko’s presentation on the endeavor back in the U.S. When the German Consulate in New York approached Ms. Salko about making a film, she enlisted Professor Gareis, who readily agreed to help.
“The return to Germany and the descendants’ reception in Lichtenfels is a story of remembrance and reconciliation,” Professor Gareis said. “The descendants remain in contact with the teacher and students, and have formed friendships.”
Professor Gareis served as associate producer, getting permission from Lichtenfels officials for onsite filming, scouting locations, researching local Jewish history, identifying historians and “Zeitzeugen” — contemporary witnesses — to interview, collaborating on what to ask, and conducting the interviews in English and German. “In short,” she said, “my role is based on my knowledge of German, my familiarity with the town, and my academic expertise in intercultural communication and intercultural friendship.”
Professor Gareis also helped put together the rest of the filmmaking team. She’s married to Professor Terao, who knows Lichtenfels from their many visits there and who directed the movie. His frequent production partner, Professor Parmar, had coincidentally been living in Germany and served as producer and sound manager. Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Mark Raker did the camera work.
The film was shot over the summer of 2021 and is now in post-production. It will be submitted to film festivals in 2022 and will be shown on the German Consulate’s website in addition to other screening venues. The consulate funded the project along with the County of Lichtenfels and the Koinor Foundation.
The short film will focus on the students’ and teacher’s work, but Professor Gareis says that “will not be enough to do justice to the topic. A longer film on the Jewish experience in my hometown is also in the planning once the short film has been released. We have already started filming some timely footage for the longer film, including footage with children of Holocaust survivors from Lichtenfels, who are now in their late 80s and 90s.”
