From March ’12 Spotlight: On Feb 2, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie hosted a screening of The World Was Ours: The Jewish Community of Vilna before Its Destruction in World War IIwith special guest Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren. The SRO crowd included several local survivors of the Vilna ghetto who are now ILHEC members.
Narrated by Mandy Patinkin, The World Was Ours is primarily based on footage Van Doren shot in 1993, when she returned to Lithuania to attend the 60th commemoration of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto. But as she explained during the lengthy Q&A session, Van Doren’s film does not dwell on the Nazi period: “I didn’t want to talk about the War. You can already get that from Aviva Kempner’s film Partisans of Vilna. In my film, I wanted to show what was lost.”
DVD copies can be purchased (for home use only) from www.TheVilnaProject.org.
Click HERE to see more photos from this event on the Chicago YIVO Blog.
Top Photo: Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren (on right) after the Q&A. Middle Photo: Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren (left) with Lillian Gerstner (Director of Special Projects, ILHMEC). Photo Credits: Jan Lisa Huttner (2/12/12)
Bottom Photo: Jan & Rich @ Post-Screening Reception (Credit: Stephen Cann)
