Where are you going? (Lean At Nosaat?)
dir. Jasmine Kainy, Israel, 2023, 71 min
Halina Birenbaum, Holocaust survivor and world known author, is joined (half-heartedly) for the first time by her son, Yakov Gilad, a famous Israeli songwriter, on her annual journey to Poland. Halina Birenbaum, Holocaust survivor, writer and activist, visits Poland every year. This time she is joined (half-heartedly) for the first time by her son, Yakov Gilad, a famous Israeli songwriter. During the tour Yakov finally has the opportunity to better understand the lifelong trauma haunting his mother. He also makes new discoveries about the Jewish-Polish connection and the Israeli establishment’s treatment of Holocaust survivors. When the war broke out, Halina Birenbaum was 10 years old. She survived the Warsaw Ghetto, Majdanek, Auschwitz, the death marches and Ravensbruck. In 1947, she fled anti-Semitism to Palestine. Now over 90 years old, Halina Birenbaum vividly describes the nightmarish experiences of her childhood and her difficult but unwavering love for Poland.