What was originally supposed to be a movie meant to be kept in the family is now being shown in film festivals, including the Catalina Film Festival in California that took place from Sept. 20 to 24 and the Big Apple Film Festival that took place from Nov. 3 to 9 in New York City. The film was nominated for an award.
The film, Stories For My Children’s Children: Lessons From The Holocaust, centers Sarah Putter Rolnick, a Woodmere resident whose parents survived the Holocaust. Her son, Daniel Rolnick, who now lives in Lynbrook, had tried to make a film with his iPhone, but he ended up reaching out to movie director Christopher Wells, originally from Glen Cove, who had done documentaries before.
“They just wanted to keep the film for the family,” Wells said. “But when I read the notes of where this was going to go, I said well I think other people need to see this.”
Inside her home, Putter Rolnick shares the stories of her parents, displaying photos and documents she has, in an hour long film.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Rolnick said, later adding “Every time it connects with people, we feel really good about it.”
Putter-Rolnick’s mother, Genowefa Pioro, spent more than two years of her life living inside a barn, cellar and attic of a farmhouse 40 miles from Kraków, Poland with her family due to the generosity of the Oshika family.
“It’s not, remember the Holocaust, it’s about, remember to be good to each other,” Rolnick said. “Remember that everybody is a human. It’s about remembering that in the face of evil and horror, even one person can make a difference, and so that’s what we want people to remember.”
And while Pioro and her family may have stayed safe from the Nazi regime, they certainly suffered while they were in hiding from Nov. 8, 1942 until Jan. 20, 1945. They hid in different areas of the farm depending on the time of day and season, and often slept during the day in uncomfortable conditions. They used a chamber pot as a toilet, a bucket of water to clean themselves, and food was sparse. They had no way of connecting to loved ones. There was a constant fear of being discovered. In fact, during a routine search of the countryside, a Nazi was one hay bale away from finding the family inside the barn.
Rolnick, after graduating college, had the opportunity to visit the farm where his grandmother was hid, and meet with the family there.
“The whole trip was incredible, because some of it was physically challenging because I didn’t speak Polish and they didn’t speak English, but through lots of desire to communicate, we had a great two days,” Rolnick said. “Personally, it was emotionally overwhelming, just to think about the suffering they went through.”
Putter Rolnick’s father, Roman Putter, lived in Poland and had served in the army, as did his brother. Before the war, Putter was married (not to Genowefa Pioro) and had two sons. In March of 1943, the Nazis came to “relocate” the Putter family when their older son was 10 and younger son was about four or five. They separated Putter’s wife and youngest son as he tried to intervene, but the soldier smashed Putter’s face with his rifle. Putter, his older son, his brother and sister-in-law were together in a camp in Kraków from March of 1943 to December of 1943, when Putter’s son was taken away. Putter, his brother and sister-in-law, who were then moved to other camps, survived the war, but his wife, two sons and nephew did not, in addition to six other family members who did not survive.
After the war, the Pioro family was unable to return home, so they went to Kraków, as did Putter. Pioro and Putter ended up meeting in September of 1945, and quickly got married. They moved to a displaced persons camp and lived there from the fall of 1945 to June of 1949.
Putter Rolnick was born in July of 1946, and in June of 1949, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the USS General Mueller, an American troop ship.
Later in life, Putter Rolnick came to learn that her father survived because he was a “Schindler Jew,” meaning he was a part of roughly 1,200 Jewish people who were saved by Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust. Because of his intervention, this group was afforded protected status as industrial workers.
In the process of making the film, Wells said Putter Rolnick was nervous, so he’d have her look at her son, Rolnick, while she was talking.
“Sarah is a little bit of a celebrity at these festivals because she’s such a sweet person, and everyone loves her and recognizes her,” Wells said.
The film was shot over four days, one day for B-Roll. The editing process took three-and-a-half months.
To follow the film and keep up to date with future screenings, click here.
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