Holocaust Documentary Filmed at Jewish Home

“Names, Not Numbers” is a documentary that creates a human dimension to the lessons of the Holocaust, builds community between the generations, and preserves first hand accounts. Tova Fish-Rosenberg, a Jewish educator and lecturer here and in Israel, began this project four years ago. She is known as “The New Spielberg” for her innovative film and computer integration in the teaching of Holocaust studies. Eric Spaar, filmmaker and educator, brings his filmmaking, web and computer skills to the project. In this documentary, children from 8th-12th grades studying film and videotaping, are encouraged to share in this experience by interviewing Holocaust survivors and WWII veterans.

On January 14, 2009, four 8th graders, Gabi Berger, Noam Spira, Chantal Levy and Caralyn Glatt, came to the Jewish Home with their teacher Stefa Hasson, to interview a sub-acute resident and her husband, Hilde and Dr. Max Goldberg. Stefa Hasson explained that “her students learned appreciation for the process of historiography, increased understanding of the Holocaust and WWII, interview techniques, enhanced listening skills, as well as technical, organizational and editing skills.” All the children had parents or relatives that were affected by the Holocaust, and were very interested in learning more about it. After their interviews (2 children take turns interviewing and filming), they mentioned that “listening to the person’s memories made it more real.”

The Goldbergs have very interesting stories to tell. Hilde grew up in Amsterdam, and was 15 years old when Hitler marched through Holland in 1940. She was thrown out of school, which pushed her to take a short course in nursing and early childhood education. She then ran a daycare center for children whose parents were taken away (the Nazis brought the children to the center first, before deportation). Hilde worked with the Dutch students’ underground to smuggle the children out before they were to be deported. Hilde’s group saved about 3,000 children during that time.

Hilde was in the Belgian underground with various people, during which time she helped Allied pilots who were shot down, to escape through France and Spain. In the end, Hilde came to Bergen-Belsen, after being liberated with the British forces. She then joined the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, starting a daycare center for orphans and young couples in Bergen-Belsen, which became the center point for refugees.

Max Goldberg was luckier (though he felt guilty that he didn’t suffer like the rest) in that he grew up in Switzerland, a neutral country. He went to university and became a doctor. When the war ended, he volunteered at the same DP camp, where he met Hilde. In August 1947, they went to Switzerland and were married. By October they joined the Israeli Haganah, which desperately needed doctors and nurses. They ended up on the Aliyah Bet transport from Marseilles to Israel, where they joined the Golani Division as medical staff. At the end of the Israel Independence War, they returned to Switzerland, then relocated to the U.S. in 1950. Max was drafted during the Korean War and was sent to Germany to work in a psychiatric hospital. After several more moves and 3 daughters, they settled in NJ. Max commuted to Columbia University’s Psychoanalytic Center, while Hilde became head of the daycare branch of the Children’s Aid & Adoption Society of NJ and pioneered the building of a large network of daycare centers.

You might wonder how they came to be interviewed for this documentary? It so happens that Dr. and Mrs. Goldberg attended a meeting of Holocaust survivors at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. While there, Stefa Hasson was asking everyone if they knew the director of the daycare center at Bergen-Belsen. That is how Hilde Goldberg, the director of the center, and Stefa Hasson, then a 4 year old child in the center, reconnected.

Hilde and Max never shy away from telling and retelling their experiences. They want “to commit history to the children. Time is passing and there are still children who can relate to this story and are curious about it.”

Hilde found the nurses and aides at the Jewish Home “understanding and compassionate,” making her stay here very comfortable. “The physical therapy was helpful and excellent.”

We shared a bit of history here at the Home with this filming, though we really experience it every day. Our residents have very interesting stories to tell us. Thank you to Tova, Eric, Stefa, Hilde and Max Goldberg, and the children for sharing their lives with us.

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