What is the legacy of a number indelibly tattooed on the arm of an Auschwitz survivor? How does this ever-present reminder affect memory of the past and the shape of one’s future? These are two of the questions explored in NUMBERED, an award-winning documentary which will be streamed April 1-7 in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The film is also part of Jewish Federation New Mexico’s State-wide commemoration on April 7.
Auschwitz and its sub-camps were the only German concentration camps in World War II to tattoo its prisoners. Numbers were assigned to 400,000 inmates with tattooing beginning in 1941. It was part of a process to dehumanize Jews and other groups, branding them like cattle. Auschwitz was liberated in 1945, and few survivors are alive today. NUMBERED is a rare opportunity to hear their stories in their own words and voices.
Among the testimonies are those of a survivor who uses his number as a basis for computer security codes, another who views it as a proud badge of courage and survival, and a daughter who chooses to have her father’s number tattooed on her body to keep his memory alive. These testimonies, filmed against stark black backgrounds, recall the darkness of the past and the resilience of the human spirit.
NUMBERED is a co-presentation with Federation and in association with the Center for Contemporary Arts.
Leslie Nathanson & Hervey Juris and Noreen and David Perlmutter.
