''The Boys of Buchenwald'' is a 2002 documentary film produced by

Paperny Films Paperny Entertainment Inc. (previously known as Paperny Films) was a Vancouver-based producer of television programming and films, ranging from character-driven documentaries to provocative comedy to quirky reality shows. It was founded by David ...

that examines how the child survivors of the

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

had to integrate themselves back into normal society after having experienced the brutality of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. The documentary features interviews with the survivors, including Elie Wiesel.

Plot

Over four hundred orphans from Buchenwald were sent to an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

in Écouis,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where they were educated and cared for. The documentary follows the orphans, who are now old men, as they re-unite on the 55th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald by the American army. The now-elderly men all agree that their friendships in the orphanage made the tremendous losses they suffered more manageable. "I had just lost my father, and I had witnessed my brother's murder right next to me", one survivor says, addressing his best friend. "And then I met you. You were a godsend." The inhuman treatment they had received in the concentration camps meant the boys needed to re-learn how to live in society. The boys of Buchenwald spent their childhoods surrounded by terror and death, and, as a result, they were rebellious against authority, full of anger, and under-educated. In fact, society viewed child survivors as damaged goods who would go on to become

psychopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...

s. The boys had to re-learn everything — even their meals proved challenging. Their extreme hunger and inexperience with ordinary behavior had robbed them of table manners. They threw food, shoved it in their pockets to save for later, and gorged themselves, clearing their plates in a matter of minutes. With the help of benevolent guardians, who gave consistent discipline, the boys slowly re-learned how to behave. Once it was time to leave the orphanage, and go out on their own, many of the boys moved to Australia or

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to distance themselves from their awful pasts. There, they established homes and careers near one another, so that they could still come together for meals and

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

Awards

*Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest International Film Festival in April 2004 *Bronze World Medal at The New York Festival in January 2004

References

External links

* *
Paperny Films Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boys Of Buchenwald, The 2002 television films 2002 films Canadian short documentary films 2002 short documentary films National Film Board of Canada documentaries Documentary films about Jews and Judaism Documentary films about children in the Holocaust Buchenwald concentration camp * 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films Canadian documentary television films English-language documentary films

Plot

Awards

See also

References

External links