Film and Survivor Talkback

Fredy Hirsch was a German Jew and openly gay man in Nazi Germany. After the Nuremberg Laws were passed, at 19 years old, he fled to the Czech Republic where he became a sports teacher in a Jewish youth club. Upon his deportation to Theresienstadt, he was appointed head of the youth department, teaching and working with more than 4,000 children. In Auschwitz, his sexuality was known and he was much admired. In his final days there, he continued his work caring for youth. Dear Fredy combines interviews, archival materials and animation to bring this remarkable story to light, seeking to reveal the mystery of his death on the eve of a revolt that never came to pass (74 minutes, Hebrew, English, Czech with English subtitles, 2017).

A talkback with Czech Holocaust survivor Vera Schiff, who knew Fredy Hirsch in Prague and Theresienstadt, moderated by Neuberger Managing Director Dr. Carson Phillips, follows the screening.