Leon Schwarzbaum was born in Hamburg in 1921. He was 23 when he and his companions in grief were liberated by the Allies whilst on a death march from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Schwerin at the end of the Second World War. As one of the few surviving contemporary witnesses, Schwarzbaum speaks first and foremost to young people about his experiences and the horrors of the National Socialists’ extermination policy.
ZEITZEUGENGESPRÄCH
A contemporary witness to an entire century; Leon “Henry” Schwarzbaum turned 100 in February. Volker Schlöndorff speaks to survivors of the Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, posing questions formulated by trainee workers and schoolchildren from Brandenburg.
Credits
original title ZEITZEUGENGESPRÄCH
international title ZEITZEUGENGESPRÄCH
german title ZEITZEUGENGESPRÄCH
JFBB section KINO FERMISHED
country/countries DE
year 2021
duration 138 Min
screenplay Volker Schlöndorff, Andreas H.E. Kimmel
director of photography Paul Schmidt, Ben Decker, Michael Weigand
sound Christian Wagner
music Max Doehlemann, Katharina Elisabeth Schmitz, Alina Gelfond
editing Andreas Schumacher, Paul Schmidt
producer Volker Schlöndorff, Andreas H.E. Kimmel
production company Hauptstadt TV, PRO BRANDENBURG e.V., PROGRESSIVE JÜDISCHE GEMEINDE MICHELSBERG e.V.