ID

FBW002874      Documentary

Country / Year

Germany, 1999

Original Title

Herr Zwilling und Frau Zuckermann

Other Title(s)

Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann

Directed by

Volker Koepp

Produced by

Vineta Film; for Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) / Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Köln

Staff

Script: Volker Koepp, Barbara Frankenstein; Camera: Thomas Plenert; Assistent cameraman: Lars Lenski, Michael Loewenberg; Editing: Angelika Arnold; Sound: Uve Haußig; Mixing: Hartmut Eichgrün

Mentioned

Paul Celan

Subject

[Frau] Zuckermann; [Herr] Zwilling

Length

126'

Format

35mm/farbe/1:1,66

Dates

- 16 Feb 1999: Premiere, Berlin (49. Internationale Filmfestspiele, Kino 7, 29. Internationales Forum des Jungen Films)

Abstract

Czernowitz. It was once the centre of Jewish culture in the Bukowina, a border area characterized over centuries by a multi-cultural mixture of people. In Czernowitz, where temporarily half the population was Jewish, only a few survived deportations into Transnistria's camps ordered by the Germans and Romanians in 1941. The film focuses on Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann, two of the last few Jews born in the old Czernowitz. They share a friendship but also their love for the German language. Mr. Zwilling visits 90-year-old Mrs. Zuckermann daily in the early hours of the evening. They talk about about shared events in the past, about politics and literature and the worries of everyday life. The life story of these two people contains all the miseries of this century. The film combines their memories and episodes from Jewish life in contemporary Czernowitz.

Subject Terms

1940-1949; 1990-1999; Chernivtsi; Survivors of the Holocaust; Jews; Persecution of the Jews; Extermination of the Jews; Camps; Romanians; Ukraine