No. 4 Street of Our Lady

Year: 2009
Country: USA
Run Time: 90 minutes

Imagine keeping a secret for almost two years, knowing every day that, if discovered, you risked not only your life, but also the lives of the three Jewish families you were hiding from the Nazis. Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman in Sokal, Poland, pretended to be a Nazi sympathizer while she fed, clothed, and kept safe 16 Jews living in the loft above her pigsty and in a crudely dug basement below her home – right under the eyes of German troops and her anti-Semitic neighbors. Even after the war, she told no one what she had done. Or why. Filmmakers Judy Maltz, Barbara Bird, and Richie Sherman bring to light Halamajowa's remarkable effort through historical photos, personal stories of survivors, and the diverse and detailed diary entries of Moshe Maltz, patriarch of one of the two families she hid in the loft. Through his vividly drawn commentaries, we see not only the ups and downs of his family's life during this time, but better understand how the lives of those non-Jews in Sokal, forced to live under Nazi scrutiny, were affected as well. The heart and soul of the documentary, however, are reminisces – some painful, some joyful – among the survivors who returned to their hometown more than 60 years later to reconnect. Uplifting and inspirational documentary that honors the memory of one woman's bravery during the Holocaust. (In English, Hebrew, Polish, Yiddish with subtitles) – C.K.

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