Join us for a special pre-screening of the documentary Sabotage, to stream on Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 6. This will be followed on Sunday, April 6, by a special Talking Memory Program, The Legacy of Women’s Resistance in Auschwitz.

All registrants for the Sunday, April 6, Zoom program will receive the link and code to stream the film.

We recommend watching the film, by Noa Aharoni and produced by Doc.Films, Levi Zini & Avishai Peretz, before attending the Zoom webinar.

Sabotage Film Synopsis:
In January 1945, less than two weeks before the evacuation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, four forced labour women—Estusia Wajcblum, Rosa Robota, Alla Gartner, and Regina Safirstein—were hanged in public after being accused of sabotaging the Nazi war machine. This is an almost unknown story of the women’s underground operation in Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a story of women’s heroism, resistance, and tragedy, told through the eyes of Anna Wajcblum Heilman, Estusia’s sister and the youngest member of the resistance group. In the horrific inferno of Auschwitz, Anna writes a diary describing the dramatic story of the women’s resistance, camaraderie, and friendship.

The Legacy of Women’s Resistance in Auschwitz Talking Memory Zoom Program on Sunday, April 6, 8 PM SAST

This year marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Our programme will focus on the experiences of women in one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps and their place in public memory.

Dr Sarah Cushman, Director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, will explore the deadly environment of Birkenau and how female prisoners struggled to survive. She will examine why armed resistance was rare among women and how they navigated such extreme conditions.

Noa Aharoni, award-winning filmmaker and director of Sabotage, will discuss her documentary about the underground women’s resistance in Auschwitz-Birkenau, which ended in the tragic public hanging of four young Jewish women. She will share insights into the themes of heroism, sacrifice, and hope in her film.

Ariela Heilman, daughter of Auschwitz resistance fighter Anna Heilman (Wajcblum), will share her mother’s story and the fate of her aunt, Estusia Wajcblum, one of the four women executed for their role in sabotaging the Nazi war effort.

Jasmin Ron, Archivist at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, will discuss the life and artwork of Ella Liebermann-Shiber, a German-Jewish painter and Holocaust survivor. Liebermann-Shiber’s paintings document her experiences in the Bedzin Ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau, highlighting the role of art in historical memory.

This programme is presented in partnership with Remember the Women Institute, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, Wagner College Holocaust Centre, and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.