This documentary follows Norman Salsitz as he returns to his birthplace of Kolbuszowa in Poland. Salsitz, who passed away recently, authored several non-fiction books about growing up in Poland before World War II, surviving the Kolbuszowa ghetto and the German concentration camps, escape and insurgent activity during the War, trying to return home after the War, and later moving to Israel and eventually the US. In addition to becoming a very successful businessman, he dedicated his life to Holocaust education and honoring his Jewish roots in Poland. This film documents his return to visit his parents' home and business, his search for property and friends, his visit to the Kolbuszowa Jewish Cemetery and his recollections of his incredible and horrifying experiences during the War. His daughter and his grandsons accompany him, and their insights and reactions are enlightening. My family is also from Kolbuszowa, and one of my uncles was a good friend and classmate of Norman Salsitz. Another uncle of mine also returned to Kolbuszowa (around 2001) and had very similar experiences feeling alienated by the Polish residents, feeling the loss of the abandoned synagogue, and feeling the despair of visiting the cemetery where his mother (my grandmother) is buried. I visited Kolbuszowa in the summer of 2006. So I am naturally inclined to be sympathetic to this material and emotionally involved in the images. On the other hand, the direction and the cinematography (by the outstanding Albert Maysles) are compelling. What some people might not appreciate is the fact that in the 1920s and 1930s Kolbuszowa's 4,000 citizens were evenly split, half Jews and half non-Jews. The town crest contained the Christian Crucifix, the Jewish Star and two hands shaking. Now sixty years after the War, there are many Jews who cannot bring themselves to even think about their Polish homeland without feeling intense anger and there are many Polish people who feel the need to justify the War time extermination of the Polish Jews as well as their continued expulsion from Poland. This film contains many uncomfortable images, discussions and confrontations, but they educate and illuminate.
