Milcham (2007)

short documentary
9 mins, miniDV, color

“I was happy, but I never felt myself 100% American. I always felt that something was different, and something was missing. And what was so obviously missing, to me, was my family. And slowly I learned that our family is Jewish.”
– Nicole Zador

Milcham is a Hebrew name of the Phoenix bird. The film tells the story of Mrs Endre Akarat (Ani) and her niece, the artist Nicole Zádor. Nicole came to Hungary for the first time in 2003. Her parents had escaped to the USA during the revolution in 1956. When she arrived in Hungary, Nicole started to search for her relatives but she only found a suitcase, full of memories from the second world war. The suitcase had belonged to her Aunt Ani, who had been deported to Auschwitz in 1944 when she was 31 years old. Anni’s suitcase was the only trace of Nicole’s heritage. This documentary reveals the path, laid by the photos and letters contained in the suitcase, that Nicole followed to discover her and her family’s hidden past.

Nicole and her mother at Aunt Ani’s grave in 2008

Made with the help of Nicole Zádor and Éva M. Szentgyörgyi.

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