This symbolic moment is captured in the documentary feature, “Back to Berlin”, which follows eleven modern day motor bikers on a mission to carry the Maccabiah torch, and fly the Israeli flag from Tel Aviv to Berlin.
This is the first biker flick-meets-holocaust feature documentary. Eleven motor bikers’ mission is to take the Maccabiah torch from Israel to the site of Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics. Our riders, like the Nazis’ torch relay for the 1936 Olympics, carry their torch from Athens to Berlin but this time take a detour via Auschwitz.
As resurgent populism and anti-Semitism once again rear their ugly heads, this film brings an important message through the voices of those who have been personally affected by one of the darkest pages in human history. This isn’t simply a “Jewish” story. It is the story of people overcoming the worst from fellow man to restate our common humanity.
ABOUT
They will retrace the heroic journeys of the original 1930s’ Maccabiah riders and discover how they or their families survived the Holocaust.
As descendents of stateless Holocaust survivors - they will proudly fly their flag through 9 European countries where 6 million European Jews were annihilated by the Nazis, the Arrow Cross, the Romanian Iron Guard and their sympathizers.
As the journey progresses they try to free themselves from the shackles of the past only finding solace on their powerful motorbikes. As their smiles turn to tears and anger, their relationships within the group shift and are challenged. It is only their determination and humour that propels them to deliver their torch for the Opening Ceremony for the European Games.
On their journey they discover tiny pockets of frightened Jews from Saloniki in Greece - where they once thrived - to Berlin. For those who know little about the Holocaust, BACK TO BERLIN is above all, educational.
ATTITUDE TO JEWS IN 2023
4,161,578,905
1,090,000,000
THEN
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1939
In 1939, out of the 9.5 million Jewish population in Europe, it is estimated that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust by 1945**
**Statistic from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1287892/holocaust-jewish-deaths-by-location/
2020
In a recent survey, 23% of young adults believe the Holocaust was a myth or has been exaggerated. And of those surveyed, 49% have seen Holocaust denial online***
***Statistic from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/16/holocaust-us-adults-study
NOW
