Award-winning Holocaust documentary UnBroken, which tells the story of seven Jewish siblings who survived Nazi Germany together, will make its Czech premiere at Prague’s Edison Filmhub on Sept. 25.
Director Beth Lane will attend the Prague screening, which is being held in conjunction with the opening of Rescuers of Children, a new exhibition at the National Pedagogical Museum examining people who risked their lives to protect children and other vulnerable groups during the Holocaust.
The connection between the film and exhibition is especially direct. Among the stories featured by the Prague museum are Paula and Arthur Schmidt, German farmers who hid Lane’s mother, Ginger, and her six siblings for two years during World War II. Their actions form a central part of UnBroken.
Seven siblings survive the Holocaust together
Written, directed and produced by Lane, UnBroken traces the experiences of the seven Weber siblings, a Jewish family who survived the Holocaust together before emigrating from Germany to the United States as refugees in 1946.
The children were hidden for two years on a farm about 60 kilometers east of Berlin by Paula and Arthur Schmidt, who were later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, an honor given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
A photograph of the seven Weber siblings is now part of the permanent collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. According to the filmmakers, they are the only known family of seven Jewish siblings to have survived the Holocaust and emigrated together.
Lane approaches their history from an unusually personal perspective: She is the daughter of Ginger Lane, one of the siblings, who is now 86. Through firsthand testimony, UnBroken examines not only the family’s survival but also the effects of those experiences across subsequent generations.
The documentary premiered at the Heartland International Film Festival in 2023, where it won the award for Best Documentary Feature Premiere. It has since screened at museums, festivals and cultural institutions internationally, including the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw.
In July, UnBroken had its German premiere at the Lichtbrücke International Human Rights Film Festival in Dachau, where it received the festival’s inaugural prize for human rights in film. Its Prague screening will mark the film’s first presentation to a Czech audience.
Prague exhibition focuses on those who rescued children
The Czech premiere coincides with the National Pedagogical Museum’s new Rescuers of Children exhibition, which explores individual acts of assistance during World War II and the Holocaust.
Using selected personal stories, the exhibition examines people who helped children and other persecuted groups, whether acting independently or through underground organizations. It also explains the process through which Yad Vashem recognizes Righteous Among the Nations.
The exhibition was created as a complement to the museum’s existing Childhood Under the Swastika, but organizers say it can also be presented independently. A traveling version is planned for schools and other institutions in both physical and digital formats.
Marie Fiřtová of the National Pedagogical Museum said Lane’s visit underscores the importance of connecting historical events with individual experiences and preserving those stories for future generations.
For Lane, the inclusion of Paula and Arthur Schmidt in the Prague exhibition provides a direct link between her family history and the Czech premiere of UnBroken.
“To see Paula and Arthur Schmidt’s story now held inside the National Pedagogical Museum’s opening of its exhibit ‘Rescuers of Children,’ here in Prague, built to teach the next generation about courage, is exactly the kind of legacy for which our family has hoped,” Lane said in a statement.
UnBroken will have its Czech premiere at Edison Filmhub in Prague on Friday, Sept. 25, with Lane attending in person.
