International Day of liberation of the Nazi concentration camps is a memorable date, celebrated annually on 11 April. By the date, Word of the Righteus project presents shorts about Ukrainian Righteous among the Nations.

The “Word of the Righteous” documentary film is made to preserve a living memory of the horrors and valor during World War II in Ukraine.

In the Nazi occupation of Ukraine between 1941 and 1944, more than 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were brutally murdered and exterminated. The Nazis also executed those who saved the lives of Jewish people or tried to help them.

People who risked themselves and their families by saving the Jews, received from the State of Israel the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”. Officially In Ukraine there are more than 2,500 people with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. However, many stories of heroic salvation are still not known to the world, because the Soviet totalitarian authorities hid the truth about the Holocaust in Ukraine.

Our heroes are the Righteous Among the Nations, and they tell their fascinating, sincere, heart-breaking and fearless stories of saving lives in the darkest times. Filmmakers have filmed the interviews with the living Righteous Among the Nations from Kiev, Vinnitsa, Lvivska oblast.

Filmmakers' initiative is critically important for preserving history of the Jewish people in Israel and in Ukraine. Although since 1991 some testimonies of the Righteous Among the Nations and Holocaust Witnesses in Ukraine have been collected, there are very few full-length videos and feature films on this subject in public access. Some Righteous Among the Nations had never been interviewed before. In the documentary film organizers will also talk about the Righteous Among the Nations, who received the status of the Righteous Among the Nations posthumously in 2016-2017, their stories are absolutely unknown to the world.

Film supported by The World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem (Jerusalem, Israel), BYHMC (Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center), Genesis Philanthropy Group, Ukr.net, Ukrgazbank, xPr, and private donors.

Filmmakers:
Svitlana Levitas – author of idea, director;
Margarita Yakovleva – film producer and director;
Dmytro Malka – director of montage;
Petro Dedula, Ivan Fedorych, Oleksandr Kozatchenko – operators;
Julia Sobetska - composer.

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