28 January 2025, 7.30pm at the Arenberg Theatre
The Shoah was particularly devastating in Antwerp, where many of the local authorities were zealous. In the summer of 1942, the Antwerp authorities collaborated with the German occupiers to arrest and deport over 10,000 Jews, very few of whom survived. Pupils from the Lycée Royal set out to explore this painful period by meeting descendants of the Jewish victims, as well as the police officers involved. As in The Interview (about Afghan refugees) and Lost in Transition (about a lost generation in Serbia), Thom Vander Beken blends past and present, trauma and silence, acknowledging responsibility and shirking it. The film is being screened to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the presence of the director. The film was made in partnership with the Kazerne Dossin and the Vredescentrum.