Shadows from My Past

SHADOWS FROM MY PAST explores the mixed emotions of Gita Kaufman, an American Jewish woman, upon her return to Vienna, the city from which she escaped as a child in 1940, on the day she and her family were to be deported to Dachau. Invited by the Bruno Kreisky Foundation to do a reading of desperate letters her relatives had sent from 1939 – 1941 begging her American relatives to save their children, Gita went searching for the missing parts of her own past. Seeking answers to questions of moral ambiguity, she interviewed contemporary Austrians such asKurt Waldheim, Simon Wiesenthal, Joerg Haider, President Heinz Fischer and others, trying to see if modern day Austria has really changed and shedding light on the degree to which Austrians are struggling to teach the truth to their children.

Co-produced by epo-film, Vienna. Dieter Pochlatko, co-producer.