WHY NOW?

“My Underground Mother” is one of the only documentaries that addresses Holocaust sexual trauma and agency, and that gives women survivors the platform to tell their stories in their own voices.

The echoes of the past are loud, from the rise of hate and antisemitism, which surged 360% in the months following October 7th, to attacks on women’s rights and bodies, which are reminiscent of Nazis' targeting of Weimar-era reproductive and sexual freedom in Germany. Though Hamas’ mass rape on October 7th has been documented, it is being denied, just like sexual violence perpetrated against Jewish women and girls was discounted during and after the Holocaust.

Today, Jewish civilians find themselves in the crosshairs of the far right and the far left. There are calls to boycott Israeli authors, journalists, artists and cultural institutions from the far left, and the far right has banned Holocaust and Jewish books and promoted conspiracy theories blaming Jews for creating the migrant crisis, illnesses like COVID and for controlling secret levers of power in government and media. History has shown that widespread antisemitism, which thrives on scapegoating others, erodes democracy. Threats against Jews often leads to attacks against other groups, particularly women. The ADL considers misogyny a dangerous and underestimated component of extremism today that results in a rollback of women’s rights and sexual violence. Genocide scholars consider threats to women of a targeted community to be a precursor to genocide.

On the eve of the 80th anniversary of liberation, it’s time to listen to and learn from our subjects.

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