Born Twice
In 1943, when the Nazis transported his family and hundreds of Belgian Jews to Auschwitz, Simon Gronowski’s mother pushed him off the train.
The 11-year-old Simon made his way back to Brussels through a series of perilous adventures, went into hiding until liberation, and then tried to rebuild his life without his parents and his sister.
He says that if he had known he would never see his mother again, he would not have jumped from the train.
Eighty-three years later, Simon is a lawyer defending the vulnerable, performing with his own jazz band, and playing with Woody Allen’s orchestra in New York. He speaks in schools and communities about democracy, the dangers of the far right, and forgiveness.
In his deeply moving talks, he explains why he remained silent about his story for 60 years.
His friends wanted to enjoy life, not hear yet another tragic story from the war.
He himself carries guilt: why did he survive, when so many others perished in the Holocaust?
The Documentary
The story and life of this remarkable man are captured in “Born Twice”, the new documentary by Stelios Kouloglou.
The music is composed by Panagiotis Kalantziopoulos, whose mother,
Rachel Hassid-Kalantziopoulou, was a survivor of the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The Friendship with Koenraad Tinel
Simon’s closest friend is the anti-fascist artist Koenraad Tinel, the youngest son of a notorious Belgian collaborator.
His father was sentenced to death after the end of the Occupation, as were Koenraad’s two older brothers who had served in the SS. In the end, however, none of them were executed.
Koenraad carries the burden of his family’s guilt. He never had the chance to ask his father to explain his devotion to Hitler. In front of the camera, the two friends raise the question:
Is it better to be the son of a Nazi, or the son of someone who lost his family to the Nazis?
One of Koenraad’s brothers defended Hitler’s bunker in Berlin.
The other was Simon’s guard at the Brussels transit camp — the man who led him, along with his mother, onto the train to Auschwitz.
This brother later asks Simon for forgiveness. Koenraad does not believe his older brother has truly repented. Simon is called upon to decide, in a deeply moving film about memory, forgiveness, and the unlikely friendship between two men divided by History.
Credits
- Written & Directed by: Stelios Kouloglou
- Editing: Gogo Bebelou
- Music: Panagiotis Kalantziopoulos
Camera
- Xenofon Vardaros
- Andreas Loukakos
- Akis Adamakopoulos
Additional Camera: Cécile Guipin
Research
- Janine Louloudi
- Nikos Michos
Producers
- Antigoni Rota
- Leonidas Liabeis – LONG RUN PRODUCTIONS
Additional Music
- Ilias Kampanis
Sound Design
- Karolos Berachas
Dolby Mastering
- Anastasios Katsaris
Color Grading & DCP
- Dimitris Karteris
A production of tvxs.gr
