Reckonings

Southeast US Premiere

They met in secret to negotiate the unthinkable – compensation for the survivors of the largest mass genocide in history. After the war, Holocaust survivors were in urgent need of help, but how could reparations be determined for the unprecedented destruction and suffering of an entire people? Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman (MJFF Audience Award-winning films Who Will Write Our History and Above and Beyond), Reckonings recounts this untold, true of the tense negotiations between Jewish and German leaders that resulted in the 1952 Luxembourg Agreement. Under threats of violence, German and Jewish leaders met in a hidden castle near The Hague to secure an acknowledgment of the genocide and advance the reparations proposal as the first step towards healing. This riveting documentary brings these moments to life through dramatized scenes and interviews with historians, as well as Ben Ferencz, the one surviving participant, who had previously served as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

The special premiere event will feature a panel discussion with Producer Karen Heilig, Executive Vice President of the Claim Conference Greg Schneider, and Holocaust Historian Michael Berenbaum.