Film
The Holocaust marks a clear dividing line between jews and non-jews. we will live forever is the cinematic portrayal of the contact of these two worlds, as it has taken place in the concerts of gojim (Non-Jews). With the songs of the ghetto of Wilna - this time sung by men and women from Austria and Germany - personal history comes alive again. A dialogue spanning generations and cultures arises. A dialogue between human beings who have touched one another.
we will live forever sets out for the traces of the former centre of the enlightened culture of East European Jewry in Wilna, the “Jerusalem of Lithuania”. With the German invasion on the 22nd of June 1941 this culture has been extinguished. From 80.000 Jewish men and women having lived in Wilna, only 2000 survived the holocaust.
While the non-jewish Viennese band gojim looks for the musical traces of this extinguished culture, we get a very personal view of the era through the testimony of witnesses of this time. On behalf of the many who were silenced forever, they tell stories about childhood, youth and resistance in and around the ghetto of Wilna.
we will live forever brings alive again the songs, originated in the ghetto of Wilna - this time sung by gojim. When hearing ‘their’ songs after such a long time – performed by native Austrians and Germans - personal history comes alive again for the witnesses of that culture.
A dusky street in the suburb of Tel Aviv. A man shuffles down the street. He reaches the portal of the Wilna House. Busy life inside: old people welcoming one another. Among them: young people. Speaking German. They are talking about their music group, asking questions, listening. It is all about music. About the human beings who once created and sang those songs and who are not alive anymore today. About Jewish history, about surviving.
Later the old ones are sitting close to each other in a small hall. Their eyes facing the stage in expectation. You hear a voice starting to sing: ‘Wilne’. This jewish song is touching the audience deeply. We see old faces telling history. Memories coming alive again. The journey of time begins...
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