Moving film documentary

Contemporary history that goes deep into everyone’s heart

Waltraud Dennhardt-Herzog with David Joseph (center), Dan Saad and Norbert Blecha in London.(Bild: Terra Film)

The filmmaker Norbert Blecha focuses on Jewish culture. He has now received great acclaim for his latest work. The documentary from Austria about the former Jewish community in Lackenbach became a highly acclaimed international production.

"Today we are here to see a movie that makes us sad." With these words, producer Norbert Blecha calmly opened the premiere of "Lackenbach. Meine Kehillah" in April in the former Kobersdorf synagogue. His new Terra-Film documentary took a profound look into a cruel past - when Lackenbach, once a thriving Jewish community and business center, was brutally robbed of its great culture by the National Socialists.

Those who survived the Holocaust because they managed to flee abroad had their say. And those with deep roots in Lackenbach, such as former Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and Provincial Councillor Heinrich Dorner. In the middle of it all was former Interior Minister Karl Blecha. "It's good that we don't keep quiet about the past, but talk about it," Norbert Blecha remarked. The moving film ended with the names of those murdered - and the message to never allow something like this to happen again.

Former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and producer Norbert Blecha with Dan Saad and David Joseph in front of the synagogue in Kobersdorf at the premiere of Terra-Film's original documentary.(Bild: Grammer Karl)

Great praise at presentation in London
The Terra-Film documentary from Austria has received great international attention. With the support of the Austrian embassy and the red-white-red cultural institute with Waltraud Dennhardt-Herzog in London, Blecha filmed the documentary anew in English. The masterpiece has now received boundless acclaim at the presentation in Great Britain. David Joseph, who played a key role in the original documentary as well as author and initiator Dan Saad, was also impressed. The mother of the later British Crown Prosecutor had once made it from Lackenbach via Vienna to London in a Kindertransport to escape the horror: "The documentary is an invaluable contribution to the work of remembrance."