LA MESA, California – Unbroken is based on the true story of the Weber family that escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated to America. The World War II documentary by Beth Lane explores the areas in Germany where her mother’s family lived and re-traces her family’s stories of survival. This documentary is streamed on Netflix as of April 23 in honor of Yom HaShoah.
Lane arrives in Germany and is taken to the location where her family lived which was rubble. A bomb was dropped on it and the family was saved by the neighboring Catholic family, the Schmits, and stayed in hiding in their basement briefly.
The Webers had seven children together. Alexander Weber was Catholic but converted to Judaism to marry Lina who came from an Orthodox family. At one point during the Nazi reign, Alexander was given the option to divorce Lina and would not be in trouble for being Jewish. He refused. Both parents eventually got arrested and the children were left to fend for themselves.
The Schmits took the children and kept them in-hiding for two years on their farm. During their time in-hiding they were baptized by the Catholic church and were informed their mother Lina, had died in Auschwitz. Lane visits the Catholic church and facetimes her mother Bela to show her the old records of baptisms of all the siblings including her mother. I could feel the the pain of what it took to survive and assimilate into society at that time.
The room the children were hidden in was no bigger than the size of a king-size mattress. At the end of the documentary, a plaque was nailed to the wall that acknowledged the room and its place in history.
The seven Weber children were re-united with their father but since America had barred Germans from entering the United States, the children had to declare both parents had died so they could get placed. Their father made the older children promise to all stay together.
The seven Weber children went to several Displacement Persons (DP) and then to an orphanage where nuns were the caretakers.
Eventually, the seven Weber children boarded the ship to America heading to New York and many pictures and articles were written about them as the seven siblings who survived Nazi Germany.
The Weber children were sent to separate foster homes in Chicago. They were advised to not communicate with each other and to move on from this experience. Bela, being only six years old, was adopted after her father in Germany agreed to give up his parental responsibility.
Alexander Weber eventually was able to immigrate to America with his new family. His daughter Judith was able to get him a job at the University translating German to English.
After 40 years, the siblings re-united in the 1980’s and have remained in close contact with each other.
It was heartwarming to see the siblings together with their grown children and grandchildren filing in the Weber family tree. Of the seven children who escaped Germany, they have over 70 family members.
One of the final scenes of the documentary was of Bela Lane giving a speech at an event in Israel. She stated that even in dark, mean, and terrible times, there are good people out there with big hearts willing to help. She thanked the Schmit’s grandson for his family’s bravery in saving their lives.
As we commemorate and light yahrzeit candles in honor of the six million who perished, it is a time to reflect. These survivors are aging, and their stories should not die with them. I will be watching this again with my teenage twins because it has many talking points that can be related to the present time.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of the San Diego Jewish World.