After release by American and Russian soldiers into the woods and on the streets of Germany at the close of World War II, these women struggled at times with new found freedoms, but eventually, in gradual transformations, could claim victory over fear, brutality, and starvation.
Testaments to their miracles of human perseverance, persistence, and sheer drive are understated descriptions of these pioneers.
That the movie was a long time in production is not surprising given the years the directors/producers/researchers must have spent searching for film to match the ladies' stories, and they found them!
After you get out of prison and are set free, where do you go to look for your parents? Or your brother? Or cousins or old friends?
One woman made it back to her home town on foot to find her family's house occupied by a new family who wore her family's clothing.
About 75 percent of Holocaust victims who lived were the only members of their families to survive.
One of the women cautions at the end: It can happen again, and it is happening, in Sudan and other places. Large numbers of skeptics deny the existence of the Holocaust. Violence, intolerance, and discrimination against those who may differ from you and from me are found every day in the news.
At Rotten Tomatoes the film's score is 100%.
Photographs and brief biographical sketches of the film's six women, some of whom are deceased, may be found at the movie's website here.
They are:
Eva (Schick) Beckmann, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia
Rena (Honigman) Drexler, born in Sosnowiec, Poland
Renee (Weinfeld) Firestone, born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia
Erika (Engel) Jacoby, born in Miscolc, Hungary
Lili (Nutkowicz) Majzner, born in Lodz, Poland
Linda (Scheffer) Sherman, born in Amsterdam, Holland
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