The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE) will hold its annual Operation Barbarossa Commemoration and screen the film “Wunderkinder.”
The commemoration will take place on Monday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the social hall at the Jewish Community Campus. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required at mchekc.org/operation-barbarossa-commemoration-registration.
June 22, 1941 marked the start of Operation Barbarossa, codename for the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, and it became a turning point in the Nazi policy of annihilation of the Jews of Europe. Before any of the killing centers became operational, thousands of Jews had already been murdered by bullets in the fields, forests and ravines of the former Soviet Union. Men, women and children were led right outside the towns in which they lived, murdered before the eyes of their neighbors and buried in mass graves, many of which remain unmarked to this day.
“Wunderkinder,” which takes place during the Nazi invasion, tells a tale of three exceptionally musically talented children who develop a deep and genuine friendship extending beyond their different religions and nationalities. The two Jewish children, Larissa and Abrascha, are both virtuosos — one on the piano and the other on the violin. Hanna, a young German girl, is also extremely gifted. Living in Poltava/Ukraine in 1941, they all share one great love: music. Their world is one of curiosity, joy and talent. But when the Nazis invade the Soviet Union, they and their families face mortal peril.
The film will be introduced by MCHE’s Dr. Melissa Karp.
Support for this program is provided by the Lowenstein Family Supporting Foundation and the Lon and Suzy Lowenstein Charitable Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, which support MCHE’s efforts to educate through film.
