Dear Fredy

Description: Fredy Hirsch was born in Germany in 1916. His father died when he was young and his depressive mother abandoned him and his brother soon afterwards. Perhaps this painful experience made him keen on working with children. A talented gymnast, he was prevented from competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics due of his Jewish heritage. He trained as a sports instructor and started working with orphans. Although he had an opportunity to escape to Bolivia with the rest of his family, he chose to remain in Germany and later move to Czechoslovakia. In Brno he accepted a position as a counsellor with the Maccabi Youth Movement.

Hirsch was a gay man who lived with his partner. When challenged by his superior, he acknowledged his homosexuality but promised that he would be never become involved with any student. Conditions for Jews steadily worsened. Hirsch was eventually transported to Terezin Ghetto and thence to Auschwitz. There young children were normally exterminated on arrival. However, Jewish families that arrived from Terezin were segregated. They were kept alive in case they were needed to be produced for inspections by international monitors. Hirsch was able to persuade Dr Josef Mengele to permit him to set up a daycare centre for youths and children. On the eve of an attempted inmate rebellion which Hirsch was convinced would lead to the death of all the children, he overdosed on sleeping pills.

Merits: Interviews with Hirsch’s surviving students, all of whom aware of his homosexuality, attest to their fondness and affection for him. These are richly supplemented with archival footage, traditional illustrated animation and still images animated using Adobe After Effects. As the story is told chronologically it is unfortunate that, roughly 12 minutes into the film, Hirsch’s niece reveals that he killed himself. Nevertheless, Dear Fredy remains a rare, moving and important historical testament of queer Jewish life.

Rating: LGBT theme. Reference to suicide.

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