Return to Auschwitz: The Survival of Vladimir Munk

Vladimir Munk is the perfect protagonist. When I first met Vladimir, a Czech Holocaust survivor and retired university professor, I connected with him immediately. I shot an interview with him that lasted four hours and I knew then that his story needed to be told. He lost his family and his home during the Holocaust, he lost his job and his country when the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia and he lost his wife, whom he met in a concentration camp, to Alzheimer’s. He had started over more times than anyone could count.

He is intelligent and captivating with a quick wit and gallows humor. When the opportunity came to accompany him to Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination camp where he was imprisoned as a young Jewish man I jumped at the chance. At the age of 95, I knew he was a treasure and that his story of survival even prior to this journey would connect with many people on a deeply personal level. During the trip it became clear that there were fewer and fewer survivors left to tell their story, at a time when it was becoming increasingly important to do so. Only a third of U.S. teenagers know the death toll of the Holocaust was six million Jews. These survivors were on the verge of being forgotten.

I had to find the right balance between the seriousness of the subject matter and the lightness Vladimir brought to the production with his candor and absence of filter. Some Holocaust storytelling has left the viewer with the expectation that shocking images will be used to convey the genocide. I chose to follow Vladimir’s lead, understanding it is possible to convey pain, tragedy and death without having to “go there”. The viewer will never see Vladimir cry, but I can guarantee that the viewer will. I wanted this to be a respectful treatment of his life and the losses he had suffered. I also felt a responsibility to those who had perished not to resort to sensationalizing their deaths for the sake of attracting viewers.

I chose to tell the story through his good friend and biographer Julie Canepa's voice to set the film further apart. The friendship they developed as she wrote his biography made her accompanying him to Auschwitz a perfect extension of their relationship. Vladimir’s mother was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, so walking the grounds of the place where he lost her with a loving female companion was a comfort on a physical and emotional level.

I needed the viewer to have an understanding of the historical context without turning the film into a history lesson. I also wanted to juxtapose Vladimir’s bucolic childhood against the horrors of life in a concentration and extermination camp, one he survived at the age of 19 and now hoped to survive at age 95.

I chose not to distract the viewer with songs that would be recognizable, rather the music I selected I hoped would enhance the mood of each scene, either with a sense of urgency, lightness or despair. No matter how many edits I made I was shocked at the emotions I felt each time I worked on portions of the film.

We faced numerous challenges making this film, including having only a month to plan and obtain all filming permits, a lack of funding, numerous language barriers in overseas countries, and a global pandemic and worldwide shut down upon our return.

Vladimir’s tenacity and his will to survive were an inspiration in even the darkest moments of working to complete this production. This film will always be special to me for having had the opportunity to get to know a man who showed all of us that no matter how many times you start over, it is always worth it.