Footage of Jewish WWI veterans in the Holocaust restored and colorized in new documentary by Peter K. Rosenbluth and Peter B. Zachmann.

(Courtesy of Jewish Documentaries) About half a million valorous German and Austro-Hungarian Jewish soldiers fought for their mother countries in World War I. They and their families were rewarded with Zyklon B barely a generation later.

Otto Frank was one of the most well known Jewish veterans of Germany. After serving his country, he was forced into hiding, and his country ended up killing his children in cold, callous and hateful blood. There are thousands of stories like Otto’s that must be told.

“From Heroes to Sentenced” is a documentary film in progress that will address the fate of WWI veterans and their families during the Holocaust. It will present original footage in unprecedented colorization, which will tell the story of Jewish soldiers of the Central Powers from World War I to their subsequent fate during the Shoah.

One second of colorization and restoration takes hours of work, and every day the team stares at emotionally disturbing images of victims as they color them frame by frame. Nonetheless, they persevered because the power of colorized footage allowed for history to come alive again. And as we know, hate is on the rise around the world. As such we must go back and learn those lessons, and share the stories that have not yet seen the light of our days. We must also do this to ensure that it indeed does not happen again.

This effort is sponsored by: Greater Miami Jewish Federation; Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation; Paul L. Newman Foundation; and The Robin and Bennett Greenspan Charitable Trust.

Academic contributions: National Museum of American Jewish Military History; American Jewish Archives; The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People; Jewish Museum Vienna; and Jewish Museum Berlin.

Jewish Documentaries is recognized by International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which is accepting tax-deductible contributions on their behalf. Funds are still being raised primarily for footage colorization and restoration.

To donate: http://jewishdocumentaries.info/film/donate/.