“Bardejov,” released in 2024, tells the story of small town Jewish leader Rafuel Lowy, who found an ingenious way to save Bardejov, Slovakia’s Jewish population from being sent to Auschwitz during World War II.
The Jewish Link spoke with the producer, Holocaust survivor Emil Fish, about the film.
How old were you (Emil) when World War II broke out?
I was 4 years old when the war broke out.
What was life like before WWII started for the Jews in Bardejov?
My life was really very simple before the war. I went to cheder, which was a few kilometers from my village. It was a typical no-nonsense cheder, with a strict rebbe. At that time, my father was in the lumber business, and so he interacted with a lot of non-Jews, and so I did as well, which was unusual for a cheder boy growing up in a charedi home. You know, Bardejov was mostly what you would classify today as ultra-Orthodox. But you also had some non-observant Jews, and a large non-Jewish population, who were very hostile. I rarely walked to school without being called names or getting beaten up.
And, in recent years, you’ve taken on the endeavor of restoring the neglected Jewish institutions of Bardejov, and you even produced a movie. How did a Holocaust survivor come to produce a film?
Well, in short, I always wanted to make a film. I lived in Los Angeles for many years. It’s a crazy business. There’s no business like the film business. Nobody really knows what works or what doesn’t, but I wanted to tell this story. It was in the back of my mind for some time. One day, I was flying from LA to Israel, and I started chatting with the man seated next to me. It turned out he was a film director named Danny Abeckaser. I told him about the story, and he said he’d be honored to do it. But we didn’t have a script! I just so happened to know a screenwriter-turned-kiruv-rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Lynn. He wrote a great script, and next thing you know, I’m on set in Israel. It was all hashgacha pratis. You might think you’re ready to do something, but Hashem knows you may not be ready until you’re 88-years-old to do it!
That’s quite an origin story. Can you tell us a bit more about the hero of the film, Rafuel Lowy?
Rafuel Lowy was a great man. He was successful in business, and he had a big heart and a lot of courage. We have a lot to learn from him about resilience, fighting for life and what you believe in, even when the odds seem insurmountable. He was willing to risk his own life to save the girls and women of Bardejov from being deported to Auschwitz. And so, I want people to remember the little town called Bardejov as a place where people fought for each other. Everyone chants now after October 7, “Beyachad Neneazeyeach,” and we’re seeing a lot of achdus today. The people of Bardejov really lived that. It was life and death for them. That’s the message I want people to take away from the film. Even a tiny little town of Orthodox Jews can fight off the darkest and most powerful forces imaginable, and an 88-year-old man can produce his first film!
“Bardejov” really highlights how the community leaned into tefillah and maintaining bitachon, and that Hashem would protect them as they took action to save the girls from being deported. There’s even a Taanis Esther scene. Is this something that was an active discussion in incorporating in the film, or something that just came naturally as the film took shape?
I told Danny that we must portray Bardejov authentically. This was a town that has deep chasidic roots going back to the 1800s. A Halberstam [of the Sanz chasidic dynasty]
was the town’s chief rabbi at one point. And so, this was a community that was built on tefillah and bitachon. It’s who they were. What’s unique about this film compared to other Holocaust films is that “Bardejov” shows how faith can be a powerful tool of resistance. As you’ll see in the film, they wouldn’t have survived without it.
Why have you taken on memorializing the Jewish presence in Bardejov? Do you view making this film as part of that?
I hadn’t gone back to Bardejov until my children nudged me enough, eager to see where their father grew up, and what it was like. In 2005, I traveled to Bardejov with my then wife, Jenny, z”l, and my three children. When I got there, I was shocked, even angry, to see that the shuls were being used as a storage facility for local businesses and residents. The shuls had been completely neglected. The mikvah was no longer kosher or active. I decided then and there to change that. I knew that those that were lost during the Holocaust wanted to be remembered. I wanted to not only ensure the survival of their memory, but to keep alive and restore that which still stood.
In 2006, I founded the Bardejov Jewish Preservation Committee (BJPC). Its mission is to preserve and document the Jewish heritage in Bardejov and to memorialize and honor its Holocaust victims. With Hashem’s help, we’ve done some great work that I am very proud of. In 2009, I was appointed by President Obama to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. But there’s more to be done in Bardejov, and this film is a part of that. I want the film to inspire people, but also, to draw them to the town itself. What we’re doing with the BJPC is wholly unique, to be able to walk into a town and see the shuls where people davened before the war. There are hundreds of siddurim and sefarim in the shuls that predate the war. There’s nothing like it.
What do you hope viewers take away from “Bardejov”?
That Jews fought back during the Holocaust, just like Jews are fighting today. Not just with bullets, but with Torah, avodah and community. We all have a Rafuel Lowy inside of us.
Where can people see “Bardejov”?
“Bardejov” is available to watch on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, YouTube TV and several other platforms. You can find more information about how to watch “Bardejov” and how to bring the film to your shul to be screened for your community, at bardejovfilms.com.
