A search for evidence in the village of Rhina in Oberhessen and more precisely of its Jewish inhabitants, driven away after 1933 and in large part murdered. When Pavel Schnabels and Harald Lüders made their documentary JETZT, NACH SO VIEL’ JAHREN (FRG 1981) the present was shocking: The Jewish cemetery was still ravaged, the army-like fire brigade, with its young and trim volunteers, was still considered a place for educating children “decently”, there was a school chronicle that had been tampered with, with no entries for the 9th December 1938 since the pages had been removed. The contrast between the evasive comments of the villagers and the vivid memories that some former Jewish residents of Rhina, who had found refuge in New York, shared with the filmmakers could not have been greater. In the film, the directors confront the villagers with the footage of the survivors’ recollections. Cinematic memory work. (bg) Introduction: Borjana Gaković (20.1.)
