Documentary shows how Henrico Holocaust survivor overcame his hatred for Germany

A ditch in a Jewish cemetery, a hotel basement, a house that was anything but a home. All may seem innocuous today to passers-by in Haltern Am See, Germany, but the life of a Jewish family was forever changed in these spots 70 years ago.

Holocaust survivor Alexander Lebenstein visited the locations last summer with family and friends, reliving the past in which his life was uprooted during Kristallnacht -- the anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria that began Nov. 9, 1938. The "Night of Broken Glass" was a coordinated attack on Jewish people, their property and synagogues.

That night, 71 years ago, six days after celebrating his 11th birthday, Lebenstein and his parents fled their home in Haltern Am See, spending the ensuing days and nights hiding from the Nazis.

Ultimately, the Lebensteins were unable to flee the city and were relocated to a Judenhaus, or miniature ghetto, in Haltern Am See, where they lived for three years during World War II.

Reliving these memories years later left the Lebenstein, an 82-year-old Henrico County resident, emotionally raw.

"It was so tremendous, it was so painful," he said.

Richmond-area independent filmmaker Lindsay Stone captured Lebenstein's emotions on film as he visited the key sites. The documentary, "Kristallnacht and Beyond," chronicles five decades of anger and hatred toward Germany that slowly dissipates during the last 15 years through friendships fostered with a new generation of Germans.

The documentary culminates with Lebenstein becoming a honorary citizen of Haltern Am See and the naming of a school in his hometown -- the Alexander Lebenstein Realschule, which also carries the title "school against racism, school with courage."

Capturing the emotion was key to telling Lebenstein's story, Stone said.

"The transformation of a man who had been beaten down by the world and harbored so much pain and resentment, it was key to the story to show how he was able to turn that around and evolve to help other people heal," Stone said.

At his Henrico apartment, Lebenstein speaks as a man who knows that the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles each day, making it paramount to preserve his story and ensure it will continue to be told, long after he is gone.

"This is the end of an era for Holocaust survivors; soon there won't be any," Lebenstein said. "Today's teenagers, when they get married and have children, they are never going to meet a Holocaust survivor."

It was also important to the Virginia Holocaust Museum's president and executive director, Jay M. Ipson, who believes that Lebenstein's story is one that needs to be told. Ipson served as executive producer of the film, and the museum funded its production.

"It is important to show people the educational process and never to forget what humanity can do to each other," Ipson said. "Alex didn't want to go back and face his neighbors, because they tried to annihilate him along with everyone else.

"But finally through him, a new generation of German people and neighbors will be able to deal with the future and prevent another Holocaust."

For years, Lebenstein refused overtures from Haltern Am See to return to his hometown. He harbored tremendous hate for Germany, he stopped reading and speaking German, his native tongue. It wasn't until 1995 that the hate began to thaw. Since then, Lebenstein openly tells his story, each time easing the pain and hate by sharing it with others in a way to combat racism, intolerance and hatred.

He has visited his hometown a handful of times since an initial visit in 1995, embracing each of those trips.

In the documentary, he tells a group of students that he found the medicine to heal his mind, body and soul after years of pain and hate: "the children of today."

"To bring out the fact that I shared my pain with these students and they shared their pain with me, mutually, we helped each other," Lebenstein said. "For them to lessen the guilt that they carried and for me to lessen the anger that I lived with all my life."

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .