NJ filmmaker embarks on mission to film ‘triumphant' Shoa story
After the war, Umchzek Kerber visits with Sonia Zielonka, the mother of
filmmaker Minna Packer, second from right; her uncle Chaim Fritz, left;
and other family friends. Photos courtesy Minna Packer
The saga of Umchzek Kerber, a Jewish dwarf who hid for years in garbage cans in a Warsaw railway station during the Holocaust, is so extraordinary that it begs to be documented and preserved.
Determined to do just that, filmmaker Minna Packer of Hoboken will travel to Poland on a Fulbright Scholar grant in September to begin nine months of work as producer and director of The Lilliput, a narrative film chronicling the story of Kerber, who was a friend of her parents. She will also produce a video companion piece telling of her own experiences as the child of Holocaust survivors.
The Lilliput will be filmed in collaboration with the National Film School in Lodz and the University of Lodz. Scenes will also be shot in Israel.
Umchzek Kerber, left, with friends before the war.
In an e-mail to NJ Jewish News, Packer said, "As a filmmaker and child of Holocaust survivors, I am acutely aware that this is a generation that is rapidly disappearing. My goal is to keep the memory alive in films in unique and unexplored ways. The Lilliput, the harrowing and triumphant story of one man, aims to be such a film."
Packer, who chairs the art and media department at the Hudson School — 
a private school for gifted and talented students in Hoboken — wrote and produced Back to Gombin in 2002, a documentary chronicling her trip to the Polish town of the title, the birthplace of her father, Michael Zielonka — and the hometown of Umchzek Kerber. She was accompanied by a group of children of Holocaust survivors on a quest to reclaim the ancient Jewish cemetery in the town.
Packer will not be the only one in her family to work on the upcoming project: Her 16-year-old daughter, Mimi, will go along on the trip in September to document the making of the film and codirect the companion video.
Comment | Print | Subscribe | Webmaster | Home
All rights reserved