Short film documents dramatic reunion between Holocaust survivors separated as boys

A chance encounter between a former journalist and a Holocaust survivor brought more than they ever imagined: a friendship, a book collaboration and a miraculous reunion with a long lost survivor.

And now that encounter has produced a documentary.

The film, "Rebuilt from Broken Glass," captures the reunion of two Holocaust-surviving, schoolboys 80 years later and explores their background growing up in Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II, becoming separated in fleeing the country and having no idea where the other one had gone.

The documentary premieres Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth El in Voorhees both live and online.

Former newspaper reporter Larry Hanover, of Voorhees, is the director and executive producer of the 39-minute film, which had direct input or guidance from documentarian Anthony Giacchino, an Academy Award winner for "Colette" as best short film in 2021, and Joseph Harris, an archivist who assisted Giacchino on that project, worked on the 2016 movie "Hidden Figures" and served as the archival producer on the Hanover film.

The documentary's roots began 12 years ago when Hanover went to his son's Hebrew high school in Voorhees for a program and heard guest speaker Fred "Fritz" Behrend, another Voorhees resident.

That day, Behrend recounted to students his life saga as a 12-year-old Jewish schoolboy who witnessed the Nazi burning of Jewish synagogues in Cologne on Nov. 9, 1938, a night that became known as Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass. He and his family soon escaped to Cuba after his father's arrest and release from a concentration camp and then emigrated to the U.S., where Behrend later joined the U.S. Army and found himself teaching the principles of democracy to German POWs at a Virginia military base as the war ended.

"I was enthralled not just by his tales of Kristallnacht, escaping to Cuba and teaching democracy to German POWs, but his optimistic outlook and unrivaled storytelling ability," recalls Hanover, a former Courier-Post and Trenton Times reporter.

Hanover's fascination with that story led to a friendship, extensive research and a collaboration with Behrend on a non-fiction book entitled, "Rebuilt from Broken Glass: A German Jewish Life Remade in America."

Subsequently, unexpectedly and through another coincidental meeting with a rabbi at the Politz Day School in Cherry Hill, Behrend reunited the following year with boyhood schoolmate and roommate, Henry Baum, who had also landed in the U.S. via England as a refugee.

Behrend had been living with the Baum family for two years so he could attend a Jewish school in Cologne when Kristallnacht happened.

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After their reunion, Baum and Behrend learned their winter homes in Florida were only 15 miles apart.

"I knew from writing the book with Fred that history attaches to him like a magnet, but it never occurred to me that such an incredible moment would happen after the book came out. From the moment Fred and Henry reunited exactly 80 years after they last saw each on Kristallnacht, this (documentary) project felt like it was willing itself to happen," Hanover explained.

He said events like the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis, the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the deadly Charlottesville rally are reminders that anti-Semitism is alive and an increasing threat.

"The horrors of inhumanity keep reappearing, including now in Ukraine. I hope this movie reminds people of those horrors humans are capable of though the vast majority (of people) offer so many redeeming qualities."

Now 95 and using a cane, Behrend first spoke to the Courier-Post in 2018 about his life and his memoir and a reuniting phone call with Baum, whom he did not reconnect with in person until the following year.

His quest, culminating in the reunion and now a documentary featuring him, Baum and and historical photos, has brought closure and joy to this former schoolboy.

"I find the whole thing very humbling and just unbelievable," said Behrend, a retired businessman who was once a TV repairman in New York City.

"I've known so many accomplished immigrants through the years, including Henry Kissinger as well as my friend and fellow Holocaust survivor, Dr. Ruth Westheimer. There are documentaries about them, and it's hard to believe there is one about me."

Over the years he has spoken at schools about his life, the Holocaust and contributions of immigrants who have come to the U.S. throughout the centuries. He worked in the Army in Texas as a liaison to former Nazi rocket scientist and immigrant Wernher von Braun, who had surrendered to American troops and soon helped father the U.S. space program as a military contractor and later with NASA.

"I tell them not to be afraid of immigrants. They have lifted up this country and I feel proud to be one of them," Behrend said

On that Nov. 9 night in 1938 and into the early morning hours of the next day, the Nazi regime torched 267 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland, arrested 30,000 Jewish men and killed nearly 100 Jews in the pre-war days of the Holocaust.

By the end of World War II in 1945, the Nazis had killed 6 million Jews across Europe and murdered million of others from targeted groups — the majority Soviet Union civilians and Soviet soldier POWS who had fought against Germany.

Behrend is expected to attend the public screening at Congregation Beth El, where he is a member. The screening can be viewed online or live at 7 p.m. at the synagogue, 8000 Main Street, Voorhees.

Co-sponsoring the event with the synagogue is the Esther Raab Holocaust Museum and Goodwin Education Center of Cherry Hill.

Admission is $10. For tickets visit https://bethelsnj.org/film.

Carol Comegno loves telling stories about South Jersey life, history and military veterans for the Courier Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. If you have a story to share, call her at 856-486-2473 or email ccomegno@gannettnj.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Holocaust reunion after 80 years recorded in new film with Jersey ties