In honour of our guest exhibition ‘Whoever saves one life saves the entire world’ we are showing the compelling documentary ‘Sisters’ on Sunday 8 May.
‘Sisters’ tells the story of Dana Pomerants-Mazurkevich. Dana is born in Lithuania, in the ghetto of Kaunas. She is soon taken into the family of Kipras Petrauskas. With the help of Kipras and his wife Elena Žalinkevičaite-Petrauskienė, Dana survives the holocaust. In the film, the two ‘sisters’, Aušra (daughter of Kipras and Elena) and Dana describe what life was like at that time.
Music plays an important role in the documentary. Dana’s father, Danielius Pomerancas, is a violinist and a jazz pioneer in Lithuania. Kipras Petrauskas is a famous opera singer. Kipras’ wife Elena is an actress and a poet. Dana herself grows up as a talented violinist. Dana is currently a violin professor at the Boston University School of Fine Arts.
The documentary ‘Sisters’ starts at 2:30 pm. This is followed by an interview via Zoom in English with Dana and Kipras Šimulynas, the grandson of opera singer Kipras Petrauskas. Professor Adolphe Nysenholc, who as a child had to go into hiding himself and is a film connoisseur, makes the link between the Belgian and Lithuanian story of citizens who saved Jews. He also provides some further information on ‘The year of the Righteous’. Dr Veerle Vanden Daelen, Deputy Director and Coordinator Collections & Research with Kazerne Dossin, is the moderator.