The Yiddish Book Center presents "Who Will Remain?", a new feature documentary included in The Wexler Oral History Project! | Attempting to better understand her grandfather Avrom Sutzkever, Israeli actress Hadas Kalderon travels to Lithuania, using her grandfather’s diary to trace his early life in Vilna and his survival of the Holocaust. Sutzkever (1913–2010) was an acclaimed Yiddish poet—described by the New York Times as the “greatest poet of the Holocaust”—whose verse drew on his youth in Siberia and Vilna, his spiritual and material resistance during World War II, and his post-war life in the State of Israel. Kalderon, whose native language is Hebrew and must rely on translation of her grandfather’s work, is nevertheless determined to connect with what remains of the poet’s bygone world and confront the personal responsibility of preserving her grandfather’s literary legacy. As Kalderon strives to reconstruct the stories told by her grandfather, the film examines the limits of language, geography, and time.

The Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project is a growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience. Since 2010, the Project has recorded more than 1,000 video oral history interviews about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.

Directed by Emily Felber and Christa P. Whitney
U.S.A, 2020
Documentary
Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, English (with English subtitles)
57 minutes