Edie Valo (left) and Ella Ruttman (right), photographed with friends in 1941, were part of the first transport of Jewish women to Auschwitz. Their stories are told in the documentary “999: The Forgotten Girls,” which will be screened at Bucks County Community College March 26, followed by a Q&A with director and author Heather Dune Macadam. (Courtesy of the Rutman family, via Bucks County Community College)
The free screening, presented by the College’s School of Social and Behavioral Science and the Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program, includes a Q&A session
(The following news release was provided verbatim by Bucks County Community College)
Edith Grosman was 17 when Slovak officials ordered unmarried Jewish girls to register for work service. Filled with a sense of national pride, she joined hundreds of other innocent young women who were under the false impression their patriotic duty would benefit their families. Instead, they were deported to Auschwitz as expendable slave labor.
Grosman and others tell their incredible stories of survival first-hand in the award-winning documentary “999: The Forgotten Girls,” coming to Bucks County Community College at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 26.
The free screening, presented by the College’s School of Social and Behavioral Science and the Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program, includes a question-and-answer session with director Heather Dune Macadam.
The Slovak government paid the Nazis the equivalent of $3,000 to deport each girl. Through first-person testimony and rare archival material, we learn the little-known facts of the women’s camp in 1942 and how a handful of the girls managed against all odds to survive over three long years of hell on earth.
Edith Grosman is among those who tell their incredible stories of surviving the Holocaust in the award-winning documentary “999: The Forgotten Girls,” coming to Bucks County Community College March 26. (Courtesy of BCCC)
This still image is from the documentary “999: The Forgotten Girls” about the first Jewish transport to Auschwitz. The film will be screened on March 26 at Bucks County Community College, followed by a Q&A with director and author Heather Dune Macadam. (Courtesy of the Grosman family)
Heather Dune Macadam, director, producer, and author, comes to Bucks County Community College March 26 to screen her award-winning documentary “999: The Forgotten Girls” about the first official transport of young Jewish women to Auschwitz. (Credit: Keith Barraclough via BCCC)“Too many stories — especially those of young women — remain untold or overlooked,” said Paula Raimondo, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “The first transport of Jewish girls from Slovakia to Auschwitz is not widely known, yet it reveals so much about deception, state complicity, gendered persecution, and resilience. When we bring these histories into the light, we not only honor the victims and survivors, we challenge ourselves to confront the systems that made such atrocities possible.”
Macadam spent over 20 years researching and interviewing families, witnesses, and survivors of the first official transport to Auschwitz. Her internationally acclaimed book “999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz” (published in 2020), on which the film is based, has been translated into 18 languages and was a PEN Finalist in 2021. The film was honored with the Human Rights Award at the Hamptons Documentary Fest, Best Documentary at the Miami Jewish Film Festival Audience Award, and as an official selection of the New York Jewish Film Festival.
“I am especially thrilled to offer this event in conjunction with our spring Rescue and Resistance course, in which students spend the semester examining moral courage, defiance, and survival under unimaginable circumstances,” added Raimondo. “Hearing this story — grounded in first-person testimony and Heather’s years of research — deepens that study in a profound way. It reminds us that resistance took many forms, including the daily, determined will to survive.”
The free screening, which is supported by a Mark Schonwetter Foundation Grant, takes place in the Zlock Performing Arts Center, located on the campus at 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, PA 18940. For a campus map and directions, visit bucks.edu/newtown.
To learn more about the College’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program, contact the School of Social and Behavioral Science at [email protected] or 215-968-8270.
About Bucks County Community College
Founded in 1964, Bucks County Community College is a two-year, public institution offering more than 90 programs of study that lead to either an associate degree or certificate, as well as many workforce training programs on campus, on site, or online. Successful graduates directly launch a career or transfer to four-year colleges and universities to complete a bachelor’s degree, depending on the major. Classes are offered on campus in Newtown, Bristol, and Perkasie, and worldwide through Bucks Online. To learn more, visit bucks.edu
