Your
guide in English to films showing in Germany.
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In 1967, after what is known as the Six-Day War, Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank became Israeli property. The Israelis defended the war as being a preventative military action to counter what they saw as an impending attack by the Arab nations surrounding Israel. The country celebrated the victory and the soldiers were seen as heroes. At that time the now well-known writer Amos Oz was a soldier in the war. After the war was over he and Abraham Schapira started to travel around the country to different farms and record the thoughts and experiences of the soldiers. But, due to heavy censorship, their voices were never heard. Now, 50 years later, the film Censored Voices brings to the public the true feelings of the participants in the Six-Day War. Many of the young soldiers didn't feel like heroes. They were traumatized by what they had seen and done. They tell stories of senseless killing, deportation and humiliation. The generation today has only heard of the heroics of the war, a David and Goliath story. Mor Loushy, the director of the film, asks if these voices had been heard back then, instead of being censored, would Israeli society today be changed at all? The film has the original recordings of the soldiers talking in Hebrew with German subtitles while actual footage of the war and the aftermath is shown. Many of the soldiers today, now aged, are shown as they listen to their recordings from 1967. This time no commentary is needed, their faces tell it all. (Alana Leichert)
