Theresienstadt was a “model” concentration camp for Jewish artists created by the Nazi regime. Terezin will be a personal investigation by the great-granddaughter of a holocaust victim. The filmmaker will seek to answer what is real and what is propaganda in the filmic archives left behind by her grandmother’s killers.
Terezin was a concentration camp considered a “model” camp, and Hitler called it “a gift to the Jews.” The camp located in the Czech Republic displayed singing children, orchestras, and a supposed self-governed township. Jews who were artists, gay, and elderly were sent to Theresienstadt. The camp was often a waystation before prisoners were sent to Auschwitz to be killed.
Although there is no documentary filmic footage of Terezin, there is footage that was staged to look like a documentary. It was created for the U.S. Red Cross to show how well treated the Jews were by the Nazis. This was a lie. The film was called Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement or The Führer Gives the Jews a City. Some of the most heartbreaking scenes are children performing The Opera Brundibar when you know that many were killed shortly after.
The propaganda film was directed by Kurt Gerron, a famous actor in Berlin (he was in The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and Mack the Knife). He was murdered along with his wife after finishing the film.
The filmmaker Marah Strauch’s Austrian great-grandmother was sent to the camp in 1941, where she quickly died of starvation. Marah will seek to understand her grandmother’s last days by giving a voice to the stories of Theresienstadt.
Marah’s father rarely spoke about being from a Jewish background and having Jewish relatives who died in the holocaust until recently, when she and her father sought renewed Austrian citizenship.
We will ask questions about propaganda during Hitler’s time, fake news, and antisemitism that exists and is proliferating. We will work to separate truth from fiction created by the Nazis.
Can we heal by revisiting and investigating our past?
Marah Strauch is a director, producer, and writer specializing in documentary films, unscripted TV, and commercials. With a fine art degree from RISD, she brings a distinct aesthetic to her work.
Her debut documentary Sunshine Superman, distributed by Universal Pictures and Magnolia Pictures, premiered to acclaim at TIFF, with The New York Times calling it a "masterful debut." Marah also directed an ESPN original on street skater Mark Gonzales for the "Pioneer Series." Her recent documentary, Vice Versa: Chyna, a portrait of the late wrestler Chyna, premiered on Vice to over 2 million viewers and is now available on Hulu.
In 2024, Marah premiered Space Cowboy, a new documentary, at TIFF. The film was an Indiewire "Critics Pick" and is slated to play worldwide through 2025. She has directed and produced over 60 hours of content across 30+ countries, working with networks like CNN, VICE, ESPN, and brands like American Express and Adidas. Her films have shown at TIFF, NYFF, Hot Docs, Tribeca, and more.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Marah is a dual Austrian-American citizen and a devoted cinephile and coffee enthusiast.
