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A group of actors are rehearsing an historic escape from Germany of 1939: The Cruise Liner St. Louis is on its way to Cuba, 900 Jewish refugees on board. Cuba denies access. On board: Paul, Elsa and their son. Do they have to return to Germany again and probably die? A group of today refugees from Africa, fleeing from war and death in Syria, enter the theatre. They are supposed to work here as extras. A culture clash begins and becomes a crossover story between escape 79 years ago and today.
Director
Screenplay
Status
Released
Original Language
DE
Elsa
When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?
