Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

In 1944, in an attempt to fool the Red Cross and convince the outside world that the death camps were just a rumor, the Nazis made a film about how nice it was to live at Theresienstadt, their show camp for “Jews who would be missed.” Inmates attended concerts and the theater, strolled about, played soccer. This hugely effective lie was helmed by Kurt Gerron, a leading German director, actor and singer. But before you condemn Gerron, see this doc, because he was also an inmate, a Jew. This is a riveting new angle on the Holocaust, told through the lens of one person’s astounding life.