Les Deux vies d’Eva

“Eva, my mother, a Polish woman of German-Protestant culture, was brought up in the high industrialist bourgeoisie of Sosnowiec. She left Poland when the Soviets arrived in 1945. It was in post-war Germany that she met Sam, a survivor from the Warsaw ghetto. She left with him for Paris. In marrying Sam, Eva also married his history and identity and said goodbye to her own. In their couple, my parents grew increasingly happier until 1970, when Eva had her first fit of delirium. In 1978, she lived through a second attack and began to tell me about the young girl she was before she met my father. She revealed her tortured conscience regarding her German identity during the war. The film is built around this recording and my mother’s autobiographical thoughts. Close friends and cousins also helped to enrich this story of a tragic destiny.” (Esther Hoffenberg).