toby fluek film Toby’s Sunshine: the Life and Art of Holocaust Survivor Toby Knobel Fluek
Crew films Toby Fluek at work in the Catskill Mountains while husband, Max Fluek, looks on.
There is no educational tool that rivals a film for long term use in the classroom and in other settings. Drexel University's Judaic Studies Program has completed a film on the life and art of Holocaust survivor Toby Knobel Fluek, author of Memories of My Life in a Polish Village 1930-1949 and Passover as I Remember It (Knopf, 1990; 1994). This project corresponds closely to one of the main areas of emphasis of our Program, helping to insure the representation and survival of the Yiddish cultural life of Eastern Europe through education. The film, called “Toby’s Sunshine: The Life and Art of Holocaust Survivor Toby Knobel Fluek,” integrates the contemporary life of Toby Fluek and her family with the personal history of her career as an artist. By featuring artwork and verbal description the film uncovers the traditional pre-war household, the occupation of the Soviets, the fate of Toby and her family under the Nazis, her miraculous survival, and her life in the Displaced Persons camp and in the United States.	Dr. Peltz and Toby Fluek at her Drexel presentation.
Videographer Brook Smiler '02 puts microphone on Toby Fluek while filming assistant Amy Ballard '02 looks on.	Ms. Fluek leaves us a legacy of lessons through her art. Her interpretation of the world in which she grew up, in the village of Czernica, in Southeastern Poland, where ten Jewish families followed the traditions of Jews for centuries, living amongst two hundred fifty non-Jewish families, can serve as an unparalleled lesson of cultural creativity and continuity. The drawings, paintings, and narratives provide a combined message that no other survivor has been able to construct. This remarkable woman has been determined over the past forty years to make a uniquely strong statement of what the intense Jewish experience comprised before, during, and after the War. By filming Toby Fluek creating a painting, answering her grandson's questions, or meeting with young students, a contemporary connection is created to the striking life story of a young Jewish girl in Poland. The viewer will be drawn into the elaborately differentiated life of Polish Jews that had evolved over centuries.
Thanks to an initial grant from the Robert Saligman Foundation, in November 2001, Ms. Fluek was able to come to Philadelphia to present her artwork and life story to a Drexel University community audience, in conjunction with a Judaic Studies course offered on the History of the Holocaust. At the time of that visit, during discussions with Ms. Fluek and her family, it became clear that an educational film should be produced as soon as possible in order to capture and preserve her vibrant vision. The project was planned in consultation with experts in various fields, and a staff of professionals was established to make this idea a reality. The film was completed and screened on June 1, 2008, in the Mandell Theater of Drexel University. The next step of this project will guide the film’s use in varied educational settings. The Judaic Studies Program will hire consultants to integrate the film into different curricula. The film will be available to museums, universities, schools, and community groups, etc.	L to R: David Finkler, grandson, Toby Fluek, Lillian Finkler, daughter.
Producer and Project Director Rakhmiel Peltz, Ph.D. Co-Authors Amiram Amitai, Adina Cimet, Ph.D., Rakhmiel Peltz, Ph.D. Videographers Amiram Amitai, Brooke Smiler, ’02, Daniel Watchulonis Editorial Preparation Amiram Amitai, Andrew Altrichter Interviewers Amiram Amitai, Adina Cimet, Ph.D., Hannah Kliger, Ph.D., Rakhmiel Peltz, Ph.D. Post Production Editing 9.14 Pictures Musical Director and Piano Alexander Botwinik Violin Marvin Weinberger Vocals Dina Malka Botwink, Richard Lenatsky, Barbara Moskow, Anna Tarshish Sound Technician for Music Recording Ben Camp Digital Image Scanning Peter Groesbeck Administrative Coordinator Kathleen Carll The film could not have been made without assistance and cooperation from the following Amy Ballard, '02 Christian Blasy, ‘04 Dzunia Ben-Sasson Menachem Ben-Sasson, Ph.D. Boris Chartan Christopher Gibson Haim Linder Ryan Schwabe The following songs were selected and recorded for the Toby Fluek film project: Kinder yorn (Mordkhe Gebirtig), sung by Barbara Moskow Kinder kumt (Mordkhe Rivesman), sung by Dina Malka Botwinik Ale montik (lyrics by Wolf Younin, music by Mikhl Gelbart), sung by Dina Malka Botwinik Bulbes (folksong), sung by Dina Malka Botwinik Shterndl (Moyshe Kulbak), sung by Anna Tarshish Ikh benk aheym: Kol mekadeysh shvii (as performed by the Malavsky Family, traditional), sung by Richard Lenatsky Sholem aleykhem (arranged by Vladimir Heifetz and Ben-Tsion Shenker, as sung by the Modzitser hasidim, traditional), sung by Richard Lenatsky Khad gadyo (as sung by Ben-Tsion Shenker and the Modzitser hasidim, traditional), sung by Richard Lenatsky Leyg dayn kop (lyrics by H. Leivick, music by L. Birnov), sung by Barbara Moskow
Our Kitchen by Toby Knobel Fluek