For the Living weaves in the origins of Ride for the Living, Holocaust awareness, and what it means to examine the horrors of dehumanization.

While the film only premiered in October 2024, the Ride for the Living featured in the film took place in 2019. This bike ride–featuring 250 cyclists from twelve different countries in 2019–traces the liberation path of Holocaust survivor Marcel Zielinski from Auschwitz- Birkenau to his home in Krakow, Poland. He was only ten years old when he walked the 60 miles by foot. Think about this–a kid walking 60 miles, not knowing if any family would be there to meet him. While a fall prevents him from joining in on the bike ride, he celebrated his 90th birthday a few months ago.

It’s more than just a bike ride but a fundraiser that goes into supporting the JCC Krakow and its services. Interestingly enough, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List–a film about the destruction of the 700-year-old community–kickstarted the Jewish quarter’s revitalization. The first official bike ride didn’t take place until 2014, one year after Robert Desmond took it upon his own to ride from London to Krak0w in October 2013. One of the British cyclist’s passions is Holocaust awareness and who could have foreseen how his original bike ride would inspire will the tenth annual Ride for the Living in June, growing from 15 participants to at least 250, maybe even more. The annual fundraiser was the idea of both Desmond and JCC Krakow executive director Jonathan Ornstein. Desmond has bonded with Zielinski through their shared love of cycling. It’s enough that he ended up making a surprise visit to Montreal.

In many ways, the film symbolizes the concept of from darkness to light. Auschwitz-Birkenau represents the lowest of lows in the history of humanity: 1.1-1.3 million Jews were sent to their deaths. Meanwhile, 60 miles away is the Polish city of Krakow–a city that would later come to represent empathy after the Holocaust for a number of survivors, including Zielinski. Returning to his hometown at 10 years old, he found another family living in his home. They looked after him until he moved into an orphanage and was reunited with his mother following a six-month period in 1945. Krakow might not have the size of the community that it used to have but the fact that its Jewish community is revitalized–in whatever way a European Jewish community can be revitalized post-Holocaust–is hopeful.

But even with whatever hope there may be, antisemitism is rising worse than ever. As Ornstein comments, we haven’t learned the lessons of the Holocaust. Leave it to ADL’s current national director Jonathan Greenblatt to briefly discuss the history of antisemitism. The ADL has a history of combatting hate, especially antisemitism. If you’ve paid attention, the organization received a backlash for refusing to condemn a Nazi salute, let alone call it what it was. Aside from online hate, if you mention Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, Poway, or Colleyville, anyone familiar with antisemitism will know what you’re talking about.

The thing about watching the film is that it is not just a film about the Holocaust. It also touches on other genocides, including the one that Turkey doesn’t want to acknowledge: the Armenian genocide. As a sidenote, Israel has never formally recognized the Armenian genocide but that didn’t stop one official from mentioning it last year. There are ten stages of genocide and David Livingstone Smith stresses how it starts with dehumanization. He’s an expert on the subject matter, especially as it applies to race and genocide. So yes, he is someone that people should be listening to. Another person is Stephen Smith, Executive Director Emeritus, USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.

Right now, we have an insurrectionist unfortunately making his way back into the Oval Office. One who has repeatedly dehumanized Mexicans as noted by Neil Degrasse Tyson, let alone emboldened antisemites. On the very day of returning to the White House, he pardoned Camp Auschwitz guy and the people who wore 6MWE shirts. That’s not to say anything of the Nazi salute delivered behind the presidential seal. Or taking away rights from transgender Americans, including myself. How is so much dehumanization even being allowed to happen in America in 2025?!?

What does it mean to actually say NEVER AGAIN? Is this a phrase exclusive to anti-Jewish hate? Or is it a phrase about all acts of dehumanization that lead down a path to genocide? The mere fact that the film chooses to touch on several acts of genocides speaks to the larger picture. That’s why experts like Ben Ferencz z’l, Stephen Smith, and others chime in. Ferencz investigated Nazi war crimes after World War II and was the chief prosecutor for the U.S. Army during the Nuremberg trials. He subsequently became an advocate for establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). Marc Bennett and Tim Roper’s director’s statement mentions how Ferencz said we were living through one of the most dangerous periods of his lifetime. Ferencz died in April 2023, half a year prior to October 7 and a surge of skyrocketing antisemitism.

The film touches on or acknowledges the following:

• Indigenous Peoples of North America (1565-1900)
  • 12 million displaced, infected, forcibly converted, hunted or murdered.
• African slavery in North America (1619-1965)
  • 10.7 million kidnapped, enslaved, or killed in transit–4400 murdered by lynching.
• Armenian Genocide in Turkey (1915-1920)
  • 1.5 million murdered or forcibly converted
• The Holocaust (1940-1945)
  • 6 million Jews, 500K Roma, 200K disabled, 1900 Jehovah Witnesses, 1K LGBTQ* murdered
• The Cambodian Killing Fields (1975-1979)
  • 2 million starved, worked to death or murdered.
• Bosnia (1992-1995)
  • 80,000 Bosniaks and Croats shelled, tortured and murdered.
• Rwanda (1994)
  • 800,000 Tutsis hunted and murdered
• Darfur, Sudan (2003-present)
  • 500,000 ethnic Darfuris murdered, millions displaced.

There has been a rising surge in antisemitism and the film doesn’t ignore this. I am curious though as to when the interviews where conducted so as to establish a timeline of which period of late that we are talking about. In recent years alone, one can look to December 2019 into January 2020, May 2021, fall 2022, and post-October 7, 2023. You know what’s really sad about this? I can write these dates down without even looking it up. It speaks to just how bad we’ve been dealing with antisemitism of late. Making matters worse is the selective outrage on both sides of the aisle. I call it out on both sides but it is upsetting seeing people ignoring the hate from their own side. We cannot ignore how much antisemitism is coming from the left-wing. Many left-wing spaces–LGBTQ and otherwise–decided they have no room for Jews.

How can we return humanity to the conversation? What can we do now to leave a better mark on society for the future? History tells us that society can change in a moment’s notice–look at America, where fascism just came back in the worst way possible. It starts with listening and then listening again. We need to find ways to prevent lives being taken away. As Stephen Smith says, the best way to honor their memory is to listen to them and act.

For the Living isn’t the typical Holocaust documentary and because of this, it’s essential viewing in hopes of bringing humanity back into the conversation. A lot of people would be doing themselves a big favor by watching the film. I’m especially looking at all those who cannot even bother calling out hate. The dehumanization needs to end. FULL STOP.

DIRECTORS: Marc Bennett and Tim Roper
SCREENWRITERS: Marc Bennet, Tim Roper, Brett Kopin
NARRATOR: Tim Roper
FEATURING: Michael Berenbaum, Marcel Zielinski, Robert Desmond, Ben Ferencz, Jonathan Ornstein, Gugulethu Moyo, Jonathan Greenblatt, Stephen Smith, Timothy Snyder, David Livingstone Smith, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bernard Offen, Frans De Waal, Kimberly Schonert-Reichel

For the Living holds its Florida premiere during the 2025 Miami Jewish Film Festival. Upcoming screenings include the Denver Jewish Film Festival. Grade: 5/5

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* denotes that the film uses the outdated term of Homosexuals rather than preferred terms to acknowledge the gays, lesbians, or transgender people killed in the Holocaust.