Among Neighbors focuses on the last living Holocaust survivors from the small Polish town of Gniewoszów and an aging eyewitness who witnessed post-Holocaust murders.

Due to the Jewish holiday calendar this year, I was not able to get to watching Among Neighbors in time for its New York or LA release. However, I was finally able to catch it during the fall encore of the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema. That being said, the film feels more appropriate for Jewish film festivals than those that center Israeli films.

The film combines evocative hand-drawn animation with revelatory interviews and verité footage as it examines Jewish-Polish relations through the story of Gniewoszow, a small, rural town where Jews and Polish Catholics lived side by side for centuries. At its core, director Yoav Potash zeroes in on the last living Holocaust survivor from the town, and an aging eyewitness, Pelagia Radecka, who saw Jews murdered there—not by Nazis, but by her own Polish neighbors.

Today, all signs of Jewish life in the small town of Gniewoszow have vanished—even the Jewish tombstones disappeared, having been stolen from the destroyed cemetery. Now, a lifetime after the Holocaust, the documentary manages to unearth the town’s deepest mysteries, revealing both the love and the hatred that local Poles felt for their Jewish neighbors. The town’s oldest residents, in the twilight of their days and what would end up being their final testimony in the film’s ten-year production, divulge secrets held their entire lives, and their stories come to life in stunning animated scenes, accented by artful touches of magical realism.

Ultimately, their collective, heartfelt account lays bare the manner in which ordinary Polish townsfolk made life and death choices about their Jewish neighbors, with decisions that reflect both the very best and the very worst of human nature. As this history is now questioned and whitewashed in favor of a more “patriotic” and politically popular narrative, Among Neighbors shows how true patriotism means embracing the truth, no matter how painful it may be.

There’s a lot to be said about Poland’s 2018 revisionist Holocaust Law. It is wrong. Poland can try to run from its past as much as it wants, but Pelagia Radecka’s comments in Among Neighbors reflect a truth the country doesn’t want people to know. That some would go so far as to whitewash Holocaust history is a disgrace. The law also had unfortunate consequences for those who spoke out against it, including Dariusz Stola, whose story I followed in outlets like JTA and Times of Israel.

“It’s much easier to sell a pleasant history than a difficult history,” says former Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews director Dariusz Stola, who saw his five-year contract not renewed for opposing the revisionist Holocaust Law.

As Among Neighbors’ epilogue notes, nationalist efforts to rewrite Poland’s Jewish history remain relentless. Even after the so-called Holocaust Law was softened, a historian supportive of the law was elected as Poland’s president.

Pelagia Radecka, who passed away at 91, contributed to growing evidence of postwar murders of Holocaust survivors in Poland. Her neighbors, the Weinbergs, were killed before her eyes when she was just 15. Decades later, even speaking out brought threats from her own government. Her testimony in Among Neighbors, after seven decades of silence, was a remarkable act of courage.

Yaacov Goldstein, who survived Gniewoszow at 14 and began a new life in Israel, exemplifies resilience against all odds. He became a distinguished history professor and wrote the memoir Against All Odds. One of the last Jews from Gniewoszow, he was fortunate to watch Among Neighbors before his passing at 91. He never stopped searching for his brother, Ezra.

Director Yoav Potash also captures other important voices. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, offers commentary on Jewish-Polish relations and investigates Holocaust mass graves throughout the country. Historian Magda Teter provides context on the historical roots of antisemitism and underscores the importance of confronting painful national histories.

Representing Poland’s leadership in Among Neighbors is former Ambassador to the United States Piotr Wilczek. He defends the right-wing Law and Justice party and grows combative during an on-camera interview, arguing that Poland is no different from other countries in terms of antisemitism and blaming “very one-sided, very sensational media” for the backlash against the Holocaust Law.

Among Neighbors paints a vivid portrait of courage, memory, and the perils of historical denial.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Yoav Potash
FEATURING: Pelagia Radecka, Yaacov Goldstein, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Henryk Smolarczyk, Sławomir Smolarczyk, Anita Friedman, Aaron Tartakovsky, Piotr Wilczek, Magda Teter, Konstanty Gebert, Dariusz Stola, Łukasz Baksik, Aleksander Schwarz,

8 Above released Among Neighbors in theaters on October 10, 2025. The film screened during the 2025 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema ENCORE: Mini-Fest. Grade: 4/5

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