Diamonds in the Snow

Of the thousands of Jewish children in the Polish city of Bendzin, barely a dozen survived the Nazi occupation. Three of these children, Mira Binford (the filmmaker), Ada Raviv, and Shulamit Levin remember losing their families and their homes, and being hidden by Polish rescuers. Through dramatic stories of close escapes, tenderness and cruelty, DIAMONDS IN THE SNOW challenges our preconceptions about the behavior of the Poles during World War II.

Survivor and documentary maker, Mira Binford is on the faculty of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, teaching film and holocaust studies. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and has lived and worked in Poland, Germany, France, Israel, and Mexico, as well as in India and Bangladesh, where she co-directed an award-winning documentary film series, "Contemporary South Asia." DIAMONDS IN THE SNOW grew out of her experiences as a child hidden from the Nazis by strangers, one of only about a dozen Jewish children -- out of thousands -- to survive the Nazi invasion of her home town of Bedzin, Poland. It has received numerous internationalfestival screenings and awards, including First Prize in the National Jewish Video Competition. Broadcast nationally on PBS and the Odyssey Channel, as well as in Europe and Mexico, the film is currently circulating in English, German, andSpanish versions.