Synopsis

Woman now aged 35, born and raised in Canada who is half Israeli and half Ghanaian goes on a journey to Auschwitz to retrace her history.

Michelle, a well-travelled woman from a mixed family struggles with identity. From Toronto, Canada Michelle along with her two siblings grew up in low-income housing with no extended family in or around the country. As Michelle grew older, questions of her parent’s background started to fuel her passion for travel. Her mother, an Israeli native, was the first connection to culture she had. Michelle’s grandmother was the only extended family she had known until adulthood and was the only connection to her Israeli and Jewish roots. Michelle’s grandmother went through a nasty divorce subsequently causing a strain between Michelle’s mother and her father resulting in Michelle and her two siblings never meeting their grandfather. Due to the unknown specifics, no one ever spoke about his tragic background. He was a Holocaust survivor. As Michelle grows older, she not only has questions about her cultural background but also realizes any questions about her health, genetics, and/or stature are lost due to the genocide of half her personal culture.

In 2012 Michelle started to develop personal relationships with extended family in search for answers. Through her research she has found information unknown to anyone else and continues to find and document information about her background. Unbeknownst to her extended family, Michelle has nurtured a relationship with her grandfather’s second wife and children gaining new insight to the man he was, and what he actually remembered about his family and his Holocaust experience. In 2020, Michelle was awarded Austrian Citizenship due to her grandfathers holocaust experience.

This film will document the next stage in Michelle’s emotional journey visiting Auschwitz for the first time where her grandfather escaped, and where a part of her family history was destroyed. Through this part of the journey we will be speaking with immediate and extended family all over the world. We will also be speaking about the racial and cultural boundaries crossed by her parents and Michelle herself.