In the Footsteps of Lusia

Wednesday, May 15, 2019, 4:00 pm
Black and white photo of Lea Balint riding in a car with her elbow hanging out of the window
Anat Balint, visiting scholar in Israel Studies, presents her film In the Footsteps of Lusia. The film depicts the journey of Holocaust survivor Lea Balint and her daughter back to her childhood-in-hiding in World War II-era Poland. Lea Balint is the "mother" of those who lost their identity in the Holocaust. Reception to follow. Free.
Location: 
Humanities Building, Humanities Auditorium (Room 133)
Directions: 
Sponsor: 
Department of Jewish Studies
Contact: 
Department of Jewish Studies
Phone: 
415-338-6075
Event extras: 

Based on historical research, Lea Balint helped those who survived as children and lost any trace to their past to rediscover their origins and sometimes living family members. She was a child in the war, like them — a 4-year-old Jewish girl in hiding, raised in a Franciscan convent and separated from both parents. Fifty-eight years after she left Poland as a child, Lea returns to her childhood land with her daughter, Anat Balint, in this moving 30-minute documentary about a lost childhood, the power of optimism and the generosity of motherhood.

Anat Balint is a former correspondent for the Haaretz daily newspaper, a media scholar and a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, with expertise in the political economy of the media. Her long investigative work as a journalist uncovering the behind the scenes of Israeli media has turned her into a unique scholar who has experienced the industry both as a participant and an observer. She earned her doctorate from University of London.