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In 1998, the German Jew Edith Stein, who had been converted to the Roman-Catholic church, was canonised. Although Stein's early work was quite secular, religion occupied an ever larger place in her life and she entered the convent of Echt in Limburg. From the nunnery, the Germans deported her to Auschwitz, where she was gassed in 1942. In Echt, her portrait adorns cream pies and the Karmel Convent boasts an Edith Stein Room. The catholics are proud of their saint, but rabbi Tzvi Marx asserts that the church claims her suffering. 'Saying she died as a martyr is a lie. She didn't go to Auschwitz because she was a catholic, but because she was a Jew.' The catholics think primarily of her as a good Christian: As a believer, Stein also devoted herself to Jews. When she was picked up, she said: 'We go for our people', which her fellow believers appreciate, but not her Jewish niece: 'She didn't go, like Jesus Christ, instead of them, but with them.' The filmmaker worked on this documentary for eight years, combining historic footage with interviews and Stein's texts.

Credits

Executive producer
Sound Design
Production company
Franjo Studio
Terrain Vague Film
TV company
L1 televisie

Title: Edith Stein, Echt en de waarheid
Year: 2007
Duration : 50 minutes
Category: Short Documentary
Edition: NFF 2007

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