DJFF: Dear Fredy/The Driver is Red

About The Driver is Red (short)

Set in Argentina 1960, this true crime documentary follows the story of Mossad secret agent Zvi Aharoni as he hunted down one of the highest ranking nazi war criminals on the run.

ABOUT THE FILM

• Director: Randall Christopher
• 2017/USA/15 minutes
• Short Documentary/Post-Holocaust/Justice
• English

About Dear Fredy

Fredy Hirsch was born in Germany, a proud Jew and openly gay man. At 19 years old, when the Nuremberg Laws were published, he fled from Germany to the Czech Republic, which was then conquered by the Nazis. He began activities in the Czech Republic as a sports teacher in Jewish youth club, and soon became his students’ object of admiration. With the deportation of the Jews to the Terezin Ghetto, Fredy was appointed head of the youth department and managed over 4,000 youth.

When he arrived in Auschwitz, Fredy continued his advocacy on behalf of the youngest and most vulnerable amongst inmates. He persuaded Mengele to set up a daycare center for children and youth, granting some 600 children their final moments of happiness. In Auschwitz, Fredy Hirsch had a lover, he was out, and people loved him for all the good he did. He died on the eve of the revolt he helped to plan, but which unfortunately never came to pass. The story of Fredy Hirsch is another link in the history of the gay community, and this film combines interviews, archival materials, and animation to reveal Fredy’s inspiring story and the details of his death, which remain a mystery to this day.

ABOUT THE FILM

• Director: Rubi Gat
• 2017/Israel/74 minutes
• Documentary/History/Biography/Resistance
• Hebrew, English, and Czech with English subtitles