My Father's War

Overview

My Father’s War, an animated documentary produced by Humanity in Action, brings to life the experiences of Peter Hein and his son David Hein. As a Jewish toddler in the Netherlands in the 1940s, Peter was separated from his parents and whisked from hiding place to hiding place to escape deportation. From feigning scarlet fever to avoid a Nazi raid, to suffering crippling injuries during a bombing campaign, Peter somehow survives, one day at a time, even as capture and death surround him. Meanwhile, the film also follows Peter’s parents, who themselves must make a series of daring escapes as their hiding places are revealed to Nazi forces by Dutch collaborators. By the end of the war, when Peter and his parents are finally reunited, Peter cannot even recognize them. “I just saw a strange man with long black hair and a little woman who was crying and trying to kiss me. I didn’t want anything from them,” Peter recalls in the film.