A Movie “Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band” 10/24/20

October 24, 2020

Like many survivors of the Holocaust, Saul and Ruby moved to America after the WWII, started families and careers. They grew old, and retired happily in South Florida. For them, retirement could have been the last page in their stories, but Saul decided to start a klezmer band, named the Holocaust Survivor Band, despite of his wife and rabbi’s negative comments. He searched another Holocaust surviver to join him. And he found Ruby! The band’s goal was to perform in Poland where they grew up. They never visited there after moving to the US. They have bittersweet memories in Poland, but more importantly, it is a celebration of life. Saul and Ruby have very direct expression toward their feelings. The movie follows their musical journey starting from the local homes and shopping malls in their neighborhood, then at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, to a dream concert in Poland. It is a very unique and heart-warming story. They are not professional musicians at all. That is not their purpose. It is about the soul searching in life at their age and the power of music.