Watch above: As the number of holocaust survivors with serial number tattoos decreases, an international film depicts how the scars have taken on new meaning. Amber Rockliiffe reports.
SASKATOON – The screening of the holocaust documentary Numbered was held Sunday at the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon. The film depicts how Auschwitz prisoners were tattooed with serial numbers.
“First of all on their left chest, and then later on on their arms, and they were numbered essentially like you would brand cattle,” explained Holocaust committee chair Linda Epstein.
As the number of holocaust survivors with serial number tattoos decreases, members of Saskatchewan’s Jewish community said the scars have taken on new meaning.
The film depicts how many now wear the tattoos with pride.
“There is a bit of a movement in Israel at least, for people to take the numbers that their grandparents had, and have them tattooed on their bodies,” Epstein explained.
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The screening was organized by members of the Congregation Shir Chadash and its Holocaust committee. It began with a memorial service to honour those who lost their lives.
The congregation’s president, Mary Melnychuk, said the face of the province’s Jewish community is changing, and it’s important to hold events that bring people together.
“There used to be congregations all over the province, but gradually people dwindled away; the kids went to school and stayed away and never did come back … so those Jewish communities throughout the province have died,” Melnychuk said.
About 400,000 numbers were tattooed in Auschwitz and its sub-camps. There are only about 4,000 people with the markings today.
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