Last modified: Friday, February 19, 2016
In 2009, New York filmmaker Adam Zucker read an article about an odd development in Poland: It seems there was a great revival of interest in Polish Jewish culture among non-Jewish Poles, who were holding festivals, learning Yiddish and exploring klezmer music.
Traveling to Warsaw and Krakow in search of a possible subject for a documentary, however, Zucker discovered something more fascinating: a generation of Poles in their 20s who were raised Catholic only to find out in their teens they were actually Jewish.
Zucker ended up spending four years traveling across three continents tracking the lives of four young Polish women as they wrestled with their newfound Jewish roots (one of whom is actually a lapsed Catholic who converted to Judaism). The results of his efforts, “The Return,” will be screened Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Zucker will be on hand for a discussion. $8 general admission; $6 members; $4 students. yiddishbookcenter.org