SYNOPSIS

Uncle Chatzkel explores the life story of a remarkable man, and his reunion with his nephew Rod, a South African born Australian living with his extended family in Sydney. Rod is both the film-maker and Chatzkel’s nephew.

Chatzkel Lemchen has lived through the Russian Revolution, two World Wars, a Communist regime, and the transition of Lithuania from Soviet Republic to an independent state. During the Holocaust, Chatzkel’s parents and children were killed by Nazis and their Lithuanian supporters. He and his wife Lena were then sent to separate concentration camps in Germany.

Unlike many other Jews who were not Communists, Chatz-kel and his wife, both Holocaust survivors, chose to remain in Eastern Europe after the Second World War, despite the loss of their children and other members of their families. Following the death of his wife in 1979, Chatzkel was left in Europe without any close family.

Chatzkel survived the Holocaust through his skills as a linguist and lexicog-rapher. His dictionaries helped preserve the Lithuanian language during the Soviet era. Still working at the age of ninety-three, he is now regarded as a national treasure.

In spite of Chatzkel’s success, he is a lonely man. One of seven siblings, Chatzkel was the only member of his family to remain in Lithuania. In the film, members of his Australian family meet their uncle in his home. Together, they explore their family’s roots and histori-cal experiences that had a profound impact on millions of others as well.

The film explores the history of Europe’s Lithuanian Jewish community. We are confronted with the ghosts of previously vibrant communities whose roots stretched back over 700 years, but who were devastated by genocidal policies during the Nazi domination of the area.

The film is more than the reunion of Uncle Chatzkel and his extended Australian family. It uses the backdrop of history to explain how the events that shaped European society directly impacted on his family’s destiny.