Watermarks

From Israel, Watermarks is the moving story of eight Austrian-born Jewish athletes who were smuggled into exile when the Nazis closed down their swim club. Before the 1938 annexation of Austria by Hitler, eight Austrian-born Jewish swimmers were among the country's most acclaimed and admired athletes. As soon as the Nazis closed down their club, the women were smuggled into exile in Israel, London, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

Watermarks brings the women—now in their 80s—back to Vienna for a final swim together and to reflect on their lives and endurance. As the New York Times noted, "The spirit of these women, many of them honored professionals in a variety of fields, remains intact, and their joy at reconnecting outweighs their uneasiness at returning to the homeland that rejected them."
(84 mins.)

Robin Judd (from Ohio State's Department of History) leads a postscreening discussion.

Cosponsored by Ohio State's Melton Center for Jewish Studies.


support credits

Season support provided by the Rohauer Collection Foundation and the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.

Contemporary films, international films, and visiting filmmakers presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council.