DIE PRÄSIDENTEN

- a film about Steven Springfield
and Alexander Bergmann

The Latvian Jewish Courier -
Linda Feigelson:

From the Editor

Die Präsidenten (Two Presidents), a film about Steven Springfield and Alexander Bergmann connected by their memory of the Riga ghetto who meet again, is an extremly moving account of their experience from the beginning to their miraculous survival. Told with dignity and solemnity by both men, their interplay creates a poignant picure from the opening scene where they recount their memory of Nazi orders shouted from a headquarters' balcony.

The beauty of Riga's Delft-like sky captured by cinematographer, Volker Gläser, and, under the sensitive direction of Heike Gläser, the film traces Bergmann's journey from Jurmala where he recalls, sadly, summers spent with his family at a seaside villa where "groceries were delivered" to Springfield's America where he has the chance to "follow his dreams".

"I still live with the Holocaust", says Bergmann who is "haunted by betrayal" of those who were lost. Ultimately, Springfield was drawn back to Riga where he met Bergmann again in 1993. Each of this survivors "by luck or by coincidence" has become a strong spokesman for the surviving Jewish community in Latvia and a touchstone for each other. They have forged a deep personal relationship.