Fanny’s Journey

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When the Nazis invaded France in 1940, Jewish parents first ran, then hid, and finally entrusted their children to various organizations and churches to shelter their youngsters. The story of Fanny’s Journey  – Le Voyage de Fanny, a 2016 French and Belgian film – is told through the eyes of some of those children. 

Saratoga Jewish Community Arts and Temple Sinai presents a Zoom discussion of the film Fanny’s Journey at 7 p.m. on Jan. 10.

Fanny’s Journey is based on the life of Fanny Ben-Ami and her two sisters. The story is true, but as a film, elements were fictionalized. Ben-Ami, 85 in 2016 when the film was released, was at first taken aback by the liberties taken in the film, but then reconciled that the film conveys the appropriate message. Fanny did not help eleven children to escape to Switzerland, as portrayed in the film; she travelled with 28 children.

In 1943 France, Fanny had barely turned 13 when her father was arrested in German occupied Paris. Fanny’s mother sent her and her younger sisters to the French free zone until it was no longer safe there, and then they went on to an Italian foster home. She and her younger sisters faced language barriers and Nazi persecution. The young children were again threatened and must once again be on the run. This time, the agency head was determined that they get to Switzerland, obtaining false passports for them, coercing the children to learn new names and backstories, securing them on a train to Switzerland, and then disappears, leaving 13- year-old Fanny in charge. When the war ended, Fanny learned her parents had died in Auschwitz and Lublin. 

The film is based on Fanny Ben Ami’s 2015 memoir. Registration required for Zoom discussion at sjca.sjcf@gmail.com. For more information, visit: Saratoga jewish cultural festival.org; saratogasinai.org.