Canadian premiere of the documentary Menachem & Fred and book launch of Are the Trees in Bloom Over There? on Monday, November 15, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Jewish Public Library, 5151 Côte Ste-Catherine Road, Montreal. The two brothers, Dr. Menachem Mayer (from Israel) and Frederick Raymes (from U.S.) will both be present at the event to tell their extraordinary story and to answer questions. Admission: $10 JPL members/students and $15 others. To reserve, call (514) 345-6416. For more information call (514) 345-2627 ext. 3017 or visit www.jewishpubliclibrary.org.
The documentary Menachem and Fred (Israel/Germany 2008), produced by Ronit Kertsner and Ofra Tevet, and the 2002 memoir Are the Trees in Bloom Over There? examines the exceptional story of the reunion of Menachem Mayer and Frederick (Fred) Raymes, two Jewish brothers with German roots, who survived the Holocaust in a French orphanage and who took vastly different directions at the end of World War II. Each of them chose the polar opposites of Jewish survival: while Fred concealed his Jewish-German origin and became an American citizen, Menachem became an Israeli orthodox Jew. For decades, they renounced each other’s existence until the letters which their parents had written to them from the concentration camp brought them together again. Be prepared for a surprise ending! See the film, meet the brothers, hear their fascinating life journeys.