As a Young Girl of Thirteen: Simone Lagrange Remembers Auschwitz

Through interviews, Lagrange (b. 1930) recounts her experiences as a young Jewish girl in France during the Holocaust. She relates how her family was betrayed and punished for helping others in France and later in Auschwitz, where the young Simone encountered the sadistic German doctor Josef Mengele. Lagrange is revealed to be a spirited young woman (she threw an inkwell at her teacher who demeaned her in front of others because of her Jewish background) who ultimately survived through pluck and circumstance. One focus of the film is Klaus Barbie, the most notorious of Nazi collaborators in France. Lagrange saw his cruelty firsthand and was later called to testify against him at his 1987 trials. Striking footage from those trials is interspersed with present-day scenes as Lagrange recounts her tale to schoolchildren.