2010 Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive's newsletter

1. Steven Spielberg JewiSh Film Archive
World Zionist Organization
Central Zionist Archives
Newsletter/ Winter 2010-2011
Adamah
Adamah, produced by Siegfried Lehman and directed by
Helmar Lerski in 1947, narrates the story of Benjamin,
an adolescent Holocaust survivor, who immigrated to
Palestine shortly after the end of the Second World War,
during the years of struggle that led to the establishment
of the Jewish State. With the help of the Ben Shemen
community, Benjamin successfully copes with his past
and builds a new life for himself in Eretz Yisrael. In
1960, the last known print of the film was lost as a result
of a fire in Ben Shemen’s dining hall. Recently, seven out
of eight reels of an additional copy were discovered in
Europe. The missing first reel has been restored using
existing footage from Tomorrow’s A Wonderful
Day (a later version of the film) and with the
aid of the original script.
Adamah was screened at the Tel Aviv
Cinematheque at a special screening on
October 4th 2010, with the participation
of many Ben Shemen graduates who were
excited to identify themselves, their friends
and their teachers on the big screen. Esther
Levinsohn, widow of Richard Levinsohn, attended the
event with her children. Richard was a graduate of the
village and worked as production assistant and stills
photographer on the movie. Esther viewed the film while
in a transit camp in Israel. The film convinced her to
study at the youth village, which had relocated to Kfar
Vitkin as a result of the War of Independence. She met
Richard in Kfar Vitkin.
Yair Shapiro, first recipient of the Blumenthal Grant,
presented his paper Narrative, Moving Picture And
Autobiography: The film “Adamah” As The Success Story Of Siegfried
Lehmann And The Ben Shemen Youth Village and screened the film at
a conference on the history of education in Israel held in the Hebrew
University’s Faculty of Education in June 2010. The conference was held under the
auspices of the Israeli Association for the History of Education.
The Archive has produced a DVD of the preserved and restored version of Adamah. In
addition, it contains a Hebrew booklet documenting the history of the film accompanied by
many production stills. The DVD can be purchased from the Archive.
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