Back to Berlin

In the summer of 2015, the European Maccabi Games (also known as the Jewish Olympics) were held in Germany for the first time since the Second World War at the Waldbühne Stadium, site of Hitler’s infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics. This symbolic moment is captured in the documentary feature, “Back to Berlin”, which follows eleven modern day motor bikers on a mission to carry the Maccabiah torch, and fly the Israeli flag from Tel Aviv to Berlin. These riders follow in the tracks of the early 1930’s bikers, who in one of the most innovative PR exercises of all time, set out from the British Mandate of Palestine to all corners of Europe to search for athletes for the first Maccabi Games in 1932. Each destination on the way to Berlin holds a chilling resonance for the riders as they discover and share how their families perished, or managed to survive. They find themselves heavily protected by police in 21st century Europe where anti-Semitism once again rears its ugly head particularly in countries like Greece, Hungary and Poland. En route to Berlin, the bikers meet much diminished Jewish communities clinging on to plaques and memorials as symbols of a time gone by, and once again fearful. Back to Berlin is the first biker flick meets Holocaust educational fly on the wall documentary; mixing archival footage of the original bikers, pertinent historical events with the personal revelations of the 2015 bikers to deliver a deep message. (Verve Pictures)