Rosenstrasse (2003)

In the heart of New York City, 2000, Ruth's world shatters with the death of her husband, plunging her into the depths of strict Jewish mourning, a practice that bewilders her children. The mourning is disrupted by an unexpected visitor - Ruth's cousin - who carries with him a relic from the past: a photograph of Ruth, only 8 years old, standing next to a mysterious woman in Berlin. The woman, he claims, facilitated Ruth's escape during the dark times of World War II. Caught in the web of this revelation, Ruth's daughter, Hannah, finds herself on a quest to uncover her mother's veiled past. Engaged to a non-Jew, she travels to Berlin under the guise of a journalist investigating intermarriage, seeking to unravel the truth. Her search leads her to Lena Fisher, now a nonagenarian, holding the keys to the past. Lena recounts the harrowing tale of a week in 1943 when Jewish husbands of Aryan women were imprisoned in a building on Rosenstrasse. Their wives, Lena among them, gathered outside the building day after day, clinging onto hope and waiting for news of their beloved husbands. As Lena's story unfolds, the narrative flits between the past and the present, weaving together the threads of Ruth's and Lena's histories. "Rosenstrasse" is a compelling exploration of the intersections of past and present, personal and political, tracing a daughter's journey to understand her mother's enigmatic past. As Hannah delves deeper into the events of Rosenstrasse, she finds herself confronting not only her mother's history but also her own future. Will this journey into the past redefine Hannah's understanding of her mother, herself, and the world she thought she knew?

Rosenstrasse is a drama movie featuring Katja Riemann and directed by Margarethe von Trotta.

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