Two Trees in Jerusalem (2022)

There are two trees in Jerusalem, one an olive tree, the other a carob. They sit about 30 yards apart, along the Avenue of the Righteous. They are two of the roughly 2000 trees in this hallowed garden. Each tree holds a story; a story of a non-Jewish rescuer from all over Europe who, in the face of the unending horror of the Holocaust, held fast to their humanity. They helped people in need, before the fear for their own lives could get the upper hand. Who were these people, whose ethical systems remained intact? Who knew, even in harrowing situations, what is right and what is wrong? Who are these people who had the courage to act? And how have their actions impacted who we have become today? Two Trees in Jerusalem, a new animated film produced by Humanity in Action, grapples with these questions by sharing the story behind two of those trees: one planted for Eberhard Helmrich, and the other, for his wife, Donata. Together, the pair saved the lives of countless Jews during the Holocaust. Eberhard and Donata worked as a husband-and-wife team in the eye of the storm, in Berlin and the blood-soaked fields of Eastern Europe, devising ever-more daring gambits to save any life they could, even as death surrounded them. The history is dramatically narrated by the couple's daughter Cornelia, who was called into her parents' confidence as a young child, and was imbued with an inner-strength that guided her work decades later as a politician and member of the German Bundestag. By moving back and forth in time, the animated documentary reveals how experiences in Cornelia's childhood impact her subsequent fight for migrants' rights in her role as the Federal Commissioner for immigrant and refugee issues during the 1990's. As we push deeper into the 21st century, humanity faces an inflection point; the last survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and the Second World War leave us, taking with them the first-hand memories of one of humanity's darkest chapters. It is incumbent upon us to safeguard their histories and lessons learned at such tremendous expense. Two Trees in Jerusalem preserves this critical story for future generations.