Saved by Language

Can a language save your life? Yes it can, even an ancient one from the 15th century. Saved by Language tells the story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo (born 1930), who spoke Ladino/Judeo-Spanish, his mother tongue, to survive the Holocaust. Moris used Ladino to communicate with an Italian Colonel who helped him escape to a Partizan refuge after he ran away from the train taking Yugoslavian Jews to Nazi death camps. By speaking in Ladino to a Spanish-speaking US pilot in 1944 he was able to survive and lead the pilot, along with his American and British colleagues, to a safe Partizan airport.

Country:

Bosnia and Herzegovina,

United States of America

Genre:

Documentary

Duration:

53 minutes

Year:

2015

Director:

Bryan Kirschen

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Company:

Saved by Language Productions

Cast:
Moris Albahari

Ester Kaveson Debevec

Jacob Finci

David Kamhi

Crew:
Bryan Kirschen

Director

Bryan Kirschen

Writer

Susanna Zaraysky

Director

Susanna Zaraysky

Writer

Bryan Kirschen

Producer