Bay Area Director Yoav Potash on the Enduring Weight of the Holocaust in Poland

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The award-winning documentary by Bay Area director Yoav Potash, “Among Neighbors,” sheds light on the history of antisemitism in Poland, where both during and after the Holocaust, Jews were murdered not only by Nazis, but also by their Polish neighbors. Spanning seven decades of history, the film includes eyewitness testimony and asks what true reckoning and repair look like during today’s reemergence of nationalism and authoritarianism. Government officials in Poland have called for the film to be banned under a 2018 law in Poland forbidding speech that condemns the nation’s role in the Holocaust. We talk with Potash about his film and how he “worked to navigate the ethics of being a filmmaker, a Jew, and a participant in the story.” Guests: Yoav Potash, writer, producer, and director of the documentary “Among Neighbors” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:01.4	Welcome to Forum. I'm Leslie McClureg. I'm in today for Alexis Madrigal.
1:06.6	For centuries, Poland was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.
1:13.4	But after the Holocaust, some Jews who managed to survive the war and finally return to their hometowns
1:19.4	discovered their nightmare was definitely not over.
1:23.0	The documentary among neighbors tells their stories through eyewitness testimony and animation. It's a
1:28.6	beautiful film heart-wrenching. It follows an aging Polish woman haunted by what she witnessed as a
1:34.4	child after the war, and her effort to find a long-lost young Jewish friend she lost track of.
1:42.1	The film is drawing international attention both for its incredible
1:46.0	storytelling and the fierce political reaction it sparked in Poland. Bay Area filmmaker Yoav Potash
1:53.8	joins us now. Welcome. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. I listen to forum all the time.
	...

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