Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years

CARPATI: 50 MILES, 50 YEARS focuses on ZEV GODINGER, a Jewish ice cream man of the Carpathian Mountains, a self-described “proste” (ordinary) Jew who has a special friendship with his Rom (Gypsy) neighbors. In 1931 the Jewish community of the Carpathian region (then in Czechoslovakia, today Ukraine) numbered a quarter of a million Jews. Today sixty-five years later there are fewer than 1,500. Zev lives in Beregovo, only 50 miles from his birthplace. He had not returned since he was deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Now, Zev makes the journey home not only to revisit his childhood memories but to bring a Torah to his boyhood synagogue, which has not had a Torah for many years. Zev’s experiences and unique insights are representative of the rich Jewish culture that once thrived in the Carpathian Mountains. Directed by Yale Strom. Produced by David Notowitz and Yale Strom.