Wolf "Willy" Lindwer (born 18 March 1946) is a Dutch documentary film producer, director, photographer and author. He is best known for his films on the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity.

Childhood and education

Willy Lindwer was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1946. His parents fled

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and settled in Amsterdam in the 1930s. They were among the 10% of Jews in the Netherlands who survived the

. Lindwer studied at the

Netherlands Film and Television Academy The Netherlands Film Academy () (NFA) was founded in 1958. The academy is the only recognised institute in the Netherlands that offers training to prepare for the work in the various crew disciplines. Specialisation is possible in fiction direc ...

Career

After graduating, Lindwer worked for several Dutch Public TV stations. In 1985 he established his own company, AVA-Productions, in which he has made most of his films. In 1988 he won the

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

for his film '' The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank''. This film contains the testimonies of seven women who were witness to the last months of

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

's life in the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, including Hannah Pick-Goslar (Hanneli), a former neighbor of the Franks; Bloeme Evers-Emden, a classmate of

Margot Margot ( , ) is a feminine given name, a French language, French diminutive of Marguerite (given name), Marguerite that has long been used as an independent name. Variant spellings in use include Margo (given name), Margo and Margaux (name), Margaux ...

; and Janny Brilleslijper who buried her in

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. On 29 April 2010 he was bestowed with the Dutch order Officer in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

by Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands in recognition of his film-work for the Netherlands. Willy Lindwer has also published several books, some of which are based on the films he has made. His most famous work as an author is also ''The Last Seven Months of

'', translated into English by Alison Meersschaert. Willy Lindwer has been a documentary filmmaker, producer and scriptwriter since graduating the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam in 1971. For many years he was on the program staff of Dutch Public TV. He founded his company AVA Productions in 1985 in the Netherlands. Currently, he also heads an Israeli corporation, Terra Film Productions in Jerusalem. His companies are dedicated to the development and production of international documentaries and co-productions for television high quality. Willy Lindwer's documentaries are distributed worldwide, including Europe and the US. Driven by a passion for oral history and his interest in exploring human hardships, Lindwer has travelled extensively around the globe, producing highly acclaimed series of documentaries about Europe, Africa and the Far East. Willy Lindwer's major international breakthrough came in 1988, when he was awarded the highest TV award, the International

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for his documentary ''The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank''. In 1993 he won 'the Dutch State Award for Filmmaking, the Grand Prix of the Dutch Film Industry' in the category 'best documentary' for another major Holocaust documentary: ''Child in Two Worlds'', the story of Jewish war orphans. Willy Lindwer has earned worldwide recognition with his series of documentaries about the Holocaust, Israel, the Middle East and the Arts. Willy Lindwer also produced the highly acclaimed documentary, ''The Lonely Struggle:

Marek Edelman Marek Edelman (; 1919/1922 – October 2, 2009) was a Polish Jewish political and social activist and cardiologist. Edelman was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Long before his death, he was the last one to stay in the ...

, Last Hero of the 1943

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

''. According to the many flattering press reviews and reactions, the Dutch audience was equally impressed by his 1990 film and book ''Camp of Hope and Despair, Witnesses of Westerbork, 1939-1945''. Willy Lindwer's film ''

Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp (la ...

: Freedom is Not a Gift from Heaven'' was the Dutch Nominee for the International Emmy Award for Best Documentary, 1994. And a one-hour documentary about the life of

Teddy Kollek Theodor "Teddy" Kollek (; 27 May 1911 – 2 January 2007) was an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978 Jerusalem ...

. His feature-length film ''

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

: Warrior-Peacemaker'', was in 1998 awarded the 'Finalist Prize' at the New York Film and Television Festival. His film ''Goodbye, Holland'' (2004) was shown in three successive years on Israeli TV.

Filmography

* Lost City, How Amsterdam lost it Jews during the war, with the collaboration of the tram. * The Train Journey, the miraculous escape of Hungarian-Dutch Jews in 1943 (2018) * Rebellious City, Amsterdam in the 19-sixties and the Provo movement (2015) * Lonely but not alone The story of a rebellion, Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo (2015) * Manja, a life behind invisible bars (2013) * Remembering a Murdered Child (2012) * ''Anna’s Silent Struggle'' (2009) * ''Mr. Israel, The Shimon Peres Story'' (2008) * ''Africa goes Digital'' The building of an information society (2005) * '' Goodbye Holland'' (2004) * ''The Temple Mount is Mine, two-part documentary'' (2003) * ''Messengers Without an Audience'', with Jan Karski (2002) * Cameroon: Working on Credit (2002) * ''D’vekut: Hasidism and Jewish Mysticism in Israel, a Personal Journey'' (2000) * ''Stuart Eizentat: The Nazi Gold Reports'' (1998) * ''Yitzhak Rabin: Warrior-Peacemaker'' (1998) * ''The Return, three-part series about 100 Years Zionism and 50 years Israel'' (1998) * ''Jerusalem: Between Heaven and Earth'', a three-part series (1995) * ''The Fatal Dilemma, The Jewish Council of Amsterdam'' (1995) * ''Simon Wiesenthal: Freedom is Not a Gift from Heaven'' (1994) * ''Teddy Kollek: From Vienna to Jerusalem'' (1993) * ''Child in Two Worlds'' (1993) Golden Calf Best Dutch Documentary * ''Return to my Shtetl Delatyn'', about Willy Lindwer's father Berl Nuchim (1992) * ''The Wannsee Conference'' (1992) * ''Married with a Star, a Jewish Wedding in Amsterdam in 1942'' (1991) * ''Westerbork: Camp of Hope and Despair'' (1990) * The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank (1988) International Emmy Award * Marek Edelman, Last Hero of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1987) * The Pill Jungle (1985) the essential drugs list for health care * House Without Foundation, with James Mason, about Afghan refugees (1984) * Between Kabary and Satellite, Communication in Madagascar (1984) * The Breaking Chain, Environment in Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast (1983) * I am Their Eye, Education in Botswana, Kalahari dessert, Okavango Delta (1981) * Food for the Future, The Turkana and Boran tribes in Kenya (1980) * Live-Life, Three Choreographers and a Ballet - Dutch National Ballet (1979) * Amsterdam 700 Years, (1975) * Dutch Police during the occupation of the Netherlands (1969/1970)

References

External links

The Willy Lindwer Film & Video Collection (official site)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindwer, Willy 1946 births Living people Writers from Amsterdam Dutch documentary filmmakers Dutch film directors Dutch film producers Dutch Jews Dutch male writers International Emmy Award winners Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Golden Calf winners