Shoah: Four Sisters - The Hippocratic Oath

Shoah: Four Sisters - The Hippocratic Oath is a documentary film that tells the story of four young Jewish women who survived the Holocaust by hiding in plain sight as non-Jewish Poles. The film is a part of the larger Shoah project, which was started by French film director Claude Lanzmann in the 1970s and is one of the most definitive works about the Holocaust.

The four sisters, who were interviewed for the film in their old age, shared their individual stories of survival and how they managed to evade the Nazis. Each sister's experience is unique and offers a different perspective on the complexities of survival in the midst of persecution.

The first sister, Paula Biren, recounts how she managed to leave the ghetto and take a job at a "rest home" for sick Polish children, which provided her with the necessary papers and opportunity to hide her true identity. She also talks about her work as a courier, smuggling weapons and information in and out of the ghetto.

The second sister, Ruth Elias, tells a harrowing story of being transported to Auschwitz with her newborn baby, whom she was ultimately forced to give up to save his life. She also speaks about her time working as a nurse in various concentration camps, where she tried to help fellow prisoners in any way she could.

The third sister, Ada Lichtman, talks about how she managed to evade detection by pretending to be a non-Jewish nurse's assistant in a hospital. She also recalls the harrowing moment when her mother was discovered and taken away by the Nazis.

The fourth sister, Hannah Marton, discusses her experience as a member of the Jewish underground in Hungary, where she helped smuggle Jews out of the country and into safety. She also speaks about her time in Auschwitz, where she was selected for Dr. Josef Mengele's infamous medical experiments.

Through the sisters' stories, the film explores the ethical dilemmas that arose during the Holocaust, such as the Hippocratic Oath that doctors took to do no harm. Some doctors, such as Mengele, used their medical knowledge to conduct horrific experiments on prisoners. Others, like Ruth Elias, tried to use their knowledge to help their fellow prisoners as much as possible.

The film also explores the idea of what it means to be a survivor and how the sisters' experiences have impacted their lives in different ways. Some feel a sense of guilt for surviving when so many did not, while others are grateful for the chance to rebuild their lives after the war.

Overall, Shoah: Four Sisters - The Hippocratic Oath is a poignant and powerful film that offers a unique perspective on the Holocaust through the voices of four remarkable women. Their stories serve as a reminder of the unimaginable horrors of the past and also offer hope for the future by showing the resilience and strength of the human spirit in even the darkest of times.