No matter how many stories of the Holocaust you have heard in your life, there’s always another that simply takes your breathe away. Such is the case for “Who Are The Marcuses?” a riveting documentary by Matthew Mishory that is making its rounds at various film festivals throughout the country.
Lottie and Howard’s German Jewish background is being told to viewers by their daughter, Ellen, you get a chill up your spine, as she mentions the antisemitism they dealt with. During the course of some poignant commentary, it becomes clear that if her parents didn’t have a series of pivotal moments, where they escaped Germany and Italy with their lives, she wouldn’t be alive to be in this film.
Thankfully she is; but as Ellen mentions, she is resentful about all the family members she didn’t get to meet–those that stayed in Nazi Germany
Audiences will be fascinated to hear about this fascinating Jewish couple met and were married, in the sweetest way–he proposed to her in Central Park. You can’t help but smile when you hear Howard talk about his wife: “Until I met Lotte I didnt know how to laugh,” Howard said wistfully during well preserved footage.
One of the surprises of “Marcuses” is uncovering how this virtually unknown, philanthropic couple had made and saved millions of dollars, which upon their passing, was donated to Israel. Living a quiet, frugal life, he as a dentist, she, working on Wall Street, they became acquainted with billionaire Warren Buffett, ceo of Berkshire Hathaway, eventually donating nearly $500 million dollars to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The school is a leader in the development of desert technology and renewable water resources.
“My parents, they had scrimped and saved because they both started out very poor. They invested everything they had with the young Warren Buffett,” said Ellen.
Eventually the couple retired in San Diego, California. Marcus died at the age of 104, and his wife died at the age of 99. When it was announced in 2016 that they had provided Ben-Gurion with the most significant gift it had ever received, that completely changed the university’s inspiring future.
History buffs watching this film will enjoy how the director gives a broader context of Israel and Zionism, to illustrate what the country has dealt with over the years. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, historian Daniel Gordis, philosopher/author Micah Goodman, E. Randol Schoenberg, author and activist Seth M. Siegel discuss topics like the importance of peace in the Middle East and climate change. Best of all, there is beautiful video footage of Israel, archival and family photos are all part of this story.
My takeaway from watching the “Marcuses”–how one couple’s gift can make a difference in the world…
“Who Are the Marcuses?” will be screening at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on Saturday, April 22 https://beverlyhillsfilmfestival.com/sat-april-22nd-screening-tickets-2023/ and at the Skirball Cultural Center on Tuesday, April 25 https://www.skirball.org/programs/members-only-screening-and-qa-who-are-marcuses
