Neshoma

Neshoma is the Yiddish-Hebrew word for soul or spirit. In Sandra Beerends’ new film, this refers to the soul of pre-war Jewish Amsterdam.

Numerous excerpts from archive footage and films are connected by the fictional character of Rusha, a Jewish Everywoman from the interbellum, constructed from testimonies of contemporaries and survivors of the Holocaust. In letters, she tells her brother Max, who has left for the Dutch East Indies, about her life, her mishpoche (family) and her city. She also plays correspondence chess with him.

Starting from 1918 at the end of the “Great War”, in which the Netherlands remained neutral, Neshoma shows the developments and changes in a compelling and moving montage. From the colorful life of the Jewish quarter, where Rusha’s father is a diamond cutter, to social struggle and the modern building projects of the Jewish alderman Rodrigues de Miranda; from the opening of the Tuschinski theater on the Reguliersbreestraat, to the fire that reduced the huge Paleis voor Volksvlijt exhibition building to ashes; from the Depression years and the rise of National Socialism, to the persecution of Jews during the occupation.