OCHBERG'S ORPHANS

A feature documentary about Isaac OCHBERG, a wealthy industrialist who rescued children from death in Eastern Europe in 1921 and gave them new life in South Africa, was short-listed for a 2008 Oscar in the documentary short category. By 1921 more than ten million people in Russia had perished from six years of war, famine and disease. About 300 000 Jewish orphans faced a bleak future. In 1920, Isaac OCHBERG, who had emigrated from Russia when he was a teenager, started a fund raising drive. Less than a year later, he had raised £10,000 and set off from Cape Town to rescue as many Jewish orphans as he could. He brought 167 children to South Africa. The documentary was filmed in the original locations, and combines archive footage, as well as testimonies from the children.