Original-Cin Q&A: Director of How Saba Kept Singing, on the Strength and Spirit of Holocaust Survivors

By Bonnie Laufer

Hot Docs is full of inspiring films. How Saba Kept Singing is one that infuses love, humor and music to tell the horrific life story of a Holocaust survivor.

How Saba Kept Singing, which makes its world premiere at this year’s Hot Docs festival, revolves around 94-year-old David Wisnia, who never told his wife, children or grandchildren in Levittown, Pennsylvania, the whole truth about how he survived Auschwitz-Birkenau. They knew that his singing voice had entertained the SS guards, that his musical gift had changed his fate. But no one knew what, or who, gave him the will to live. We soon discover that he had a secret love affair with another prisoner, one that ultimately led to his life being spared.

Auschwitz survivor David Wisnia and his grandson Avi - two generations connected by music

The film is executive produced by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton and directed, written and produced by Sara Taksler, who spent 12 years working with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

Hot Docs Festival is in-cinema across Toronto and streaming nationwide April 28 to May 8 via https://hotdocs.ca/festivals/hot-docs-festival. The world premiere of How Saba Kept Singing will be on Sun. May 1 (2:30 pm) followed by showings  Fri. May 6 (11 am), Sun. May 8 (2 pm) at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Instead of a filmmaker Q&A at the festival's premiere screening on May 1, the grandson of David Wisnia, singer-songwriter Avi Wisnia (who also stars in the film), will be giving a special performance.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Sara Taksler about working on this project, about getting to know David Wisnia and about why this is a must see film for all generations.

ORIGINAL-CIN:  How did David  appear on your radar, and when did you decide to document his amazing story on film? 

SARA TAKSLER: I actually met the family in nursery school.  I went to nursery school with one of David's grandchildren, so I knew the family growing up. 

David's son was my Rabbi for my family, my whole life. I always knew that David was a Holocaust survivor and remember that he would sometimes come to our Temple and sing at services. So I knew that his singing was something that helped him survive in the camps. But I didn't know the details of his story until I was a grown up. 

Producer Sara Taksler

When I became a documentary filmmaker a few years ago, I went to see David and his grandson Avi perform in New York.  I had seen Avi who's a performer and does concerts but I'd never seen a concert with them together.  So I went to watch. It was at a synagogue, and the rabbi who was hosting them introduced them and proposed that David  fill in for him and lead the services one day when he had to go out of town with his family for a family event. 

David was honored, but didn’t know what to speak about for his sermon. And the Rabbi suggested, “Why don't you tell them how you got into singing?” -  not really knowing David’s whole story. 

So the next Monday, the rabbi came back to work, and it was in the days of answering machines, and the red light was just blinking like crazy. And the Rabbi started to listen to his messages. 

The first one said, “Why don't you go out of town more often?” And the second one said, “I haven't stopped crying since Friday night.” So the rabbi immediately contacted David and asked him what he spoke about that was so moving? 

David said. “You told them to say why I started singing, so I told my story about the war and how singing helped me survive the concentration camp.”  From that, I was contacted and was asked if I wanted to document his story on film, which I Immediately jumped at. 

O-C:  It’s just so important to keep these stories told and documented. What I always find so beautiful, is how Holocaust survivors have such a positive outlook on life. They have such resilience and faith.

TAKSLER:  I think about David, and when I started to get to know him. And I guess I wouldn't phrase it as a surprise, but what intrigued me was his story. 

The reason I was drawn to this particular story is because I already knew the family, and who they were on a personal level.  So for example, David’s son, who was my Rabbi, has a great sense of humor and deals with dark issues through humor. And for me, that's a real draw. 

So once I got to know David, I knew he liked to laugh and he liked music and that's how he deals with things. Basically all of the editing for this film took place during lockdown, and I found it a really inspiring thing to work on - which is weird to say about a Holocaust film. But it was actually very uplifting to work on during this time, because of David’s resilience and good humor. 

These are people who survived something unthinkable and really just the worst things you can imagine, and kept going and kept singing and kept being people, despite seeing the worst of humanity. When I went back to Auschwitz, we were at the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, and  all these survivors who were there with their kids and grandkids. And they were singing and dancing and celebrating. It was beautiful to see. 

O-C: Being the daughter of a survivor, what moved me to tears was when you were all at the camp and David was taking Avi through the barracks and not only found the bunk that he slept in, but found his name carved into the wall.  Wow! How do you shoot stuff like that?

TAKSLER:  I wasn't there at that moment, but when the crew shared some footage with us that they took at the camp, I’m not going to lie, it was  emotional. 

There are a lot of scenes in the film where I'm in the corner crying, or other moments, trying not to laugh too loud because of David’s incredible sense of humor. 

I think the way you film it is just hoping you're documenting something that will do justice to the person's story. And If you're listening and being quiet and letting things play out, then you can hopefully do that. So, that was kind of the goal.

ORIGINAL-CIN: What an amazing experience for you Sarah. I loved watching his relationship with his family and beautiful grandchildren, and especially the connection he had with his grandson Avi. I think that's what moved me the most about watching the film.

TAKSLER:  I love that you loved that.  That's actually my favorite reaction to the movie is when people say that the thing that stood out for them was the grandparent-grandchild connection. That's the thing that really got me too.  I've been really lucky to be close with all four of my grandparents. My grandma Millie passed away while we were making this film, and she was my best friend. 

So for me, the story that stands out the most is  family and legacy and wanting to know your grandparents. The footage between Avi and his grandpa is both the sweetest and the funniest and my favorite parts of the movie.

ORIGINAL-CIN:  Another great aspect of the film is meeting Zippi, ( Helen "Zippi" Spitzer) David’s girlfriend in the camp who ultimately saved his life. What an incredible woman she was too. 

TAKSLER: She was incredible. Luckily a lot of her interviews have been recorded by the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. And just digging into all of that was truly fascinating. 

I mean, she's a fascinating person and a firecracker.  She was just a cool lady, and so getting to know her story was really enlightening for me.  She was artistic and creative, such a talented artist whose scale model of the camp earned her privileges.

Zippi was able to orchestrate their encounters and keep them safe, and then for David it was music. So another thing that was interesting to me was it made me think about all the stuff your parents don't really want you to study or think about too much in college, like music and art and relationships. All that really  were the things that mattered most to both David and Zippy. 

O-C: You mentioned that humor is an important tool to get through the dark times. So how did working on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and that group of people for so many years help you with your documentary filmmaking in that aspect? 

TAKSLER: I worked at The Daily Show for 12 years and obviously learned a ton.  I mostly worked in the studio where the correspondents chat with the host or where the host is just at the desk. 

But the first few years I was in the field where the correspondents went out and interviewed people. So a lot of my job was doing pre-interviews, and I learned a lot from that. Just about everyone has a story that they will share. I also learned a lot about scripting. Not just scripting things for someone, but learning that when you're going into edit on a story, it needs a beginning, middle and end, whether it's a five-minute piece or a 90-minute piece.

And if something doesn't work on paper, it's not going to make sense to an audience. So, I wanted it to be a movie that you're experiencing and have it be as intriguing as if you were watching a narrative - with the added bonus that it is all true.  I learned a lot of that at The Daily Show.

O-C: The film will undoubtedly get a lot of recognition at Hot Docs, but I think it is something that needs to be shown in school. What would you ultimately like  audiences to take from it?  

TAKSLER:  I would definitely love as many eyes on it as possible. I think it's really easy to watch and  there is no question that what happened was horrific, but seeing it through David’s eyes is inspiring and touching. 

Things are happening now in the world that are hard to believe are happening in 2022. Antisemitism is on the rise, looking at Ukraine, looking at many places around the world where people are persecuted. Even  in our own countries, we can’t ignore what is going on. 

I had experienced making the film during the beginning of the Black Lives Matter protest, where I had a pretty sad realization as to what is happening in my country. I watch the scene where David and Avi  are going to the camps and Avi asks his grandfather, “Did everyone know what was happening right outside the gate?” 

And David says, “Yes of course, they knew. Everyone knew. They just didn't want to pay attention.”  I watched that, and all I could think of was, “I've known what's been going on in my own country for years, but I didn't want to look at it and see.”

I think we can learn openly from stories like this one. And my hope is that, by telling it with a dose of humor,  people will learn, but also enjoy watching this film. 

Maybe it will appeal to people who  love learning about history or learning about the Holocaust. But for those who don't, I hope they give it a chance to be moved and inspired by it.