In a gripping new documentary, journalist Maria Fox uncovers the harrowing secrets of her mother’s past, shedding light on the untold stories of women who endured the horrors of the Second World War. Titled “My Underground Mother,” the film takes viewers on a powerful and emotional journey as Fox pieces together the true narrative of her mother’s life, which was shrouded in lies and mystery.
As a young girl, Fox was captivated by her mother’s tales of adventure and heroism, from being pulled away from her own mother and sent to Palestine, to becoming a spy and saboteur in a radical Jewish underground group. However, as she grew older, Fox began to question the inconsistencies in her mother’s stories, realizing that there was more to the narrative than met the eye.
It wasn’t until 2010, when an elderly great-aunt with dementia inadvertently revealed that Fox’s mother had a “hidden identity,” that the young journalist was propelled to uncover the truth. Through relentless research and interviews with survivors from her mother’s past, Fox discovered a harrowing story that was far more tragic and complex than the one she had been told.
Fox’s mother, whose real name was Hela Hocherman, was actually about 14 years old when the Nazis began their reign of terror in Poland. Instead of being sent to Palestine, she was taken to a forced labor camp called Gabersдorf, where she and hundreds of other teenage girls were forced to work backbreaking shifts to provide free labor and assets for the Nazi war effort.
The testimonies of the women who survived Gabersдorf, now in their 80s and 90s, form the backbone of Fox’s documentary. Their stories paint a chilling picture of the horrors they endured, including sexual abuse, rape, and the murder of those who became pregnant. The film also reveals the shocking lack of documentation of these crimes, as the Nazis considered “racial defilement” to be illegal.
After the war, Fox’s mother made her way to Palestine, where she joined an insurrectionist movement that played a role in the creation of the state of Israel. However, when she later emigrated to the United States and started a family, she never spoke a word about her harrowing experiences in the Gabersдorf camp, keeping her past a closely guarded secret.
Through her film, Fox hopes to shed light on the stories of these women, who were often overlooked or dismissed by their own communities after the war. “Shame needs to change sides,” she says. “The shame doesn’t belong to the women. It belongs to the men who did this to them.”
“My Underground Mother” is a powerful and poignant exploration of the lasting impact of trauma, the complexities of identity, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. As Fox’s journey to uncover her mother’s past unfolds, the film serves as a testament to the importance of confronting the past, no matter how painful, in order to find peace and understanding.
