Cuba’s Forgotten Jewels

SYNOPSIS

Explore the little known story of the Jewish refugees who escaped Nazi-occupied Europe and found a safe haven on the Caribbean island of Cuba. After a wave of Jewish refugees to Cuba in the 1920s and ’30s, the island shut its doors to immigrants, most notably to the Jews aboard the ship St. Louis in 1939. In 1940, Cuba changed course and took in 6,000 Jewish refugees, including hundreds of Jewish diamond cutters and their families who, for a few years, turned the small tropical island into a major diamond-polishing center. Interviewees (including co-director Judy Kreith’s mother Marion) recall their experiences as refugees, and their lives in wartime Havana: the draw of Cuban food, music and dance, its language and people, and the challenges they faced in this unfamiliar land. Featuring an original soundtrack of Cuban and Jewish music.