PRESS RELEASE FOR
"THE JOURNEY OF BUTTERFLY: THE LEGACY" and "THE JOURNEY OF
BUTTERFLY" A production of Bolthead Communications,
Sponsoring station - WMHT-TV, Schenectady, New York and presented by American
Public Television.
– “We must never forget” is a cautionary phrase spoken in respect to the events surrounding the
Holocaust. History books and documentary films continue to provide accounts from the
dwindling numbers of survivors of the Shoah, the darkest era in modern history. These survivors
hope to provide a legacy for future generations to insure the world will remember.
Remembrance continues the one-hour film “The Journey of the Butterfly: The Legacy,” The
film documents the impact of the Holocaust on a group of contemporary young people, and how
it has changed their thinking and perspective on life.
In October 2001, one month after the horrific events of September 11, 2001 there was a reunion
between former members of the American Boychoir School and survivors who had been
imprisoned at Ghetto Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia during World War II. This reunion
continues a story first told in the award-winning 1996 public television film “The Journey of the
Butterfly.”
In 1991, members of the Boychoir, aged 10 to 13 years, traveled to Prague and Terezin to
perform “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a concert commemorating the opening of the
Memorial Museum in Terezin upon the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ghetto by the
Nazis. The concert was composed by Charles Davidson, with words drawn from the poetry and
prose written by children imprisoned in the ghetto. Of the more than 15,000 children sent to
Terezin from 1941-45, only 132 were known to have survived.
“The Journey of the Butterfly: The Legacy" recounts their story and is introduced by Charles
Gibson of ABC News. It draws on excerpts from the original film "The Journey of Butterfly",
along with new material shot in October 2001 (in the Czech Republic and at the American
Boychoir School in Princeton, NJ), and historical footage of the imprisoned children performing
in a youth opera staged for a Nazi propaganda film. Thus unfolds the story of the Ghetto at
Terezin and the continuing journey, as told by survivors appearing with former members of the
1991 American Boychoir.
This documentary illustrates how out of the pain, helplessness and brutality of the Holocaust
came an immense beauty, spirit and belief in life. It takes viewers back in time; to six decades
ago (the years from 1941 to 1945), during the brutal days of the Nazi death camps; to a decade
ago, when young boys appeared before survivors of the Holocaust at what had been the Ghetto
Theresienstadt for a concert and ceremony of remembrance, and then in the fall of 2001 when
Holocaust survivors Ela Weissberger and Frederick Terna were reunited with the young men
who had sung for them a decade earlier.
“Survivors acknowledge they’re not going to be here forever and they feel strongly that they
need to tell their story to younger generations,” said Robert E. Frye, producer and director of the
documentary. “This film is meant to provide an opportunity for all, especially younger
generations, to appreciate the idea of continuity, of the importance of remembrance and through
their own life experiences to better understand the significance of the events of the Holocaust.”
“The struggle is not over. It’s still continuing after 60 years,” says Jamal Howard, a member of
the 1991 Boychoir. “People just want to say, ‘Oh, the Holocaust, we’ve heard about that. It’s
nothing new.’ But then September 11th happens and you say, ‘How far have we really come?"
Along with the concert performed by the Boychoir, artwork by Terezin prisoners young and old
is showcased, much of which was found hidden within the prison walls. In a spontaneous
moment, Ela Weissberger, who, as a young girl imprisoned at Terezin, performed in a children's
opera captured on a Nazi propaganda film, is moved to sing the very same music 60 years later
while visiting Terezin and encountering a group of touring high school students from Germany.
“The Journey of the Butterfly: The Legacy” tells the story not just of the Holocaust’s horrors,
while also presenting a legacy of creativity and beauty that is a testament to the spirit of human
beings who created art in the midst of their imprisonment and death. For Frederick Terna, the
Boychoir’s interpretation of Davidson’s music and the Jewish children’s poetry brings it all
together:
“On one side, [there was] horror and on the other [side] exhilaration about the art that was done
there,” Terna recalled. “And you connected it all, somehow, in your poetry and in your voices.
It was beautiful and, at the same time, you were able to evoke the [terrible] things that happened
then.”
“The Journey of the Butterfly: The Legacy” and the original documentary "The Journey of
Butterfly" are both produced and directed by Robert E. Frye, President of Bolthead
Communications. Frye, a former network executive producer at ABC News, has been an
independent producer for the past 15 years. “The Journey of the Butterfly” which was released in
1996 by American Public Television was awarded a CINE Golden Eagle. .