Reckonings

<p><img alt="Laurel icon denoting the film is in competition for a Jury Prize." border="0" src="https://data.ajff.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/laurel_2023_JuryPrize_01.png" style="width:20%; max-width:20%; margin-left:10px; float:right;" />Revelatory and utterly fascinating, this untold story of the 1952 Luxembourg Agreements explores the complex negotiations that led to Holocaust reparations. In the war’s aftermath, German and Israeli diplomats met covertly to grapple with the unthinkable: how to compensate survivors of history’s largest mass genocide. Fraught back-and-forth meetings sparked fierce debate and protests. Some saw reparations as “blood money”; others saw a moral accounting vital to funding Israel’s future. With threats of violence and talks hitting frequent logjams, negotiators risked their lives to bridge a seemingly impossible divide. Expertly melded reenactments, archival footage, survivor testimony and scholarly interviews amplify this potent case study in political will and moral imperative.</p>