Saved by Language

Saved by Language

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 15, 2015

Runtime

0h 53m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

Saved by Language

Production Companies

Saved by Language Productions

Director

Bryan Kirschen

Budget

$15,000

Description

Can a language save your life? Yes it can, even an ancient one from the 15th century. Saved by Language tells the story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo (born 1930), who spoke Ladino/Judeo-Spanish, his mother tongue, to survive the Holocaust. Moris used Ladino to communicate with an Italian Colonel who helped him escape to a Partizan refuge after he ran away from the train taking Yugoslavian Jews to Nazi death camps. By speaking in Ladino to a Spanish-speaking US pilot in 1944 he was able to survive and lead the pilot, along with his American and British colleagues, to a safe Partizan airport.