Smallest Hope

Plot

This dangerous, hustling lifestyle
quickly came to dominate my childhood. It was depressing to realize that
other children were playing with toys
while I was risking my life to feed my
family.
The holes in the walls erected
around the Warsaw ghetto in 1940
are only large enough for small children to squeeze through, so it’s up
to the bravest young inhabitants to
smuggle food back to their starving
loved ones. Nazi guards patrol the
ghetto walls, and the punishment
for being caught is death. Jankiel
(Jack) Klajman is only nine years old
but knows what he needs to do to
give his family a chance to survive.
When the Jews in the ghetto decide
to rise up against the Nazis in 1943,
Jack turns his smuggling efforts to
the aid of the resistance, narrowly
escaping the rebellion. Along with
other Jewish boys passing as gentile,
he makes a living selling cigarettes
in the heart of the city to the Nazi
soldiers. Jack represents the Smallest
Hope of a once-great Jewish community.
Although he suffers great losses
during the war, when Jack leaves behind
the fire-scarred ruins of Warsaw
he finds a way to flourish, making
his way to Canada and building a life
full of music, family and hope for a
better future.