A new documentary, My Underground Mother, uncovers the truth about a mother's wartime past after years of lies. Journalist Marisa Fox spent 15 years investigating her mother's stories, which turned out to be fabrications.
Fox's mother claimed she was sent to Palestine as a teenager during World War II and became a spy for a Jewish underground group. However, Fox discovered her mother was actually born in 1935, not 1922 as she claimed, and spent the war in a forced labour camp in Poland.
The film reveals that Fox's mother was taken to Gabersdorf camp at age 14, where she worked alongside hundreds of other teenage girls. Fox tracked down survivors from around the world, including Sweden, Australia, the US and Israel, to piece together the truth.
Fox believes her mother's trauma from the camp affected their relationship, particularly as Fox reached adolescence. 'When she saw my body changing, she became protective in a way that went beyond the normal pale of Jewish mothers,' Fox said.
The documentary features testimonies from 18 women, now in their 80s and 90s, all but three of whom have died since filming began. Fox said: 'Whenever I would hear about somebody relevant to the story, I would hop on a plane to speak to them. There was no time to waste.'
