LOS ANGELES — Hollywood star Andrew Garfield had tears in his eyes as he
honoured family members who are believed to have perished in the Holocaust.
The 41-year-old actor delved into his family history for
an episode of genealogy series 'Who Do You Think You Are?' and he traced his
roots back to Poland revealing his Jewish great-grandfather Ludwig Garfinkel
managed to flee to London in 1910, but three of Ludwig's sisters stayed behind
and are believed to have been murdered at Nazi death camp Treblinka, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
The actor visited the site of Treblinka and wept as he
placed three stones on a memorial dedicated to all those from the family's
hometown of Kielce who were killed at the camp.
The actor explained: "This is a memorial stone for
the Jews from Kielce that met their ultimate fate here in Treblinka, which my
great-grandfather's three sisters, we imagine, had to have been murdered.
"Szajndia, Dworja, Basia. Their lives were deemed so
valueless and the Nazis attempted to erase even the memory of them, even their
names, even any record of them.
"And they had succeeded in certain ways. They were
just normal girls, they were just normal women who just wanted a life, they
wanted to live, to thrive, but this journey that we've been on has recovered my
memory of them and my family's memory of them and I'm grateful for that.
"I wish I had known you better, I wish you
peace."
The episode also followed the “Spider Man” star's
great-great- grandmother Chaja, who escaped the Holocaust by moving to Brazil
in 1936 to join her daughter Ruchla.
It was revealed that Ruchla's husband was the cousin of
Władysław Szpilman, the Jewish musician whose story was told in Oscar-winning
movie 'The Pianist' starring Adrian Brody.
It comes after the actor recently shared he now feels an
urgent need to live life as "fully" as possible.
He told Variety: "I’ve been initiated recently into
a new visceral understanding of how short this visit is on this planet, in this
body. And I feel this crazy new urgency."
His entire outlook on life has shifted in recent years,
with the actor explaining that he now wants to do things that "speak to
(his) soul".
The Hollywood star added: "I only want to do the
things that speak to my soul. Culturally, right now, there’s so much numbness
and lack of awareness of how life matters and that we all have a soul."
