Harbour of hope

In april 1945 the city of Malmö was mobilized in order to take care of the survivors from the nazi concentration camps. During april and may approximately 17.000 people arrived and were placed in schools, dance halls, sports halls and provisional hospitals. The Malmö Museum closed down and made room for the refugees to sleep underneath the paintings in the art gallery. Later, in the summer of 1945, another 10.000 people from the camps arrived in Malmö. In archive footage from april 1945 we see thousands of concentration camp refugees arriving on ferries into the harbour of Malmö. The film photographer focuses on a ten year old blond smiling girl on the quay. We meet the little girl on the archive film, 66 years later, Irene.