A Painterly Short Film Follows Alfred Nakache from Swimming Star to Holocaust Survivor

"As a child, Artem "Alfred" Nakache (1915-1983) was afraid of water. The youngest of 11 children in a Jewish family that emigrated from Iraq to Constantine, Algeria, Alfred eventually overcame his terror of the depths and actually excelled at swimming. He became so skilled that by the mid-1930s, he had won both local and French national competitions-Algeria was under the control of France at the time-and moved to Paris to pursue his competitive career."

"The star's talent earned him numerous accolades and made him popular in France despite the Nazi occupation of Paris starting in 1940. By 1943, though, attitudes had shifted dramatically. He was ousted from a tournament as a result of being Jewish, and later that year, arrested by the Gestapo along with his wife and child. They were eventually transported to Auschwitz, separated, and never reunited."

"Miailhe met Nakache in person as a child, she tells Animation Magazine. "At the time, I was taking swimming lessons with his younger brother, William Nakache, and at every lesson, my father never failed to remind me: 'You know, William, he's the little brother of Alfred Nakache, the great swimming champion!'" One day, Alfred Nakache attended the lesson, and Miailhe got to demonstrate her butterfly stroke. But it wasn't until years later, when her curiosity led her to research Nakache's story,"

Artem "Alfred" Nakache overcame a childhood fear of water to become a French-Algerian competitive swimming champion in the 1930s and moved to Paris to pursue his career. During the Nazi occupation he was increasingly persecuted, ousted from a tournament for being Jewish, arrested in 1943 with his wife and child, and deported to Auschwitz where his family was separated and never reunited. He was later held at Buchenwald and freed by American troops in 1945. After liberation he resumed swimming, won competitions, and competed at the 1948 London Olympics. Director Florence Miailhe created the short film Papillon inspired by his life; Miailhe met Nakache as a child during swimming lessons and later researched his story.

Read at Colossal