Marisa Fox: The Shocking Secrets of Her Underground Mother

For most of her life, Marisa Fox believed her mother, Tamar, was a fiery redhead who fled Poland as a child on the eve of World War II, fought for Israel's independence, and reinvented herself as a New York doctor's wife. She insisted she was never a Holocaust victim. But the dates never added up, and every question ended with the same answer: "No more questions." Twenty years after her mother's death, an elderly relative let a secret slip, and Marisa set off on a decade-long investigation that took her around the world, from a town hall in Poland, to Nazi archives in Israel, and the site of a little-known forced labor camp for Jewish women. What she found was that her mother was nine years older than she claimed, with a different name and a past she had hidden from her family.   In this deeply personal conversation, Marisa reflects on growing up with a mother who was both a trailblazing warrior and a strict parent, and how that past shaped their painful relationship during Marisa's adolescence. She sheds light on the vast, overlooked network of forced labor camps where people were brutalized, on the sexual violence long excluded from Holocaust memory, and on the suffering that silenced survivors whose stories didn't fit the expected narrative. She draws a direct line from that history to the sexual violence of October 7, and shares what her search has meant for her own children, her healing, and her fight against rising antisemitism today. Marisa Fox is an award-winning journalist and first-time feature director whose work explores gender, genocide, sexual violence, extremism, and Holocaust history. She has been a producer at FX, Channel 13/WNET, and MTV, a correspondent for New York Newsday, and a contributor to The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, CNN, and The New York Times. She is the writer, director, and producer of My Underground Mother, her debut documentary, which has earned numerous awards on the international film festival circuit, including an audience prize at a film and history festival in Romania. She is currently developing a book and an educational initiative based on the film. For more information on My Underground Mother and for upcoming screenings, https://myundergroundmother.com/. Transcript: [00:00:00:06 - 00:00:10:00]  Shalom. Before you watch this episode of To Be Continued..., I would like to warn you that there are graphic descriptions of sexual violence and rape. [00:00:11:09 - 00:00:26:04]  This episode is generously sponsored by Sheryl Hoffman in memory of her grandmothers, Roma Tuchand and Sarah Medwied, both of them of blessed memory, whose strength and perseverance during the Holocaust helped save Sheryl's mom and dad. [00:00:28:06 - 00:00:34:03]  "You think you know your mother, until you don't," says filmmaker Marisa Fox. [00:00:35:16 - 00:00:44:14]  Tamar was a New York doctor's wife who claimed she fled her native Poland on the cusp of World War II, and was never a Holocaust victim. [00:00:46:07 - 00:00:52:15]  Twenty years after her death, Fox, a journalist and mother, learned that Tamar had a secret identity [00:00:53:15 - 00:00:57:18]  and began chasing down leads that would take her around the globe. [00:00:58:24 - 00:01:16:04]  Dogged research, extraordinary archival imagery and staggeringly candid interviews revealed the portrait of a woman who dared to be the hero of her own story, ultimately reinventing herself as a matriarch in America. [00:01:18:00 - 00:01:26:26]  It is a real-life story of a daughter coming to terms with a mother who went to extraordinary lengths not to be defined by trauma. [00:01:28:20 - 00:01:40:20]  Welcome to our podcast, To Be Continued... Reflections on Growing Up with Holocaust Survivors, where we explore the intersections of memory, identity and resilience. [00:01:41:24 - 00:02:02:27]  Our goal, to lift up the experiences of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and to ask, "How did those memories form you? How did resilience create you as the person you are today? And what is the legacy that you will leave to those who come after you?" I am your host, Rabbi Jeff Salkin. [00:02:05:01 - 00:02:17:20]  Our guest today is Marisa Fox, an award-winning journalist and a first-time film director who has been a producer at FX, Channel 13, WNET, VH1 and MTV. [00:02:19:10 - 00:02:28:09]  As a correspondent for Haaretz, New York Newsday, New York, and a contributor to The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, CNN, Forward and The New York Times, [00:02:29:22 - 00:02:38:17]  her work has explored issues including gender, genocide, sexual violence, extremism and Holocaust history. [00:02:40:08 - 00:02:52:29]  Marisa is the writer, director and producer of My Underground Mother, her debut documentary, which has earned numerous awards and accolades on the International Film Festival cir