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New Hulu Mini-Series ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Details True Story About Holocaust Survivors With All-Jewish Cast
The sign “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work makes you free”) is pictured at the main gate of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Ulatowski
The cast and crew behind the new Holocaust drama We Were the Lucky Ones streaming on Hulu have emphasized the continued need to share stories about the Nazis’ systematic slaughter of the Jewish people amid a global rise in antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
The limited series is based on the 2017 New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by Georgia Hunter and is inspired by the true story of how Hunter’s Jewish relatives, the Kurc family, were separated at the start of World War II in Radom, Poland, and made all efforts to survive and reunite. Logan Lerman and Joey King lead the show’s all-Jewish main ensemble and play two of five Kurc siblings in the eight-episode series.
Lerman’s own personal connection to the Holocaust stems from his grandfather, who was born in Germany and had to flee his home country at the age of seven to escape the Holocaust. He and his family found refuge in Shanghai. In We Were the Lucky Ones , the 32-year-old plays Addy, who is Hunter’s grandfather.
At the We Were the Lucky Ones premiere in Los Angeles, Erica Lipez — showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the limited series— told Variety about the importance of relaying stories about the Holocaust.
“I think I took for granted growing up that it would be a subject matter that was always taught, and it’s not being taught in the same way that it used to be,” Lipez explained. “I think Holocaust denial is still out there and antisemitism is on the rise. And I think we need to understand how something like this can happen more than ever.”
Actress Robin Weigert, who stars as a member of the Kurc family, echoed similar sentiments while talking to Variety about the show’s impact on young audience members.
“I think a lot about World War II has been a bit buried for younger people,” she said. “They don’t necessarily understand the extent of the horror perpetrated upon the Jews in the second World War. [In We Were the Lucky Ones] the camera stays very tight with these young people as they’re having an experience of it and the empathy that it evokes — because it’s good storytelling — I think that has a tremendous value.”
Israeli actor Michael Aloni, who also stars in the show, said he hopes the mini-series will educate audiences about World War II and the horrors that many Jewish families faced under the reign of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“I’m thinking [that] this series can do a lot of good in educating people and telling them [that] this [the Holocaust] is not stories, this is real life that happened and not so long [ago],” the former Shtisel star told the New York Post. “We Were the Lucky Ones is about a family that survived, so many families weren’t that lucky … This is a black hole in human history and it’s an important lesson to know so you won’t repeat it again.”
King, who is Jewish but does not identify as religious, told People magazine she felt “lucky to be part of a show that celebrates Jews.”
“I was always really proud to be who I am, but working on a show where it’s the theme 24/7, you are dealing with this heavy subject matter and your own background tied with it, it was a really beautiful thing,” she noted.
We Were the Lucky Ones is now streaming on Hulu.
The post New Hulu Mini-Series ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Details True Story About Holocaust Survivors With All-Jewish Cast first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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