Behind The Story
MENSCH captures a unique moment in time as the children of Holocaust survivors come of age, balancing the weight of their heritage with the pressures of assimilation.
As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I’m drawn to stories that touch on cultural history and intergenerational memory. Hollywood loves to lean into the "Jewish trauma drama," but it’s essential to celebrate the humor that also defines our survival.
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I wanted to write a story that shows what it means to live with trauma as a survivor, not a victim, and how that trauma is passed down. This story celebrates life, with all of its comedy, from the point of view of an American immigrant Jewish family in the sixties.
mensch
/men(t)SH/ noun • Yiddish
a person of integrity and honor.
​​​My father, the original Freddy, was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany and immigrated with his parents to America in 1949. He was raised in Skokie, Illinois, by two Holocaust survivors, a background that became an indelible part of my family's narrative. MENSCH is inspired by his journey, yet it goes beyond historical trauma, centering instead on resilience, humor, and the challenge of balancing the new world with the old.
In a post Holocaust world, the cultural revolution of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll is a nightmare for anxious Jewish parents trying to hold on to tradition with a white knuckle grip. I wrote this comedy series to capture the laughter, familial love, and cultural friction that shaped my father’s adolescence and, by extension, my own.
Our aim is to blend history with humor, bringing to life an immigrant family whose quirks and struggles are as universally relatable as they are specific.
MENSCH isn’t only a Jewish story, it’s an immigrant story. This series is a testament to anyone who has felt the weight of a legacy that sets them apart.​​​​​ At its core, MENSCH is a story about becoming a good person in a world that often asks you to compromise who you are.
