The documentary is intensely personal, far from what you might expect in a “Holocaust documentary.” Not a recitation of facts and photographs of emaciated concentration camp victims, A Generation Apart is an ongoing conversation between brothers and sisters, children and parents, one generation to another. The result is a candid and sometimes surprising series of reflections on what it means to be a child of the Holocaust.

It is the conflict that the children of Holocaust survivors live with, growing up in the nightmarish shadow of parents, aunts, and uncles who have gone through such horrors that informs the documentary. One adult child recalls feeling the stories told by her parents, for all of their horror, seemed “exciting.” Another, an Israeli actor, expresses both the ambivalence and freedom he feels as a film role requires him to play an SS officer — the embodiment of what has cost his family so dearly.

Although the footage of the documentary looks very dated (filmed originally in the 1980s), it is supplemented with additional materials on the DVD, including more recent conversations and a director’s commentary. The filmmakers have also established a vehicle on the film's website for children of Holocaust survivors to share their own narratives and experiences.

Distributed by City Lights Home Entertainment, the DVD will be released April 29 to coincide with the National Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month.