Hulu‘s new period drama We Were The Lucky Ones shines a devastating light on motherhood during the Holocaust as one of the characters makes the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter’s safety.
The series, which premiered March 28, is inspired by a true story and follows the Kurc family as they are separated during World War II.
Episode 4, “Casablanca,” sees young mother Mila Kurc (Hadas Yaron) seeking refuge after struggling to protect her daughter Felicia in their increasingly hostile environment. The situation comes to a head when Mila’s working a labor shift and has to hide Felicia during an interrogation.
In an intense conversation with her loved ones, Mila is encouraged to seek a safe home for her daughter with a Polish family when she learns soldiers have been forcibly removing Jewish children from their homes.
Mila immediately rejects the suggestion, “This is what you’re discussing? How to get rid of my child?”
The family matriarch harshly explains the situation, telling Mila, “I saw the Germans catch a child and smash his head against the wall. That’s what will happen if we wait.”
The vile imagery gets through to Mila as she begins to prepare Felicia to go into hiding. But her attempt to leave Felicia with another family is rejected when the toddler is returned with the feedback that she looks “too Jewish.” Later, Mila is approved to be transported to Palestine with Felicia under the pretense that her husband — a doctor — will join them.
However, the journey doesn’t go as planned. In the final scene of Episode 4, the vehicle transporting Mila and Felicia is halted by German soldiers. The refugees are violently removed from the vehicle and forced to dig a trench at gunpoint. Mila holds on to her daughter and attempts to distract her by pointing out the wilderness around them. “See those trees?” she asks the toddler. “I wonder if they’re apple trees.” The heartbreaking scene continues and shows Felicia sitting in the dirt while her mother is accosted to “dig for two.”
Mila spots one of the refugees, a blonde woman, cozying up to the captain. In a last-ditch effort to save her daughter’s life, she coaches Felicia to run up to the woman and pretend that she’s her mom. “Run to her, calling out ‘mama!’ When you reach her, hug her and kiss her, and don’t let go for anything,” Mila directs Felicia.
The child makes it to the woman, who accepts her hesitantly. The soldier asks the woman if the child is hers and the woman agrees. The soldier then allows the woman and Felicia to return to the vehicle. Mila watches the scene with teary eyes and while the soldiers move to tell the diggers to strip out of their clothes, she escapes and runs towards the vehicle. The others who resisted and fought against the soldiers were shot, but Mila’s escape seemed to be overlooked by the chaos playing out around her.
Per the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, during the Holocaust, pregnant women and mothers of small children were often labeled as “incapable of work” and were sent to death camps. The interrogation depicted in the episode was likely to result in execution, as described by Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. An excerpt from the site reads, “When the Nazis employed the method of murder by gunfire at killing pits, the entire population was taken and murdered together, usually after men, women, and children had been forced to undress.”
By the end of Episode 4, Mila and Felicia’s future was unclear. However, the remaining episodes are likely to deliver a few much-needed answers. For now, Episode 4 and Hadas Yaron’s brilliant performance as Mila, a mother forced to live out her worst nightmare, leaves viewers with a harsh reminder of what families endured during the Holocaust.
We Were the Lucky Ones is streaming on Hulu.