Shifting Paths: Exclusive film screening and Q&A with the filmmaker
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Shifting Paths: An educator and filmmaker documents his grandfather's ingenuity and resilience under the early days of the Nazi regime
Growing up outside of Boston, Charles Abelmann remembers one ointment always in the family's medicine cabinet: Kamillosan, a chamomile-based go-to remedy for rashes and sores. It's a staple in Germany, and has been for over 100 years. Charles knew his grandfather, Arthur, a chemist and pharmacist, had invented Kamillosan. What Charles didn't fully understand, until years later, was the full story behind it. While his father began sharing much of their family history and their departure from Nazi Germany later in life, he had worked diligently to preserve records and make them accessible to researchers.
"Arthur Abelmann was my grandfather whom I never met," Charles says. "I felt a deep obligation to do something meaningful with the extensive writings of my father and grandfather, which document this critical time in history."
Those writings informed Shifting Paths, a multi-generational documentary film tracing Arthur Abelmann's life as the founder of a pharmaceutical company in the 1920s in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt. As the Nazi regime rose to power, the Nazi Doctors' Association banned his products. On the eve of the 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses, Abelmann sent his family to Zurich and resigned from the company he'd built, which was soon absorbed by two German conglomerates, Degussa and IG Farben. Kamillosan endured — and remains a household name in Germany today, its origins largely forgotten.
The film is a family project across three generations: Charles Abelmann narrates his grandfather's writings, his son gives voice to his father's words and his sister narrates a letter from his great grandmother upon arriving in NYC. Charles adds his own perspective while piecing the story together. Woven from first-person narratives, family photographs, letters, and artifacts alongside archival footage, Shifting Paths juxtaposes the vibrant Jewish cultural life of Frankfurt with the rise of Nazi oppression — and asks why this history isn't more widely known.
Join us for a screening hosted by the filmmaker as well as viewing of some orginal artifacts from the company.
Growing up outside of Boston, Charles Abelmann remembers one ointment always in the family's medicine cabinet: Kamillosan, a chamomile-based go-to remedy for rashes and sores. It's a staple in Germany, and has been for over 100 years. Charles knew his grandfather, Arthur, a chemist and pharmacist, had invented Kamillosan. What Charles didn't fully understand, until years later, was the full story behind it. While his father began sharing much of their family history and their departure from Nazi Germany later in life, he had worked diligently to preserve records and make them accessible to researchers.
"Arthur Abelmann was my grandfather whom I never met," Charles says. "I felt a deep obligation to do something meaningful with the extensive writings of my father and grandfather, which document this critical time in history."
Those writings informed Shifting Paths, a multi-generational documentary film tracing Arthur Abelmann's life as the founder of a pharmaceutical company in the 1920s in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt. As the Nazi regime rose to power, the Nazi Doctors' Association banned his products. On the eve of the 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses, Abelmann sent his family to Zurich and resigned from the company he'd built, which was soon absorbed by two German conglomerates, Degussa and IG Farben. Kamillosan endured — and remains a household name in Germany today, its origins largely forgotten.
The film is a family project across three generations: Charles Abelmann narrates his grandfather's writings, his son gives voice to his father's words and his sister narrates a letter from his great grandmother upon arriving in NYC. Charles adds his own perspective while piecing the story together. Woven from first-person narratives, family photographs, letters, and artifacts alongside archival footage, Shifting Paths juxtaposes the vibrant Jewish cultural life of Frankfurt with the rise of Nazi oppression — and asks why this history isn't more widely known.
Join us for a screening hosted by the filmmaker as well as viewing of some orginal artifacts from the company.
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Where is it happening?
611 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA, United States, Pennsylvania 19123
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherThe German Society of Pennsylvania
