Two Mothers (2007 film)


Two Mothers is a 2007 German documentary film directed by Rosa von Praunheim. The original German title translates as My mothers - search for clues in Riga. The films focus on the director's search for his biological mother.
Film director Rosa von Praunheim was already in his early sixties when in 2000, Gertrud Mischwitzky, his 93-year-old mother, told him that he had been adopted at an orphanage in Riga. As his adopted parents were loving and supporting, he initially did not feel the need to search for his origins. With the death of his mother, Gertrud, he began ferreting out details of the Nazi occupation of Latvia, discovering by chance his biological mother's name, Edith Radtke, and his own birth certificate in a prison hospital. Edith was murdered in a madhouse by Nazi doctors during the war. "My rebellious mother is definitely a part of me, I was lucky enough to put my craziness into my films", the director commented in a later interview.
Two Mothers was a hit in German television. It was very well received, even by usual critics of Praunheim's work. "They seemed to love this one", the director explained, "because they can identify with its narrative. It is my most emotional film. I made it without realizing that I was really in the film".