Giants

Giants is a moving and inspirational story of survival, focusing on a troupe of seven dwarf siblings. Their story begins like a fairy tale but soon moves into the darkest chapters of their history and modern history as well.

In a time when the phrase 'survival of the fittest' prevailed, the Ovitz family, with seven out of their ten members being dwarfs, defied the fate of many other Holocaust victims. Ironically, although they were doubly doomed for being Jewish and disabled, it was their dwarfism that ultimately saved their lives.

Upon descending from the cattle train into the Auschwitz death camp, the Ovitz family was singled out from other Jewish victims on the orders of one Dr. Joseph Mengele. Obsessed with eugenics, Dr. Mengele conducted experiments on the family, trying to uncover the biological and pathological origins of dwarfism. Like a focused scientist, he protected his human subjects, and consequently, when the Russian army liberated Auschwitz, all family members were alive—from the youngest, an 18-month-old baby boy, to the oldest, a 58-year-old woman.

The Ovitz family was the only one to enter the death camp and live to recount their tale. They eventually rebuilt their lives and once more became successful performers, but the indelible marks of their experiences lingered with them until the end.