A still from the “999: The Forgotten Girls” documentary slated to be shown at the SJCC film festival on May 3.

SCHENECTADY – The Schenectady Jewish Community Center (SJCC) Film Festival will feature as its next film, “999: The Forgotten Girls,” on Sunday, May 3, at 7 p.m. A discussion following the film, will be led by Prof. Stephen Berk who teaches at Union College and about the Holocaust and Jewish studies. Both the film and discussion will be held at the Center, 2565 Balltown Rd.

“999: The Forgotten Girls of the Holocaust,” is an exploration of the history of 999 young, unmarried Jewish women who initially had believed they were heading for work in a government shoe factory, and then found that they were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

At 94, survivor Edith Grosman shares the hidden truths of this often overlooked chapter in women’s history. The event has been determined to be the first official Jewish women transport to Auschwitz. Heather Dune Macadam, the director and author of the international bestseller, 999-The Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz, has sifted through family and government archives to unveil research that brings this narrative to light.

According organizers of the film showing, this story of resilience and sisterhood raises an unsettling question: Why were young women the first targets?

Tickets for the film are $7 for Center members and $13 for guests. Information and registration may be obtained at The Film Festival supported by the JCC Friends of the Arts, the Epstein Jewish Cultural Fund, Meyer and Mary Kurland/Gebell Fund, Jonas and Edith Flemiberg Jewish Cultural Fund, The Jewish World, and a grant from the Schenectady County Legislature through its County Initiative Program.