Gil and Kat, both filmmakers, struck up a friendship during their time at college in New York City ten years ago. Gil comes from Israel, Kat from Austria. Their families' history is strikingly different. Gil is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Kat is one of a Nazi officer.
The exodus of many young secular Israelis to Germany and Austria prompt Gil and Kat to embark on a journey: to find other grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who had moved to Germany and Austria and learn how their grandparents reacted to that decision. Could returning to the site of their pain decades ago create reconciliation between generations?
BACK TO THE FATHERLAND follows the journey of three families in transition; Israeli grandchildren from the “Third Generation” and their respective grandparents.The film deals with both sides of the historic tragedy and the attempt to build their own future, without ignoring the past.