Czernowitz, a remote European town in western Ukraine, was once a center of Jewish culture in the Bukovina, a border region characterized throughout the centuries by an abundance of nationalities and cultures. Mr. Zwilling, 70, and Mrs. Zuckermann, 90, are two of the few survivors of the deportations into Transnistria’s camps operated by Germans and Romanians in 1941. The stories of their lives reflect the horrors of this century. Besides friendship, they share a passion for the German language; Mr. Zwilling visits Mrs. Zuckermann every evening to talk about politics, literature, old times, and everyday worries. Koepp’s precise and patient documentary style sensitively depicts the old people’s stories and combines their memories with views of past Jewish culture and its currently reviving traditions.