A GENS FAMILY PROJECT FILM
The Commandant’s Daughter
OFFICIAL TRAILER
To the ghetto, he was the Commandant. To Ada, he was father.
FILM COMING SOON
ABOUT THE FILM
A daughter who knew what history could not.
In September 1941, Jacob Gens assumed command of the Jewish Police in the Vilna Ghetto. His daughter Ada was just fourteen years old.
As thousands struggled to survive under Nazi occupation, Ada moved between the ghetto and the outside world, carrying knowledge of an underground life hidden from the Germans: culture, resistance, and the desperate efforts to preserve a community facing destruction.
On September 14, 1943, Jacob Gens was executed by the Gestapo. But the secrets he carried did not all die with him.
His daughter survived.
“The secrets her father took to his grave lived on in his daughter.”
ADA TODAY
The daughter who survived to tell his story.
For more than eighty years, Ada Gens-Ustjanauskas carried memories of the Vilna Ghetto, her father, and the people whose lives depended upon decisions made under unimaginable circumstances.
Drawing upon her firsthand testimony, family archives, historical footage, and years of research, The Commandant’s Daughter reveals a history rarely heard from someone who witnessed it so closely.
On October 9, 2026, Ada celebrated her 100th birthday.
CONTINUE THE STORY
Discover the history behind the testimony.
Discover the Vilna Ghetto, the people whose lives shaped Ada’s story, and the research behind the Gens Family Project.