940.53

FACING HATE (with Elie Wiesel and Bill Moyers)  (1991)

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Bill Moyers interviews Nobel Prize-winning peace activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Wiesel speaks about his Holocaust experiences and whether or not he feels the annihilation of Jews was driven by hatred. At the time of this interview, Wiesel had been setting up international conventions about “The Anatomy of Hate.” He addresses the subject of hate in this interview and why he feels people are so hesitant to deal with this topic. Note: Excellent for classroom discussions both of ethics and of the Holocaust.

58 min.  AGE: 13 to Adult

943.086

THE FATAL ATTRACTION OF ADOLF HITLER (1989)

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BBC documentary which explores to what extent Germans shared Hitler’s goals of killing the Jews and of conquering land and creating a German empire. The film utilizes numerous interviews – interviews with associates of Hitler, with Germany military men, and with ordinary Germans. There are interviews with Hitler’s doctor, Hitler’s secretary at the end of the war, one of Hitler’s foreign press officers and a member of the German General staff. There is one interview with a Jew, a former Sonderkommando in Auschwitz, who gives a detailed account of the process of gassing Jews in the camp. Interviewees discuss the hold Hitler had over them, and describe the atmosphere in Germany at the time. The film is at odds with the theory that most Germans shared Hitler’s desire for genocide of the Jews. Note: As this film is older, some of its information has been revised today due to historical research and the fact that Germany is no longer divided. The film is British and therefore emphasizes Britain’s role in World War II. The interviews and the documentary footage, however, are still quite valuable and relevant today.  

1 hr. 30 min.  AGE:  14 to Adult

940.53

FIGHTER (2000)

Documentary about the journey two Czech Holocaust survivors take back to Europe to retrace one man’s escape route from the Nazis through Yugoslavia and Italy. Jan Wiener (77) and Arnost Lustig (72) have been friends since meeting in the U.S. in 1978. During the war, Wiener fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, survived throughout Europe for six years and ended the war as a flyer for the royal Air Force in England. Wiener also spent 5 ½ years in a forced labor camp after the war. Arnost survived as a teenager in Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz and Terezin. Both left Czechoslovakia in the 1970’s as exiles of the Communist regime.

When the film opens, Wiener talks about how his father taught him to box and defend himself when he was young. After the war broke out, Wiener was always a fighter – not a victim. This is one of the main reasons that his friend, Arnost Lustig, decided to write about Wiener’s story – and the reason the two men embarked on this journey back to Europe. Lustig comments that it is important to tell about a man who chose to be a fighter in a time when most people became indifferent bystanders. Most fascinating throughout the film is how the two men learn in depth about one another. In fact, by the film’s conclusion, Lustig says that they can no longer be friends – they are simply fundamentally too different. Note: The film is primarily in English, but parts are subtitled.

86 min.  AGE:  16 to Adult

956.94

THE FINAL SOLUTION (1941-1942)  (Pillar of Fire, Chapter 12)  (1981)

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The German invasion of Russia marks the commencement of “the final solution." The public does not believe that mass murder of Jews is taking place in Eastern Europe. In the desert battle, Rommel and the Germans are stopped at El-Alamein. Study guide available.

Color/B&W. 1 hr.  AGE: 12 to Adult

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(DVD)

PBS special which examines the life of Elie Wiesel, noted Holocaust survivor, writer and lecturer – and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Narrated by William Hurt, this documentary includes numerous interviews with Wiesel about his life as a writer, his experiences during the Holocaust and how he reconstructed his life to become the man he is today. Wiesel discusses his days as a journalist in Paris, the establishment of Israel and his life in America where he continues to write, lecture and teach university students. He also addresses the events of September 11^th and the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

1 hr.  AGE:  14 to Adult

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THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS  (1998)

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Wonderful adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s National Book Award-winning story. This drama takes place in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1949 and tells the story of a shoemaker and his wife who have a daughter, Miriam, of marriageable age. They want her to have a better life than theirs, to marry a college boy; but they are unaware that she is in love with her father’s assistant, a Holocaust survivor. The film leads to an examination of what is most valuable in life. Stars Carol Kane and Israel Horovitz. Study guide available.

28 min.  AGE: 12 to Adult

940.53

FLAMES IN THE ASHES  (1986)

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Produced by Beit Lohamei Haghetaot—The Ghetto Fighters’ House in Israel, this documentary looks at the many forms of Jewish resistance during World War II. It includes archival footage and the testimony of many eyewitnesses—and is narrated by survivors of the Shoah, who tell their own stories of resistance. The film highlights Jewish resistance in the camps and ghettos, as well as the workings of the underground and partisan movements—spanning many countries. All of the historical footage was shot during the war, mainly by the Germans. Note: Includes some graphic scenes. The subtitles are also difficult to read at times.

In Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Italian and Polish with subtitles. B&W. 1 hr. 35 min.  AGE: 14 to Adult

940.53

FOR THE LIVING: THE CREATION OF THE U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM  (1993)

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Documentary on how the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was created—from conception, to gathering and creating materials, to its completion. Includes actual film footage from the Holocaust. Narrated by Ed Asner.

1 hr.  AGE: 12 to Adult

940.53

FORESTS OF VALOR: FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JEWISH PARTISANS

For

(1989)

In 1989, an Israeli educational film crew was permitted to film inside the USSR, in former Lithuania. They visit the remains of Jewish towns and follow the footsteps of the Jewish underground and partisans during World War II. The crew visit the hiding places and escape routes of the underground, and the sites where partisans stored their weapons. They follow the sewage canals beneath Vilna, and visit the North Fort near Vilna where mass murders took place. The film also reenacts the escape of 60 Jewish prisoners from the Fort. Includes archival footage from the restricted Russian military museums. Note: Some of the interviews recorded are subtitled.

52 min.  AGE: 14 to Adult

956.94

THE FORGOTTEN ALLY (1943-1945)  (Pillar of Fire, Chapter 14)  (1981)

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Towards the end of the war, the British War Cabinet agrees to the formation of a Jewish brigade. The Stern Group and the Irgun begin to attack the British soldiers and police in Palestine. The end of the war brings out the horror of the Holocaust for all to see. Study guide available.

Color/B&W. 1 hr.  AGE: 12 to Adult

940.53

FOUR STORIES OF HIDING AND RESCUE  (n.d.)

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From Yad ha Yaled, the Children’s Memorial of the Ghetto Fighters’ House in Israel, comes this video which provides brief testimonies (each one is 6-7 minutes long) of four survivors who were children during the Holocaust. Each survivor tells his or her story of survival—one had hidden with a Polish family, one in a convent, one in the forest and one on the road. They briefly describe their experiences and their separation from family members. Note: The interviews were in Hebrew (which can be softly heard in the background), but a narrator translates aloud in English and English subtitles appear on the screen as well. This program was designed for use with young people, for either classroom or Yom HaShoah, and does not contain any graphic footage.

27 min.  AGE: 11 to Adult

940.54

FREEDOM  (Witness to the Holocaust, Vol. 6)  (1980)

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Part six of a seven-part series on the Holocaust in which interviews with survivors provide the narration for documentary footage and photographs. This segment explores the liberation of the camps, documenting the horrors discovered by the Allies when they entered the camps. Includes the return of survivors to their homes in Europe and their efforts to begin new lives in Israel and America. Film clips of displaced person camps and of illegal immigration are also in this episode. Study guide available.

Approx. 20 min.  AGE: 12 to Adult

940.53

A FRIENDSHIP IN VIENNA  (1988)

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The friendship of two 13 year old girls—one Jewish, the other the daughter of a German collaborator—is tested by the German persecution of Jews. Based on the children’s book The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel. Study guide available. (Additional copy of the video is available under 940.53 Dia.)

1 hr. 34 min.  AGE: 10 to Adult

Fascinating BBC documentary about Jewish artists during the Holocaust that includes interviews with actual surviving artists. The artists talk about their experiences during the war while their drawings, which depict life in the ghettos and concentration camps, are shown on screen. Over 30,000 drawings and paintings have survived ghettos, camps and hiding places. Some were hidden in holes in the ground, cavities in the walls or smuggled out. Although most of the artists were murdered, some survived and gave testimony in this film. Many of them were forced to create art for the Nazis. Sections of the film deal with lives of artists who were partisans, as well as artists in Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and Dachau. Note: A few of the interviews are in foreign languages without subtitles. As their drawings are shown on screen while they speak, this is not terribly distracting to the viewer. Some images are graphic in nature, and testimony may be disturbing.

65 min.  AGE:  14 to Adult

940.53

THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS  (1971)

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Academy Award-winning Italian film about an aristocratic Jewish family living in Italy during World War II. The Finzi-Continis are assimilated Jews who live in a beautiful, secluded estate in Ferrara, Italy. During 1938-1943, Mussolini’s Fascist government enforced Racial Laws on Jews, restricting their activities, associations and rights. The film focuses on the two Finzi-Contini children, young adults who open their home to friends as restrictions grow. We watch their friendships and romantic relationships change as war becomes eminent. The Finzi-Continis learn that neither money nor social status can save them from the inevitable fate of European Jews during World War II. Based on the novel by Giorgio Bassana. In Italian with subtitles. Note: Includes one brief scene of nudity.

1 hr. 34 min. Rated R.  AGE: Adult

940.53

A GENERATION APART  (1983)

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Documentary made by two grown children of the Holocaust about the long-term effects of the Holocaust on the children of survivors. Danny and Jack Fisher look at how their lives were affected by being raised by survivors. They interview a few other Holocaust survivors with their children, who discuss their relationships and how the parents’ wartime experiences impacted on their children’s lives. Note: Film is slightly disjointed as it skips from person to person.

56 min.  AGE: 13 to Adult

JHVC

F

Genghis Cohn  (1994)

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The cool efficiency with which Germany assimilated war criminals back into mainstream society is the basis for this unsettling, dark comedy. Genghis Cohn is a two-bit Jewish comedian in pre-war Europe who will say anything about the Germans to get a laugh. But his act literally dies at Dachau when the camp commandant orders his execution. Nineteen years later the commandant is the police commissioner of a small Bavarian village and Genghis Cohn has returned to haunt him. As a murder mystery unfolds in the village, Cohn "helps" the commissioner. The investigation becomes an interrogation of the mind, bringing about questions of motives and guilt.

1 hr. 40 min.  AGE: 16 to Adult

940.53

GENOCIDE  (1982)

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The story of the millions of European Jews who perished in the Holocaust. An emotionally powerful chronicle of the history of anti-Semitism, culminating in the rise of Nazism. Genocide features dramatic testimonies of individual suffering and heroism. It is a textured mosaic of the systematic elimination of a third of the world's Jewish population and a testimony to those who died. Study guide available.

1 hr. 22 min.  AGE: 14 to Adult

JHVC

940.53

Genocide (From "The World at War")  (1975)

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Nazi racial theory, an ideology that captivated millions of Germans in the 1920’s and 1930’s, was translated into concrete policies by Heinrich Himmler, who created the SS. Once the Nazis came to power, the concept of the Aryan "master race" was taught in classrooms throughout Germany. The doctrine was implemented in anti-Jewish laws and actions and, ultimately, the Final Solution, in which the Jewish population of Nazi-occupied Europe was systematically deported and murdered. This program, narrated by Laurence Olivier, traces the role of the demonization of the Jews in the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust. Using archival footage, much of it shot by the Nazis, as well as testimony from the Eichmann trial, the film follows the systemized anti-Semitism of the Nazis from its formation to the end of the war. In grim, graphic images and straightforward narration, it sets out the events that define its topic. Note: Contains graphic footage.

Color/B&W. 52 min.  AGE: Adult

940.54

GHETTO LIFE  (Witness to the Holocaust, Vol. 2)  (1980)

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Part two of a seven-part series on the Holocaust in which interviews with survivors provide the narration for documentary footage and photographs. This segment documents events within the ghettos from 1940 to the deportation in 1942. Describes ghetto conditions, Jewish efforts to continue living, and the role of the Judenrat—the Jewish Council. Study guide available.

Approx. 20 min.  AGE: 12 to Adult

JHVC

940.53

Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg  (1990)

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Raoul Wallenberg, an attaché to the Swedish Embassy, was sent at the initiative of Swedish Jewish businessmen on a rescue mission of Hungarian Jews. He distributed Swedish papers ("Wallenberg passports"), protected Jews in "Wallenberg houses," internationalized the ghetto to give the 33,000 Jews within it more protections, and saved thousands of Jews from deportation. On January 17, 1945, Wallenberg was taken to Moscow as a Soviet prisoner. He was never released, and his fate has remained a mystery. Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg, a Swedish feature film, chronicles the last days of the war in Budapest. The Soviet noose is tightening around the city, yet the unrelenting mass murder of Jews continues. In this almost surreal atmosphere, where only the victims seem sane, Wallenberg fights tirelessly to save as many as he can—and to preserve a semblance of humanity amidst the nihilistic horror.

In Swedish with subtitles. 1 hr. 55 min.  AGE: 14 to Adult

JHVC

F

The Great Dictator  (1940)

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In 1940, America was ambivalent about intervening in the conflict in Europe. Despite reports of German mistreatment of Jews, many Americans still believed Hitler could be appeased. But as the isolationist streak prevailed within the U.S., Charlie Chaplin chose to speak out against Nazism in the best way he knew—through brilliant parody. In The Great Dictator, Chaplin plays both a humble Jewish barber and the egomaniacal dictator Adenoid Hynkel of Tomania. As the anti-Jewish climate worsens, the barber finds himself an unlikely hero to his compatriots, who have been resisting deportation to a concentration camp. When the barber is finally sent away, he escapes, and is mistaken for Hynkel. In the shoes of the mad leader, Chaplin ends his film with an impassioned plea for tolerance.

B&W. 2 hrs. 6 min.  AGE: 14 to Adult

940.53

THE GREY ZONE (2002)

An utterly devastating and powerful drama based on the real-life events of the Sonderkommandos at Auschwitz – Jewish prisoners who were selected to work the crematoria and handle the dead. The title “The Grey Zone” refers to the “grey” ethical positions these men were in. Being a Sonderkommando meant being allowed privileges other Jewish prisoners didn’t have – better food, for example. Sonderkommandos also knew that they had, at most, 4 months to live before the Nazis would exterminate them (the Nazis wanted no surviving eye witnesses to the crematoria among prisoners). The alternative to accepting a Sonderkommando duty was instant death. The entire film is filmed with grey overtones, matching both the theme and depicted how grey ash from the crematoria enveloped everything. The Grey Zone follows the Sonderkommando members as they plan a revolt to blow up crematoria – the only armed revolt of Auschwitz. The desperate plight of all at Auschwitz is depicted in an extremely graphic and realistic manner. Note: This film is best viewed by those with some grounding in Holocaust history. It is not for the unprepared viewer, as the violence, agony and cruelty portrayed are quite explicit and will leave many sickened and speechless by the movie’s conclusion. There are graphic scenes of people being gassed, tortured, shot and experimented upon, and numerous concrete scenes of the Sonderkommandos loading bodies into the ovens of Auschwitz. It is hard to imagine any viewer who will be unmoved by the suffering in this film. This may be the first film to attempt to accurately recreate this mass annihilation for the screen. Includes outstanding performances from a cast including David Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and Steve Buscemi. Note: Includes graphic Holocaust violence, nudity and language.

1 hr. 48 min.  AGE:  Adults only