Documentary

Shoah

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. This epic documentary changed the way we think about the Holocaust. Featuring interviews with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators from across Europe, mostly Poland and Germany, Shoah is drawn from over 300 hours of contemporary conversations with these witnesses, along with footage of overgrown sites of unspeakable horrors, including the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

The monumental film grew out of Lanzmann's concern that the genocide perpetrated only 40 years earlier was already being forgotten. In response, he relied entirely on accounts from witnesses, rather than historical footage or reenactments, sometimes resorting to hidden cameras or other deceptions to coax stories and memories from those with whom he spoke.

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Created By

Claude Lanzmann

Status

Ended

Original Name

Shoah

First Air Date

April 24, 1985

Last Air Date

April 24, 1985

Seasons

1

Episodes

2

Language

French

Production Companies

Networks

Second Era
S01E02

Second Era

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses: perpetrators, as well as survivors. The "Second Era" chronicles memories of the changing horrors at the death camps in later 1942 and 1943, as precise, efficient methods replaced earlier, more piecemeal or primitive efforts. The witnesses Lanzmann interviews also recall the impact of news about the extermination camps reaching people outside of the camps, including those in Jewish ghetto of Warsaw. One of the final interviews is with a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

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