Synopses & Reviews
Claude Lanzmann's monumental Shoah is the most celebrated film about the Holocaust ever made. For eleven years, Lanzmann traveled the world in search of those witnesses closest to the agony of the Jews of Europe during the Nazi terror. In superbly conducted, detailed interviews, rendered in
searching, intimate close-ups, survivors disclose personal experiences at the limit of human expression. Thus we hear the invaluable testimonies of Richard Glazar and the barber Abraham Bomba, members of the Sonderkommando at Treblinka; of Simon Srebnik, the young boy who sang Polish and German
songs as he walked through the streets of Chelmno in leg irons, and of the thousands of bodies he helped to burn; of the Czechoslovak Jew Filip Muller who survived five selections while serving in the Sonderkommando at Birkenau to witness the destruction of the Czech family camp; of Rudolf Vrba, who
escaped from Birkenau to warn Hungarian Jews of their impending doom. Their first-hand accounts are confirmed in horrifying interviews Lanzmann conducted with former German guards and functionaries who scheduled the trains to the East; with average Polish farmers and townspeople who watched as their
neighbors were taken away to their deaths; and with Polish heroes like Jan Karski, who tried in vain to warn Western leaders of the catastrophe unfolding on Polish soil.
In counterpoint to their chilling tales, Lanzmann's camera surveys the former killing sites, mapping the terrain of mass murder and examining the monuments erected in memory of the lost Jewish communities of Europe. No more profound, more vivid or more moving cinematic work about the Holocaust
exists. This volume examines Shoah from its inception through its reception in France, Europe, and the United States. New in English are translations of some of Lanzmann's key essays and interviews as well as a range of appreciations, analyses, and critiques by leading American, French and Polish
critics and commentators.
Review
"This is an indispensable guide to a work of art that is itself indispensable, especially given current politics. Shoah is a monument that remains alive. Highly recommended."--M. Yacowar, CHOICE
Review
"This is an indispensable guide to a work of art that is itself indispensable, especially given current politics. Shoah is a monument that remains alive. Highly recommended."--M. Yacowar, CHOICE
"This is an indispensable guide to a work of art that is itself indispensable, especially given current politics. Shoah is a monument that remains alive. Highly recommended."--M. Yacowar, CHOICE
"Full of fascinating and frequently poignant comments...For those interested in the cinema of the Holocaust and also those interested in documentary film making methods this book is a must." --Kinoeye
Synopsis
Claude Lanzmann's monumental Shoah is the most celebrated film about the Holocaust ever made. Vivid accounts of the destruction of European Jewry by those who witnessed the slaughter at first hand make Lanzmann's film a compelling meditation on a defining catastrophe of the twentieth century. This collection offers the best writing on this remarkable cinematic achievement and brings together a range of appreciations, analyses and critiques by leading American, French and Polish critics and commentators. Their essays examine Shoah from its inception through its reception in France, Europe and the United States. New in English are translations of some of Lanzmann's key texts and interviews.
About the Author
Stuart Liebman is Professor of the History of Cinema at The City University of New York Graduate Center.