“SHOAH”: film (dir. Claude Lanzmann, 1985) (online link to film accessible here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXweT1BgQMk
Deadline: November 23
Step 1: Watch the designated segment from Claude Landzman’s 1985 documentary “Shoah.” Watch it again.
Then watch it again. (The entire documentary is over 9 hours long! But you only need to watch a small portion
of this)
Step 2: In essay form, analyze the segment and evaluate the way it (1) recounts events associated with the
Holocaust and World War II (2) implicates racial/ethnic and economic policies of Nazi Europe and how the
individuals interviewed experienced those policies (as spectators? As participants? As a witnesses? And reflect
upon (3) how the policies of Nazi Europe specifically impacted individuals such as these.
Consider the following questions:
- Who was interviewed in the segment(s) you watched and what do their testimonies contribute to the study of
the period? - What are the methods the director uses to reconstruct the history of the period?
- How, if at all, has this text changed your understanding of the Holocaust (Shoah), if at all?
- What is the importance of this documentary film as tool for learning?
- Why is important that we encounter the testimony of a person, such as this one, who lived through the
period? - How does this film and its subject relate to our class “Shaping of the Modern World?
- What can we learn about other cultures and histories from this text?
Sample Solution