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Lists of videotapes Social Studies schools A-M
The videotapes and other material described below are available from the Social Studies School Service, 10200 Jefferson Boulevard, Room J1, P.O. Box 802, Culver City, California 90232-0802. Their complete catalogue, “Teaching the Holocaust,” may be obtained free of charge by calling 1-800-421-4246.
E-mail: Access@SocialStudies.com
Call: 800-421-4246 (U.S. and Canada)
Call: 310-839-2436 (International)
Fax: 310-839-2249
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These materials have been updated at their site. Visit our Links page to go to their page.
The following data has been reproduced with the permission of the Social Studies School Service. (Typos mine. knm)
ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. A young American woman, daughter of a survivor of the Nazi death camps, tells about her quest for `knowledge of the Holocaust years and why study of the Holocaust is important now – though it is many years after these terrible events.’ Produced by the Holocaust Survivors Film Project, Inc., the video, which includes firsthand accounts from survivors as well as documentary footage, reveals the fate of European Jewry in the decade between 1935 and the end of the World War. Grades 7 and up. Colour. 26 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL163V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 50.00
ANNE FRANK: A Legacy for Our Time. A two-part program that uses Anne Frank’s story to help students examine their own attitudes about human rights, prejudice, morality, justice, and the responsibility of the individual in society. Part 1 quotes liberally from Anne Frank’s _Diary_ to comment not only on the experiences of the Franks, but on the political background of their time as well. Part 2 explores both historical and current fascist movements to discuss such concepts as prejudice, discrimination, and scapegoating. Both sections are illustrated with black-and-white archive photographs. Also included are 16 reproducible worksheets that reinforce the information in the program. Grades 4-9. 38 minutes. Society For Visual Education.
Copyright 1985.
LCA604V-J4 VHS video from filmstrips, $US 69.00
16 reproducible worksheets, guide
ANNE FRANK: The Diary of a Young Girl. Conveying the remarkable emergence of an undaunted spirit, Julie Harris delivers an eloquent reading of Anne Frank’s diary, which begins in 1942 on Anne’s 13th. birthday (the diary was her favorite present that day) and ends in 1944 three days before her hiding place was plundered by the Gestapo. Abridged. Grades 5-12. Total time, 87 minutes. Audio Partners.
AUP100C-J4 2 audiocassettes $US 15.95
ANNE FRANK IN MAINE. This sensitively made documentary follows a junior high school class in Kennebunk, Maine, as it prepares to perform “The Diary of Anne Frank.” The program records play rehersals and the class’s search for meaning in archival photographs, Nuremberg trial excerpts, Nazi history, visits from a concentration camp survivor and a Rabbi, and personal experiences of prejudice. Showing how a teacher’s lesson plan gave a significant learning experience not only to the children but to their parents as well, the video is especially helpful for those interested in developing programs for teaching about the Holocaust in their communities. Colour. 30 minutes. ADL
ADL148V-J4 VHS videocassette, guide $US 50.00
AS IF IT WERE YESTERDAY. Produced and directed by two women whose parents spent the war in hiding, this program documents interviews of Belgian people who risked their lives to hide, place, or help 4000 Jewish children excape extermination during the Nazi occupation. Belgian teachers, priests, nurses, directors of humane organizations, and others relate the procedures they used to protect the children; and several survivors, now adults, tell their side of this moving story of altruism. In French and Flemish with English subtitles. Black-and-white. 85 minutes. Almi.
ALM100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 49.95
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS. Directed and written by Louis Malle. Based on Malle’s experience at boarding school during the Nazi occupation of France, this film documents the story of Julien, a Catholic schoolboy, and his friend Jean, a Jew being sheltered by a courageous French priest. After an act of betrayal, the Gestapo deports Jean and the priest to Auschwitz. Julien must say goodbye to his friend – and to his childhood. (The 78-page screenplay features 8 pages of photographs from the award-winning film.) In French with English subtitles. Colour. 103 minutes. Orion.
NS102V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 21.95
NS102L-J4 Laserdisc (CLV) $US 46.50
RH398-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 6.95 ea.
5+ copies $US 6.25 ea.
AVENUE OF THE JUST. Each tree along the Avenue of the Just at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem bears the name of a Christian who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Oral histories of ten of these courageous people recall their hopes and fears in time of tragedy, speak of the underground “trafficking in human cargo,” describe the elaborate deceptions necessary to elude German soldiers, and profess guilt for surviving when their relatives died. (The related 175-page paperback, “The Book of the Just,” tells the stories of 40 unsung heroes who saved Jews from Hitler.) Colour and black-and-white. 55 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL149V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 70.00
ING109-J4 Hardback $US 19.95
DAVID. Directed by Peter Lilienthal. David, his close family, and his father, a Rabbi with a large congregation, live in Germany during the rise of the Nazis. An idealistic, brave adolescent, David maintains his joy and pride in being Jewish, even when members of his family begin to disappear. Eventually, two humane Germans hide David and help him to escape to Palestine. This award-winning production is said to be the first feature film on the Holocaust to be directed in Germany by a German Jew. Stars Mario Fischel and Walter Taub. In German with English subtitles. Colour. 106 minutes.
KN100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.95
ELIE WIESEL: Nobel Prize Series. Offering an intimate glimpse of the 1986 Peace Prize Winner, this program highlights Wiesel’s devotion to the cause of peace. Through exclusive interviews and excerpts from his work, the Holocaust survivor explains that the driving force behind his literary career has been the concept of the writer as witness. The program includes a student activity notebook with more excerpts from Wiesel’s work, and a comprehensive resource book with background information and lesson plans. Grades 7 and up. Colour. 15 minutes. IMG/Educators/Nobel Foundation. Copyright 1990.
SUN412V-J4 VHS videocassette, student notebook $US 69.00
teacher resource book
ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR. Narrated by Howard K. Smith. Sobibor, a Nazi death camp in Poland where more than a quarter of a million Jews were annihilated, was also the site of the largest prisoner escape of World War II. Based on years of research, this 1987 dramatization of the heroic uprising that took place in Sobibor movingly portrays the people themselves and their trip through Polish forests to freedom. Stars Rutger Hauer, Alan Arkin, and Joanna Pacula. Colour. 120 minutes.
VS202V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 89.98
VS202L-J4 Laserdisc (CLV) $US 41.50
FLAMES IN THE ASHES: Holocaust Documentaries. An artful, insightful examination of the many ways that Jews resisted the Nazis. Over documentary footage and stills, the voices of those who survived the war – some as members of national partisan movements, some simply as individuals who performed acts of bravery, sacrifice, or deception – are woven together to give viewers a sense of the differing dimensions of Jewish resistance in Europe before and during World War II. In Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Italian, and Polish with English subtitles. NOTE: some graphic footage. Black-and-white. 90 minutes.
ER103V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.95
GENOCIDE: World At War Vol. 20. This penetrating program examines the rationale and the methods employed by the Nazis to realize their goal of a “master race.” Graphic documentary footage, some of it shot by the Nazis themselves, as well as interviews with survivors, SS officers, and others are combined to offer an inside look at both the Nazis’ ideas and the heinous crimes against humanity that followed the implementation of these ideas. Narrated by Laurence Olivier. Colour and black-and-white. 52 minutes. Thames Television.
SV283V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.98
HANNA’S WAR. Directed by Menahem Golan. The harrowing, true story of the martyrdom of Hannah Senesh, “Israel’s Joan of Arc.” Forsaking her secure life on a Palestinian kibutz during WWII, Senesh volunteers for a suicide mission that takes her back to Hungary. She is captured, imprisoned, and tortured by the Nazis, but she never reveals the names of the others involved in her mission. After trying desperately to free her, her mother finally obtains orders for her release, but the young girl is executed anyway. This somber but inspiring account of real-life heroism stars Ellen Burstyn, Maruschka Detmers, and Anthony Andrews. (The related paperback, “Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary,” includes her poems and letters, along with essays by her mother and friends.) Colour. 148 minutes.
SV247V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 9.99
RH551-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 14.00 ea.
5+ copies $US 12.60 ea.
HEIL HITLER! Confessions of a Hitler Youth. Why would millions of children become as loyal to Hitler as to a father? Why would a 9-year-old child believe, “I belonged to Hitler body and soul. My fate was bound to the Fu”hrer’s”? As this chilling true account shows, Alfons Heck, like 8 million other German Hitler Youth, was so captivated by Hitler that he watched his favorite childhood friends be taken away to be murdered while he cared for nothing but to win the war or die for Germany and its leader. Graphic documentary footage dramatizes how songs, youth camps, speeches, and education reinforced Hitler’s mesmerizing lies of racial science and a master race. Heck, now an adult who can barely believe his own fanaticism and Hitler’s atrocities, sees no reason why history cannot repeat itself. Grades 7 and up. Color and black-and-white. 30 minutes. HBO. Copyright 1991
TL338V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 69.95
HITLER: Anatomy of a Dictatorship. How did Adolf Hitler come to power? Why were so many German people willing to follow the man who would lead them into a war in which more than 35 million people would die? Newsreels and archival footage trace Hitler’s career from his emergence on the political scene in 1923 through the conclusion of WWII. Viewers witness the torchlight celebration that greeted Hitler upon his ascension to the chancellorship [Editor’s note: Some authors contend that this parade occurred, as a staged event by Goebbels, on the night _after_ the ascension. knm], excerpts from his speeches, and parties during his final days in the bunker. Grades 7 and up. Black-and-white. 23 minutes. Learning Corporation of America.
CNT172V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.00
HITLER: Heros and Tyrants of the Twentieth Century. (Formerly “Hitler: Profiles of Power”) Archival footage reveals rare scenes of Hitler’s early rise to power, adding dimension to the examination of this later years and the exercise of that power. Included is footage of brown-shirted stormtroopers, the Reichstag fire, Hitler’s propaganda techniques, and his meetings with Chamberlain, Mussolini, and Stalin. Grades 7 and up. Black-and-white. 54 minutes. Granada.
MJK135V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 19.98
HITLER: The Last Ten Days. This dramatization of Hitler’s last days in a fortified bunker combines vivid documentary footage with accurate portrayals of Hitler, Goering, and others to reveal the start contrast between the dictator’s megalomaniacal fantasies and the horror, defeat, and destruction they spawned. Based on historical evidence, the production has been certified by eyewitnesses and noted historians to be an accurate reflection of events. Stars Alec Guinness and Simon Ward. Colour and black-and-white. 108 minutes. Paramount.
SV393V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 49.95
HITLER: The Whole Story. A three-volume documentary tracing the career of Adolf Hitler, a “provincial rabble rouser from Bavaria,” and self-styled savior of the German nation. To help explain why Germany embraced National Socialism, remarkable archival footage chronicles the rise of the Nazi Party and its leaders. The program covers Germany’s economy following World War I, Hitler’s plans for global conquest, the “Anschluss,” the rape of Poland, the final solution, the fury of battle, and the Third Reich’s flaming demise. Advanced students. Black-and-white. Total time: approximately 180 minutes. Cine-Art. Copyright 1989.
DZ100V-J4 BOXED SET: 3 VHS videocassettes $US 49.50
HOLOCAUST. Spanning the decade between 1935 and 1945, this ambitious, Emmy Award-winning production follows the lives of two families living in Nazi Germany during Hitler’s “Final Solution.” The Weiss family must endure the extreme hardships and unspeakable cruelty of the times, while the Dorf family enjoys a rise in prestige and wealth through their association with the S.S. Stars Michael Moriarity, Meryl Streep, Fritz Weaver, and James Woods. Colour. Total time, 7 1/2 hours. Titus Productions.
SV380V-J4 3 VHS videocassettes $US 99.95
HOLOCAUST: In Dark Places. This videocassette features four shorts dealing with the Holocaust. The main feature is _In Dark Places_ (58 minutes), a 1978 film by Gina Blumenfeld that records interviews with several survivors and their children, with a special segment with Susan Sontag. All describe their experiences and attempts to come to terms with their pain and to understand how they are “children of the past” with the responsibility to pass this information on. Interspersed between the interviews is a dramatic piece entitled “Survivors,” performed by the New Artef Players. The three other shorts are _How Come Israel?_, a minidrama using fighting children in a metaphoric game of “pogrom”; _The Good Omen_, a Polish folktale of renewal with paintings by Shay Rieger, and _The Hangman_, a 1964 animated short dealing with the responsibility of the silent bystander. Colour. 90 minutes. Mastervision.
SV122V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 69.95
HOLOCAUST: Liberation of Auschwitz. When Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, a cameraman accompanied them to record the liberation process. This powerful program incorporates the personal impressions of the camerman, Alexander Woronzow, with his haunting footage. The camera documents the fearful faces of Auschwitz survivors, who didn’t know the Soviets were their liberators. The commentary describes the selection process which sent some inmates to work while others went to their deaths, horrific medical experiments, and daily life within Auschwitz. WARNING: not recommended for unprepared audiences due to the intensely graphic presentation of atrocities. Grades 9 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 18 minutes. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Copyright 1990.
EBE296V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 99.00
HOW HITLER LOST THE WAR. Offering an intriguing perspective on the downfall of Hitler’s Germany, this well-researched military history demonstrates how historians can reach differing conclusions basd on their interpretations of the evidence. Through the use of documentary film footage, and interviews with German, British, and American military figures, as well as military historians, this account advances the thesis that Hitler lost the war rather than it being won by the Allies. Hitler’s personal habits, his handling of the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk, his reluctance to invade England, and his failure to develop German technology are all examined as factors which contributed to the collapse of his reign. Colour and black-and-white.
67 minutes. Varied Directions. Copyright 1989.
VR105V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 99.95
JOURNEY TO PRAGUE: A Remembrance. Contrast: A Holocaust museum docent delivers her clipped, objective, professional patter about the memorabilia collected by the Nazis from their Jewish victims – sending one old man in the tour group on a passionate, haunted voyage in words and images back to that dark country of the past, Prague, 1939, when the deportations began. Shuffling between mute artifacts and eloquent memories, viewers follow Otto Lowy as he comes to terms with his mother’s fate (He is told “She went right up the chimney.”) and his own: “Today, I am one of your artifacts.” Grades 7-12. Color. 28 minutes. Canadian Broadcasting Company.
MEM189V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 129.00
JUST A DIARY. Chronicles the life story of Anne Frank from the perspective of a 17-year-old Dutch girl who played the part of Anne in a recent stage performance. Following a brief interview with the young actress and a scene from her play, this program combines historical footage and photos from the Frank’s gamily album to familiarize viewers with Anne’s life, the persecution of the Jews under Hitler, and the horrors of the Nazi camps. Also includes 30 copies of an 8-page “Anne Frank Journal” with teacher notes. Colour. 30 minutes. Anne Frank Center.
AFC100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 75.00
KITTY: Return to Auschwitz. A guided tour of Hell, this award-winning documentary records the pilgrimage to Auschwitz of Kitty Hart, a survivor who lived in the camp between the ages of 16 and 18. Thirty-four years later, realizing that someday no eyewitnesses will be left alive, she returns in order to tell others – and to try to understand – what happened there. In the now-deserted camp, the numbing statistics become personal and immediate as Kitty relives her two years of stuggle; thirst, dogs, crowds, the ever-presence of death, cold, washing in her own urine, slave labor, bread rations, filth, trying to appear invisible, the day-to-day fight to exist. Ultimately, the film serves as a testament both to all who died in Auschwitz and to Kitty’s own determination and strength. Colour. 82 minutes.
FLM128V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 49.00
LODZ GHETTO. This program combines wartime footage and still photographs with color film of present-day Europe to re-create the day-to-day struggle of the inhabitants to survive in the inhuman conditions of the Lodz ghetto. Selections from diaries written by men and women, young and old, are read as narration, describing the German invasion of Poland, the establishment of the ghetto, a pogrom in 1940, the repression of protest, forced labor, meager rations, the influx of Jews from other cities, and deportation to camps. The vivid portrayal of life and inevitable death in Lodz and powerful expressions of fear, suffering, and hopelessness speak to the Holocaust as a whole. Based on _Lodz Ghetto: Inside a Community Under Siege_, an extensive compilation of the private writings of Lodz inhabitants edited by Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides. WARNING: graphic presentation of atrocities. Grades 7 and up. Black-and-white and colour. 156 minutes. Jewish Heritage Project. Copyright 1989.
PF134V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.95
PEN328-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 17.95 ea.
5+ copies $US 16.25 ea.
MEIN KAMPF. Dedicated to the memories of the victims of Nazism, this powerful and comprehensive documentary charts the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, Nazi strategy and policy, and the response of the world to the Nazi assault on Europe. Archival photographs and dramatic live-action newsreel footage reflect Hitler’s masterful manipulation of German anger following the Treaty of Versailles to propel himself to the leadership of the country’s government. The 1961 production also documents lawful anti-Semitic activities and ghetto life under the Nazis, the creation of concentration camps, the siege of Stalingrad, and the ultimate defeat of the Nazis by the Allied forces. Black-and-white. 117 minutes. Columbia.
CPM100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.95
MORE THAN BROKEN GLASS: Memories of Kristallnacht. Dramatic archival news footage, photographs, and interviews with witnesses are woven together to present a portrait of the times and events leading to the November, 1938 “Night of Broken Glass,” when German synagogues were ransacked and homes and businesses of Jews were looted or set on fire. This program places Kristallnacht in its historical context by describing the political climate in Germany in the 1930s and the lasting effect of the events on the lives of survivors. Some recall being sent to neutral Switzerland or emigrating with family to Cuba or Shanghai, others saw their parents taken away by the Nazis, still others were sheltered by “righteous” neighbors in Germany. Grades 7 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 57 minutes. Ergo.
ER106V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.95
MURDERERS AMONG US: The Simon Wiesenthal Story. “I think I am one of the last witnesses, and a last witness, before he leaves this world, has an obligation to say something.” A powerful and harrowing retelling of the life of Simon Wiesenthal, haunted by memories of his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. This 1988 production focuses on his untiring efforts to gather evidence from his fellow survivors and bear witness against Adolf Eichmann and Franz Murer, the infamous “Butcher of Vilna.” Stars Ben Kingsley. Grades 9 and up. Colour. 160 minutes. HBO.
WV117V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 89.99
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