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Lists of videotapes Social Studies schools N-Z
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.
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The following data has been reproduced with the permission of the Social Studies School Service. (Typos mine. knm)
NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS. This is the official film record of the Nazi death camps as photographed by Allied liberation forces in 1945. Although much evidence had been destroyed by the retreating Nazis, what remained was so unspeakably horrible (half-dead prisoners, victims of “medical” experiments, gas chambers, and open mass graves) that the very names of the camps have become synonymous with ultimate human suffering, degradation, and tragedy. This historical document provides irrefutable testimony to these “crimes against humanity.” WARNING: not recommended for unprepared audiences due to the intensly graphic presentation of atrocities. Uneven sound quality. Black-and-white. 59 minutes. U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality.
NA119V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 69.00
NAZIS…LEST WE FORGET. Presents a post-World War II, German produced documentary and an original Nazi newsreel. The 1949 documentary, “Nuremberg and its Lesson,” was made to show the German people the full extent of Nazi brutality. It documents the 1945 Nuremberg trials and graphically illustrates the mass destruction of Jews and other Europeans. Included are scenes of slave laborers in concentration camps, the charred remains of bodies in ovens, piles of corpses being tossed into a pit, and the warped medical experiments performed by camp doctors. Also included is a ten-minute 1944 Nazi newsreel of Luftwaffe (air force) pilots demonstrating bombing techniques. Black-and-white. 35 minutes.
VY127V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 24.95
NEVER FORGET. More than 30 years following World War II, a professional hate organization claiming that the Holocaust was a “concoction of the Jewish imagination” challenges Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, to prove in a court of law that anyone was gassed at Auschwitz. This powerful dramatization of the court case stars Leonard Nemoy, Blythe Danner, and Dabney Coleman. Closed captioned. Colour. 95 minutes. Turner. Copyright 1991.
TUR140V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.98
NIGHT AND FOG (“Nuit et Brouillard.”) The award-winning short documentary by the noted French director, Alain Resnais. This haunting production effectively combines actual black-and-white footage of the concentration camps with colour scenes of the same places 10 years after the Holocaust. This surrealistic journey of horror was written by a novelist who survived imprisonment by the Third Reich. In French with English subtitles. An extensive teacher’s guide includes transcripts, background, and presentation suggestions. 32 minutes.
VY100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 24.95
NOT LIKE SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER: The Story of the Bialystok Ghetto. Featuring archival black-and-white footage and revealing interviews, this program tells the courageous story of 24-year-old Modechai Tenenbaum and the small group of resistance fighters who attempted to defeat the Nazi scheme to eradicate the Jewish ghetto in Bialystok. Poland, in the summer of 1943. Through the testimony of those who served in the resistance and residents of Bialystok who witnessed and survived the pogrom, viewers gain a unique appreciation of the hardships and impossible choices faced by targets of the Third Reich. Excerpts from Nazi propaganda films are also included. Grades 7 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 150 minutes. Ergo. Copyright 1990.
ER108V-J4 V HS videocassette $US 79.95
NUREMBERG. A history of the rise to power of the Nazis recounted within the context of the Nuremberg trials. Excerpts of footage used by the prosecution to show Nazi atrocities are intercut with trial sequences to illustrate each of the four counts of the indictment. (Captioned 11″ x 14″ photographs depicting scenes surrounding the trial are available separately.) WARNING: the video is not recommended for unprepared audiences due to the intensely graphic presentation of atrocities. Produced by the War Department. Black-and-white. 76 minutes.
NA130V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 95.00
PARTISANS OF VILNA. Directed by Josh Waletsky. Told almost exclusively in the passionate words of the survivors, this moving production chronicles the Jewish resistance to Naziism in the Vilna ghetto. The program describes how the ghetto’s young activists put aside their differences (being variously Zionists, Communists, and socialists) to issue a “call to arms” when they realized the Nazis meant to kill the entire Jewish population of their city. When the opportunity for a revot in the ghetto came, however, the people would not rise up and follow their young leaders. As a result, the people of Vilna were liquidated; only the activists, who had escaped to the woods, survived. Subtitled. Colour. 130 minutes. CIESLA Foundation.
EH100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 69.95
PRESERVING THE PAST TO ENSURE THE FUTURE. A tour of Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem, the memorial to the lives of those annihilated by the Nazis during World War II, forms the heart of this sensitive program focusing on the 1,500,000 children whose only “crime” was to have been born Jewish. Their poetry and artwork bears witness to the vitality of their spirit and, as the tour proceeds, viewers share the emotional responses of visitors to the haunting Children’s Memorial. Recent news footage of acts of hate from around the globe underscore the concluding question: Could such an atrocity happen again? Grades 5 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 15 minutes. Ergo. Copyright 1989.
ER105V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.95
RAOUL WALLENBERG: Between the Lines. Documents the personal courage of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who risked his life during WWII to save the Jews of Budapest and who, following the war, was imprisoned as a spy in the Soviet Union. Through newsreel footage and interviews with Holocaust survivors and Wallenberg’s colleagues, this inspiring biography describes the diplomatic maneuvers and ingenious protests he used, such as creating a “protection passport,” an illegal document that nonetheless gave Swedish citizenship to Hungarian Jews. The 1985 program also discusses the international cover-up following his disappearance from Moscow in 1945 and the struggle to gain his freedom. (The related paperback is an easy-to-read biography entitled “Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death” by Sharon Linnea.) Grades 9 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 85 minutes.
SV996V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.95
JP102-J4 Paperback $US 9.95
REUNION. Directed by Heni Cartier-Bresson. Documents the liberation of prisoners from Nazi concentration camps and describes in human terms the formidable logistics of returning millions of Displaced Persons to their homes after the war. Memorable moments include a sequence in which the D.P.’s are shown journeying homeward, all their possessions piled into a long column of baby carriages. In English. Black-and-white. 21 minutes. Originally produced by the United States Information Service in 1946.
NA129V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 49.00
REUNION. Directed by Jerry Schatzberg. Fifty years after his parents sent him to American to evade Nazi persecution, a German Jew returns home to search for his closest childhood friend, the son of a wealthy military family. An extended flashback recalls the uncommon friendship shared by the two adolescents in the years prior to WWII, when tensions were rising in German society. This suspenseful 1988 production then returns to the present, building to the American’s climatic discovery of his friend’s fate. NOTE: brief nudity. Some short scenes in German (English subtitles). Stars Jason Robards. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. Closed captioned. Colour. 120 minutes.
FN129V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.95
SHOAH. Directed by Claude Lanzmann. Described as a “monument against forgetting,” this compelling production about the Holocaust combines contemporary footage of the places where the events of the Holocaust took place and interviews with Jewish survivors, SS officers, Nazi functionaries, and other eyewitnesses to create a historical document of immense power and beauty. Containing no archival footage or stills of the Holocaust and its victims, the program concentrates instead on building vast amounts of spoken, remembered detail to allow viewers to create vivid pictures in their imaginations as they view the now deserted fields, rivers, and buildings where these horrible events once took place. Includes a booklet containing a brief Holocaust history, maps, a chronology, study questions, and a bibliography. Colour. Total time: 570 minutes.
SV628V-J4 5 VHS videocassettes $US 299.95
SHIP OF FOOLS. Directed by Stanley Kramer. The 1933 voyage of a luxury liner sailing from Vera Cruz to Bremerhaven uncovers the weaknesses of its passengers to presage the Nazi Holocaust and, ultimately, to reflect the human condition. This 1965 interpretation of Katherin Anne Porter’s novel is distinguished by bravura performances by its all-star cast including Vivien Leigh, Simone Signoret, Oskar Werner, and Lee Marvin. Closed captioned. Black-and-white. 149 minutes. Columbia. (See also THE DOUBLE CROSSING)
SV566V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 19.95
SV566L-J4 Laserdisc (CLV) $US 47.50
SKOKIE. Based on a true story, this powerful dramatization depicts how citizens of Skokie, Illinois – a small town with a higher than average percentage of Nazi death camp survivors – became divided over an impending street demonstration by neo-Nazis. Among the issues raised are free speech vs. social responsibility, reacting to rascism, and becoming involved vs. remaining a bystander when confronted with a moral dilemma. Stars Danny Kaye, Carl Reiner, Eli Wallach, and Brian Dennehy. Colour. 121 minutes.
CFX118V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 17.50
SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST. From the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, this documentary features the testimony of Holocaust survivors and their children. The details of their lives before, during, and after World War II are illustrated with photographs and footage shot in concentration camps. Originally aired on WTVB-TV. Grades 7 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 25 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL160V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 60.00
THE ASSISI UNDERGROUND. Based on a true story, this dramatic production depicts the clandestine work done by the Catholic church during World War II to help several hundred Italian Jews escape Nazi persecution. After the Nazi occupation of northern Italy, a Franciscan friar conducts an underground railroad, smuggling Jewish refugees into the south in spite of the Gestapo’s opposition. Stars Ben Cross, James Mason, Irene Pappas, and Maximillian Schell. Colour. 115 minutes. Cannon.
SV521V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 19.98
THE ATTIC. Capturing the dignity and quiet bravery of the Dutch people, Jews and non-Jews alike, this historically accurate drama is based on the book, “Anne Frank Remembered,” by Miep Gies, a Dutchwoman who risked everything to help her Jewish friends. From the first day of the German invasion of Holland, the production shows the buildup of persecution, hardship, and terror in Amsterdam which drove the Franks into hiding and thrust Miep into the role of caretaker. The story continues until the war’s end and Mr. Frank’s return as a sole survivor. Stars Mary Steenburgen and Paul Scofield. Closed captioned. Grades 7 and up. Colour. 95 minutes. Copyright 1992.
SV608V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 14.95
SSH407-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 8.95 ea.
5+ copies $US 8.05 ea.
THE BOAT IS FULL. When 8300 people immigrated to Switzerland by July 1942, the Swiss Parliament decided not to admit any more refugees. The term “the boat is full” was coined. This stark drama tells the story of a group of Jewish refugees who band together, posing as a family to avoid deportation. Eventually they are discovered and forced back to the German border – not by villanous Nazis, but by ordinary citizens who display a stolid indifference to their plight. Directed by Markus Imhoof. In German with English subtitles. Black-and-white. 104 minutes.
FJ100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.95
THE CAMERA OF MY FAMILY: Four Generations in Germany 1845-1945. This moving story is an effective vehicle for involving students in Holocaust studies without the use of shocking and overwhelming material. It recounts the story of Catherine Hanf Noren, who was born to a Jewish family in 1938. Her family, which had lived in Germany for generations, was forced to flee shortly after her birth, and all records of their experience were lost in the Holocaust’s destruction. The program describes Ms. Noren’s perseverance in tracing her roots and rediscovering her heritage through the use of old family photographs that had been preserved. Colour and black-and-white. 20 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL45V-J4 VHS video from filmstrip, guide $US 45.00
THE COURAGE TO CARE. Reminding viewers of the power of individual action, this compelling program profiles non-Jews who, following their consciences rather than orders from the Third Reich, risked their lives to protect Jews from Nazi persecution. Stark footage and period photographs underscore dramatic first-person accounts of those whose ordinary acts – such as opening doors, keeping secrets, and hiding and feeding strangers – became deeds of heroism in an era of apathy and complicity. Colour and black-and-white. 29 minutes. United Way.
ADL150V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 50.00
THE DEMOCRAT AND THE DICTATOR: A Walk Through the 20th Century. In this episode from the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series, BillMoyers contrasts the lives and legacies of Franklin Roosevelt andAdolf Hitler, examining how these two leaders dominated the worldstage during the 1930s and 40s. Newsreel footage of the U.S. andGermany show what factors led to their coming to power and whiy peoplewere willing to rally behind them. The juxtaposition of Roosevelt’sfireside chats with Hitler’s public speeches reflects the power oforation to united a nation behind a cause or a man. Grades 7 and up.Colour and black-and-white. 58 minutes. PBS.
PF120V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 24.95
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Directed by George Stevens. Taking refuge in an attic hideaway for two years, Anne Frank and her family attempt to escape Nazi persecution. This moving and suspenseful account of the true story captures the Franks’ struggle to preserve a civilized life under increasingly desperate circumstances. Stars Millie Perkins and Shelley Winters. Black-and-white. VHS: 151 minutes. Laserdiscs: 183 minutes. 20th. Century Fox.
SV107V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.98
SV107L-J4 2 laserdiscs (CLV – “letterbox” )$US 93.50
WSP47853-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 5.99 ea.
5+ copies $US 4.80 ea.
THE DOUBLE CROSSING: The Voyage of the St. Louis. Many Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany found, like the 907 passengers on the cruise ship St. Louis, that “a passport stamped `J’ was a passport to nowhere.” Cuban officials http:\\/\\/remember.orgified their entry permits and the U.S. government denied them admission. In presnet-day interviews plus archival footage and photographs, passengers relive the cruise that became a voyage into limbo. The program’s almost understated tone contrasts with the urgency of the issues it raises: anti-Semitism, quota systems for refugees, and worldwide immigration policies today. Grades 7 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 29 minutes. Copyright 1992. (See also SHIP OF FOOLS for dramatization of the plight of the St. Louis’ passengers)
ER110V-J4 VHA videocassette $US 39.95
THE EIGHTY-FIRST BLOW: Holocaust Documentaries. This award-winning 1974 production combines eyewitness testimony (in Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Italian, and Polish with English subtitles) and footage and stills shot by the Nazis to document the extreme measures taken to annihilate the Jews. This video takes its title from a story about a Jewish boy in one of the ghettos who was struck with 80 blows. He survived and emigrated to Israel where no one believed his story – this for him was the 81st blow. NOTE: Some graphic footage. Black-and-white. 90 minutes.
ER102V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.95
THE GREAT DICTATOR. Charlie Chaplin plays two roles – the maniacle dictator “Adenoid Hynkel” and a Jewish ghetto barber – in this 1940 satire on the Axis powers. Among the many classic moments are a parodic speech done entirely in doubletalk and nonsense words, the portrayal of “Benzino Napaloni” by Jack Oakie, and Hynkle’s dance with a balloon-like globe which pops, causing him to burst into tears. Black-and-white. 128 minutes.
SV158V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 19.98
THE HOLOCAUST: A Teenager’s Experience. Holocaust survivor David Bergman, only 12 years old when the Nazis forced his family from their home, takes viewers along his “road from hell to freedom.” Illustrated with archival footage and drawings, this affecting program describes how young David was separated from his family at Auschwitz, forced into labor at several work camps, suvived a harrowing train journey on which all but three passengers died, and eventually witnessed the German surrender. The follow-up activities include basic information about the Holocaust and stress the value of freedom, the importance of determination, and the necessity for learning about the Holocaust. WARNING: some graphic footage. Colour and black-and-white. 30 minutes. United Learning. Copyright 1991.
FH249V-J4 VHS video, reproducible activities guide, $US 95.00
THE LAST SEA: Holocaust Documentaries. After World War II, with no homes to return to, with most family members dead or missing, the Hews of Europe began their exodus to Israel. In emotional tales of fierce determination and bright hope, witnesses describe traveling by truck and by train, by foot over the Alps, or across the sea aboard dangerously overcrowded ships. Documentary footage and stills illustrate stories told in Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Italian, and Polish, with English subtitles. NOTE: some graphic footage. Black-and-white. 90 minutes.
ER104V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.95
THE LIFE OF ADOLF HITLER (Das Leben von Adolf Hitler). Directed by Paul Rotha. Compiled in Germany in 1961, these archival stills and films have been edited to present the horrible-but-true saga of Hitler’s early life, rise to power, and the reign of terror over Nazi Germany. Focusing on Hitler, the program also gives a comprehensive look at Germany from the close of World War I to the final films of Hitler before his retreat into the bunker as the Allies were closing on Berlin. Scenes include young Goering, Himmler, and Goebbels; Hitler’s year in jail; the Reichstag fire; Nazi spectacles; Hitler’s private life; campaigns against the Jews; the 1930 Olympics; the invasion of Poland, France, and Russia; the Warsaw ghetto and the death camps; and the turn of the tide against Germany. English narration. 101 minutes. Video Yesteryear.
VY102V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.95
THE MASTER RACE: History in Action. Documentary footage, archival stills, and propaganda posters explain the Nazi concept of racial superiority and their efforts to achieve it as if “you are there.” Topics include the 1936 Olympics, policies of organized persecution, the use of _Mein Kampf_ as a blueprint, the Nuremberg Laws, Joseph Goebbles and the “Big Lie,” and the ways German youth were indoctrinated to support the Nazi state. Black-and-white. 20 minutes. Films for the Humanities.
FHM164V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 89.95
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH. Traces the political and social climate of Germany, from the disintegration of the Weimar Republic, through the rise of the Nazi Party and WWII, to the destruction of Berlin and Hitler’s death. With extensive documentary footage, interviews, introductory remarks by William Shirier (author of the book of the same name), and narration by Richard Basehart, this sweeping and affecting account records the personalities, events, and battles of WWII, including Hitler’s Final Solution. Black-and-white and colour. 120 minutes.
SV237V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 59.99
FAW107-J4 Paperback 1-9 copies $US 7.99 ea.
10+ copies $US 7.20 ea.
THE ROSE GARDEN. Aaron Reichenback is haunted by an event he witnessed during the final days of World War II: the muder of 20 children in a Nuremberg schoolhouse. Forty years following the Holocaust, Reichenbach finds himself on trial for assaulting an elderly businessman he believes responsible for the killings. The deliberately paced and haunting production raises questions about German culpability for the actions of the Nazis, bearing witness a generation after the War, and the harrowing impact of the Holocaust on individuals. Stars Liv Ullmann, Maximillian Schell, and Peter Fonda. Advanced students. Colour. 112 minutes. Cannon. Copyright 1989.
WV116V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 89.95
THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE. Directed by Heinz Schirk. A chilling recreation of the events of January 20, 1942, when 14 members of Hitler’s hierarchy gathered in utter secrecy for 85 minutes in the posh Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss the ways and means, technology and logistics, of effecting the `Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” Meticulously reconstructed (in virtually real time) from the original secretary’s notes, this production captures the horrifying contrast between the casual atmosphere of the meeting and the shocking import of its subject. In German with English subtitles. Advanced students. Colour. 87 minutes.
SV443-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.95
SV443L-J4 Laserdisc (CLV) $US 46.50
THE WARSAW GHETTO. Charged with documenting the gradual destruction of the almost 500,000 Jews in the walled-in Warsaw ghetto, cameramen of the German Army, the S.S., and the Gestapo made an almost anthropological study of the people. In this program, their still and motion pictures are collected (many from Himmler’s personal scrapbook) and narrated by Warsaw ghetto survivor Alexander Bernfes. The program includes striking and often shocking footage showing the creation of the ghetto, the early Nazi propaganda (Jews living in relative luxury in the ghetto), scenes from everyday life, starving people in the streets, and the final, violent 10-day resistance. Balck-and-white. 51 minutes. BBC.
BV103V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 29.95
THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING. Using archival film footage, still photographs, and the actual testimony of survivors of the Warsaw ghetto, this program details a heroic chapter of Jewish Holocaust history. Beginning with slef-government and sustenance within the ghetto walls, the first abortive attempts at resistance, the waves of deportations of Jews to the death camps, the formation of Jewish fighting organizations, and the uprising itself. The lives and actions of young people within the ghetto and as part of the resistance are discussed. Grades 9 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 23 minutes. Ghetto Fighters’ House. Copyright 1993.
ER111V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.95
THE WAVE. A thought-provoking dramatization of an actual classroom experiment on individualism vs. conformity in which a high school teacher formed his own “Reich” (called _the Wave_) to show why the German people could so willingly embrace Nazism. This unflinching yet sensitive 1984 Emmy Award-winner raises critical questions: When does dedication to a group cross the line from loyalty to fanaticsm? Does power corrupt? What is the nature of propaganda and mass persuasion? Can something like the Nazi Holocaust happen again? (The paperback is a novelization based on the teleplay.) Grades 7-12. Color. 46 minutes. Embassy.
FLM252V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.00
DLT321-J4 Paperback 1-4 copies $US 3.99 ea.
5+ copies $US 3.20 ea.
THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES: Rescuers of the Holocaust. Eloquent in their denial they did anything heroic, more than 100 Holocaust rescuers from 12 countries speak of their experience during the dark time of Nazi occupation. Not Jewish themselves, they and thousands more risked their lives and the lives of their families to save Jews. Interviewed and photographed in the late 1980’s, these rescuers give fascinating and sometimes heart wrenching accounts of those who were rescued and others who died. Along with stories of courage, the program raised some disturbing questions: Why were there so few rescuers and so many collaborators? What did we learn from the Holocaust with anti-Semitism resurging in the 1990s? Grades 7 and up. Colour. 54 minutes. Ergo Media. Copyright 1992.
ER109V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.95
THROUGH OUR EYES: Children Witness the Holocaust. By Itzhak Tatelbaum. Children’s eyewitness accounts, diary entries, and poems are read by young people in this moving program on the Holocaust. Black-and-white period photographs, spanning from the pre-Nazi era to the Allied liberation, vivify the young narrators’ descriptions of such horrifying experiences as seeing synagogues burned, riding on cattle cars, and losing their families. Divided into 18 chronographical units, the illustrated 185-page study guide provides and amplified script and discussion questions on topics such as “Public Burning of Jewish Books,” “Children in the Ghetto,” “Where Was the World?,” and “Can it Happen Again?” Grades 7-9. Black-and-white. 25 minutes.
IB100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 49.00
IB101-J4 Study guide $US 12.95
TO BEAR WITNESS. At the First International Liberators Conference in 1981, survivors and liberators from 14 nations gathered to testify about their experiences during the Holocaust. Interspersed with captured Nazi footage and official U.S. Army film, the testimony of these witnesses provides an authentic account of what some nations and their peoples did to prevent the Holocaust, what others did to abet those charged with crimes against humanity, and the lethargic pace at which Western leaders acted to halt the genocide. Among those recalling their experiences are Ronald Reagan, Elie Wiesel, Tom Lantos, and Alexander Haig. The production closes with a description of the forthcoming U.S. Memorial Museum to be built on the grounds of the United States Capital. [Ed. note: the museum opened in 1993] WARNING: not recommended for unprepared audiences. Colour and black-and-white. 41 minutes. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
NAC118V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 69.00
TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE. Focusing on the moral complexities of rescue during the Holocaust years, this sensitive documentary follows the Randalls, a father and daughter who travel to Poland in hope of finding traces of their lost Jewish ancestors. Upon arriving in the village of Josefow, the Randalls meet the townspeople who had first sheltered their family during German occupation and then, fearing for their own family’s lives, turned them away. The two gain a new appreciation of the agonizing choices faced by those who defied the Nazi campaign of terror against Europe’s Jews. Suitable for use in teaching about ethics and Christian-Jewish relations, as well as the Holocaust. A brief guide provides discussion questions and activities. Grades 7 and up. Colour. 28 minutes. Anti-Defamation League. Copyright 1989.
ADL155V-J4 VHS videocassette, guide $US 50.00
TO MEND THE WORLD. This unusual film looks at the Holocaust in an unusual way – through the eyes of camp survivors who also happen to be artists. As they speak eloquently of their experiences, the camera explores hundreds of their paintings, sketches, and sculptures that bear witness to the horrors they saw. One painter places himself in each death camp scene he paints – there in the crowd of prisoners being herded toward the darkness, there standing helpless as a fellow internee is beaten by the guards. Another tells of finding a cake of paint while a prisoner and dissolving it in coffee so that even in the face of death he could continue to paint. Grades 7 and up. Black-and-white and colour. 86 minutes. CBC. Copyright 1987.
FLM281V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 149.00
TOMORROW CAME MUCH LATER: A Journey of Conscience. A group of high school students from Ohio join Holocaust survivor Bertha Lautman in a poignant and ultimately uplifting journey to the camps where the Nazis had interned her, and also to Israel, where Lautman felt she had been reborn following her liberation from the camps. They also visit famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in Vienna. The teens then discuss their reactions to the trip, noting that Lautman enabled them to humanize what had been dry historical facts and gain an increased sense of the experiences of those who were persecuted by the Nazis. Middle grades and up. Colour and black-and-white. 58 minutes. Cleveland Heights School District and WVIZ.
CNT102V-J4 VHS videocassette, guide $US 59.00
TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT. Recounds the true story of Salamo Arouch, who was the middleweight boxing champion of the Balkans in the days just before World War II. A Greek Jew, Arouch is sent to Auschwitz, where he fights his fellow internees for the enjoyment of Nazi officers. This powerful story of life, death, and conscience illuminates the inner conflict of a man who wants to survive and save his sould. The 1989 production stars Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, and Robert Loggia. NOTE: strong language. Advanced students. Closed captioned. Colour. 124 minutes. Nova International Films.
SV987V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 89.95
SV987L-J4 Laserdisc (CLV) $US 47.50
TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. Leni Riefenstahl’s controversial film of the Sixth Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg (1934) is considered by many to be the greatest propaganda documentary ever filmed. This heroic celebration of the Nazi philosophy is at once blatant and subtle, providing a fascinating psychological study of the Nazi leaders in action. Mature students will be able to discuss how the Nazis saw themselves and understand the role of propaganda in molding popular opinion. Told visually with little dialog; speeches by by Hitler and others are in German with English subtitles. Background information and presentation suggestions are provided in an extensive teacher’s guide. Black-and-white. 110 minutes.
SV678V-J4 VHS videocassette, guide $US 19.95
TZVI NUSSBAUM: A Boy From Warsaw. Recounts the dramatic life story of Tzvi Nussbaum, the little boy immortalized in the infamous photograph taken in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Featuring archival black-and-white footage and contemporary interviews, the program examines how Tzvi came to be in the Warsaw ghetto, the circumstances surrounding the photograph, his imprisonment at Bergen-Belsen, how he managed to survive, and how he feels today about the Nazi persecutors that mudered four generations of his family. Brief scenes in German or Hebrew with English subtitles. Grades 10 and up. Colour and black-and-white. 50 minutes. Ergo. Copyright 1990.
ER107V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.95
WEAPONS OF THE SIRPIT: Classroom Version. Directed, written, and narrated by Pierre Sauvage. A moving remembrance of the courage of the residents of the French village of Le Chambron, ordinary people whose virtually unparalleled efforts saved 5000 Jewish lives from Nazi persecution. Newsreel footage, interviews with the rescuers and those they saved, and the personal reflections of Pierre Sauvage – who was born in the village while his parents were sheltered by area farmers – depict the horror of life for French Jews, and the “conspiracy of goodness” that occurred in the midst of terror and death. This shorter version was adapted for the classroom from the 90-minute feature film of the same title. Grades 7 and up. 38 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL-156V-J4 VHS videocassette, guide $US 50.00
WEAPONS OF THE SPIRIT: Full-Length version. This full-length version includes additional footage that expands and extends the coverage of the phenomenon of Le Chambron and adds at the end a moving conversation between Bill Moyers and Sauvage whose final statement conveys the essence of his experience: “If we don’t feel deeply within ourselves that we are capable of good, we will be reluctant to face the extent to which we are capable of evil.” 90 minute film plus 30 minute interview.
FLC100V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 75.00
WHO SHALL LIVE AND WHO SHALL DIE? Directed by Laurence Jarvik. Asking “Could the Jews of Europe have been saved?,” this unflinching documentary examines the unwillingness of Americans (including much of the American Jewish establishment) to rescue persecuted European Jews during World War II. Intertwining archival and newsreel footage with interviews of Holocaust survivors, Jewish leaders, and American senators, congressmen, and government officials, the production argues that the American Jewish community bears a heavy burden of guilt for failing to pressue the Roosevelt administration strongly enough to help the Jews of Europe. NOTE: graphic footage. Black-and-white. 90 minutes.
KN103V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 79.95
WITNESS TO THE HOLOCAUST. Hauntingly poignant narration by Holocaust survivors underscores harrowing archival images in these two separate programs showing how life was lived under the Nazis. “A Time to Remember,” a 20-minute overview of the Holocaust, provides a concise history of the times. Divided into seven 17-20 minute segments, “Witness to the Holocaust” describes the rise of the Nazis, ghetto life, deportations, the Resistance, the Final Solution, and the liberation of the camps. In the last segment, survivors reflect on the universal lessons that can be learned from the Holocaust. A comprehensive guide addresses each segment in depth. WARNING: not recommended for unprepared audiences due to the intensly graphic presentation of atrocities. Balck-and-white. Total time: 130 minutes. Anti-Defamation League.
ADL154V-J4 2 VHS videocassettes, guide $US 100.00
WITNESSES TO THE HOLOCAUST: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann. This compelling production is a stunning document of the testimony and evidence presented at the 1961 trial in Jerusalem of SS Lieutenant-Colonel Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official who administered the program to annihilate European Jewry. Narrated by Joel Grey, the documentary combines court-room testimony (translated into English) of Eichmann and other eyewitnesses with archival footage, not only to give viewers insight into the scope of Eichmann’s personal responsibility for the heinous “crimes against humanity,” but also to provide an enduring record of this historic public examination of the Holocaust. Black-and-white. 90 minutes.
WV104V-J4 VHS videocassette $US 39.98
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