Holocaust and the Moving Image: Representations in Film and Telev

Feature films and documentaries offer viewers some of the most indelible and powerful images of the Holocaust. Film footage of the camps and ghettos capture aspects of life during the Holocaust in ways the written word and still photographs cannot. Feature films, on the other hand, serve as introductions to the subject for viewers who otherwise may have little knowledge of the Holocaust. Moreover, these images may serve as memorials to the victims of the catastrophe by capturing or dramatizing their lives and personal stories on film.
The essays included in the book Holocaust and the Moving Image, a compilation of papers presented at a 2001 symposium held at the Imperial War Museum in London, cover all aspects of the representation of the Holocaust on film. Contributors include some of the leading scholars in the field of Holocaust studies as well as survivors, filmmakers, archivists, and museum curators. Essays cover a broad range of topics concerning fictionalized and documentary representations of the Holocaust on film, including Nazi propaganda footage of the Theresienstadt ghetto, antisemitic films such as Jud Süss, the use of film footage in postwar trials of Nazi leaders, and the role of movies in memorialization and understanding.
Individual essays discuss specific films within the context of Holocaust history, from well-known movies like Night and Fog (1955) and Schindler’s List (1993) to less familiar works such as Alfred Radok´s The Long Journey (1949) and Andrej Munk´s Passenger (1963). The book also includes a filmography of motion pictures, documentaries, and television series referenced in the text, a bibliography of related books, and an index.