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Shoah (film)

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Shoah is a nine-hour film completed by Claude Lanzmann in 1985 about the Holocaust (or Shoah). Though Shoah is conventionally classified as a documentary film, director Lanzmann considers it to fall outside of that genre, as, unlike most historical documentaries, the film does not feature reenactments or historical photos; instead it consists of interviews with people who were involved in various ways in the Holocaust, and visits to different places they discuss.

Although loosely structured, the film is concerned mainly with four topics: Chełmno, where gas was first used to exterminate Jews in vans; the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau; and the Warsaw ghetto, with testimonies from survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators.

The sections on Treblinka include testimony from Abraham Bomba, who survived as a barber, and a rare interview with Franz Suchomel, an SS officer who worked at the camp who reveals intricate details of the camp's gas chamber. Suchomel apparently agreed to provide Lanzmann with some anonymous background details; Lanzmann instead secretly filmed his interview, with the help of assistants and a hidden camera. There is also an interesting account from Henrik Gawkowsky, who drove one of the trains while heavily plied with Nazi vodka.

Testimonies on Auschwitz are provided by Rudolph Vrba, who escaped from the camp before the end of the war, Filip Muller, who worked in an incinerator burning the bodies from the gassings, and Richard Glazer. There are also accounts from various Polish locals, who saw the trains heading daily to the camp and leaving empty; they quickly guessed the fate of those on board.

In regards to Chełmno, the only two Jews to survive are both interviewed: Simon Srebnik, who was forced to sing military songs to amuse the Nazis; and Mordechai Podchiebnick. There is also a secretly-filmed interview with Franz Schalling, who was a guard.

The Warsaw ghetto is discussed towards the end of the film, and the appalling conditions there are described by Jan Karski, who worked for the Polish government-in-exile, and Franz Grassler, a Nazi administrator who liased with Jewish leaders. Memories from Jewish participants in the Warsaw uprising conclude the documentary.

Though the film has generally been highly praised, some Poles have criticized Lanzmann, claiming he was selective in his use of Polish subjects, that he mistranslated some dialogue, and that he edited the film to create the impression that Poles willingly co-operated with the Nazis, cutting out anything which contradicted this view. The late film critic Gene Siskel counted Shoah as being one of his top ten favorite films.

The complete text of the film was published in 1995.

Archetypes in Shoah

Shoah consists of many hours of interviews with witnesses of the Holocaust. Lanzmann's style of interviewing, and his selection of interview footage divides his witnesses into three distinct archetypes: survivor, bystander and perpetrator. Lanzmann makes an effort to represent each archetype quite differently.

Survivors are those who directly experienced the persecution and horror of the Holocaust, and survived to tell their story. All of the survivors that Lanzmann interviews are Jewish. Lanzmann uses these survivors to present a historical record. Many survivors give long, detached descriptions of the events that they witnessed. For example, in Part 4 we hear Filip Müller and Rudolf Vrba describe the liquidation of the family camp at Auschwitz. Their testimonies make a historical narrative. Other survivors tell of their own personal experiences of the Holocaust. Muller does not just describe the gassing of the prisoners from the family camp; he also talks about what the prisoners said to him, and describes the experience of going into the gas chamber himself. This testimony is a personal narrative. Lanzmann's survivors react emotionally to what they witnessed. Muller breaks down as he recalls the prisoners breaking into song while being forced into the gas chamber. The camera pulls in close, to capture every detail of his distress. Lanzmann also encourages his witnesses to act out their testimony. In Part 3 Lanzmann interviews Abraham Bomba, a barber at Auschwitz, while he cuts hair in a barber's shop. He breaks down while describing how a barber friend of his came across his wife while cutting hair outside the gas chamber. Again, the camera captures his anguish. In this way, Bomba's personal narrative is unspoken as well as spoken.

Bystanders are those who were present during the events of the Holocaust without directly being part of it. Some were peripherally involved, while others were witnesses. All of the bystanders that Lanzmann interviews are Polish. Lanzmann procures personal narratives from these bystanders. He interviews many of them in the same way that he interviews his witnesses. In Part 1 he takes Pan Falborski, a Polish bystander, on a train to Treblinka while we watch his reaction. Lanzmann also drives him along the streets of Wlodawa in a car while he talks about the Jews who used to live in the passing houses. In Part 4, Jan Karski, a Polish bystander who visited the Warsaw ghetto, breaks down and walks out as soon as he tries to remember. A few of Lanzmann's bystanders give historical narratives. In Part 2 Falborski talks about the gas vans and the mass graves. Karski returns and gives a detailed, if emotional, description of the ghetto. Lanzmann interviews many bystanders in public groups. He does not ask for their names or for detailed testimony. Of many bystanders he asks what they saw or heard, and whether they knew what was going on in the death camps. His questions reveal how little anyone saw or heard. They also reveal that people knew some of what was going on, but they did nothing. In Part 2 he talks to a group of Polish women in Grabow. Under his questions, they reveal that they did not like the Jewesses that used to live in Grabow because they were rich and beautiful and did not have to work. Another bystander, a man, reveals that he is happy that the Jews are gone, but would rather they had gone to Israel voluntarily rather than being exterminated. In an interview outside a Catholic church, with Simon Srebnik present, he encourages bystanders to talk about the Holocaust in terms of justice for the biblical killing of Jesus by the Jews.

Perpetrators are those who were directly involved in perpetrating the Holocaust. All of the perpetrators that Lanzmann interviews are German. From these perpetrators, Lanzmann establishes a historical narrative. They give detailed, detached accounts of the workings of the Holocaust. In Part 2, Franz Schalling describes the workings of Chełmno where he served as a security guard. In Parts 1, 2 and 3, Franz Suchomel talks about the workings of Treblinka where he was an SS officer. In Part 3, Walter Steir, a former Nazi bureaucrat, describes the workings of the railways. Sometimes their testimony becomes more personal. Schalling expresses sympathy for his Jewish victims, but Lanzmann moves him on. Lanzmann is also concerned with establishing their knowledge of the Holocaust. Many of his perpetrators assert their ignorance of what was going on. Suchomel claims that he did not know about extermination at Treblinka until he arrived there. Stier claims to have been too busy to find out that his trains were transporting Jews to their deaths. In each case, Lanzmann challenges their assertions of ignorance with relentless questions.

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