How Holocaust Came to Television
Wie Holocaust ins Fernsehen kam | Alice Agneskirchner | Germany, 2019 | German/English (English subtitles) | Documentary | 88m | DCP | IMDB | Distributor/Sales: Nicole Schink | Festival marketing sample: TJFF 2020
Description: This documentary examines the making of the American TV miniseries, Holocaust and its broadcast and reception in Germany in 1978. There are interviews with cast members (some accompanied to the original locations,) director Marvin Chomsky, other crew members, broadcasters from the WDR channel, film historians and media scholars. There are extensive clips from the original series and archival footage of German public and political reactions to the broadcast in Germany.
Merits: Despite winning two Golden Globes, few of Agneskirchner’s interviewees think of Holocaust as an outstanding work of cinematic art. What her documentary is more concerned about instead is its the impact on German viewers. During the three decades after WW2, she argues, the holocaust was a barely mentioned. The perpetrator generation chose to forget. The young generation remained largely ignorant. None of the films that referenced the holocaust reaching German screens until then had much impact. When WDR announced its intention to broadcast the series, some Nazi sympathisers reacted by bombing TV towers. When it eventually aired over four consecutive nights many viewers were shocked into reckoning with their country’s history.
Rating: Suitable for all audiences.
Programming considerations: A shorter, 42m version exists.