This programme is a must play around the anniversaries of Liberation Day, or the signing of the German surrender. A beautifully produced 1 hour, prism-like, it shines light on different aspects of a story we all think we know so well we don’t need to hear about it anymore – the Holocaust, perhaps the most iconographic event of modern history.
I mean we all know the numbers right? 6 million Jews, 12 million Russians and 2 million gypsies and homosexuals dying of starvation, physical abuse, gassing, and simple broken spirits.
Actually, a programme like this reminds us – younger generations especially – that we know nothing. The survivors’ stories, small vignettes of pain, remembrance and an emotion we cannot begin to understand, show us that the Holocaust is not just a clichéd history lesson, but a story of people’s lives.
A daughter who watched her father starve because he wanted his children to have his food; mothers who were torn away from their screaming children (try recalling that image the next time you're sending your child off to school; a young man who’s happy because he can share his camp bunker with his father, but who comes back one day to hear his father had been “selected” for the gas chamber; a 17 year old girl who, at the moment of her libearation, can only think “now what? No mother, father, brother, sister – what do I do now? Where do I go?”
We may have read all the literature, seen the movie, studied the history, but we don’t know anything about the Holocaust and we need to hear a programme like this to understand that.
The first half of the programme shines particularly because of the story of Dr Allan Birkenwald – who as he is recording, is hearing for the first time in 40 years the real story of his parents. His wry and humourous narration highlights the poignancy of the situation. The gentle humor of his childhood memories juxtaposes with the unspeakable pain of his parents.
The archival sound is also wonderfully put to use, the use of music never heavy handed, the pacing excellent.
I can’t recommend this programme enough.
Comments for HV Special: Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance)
This piece belongs to the series "Hearing Voices"
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Dheera Sujan
Posted on April 07, 2005 at 02:00 AM | Permalink
Review of SHOAH Holocaust Special
This programme is a must play around the anniversaries of Liberation Day, or the signing of the German surrender. A beautifully produced 1 hour, prism-like, it shines light on different aspects of a story we all think we know so well we don’t need to hear about it anymore – the Holocaust, perhaps the most iconographic event of modern history.
I mean we all know the numbers right? 6 million Jews, 12 million Russians and 2 million gypsies and homosexuals dying of starvation, physical abuse, gassing, and simple broken spirits.
Actually, a programme like this reminds us – younger generations especially – that we know nothing. The survivors’ stories, small vignettes of pain, remembrance and an emotion we cannot begin to understand, show us that the Holocaust is not just a clichéd history lesson, but a story of people’s lives.
A daughter who watched her father starve because he wanted his children to have his food; mothers who were torn away from their screaming children (try recalling that image the next time you're sending your child off to school; a young man who’s happy because he can share his camp bunker with his father, but who comes back one day to hear his father had been “selected” for the gas chamber; a 17 year old girl who, at the moment of her libearation, can only think “now what? No mother, father, brother, sister – what do I do now? Where do I go?”
We may have read all the literature, seen the movie, studied the history, but we don’t know anything about the Holocaust and we need to hear a programme like this to understand that.
The first half of the programme shines particularly because of the story of Dr Allan Birkenwald – who as he is recording, is hearing for the first time in 40 years the real story of his parents. His wry and humourous narration highlights the poignancy of the situation. The gentle humor of his childhood memories juxtaposes with the unspeakable pain of his parents.
The archival sound is also wonderfully put to use, the use of music never heavy handed, the pacing excellent.
I can’t recommend this programme enough.