The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. The murders were carried out primarily in mass shootings and by poison gas in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, and Chełmno in occupied Poland.
The term Holocaust, derived from a Greek word meaning “burnt offering” is the most common word used to describe the Nazi extermination of Jews in English and many other languages. The term Holocaust in popular use may also refer to other groups that the Nazis targeted, while the Hebrew word Sho’ah (“catastrophic destruction”) exclusively refers to Jewish victims. The perpetrators used the phrase “Final Solution” to describe their actions towards Jews.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
Lena: My Hundred Children, original release date 1987 – Lena Küchler-Silberman’s story was told in the 1987 NBC television movie, Lena: My 100 Children. At the end of World War II Lena Kuchler arrives at a refugee camp in search of her disappeared family members. But at this place she can get no information in her case but only encounters hungry children. Director: Edwin Sherin Writers: Kuchler-Silberman (novel), Jonathan Rintels Stars: Linda Lavin, Torquil Campbell, Lenore Harris.
Lena Küchler-Silberman (January 1910 – 6 August 1987) was a member of the Jewish resistance who saved children during The Holocaust and helped to resettle them afterwards. She is considered the most famous “surrogate mother” of child Holocaust victims. Lena Küchler-Silberman wrote a memoir that was published in 1959.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women, based on the book “RESCUERS: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust,” written by Gay Block and Malka Drucker, is a 1997 television film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, executive produced by Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman, about two women who save Jews from the Nazis during World War Two. The story is told in two segments. In Poland, Gertruda Babilinska, “Mamusha,” (Elizabeth Perkins) is the Polish housekeeper of a Jewish family who helps the mother and her three-year-old son flee Warsaw to safety. After the war, she takes the boy to live in Palestine. In “Woman on a Bicycle,” Marie-Rose Gineste (Sela Ward) is a secretary at a Catholic Diocese in France who protects Jewish families from the Nazis.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families, based on the book “RESCUERS: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust,” written by Gay Block and Malka Drucker, is a 1998 television film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, executive produced by Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman, about real experiences during the Second World War. First, “Malka Csizmadia,” directed by Tim Hunter, written by Adam Rodman, starring Michael Rapaport and Robin Tunney. When a teenage Christian girl befriends a Jewish soldier, she conspires to help him free many Jews from a Hungarian ghetto. Second, “We Are Circus,” directed by Tony Bill, written by John Pielmeier, starring Michael Rapaport, Daryl Hannah, and Tim Matheson as German circus owners protecting Jews from the Nazis by hiding them in their troupe.
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples, based on the book “RESCUERS: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust,” written by Gay Block and Malka Drucker, is a 1998 television film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, executive produced by Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman, about real experiences based on true stories during World War II. In The Netherlands, “Aart and Johtje Vos,” directed by Tim Hunter, starring Dana Delany, Martin Donovan, and Jan Rubes who protect Jews from the Nazis. In Belgium, “Marie Taquet,” directed by Lynne Littman, starring Linda Hamilton and Alfred Molina who protect young Jewish boys from the Nazis. These two couples go to extraordinary lengths to provide a safe haven for Jews during the Nazi occupation of their countries.
The Devil’s Arithmetic – original release date March 28, 1999 – is a TV movie based on the historical novel of the same name by Jane Yolen. It stars Kirsten Dunst as Hannah Stern and costars Brittany Murphy, Louise Fletcher, and Mimi Rogers. Dustin Hoffman introduces the film but is uncredited and serves as an executive producer with Mimi Rogers. An American teenager (Kirsten Dunst) with an apathetic view of her Jewish family history somehow finds herself transported to Nazi-occupied Poland in 1941. The film was shot in Vilnius, Lithuania in fall 1998 and a concentration camp set was built before shooting began and was designed to resemble Auschwitz.
The Couple – original release date December 10, 2004 – is based on the true story of a Jewish Hungarian’s (Academy Award winner Martin Landau) desperate attempts to save his family from Nazi death camps. The Aryan Couple, released on home video in the U.S. as The Couple, is a 2004 Anglo-American drama film directed by John Daly for Atlantic Film Productions. The film’s story line is set in 1944, during World War II, and is about a Jewish Hungarian industrialist who, in order to ensure his large family’s safe passage out of the Third Reich, is forced to hand over his business and his enormously valuable possessions to the Nazis. The plot is loosely based on the life events of Hungarian Jewish industrialist Manfred Weiss and his Manfréd Weiss Steel and Metal Works.
Waiting for Anya – original release dates January 16, 2020 (Miami Jewish Film Festival), February 7, 2020 (United States), February 21, 2020 (United Kingdom) – Waiting for Anya is a 2020 historical war drama film co-written and directed by Ben Cookson. It is a film adaptation of the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo. From the author of War Horse, a shepherd-boy risks everything to help smuggle Jewish children into Spain from German-occupied France. The film stars Noah Schnapp, Thomas Kretschmann, Frederick Schmidt, Jean Reno, and Anjelica Huston. The film premiered at the 2020 Miami Jewish Film Festival.