The U.S. and the Holocaust

As Episode 1 of "The US and the Holocaust" (2022 release; 3 episodes of about 125 min each) opens, we are in 1933 and a certain Mr. Frank has just bought a brand new 16 mm camera to film some family scenes in Frankfurt. We also get a picture of that family, the husband and wife and their two daughters, the youngest one being... Anna Frank. At this point we are 5 min into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from the Ken Burns factory, co-directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein. Here they examine the complicated history of the US towards Jews. Not that this was the first time, as one of the talking heads reminds us that before this, there was the genocide of the native Americans and the forced importation of black people from Africa. But we divert... In excruciating detail, we are reminded how in the 1930s the US was an isolated country not very interested in the rest of the world, let alone the pending refugee drama and later genocide in Europe following the Nazi's ascent to power in Germany in 1933 that was quickly followed by more and more restrictions on Jews in Germany and elsewhere. The US State Department was openly and unapologetically anti-semitic, as were large segments of the US population, much to the chagrin of FDR. We are reminded along the way that there were dozens of pro-Nazi organizations in the US at that time, and that the US happily chose to participate in the 1936 winter and summer Olympics, which were all but major Nazi propaganda events. Meanwhile things get worse and worse for Jews in Germany, leading to "kristalnacht" in 1938...

Episode 1 premiered on PBS last night and is now available on PBS On Demand. The remaining 2 episodes will air on PBS tomorrow (Tue) and Wednesday. Can't wait to see how it plays out, and to what extent today's parallel ("Jews will not replace us"! Charlottesville 2017) frightening extreme right climate will be included (if at all). If you have any interest in US history including its troubled race relations with Jews, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE 9/23/22* I've now seen all 3 episodes, and this documentary series makes for overall very sobering viewing. In Episode 2 we are reminded of the damage done by isolationists like Charles Lindbergh and US Senator Reynolds, who wants to build a wall on US borders "so tall that it will keep out everyone" (no, really, that is a statement from Reynolds made in 1941). The archive footage of the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi's killing camps will make you sick. At the tail end of Episode 3, we are reminded that yes, it can happen again, as we get the infamous footage of the White supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017 but also of the mass shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue.in 2018. This documentary series should be required viewing for all HS and college students.

Perhaps it's because, unlike others like Lanzmann, Resnais, Spielberg, et al., Ken Burns and his crew of expert documentarians come to the subject with all their finely-tuned skills in presenting important historical events, this is, for me, the most powerful, and upsetting rendering of the subject I have ever seen. Although the subject is, ostensibly, the role the United States played--or did not play--in dealing with the murder of millions of innocent civilians merely because they were Jewish, what I found most impressive was the focus on the transformation of ordinary, often happy lives throughout Europe into a brutal, horrifying nightmare. As one of the interviewees puts it, the emphasis on the death-camps, while certainly justified, tends to overlook the everyday brutality of innocent men, women and, equally, children being routinely and heartlessly ostracized by their "friends," humiliated, beaten, thrown from the rooftops of building, burnt, and, if lucky, merely shot.

It's very hard to talk about this film, but one must acknowledge the great achievement of these filmmakers.

This is as much a story about American history as it is about the Holocaust. As with another Burns' documentary The Vietnam War, the director masterfully places the personal stories in the forefront while at the same time explains the complexities of the politics and public mood at the time. Why it was plausible that FDR didn't do as much as he could have given the implications for negotiating with a Congress that represented the mood of the country at the time. You can agree or not whether FDR did the right thing but by interjecting the narrative with interviewed with historians, Burns leaves it up to the viewer to decide.

He also explains the upper crust Ivy League culture at the State Department that stymied opportunities to help people immigrate, the pervasive acceptance of eugenics and the popularity of the isolationist movement.

I take issue with the reviewers on this forum who criticized this series for not focusing as much attention on the plight of the homosexuals or Romanies. The focus of this series is the historical context in America which was also the history of the Jews in America. And it was the Jewish population of Europe that had the largest connection to America, as opposed to other groups who were met with the same fate. Each of those groups has its own unique history that would take another documentary to explore. Many Holocaust memorials actually do this because the point of remembering this horrific event is to learn how pervasive genocide is and how vulnerable we all are.

This film presents an interesting take on Jewish immigration during World War Two. Ken Burns et al do a good job of giving us the backstory of how FDR's administration approached the situation and the constant barrage of anti semitic forces working to keep the United States out of the war for as long as possible. The documentary is raw, graphic , and in your face but people need to see this to realize that life is precious. Man's hatred and cruelty knows no bounds but if we are reminded of it by films such as these, hopefully we can keep ourselves in check to try never to repeat this type of heinous cruelty.

This Ken Burns documentary was not up to the standards of his previous documentaries. Peter Coyote is a fine narrator and always pleasant to listen to. It was interesting in the first episode dealing with the prejudices and racist attitudes in the US with the influx of immigration concerns.

There were a number of historical inaccuracies that took away from what the documentary was attempting to portray. Historical documentaries need to do more than tell the viewer what happened; they need to ask the question why certain incidences occurred in order to better understand the issues being presented. There were a number of historical omissions that would have explained things more in depth. For instance; how the slaughter of 66 million Christians and Russians by the Bolsheviks influenced the mindset of the Germans during this time. The documentary also lost some credibility by having Deborah Lipstadt as a voice of authority as her input took away from some of the plausible historical accuracies with her repetitive accusatory conjecture presented as fact.

Other than that, there wasn't much revealed that hasn't been covered countless times before.